Women of the 80’s (Polly Platt, The Invisible Woman, Episode 8)

Polly Platt with George Miller, 1986 | Photo by Kerry Hayes, Courtesy of Sashy Bogdanovich

Listen to this episode on Apple Podcasts. 

In the mid-to-late 80s, Polly Platt worked on a number of films that defined and reflected that decade’s ideas about female power. With an Oscar nomination under her belt, Polly starts trying in earnest to direct. She ends her career as a production designer with The Witches of Eastwick, a star-studded special-effects extravaganza. Inspired by Polly, Brooks creates the character played by Holly Hunter in Broadcast News, infusing the film with Polly’s single-minded professional determination. Riding high on having guided Brooks through two consecutive, blockbuster Oscar nominees, Polly becomes a production executive at Brooks's Gracie Films, where she produces Cameron Crowe’s Say Anything…

Jack Nicholson, Michelle Pfeiffer, Susan Sarandon, and Cher at an event for The Witches of Eastwick (1987)

SHOW NOTES: 
Sources specific to this episode:

This season is based in large part on Polly Platt's unpublished memoir, It Was Worth It, excerpted with the permission of Sashy Bodganovich.

 This episode includes excerpts from interviews with: Alison Anders, Antonia Bogdanovich, Nancy Griffin, Polly Finkelman Cox, Danny Devito, Rachel Abramowitz, Paula Herrold, Sashy Bogdanovich, Penney Finkelman Cox, Rachel Abramowitz, Lisa Maria Radano, David Moritz, Jerry Bruckheimer, Kelly Wade, Cameron Crowe and Barbara Boyle.  

Here is a full list of sources referenced on this season. 

Holly Hunter in Broadcast News (1987)

Music:

The music used in this episode, with the exception of the intro, was sourced from royalty-free music libraries and licensed music collections. The intro includes a clip from the film Casablanca.  

Excerpts from the following songs were used throughout the episode: 

Rescue Mission - Lupus Nocte
Divider - Chris Zabriskie
Laserdisc - Chris Zabriskie
Satellites - Ebb and Flod
Whispering of the Stars - Luella Gren
Mystic Star - Eneide
Celestial Dreams - Eneide
Out of the Skies, Under the Earth - Chris Zabriskie
Peaceful Piano - Neuromancer
Lullaby - Neuromancer
Keep Showing Up - John T. Graham
Danse Morialta - Kevin MacLeod

Polly Platt makes an appearance in Cameron Crowe's Say Anything (1989)

Credits:

This episode was written, narrated and produced by Karina Longworth.

Featuring special guests: Maggie Siff as the voice of Polly Platt.

Research and production assistant: Lindsey D. Schoenholtz.

Social media, transcription and additional research: Brendan Whalen.

Transcription and additional research: Kristen Sales and Wiley Wiggins.

Produced and edited by Tomeka Weatherspoon.

Audio engineers: Jared O'Connell, Andrea Kristins and Brendan Byrnes.

Supervising Producer: Josephine Martorana.

Executive Producer: Chris Bannon.

Logo design: Teddy Blanks.

Terms of Endearment (Polly Platt, The Invisible Woman, Episode 7)

Polly Platt on the phone at her office at Paramount Pictures, 1984 | Photo by Bob Chamberlin / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

Listen to this episode on Apple Podcasts.

Polly’s third marriage falls apart, and she enters more than one destructive affair. During these tumultuous times, Polly establishes a new collaboration with a male writer-director, James L. Brooks, and together the two turn another Larry McMurtry novel into a classic film: Terms of Endearment. Once again, while working on this film about a combative mother-daughter relationship, Polly finds that art and life are intertwined. Polly’s own story starts showing up in other people’s movies, including Irreconcilable Differences -- starring Ryan O’Neal as a version of Bogdanovich.

Shirley MacLaine, Debra Winger and Jack Nicholson in Terms of Endearment, 1983 | Photo by Archive Photos/Getty Images

SHOW NOTES: 

Sources specific to this episode:

This season is based in large part on Polly Platt's unpublished memoir, It Was Worth It, excerpted with the permission of Sashy Bodganovich.

This episode includes excerpts from interviews with: Antonia Bogdanovich, Sashy Bogdanovich, Penney Finkelman Cox, Rachel Abramowitz, and Lisa Maria Radano.

Here is a full list of sources referenced on this season. 

Polly Platt and her daughters Antonia and Sashy Bogdanovich on their way to the Academy Awards | Photo Courtesy of Sashy Bogdanovich

Music:

The music used in this episode, with the exception of the intro, was sourced from royalty-free music libraries and licensed music collections. The intro includes a clip from the film Casablanca.  

Excerpts from the following songs were used throughout the episode: 

Tender Warmth - James William Charles Yan
Asian Relax - Neuromancer
She Was A Dancer - Indigo Days
Prelude A L'apres -Claude Debussy
Trompette - Neuromancer
Share My Fears - Sage Oursier
Rise of the Velcro - Gabriel Lewis
Impenetrable - Taylor Crane
There’s a Special Place for Some People - Chris Zabriskie
Rite of Passage - Kevin MaLeod
Laserdisc - Chris Zabriskie

Credits:

This episode was written, narrated and produced by Karina Longworth.

Featuring special guests: Maggie Siff as the voice of Polly Platt.

Research and production assistant: Lindsey D. Schoenholtz.

Social media, transcription and additional research: Brendan Whalen.

Transcription and additional research: Kristen Sales and Wiley Wiggins.

Edited by: Brendan Byrnes.

Produced by: Tomeka Weatherspoon.

Audio engineers: Jared O'Connell, Andrea Kristins and Brendan Byrnes.

Supervising Producer: Josephine Martorana.

Executive Producer: Chris Bannon.

Logo design: Teddy Blanks.

Pretty Baby and a Playmate Murder (Polly Platt, The Invisible Woman, Episode 6)

Brooke Sheilds and Susan Sarandon, Pretty Baby, 1978

Listen to this episode on Apple Podcasts. 

In an attempt to save her family, Polly transitions to screenwriting and producing, basing the prostitution drama Pretty Baby, starring a pre-teen Brooke Shields, on her own daughter. Polly finds herself increasingly overcome by alcoholism, while dealing with Shields’s own alcoholic mother. Polly’s already-difficult relationship with her two daughters is made much more complicated by the murder of Peter’s girlfriend, Dorothy Stratten, and Bogdanovich’s subsequent emotional collapse.

Polly Platt, c. 1970's | Photo Courtesy of Sashy Bogdanovich

SHOW NOTES: 

Sources specific to this episode:

This season is based in large part on Polly Platt's unpublished memoir, It Was Worth It, excerpted with the permission of Sashy Bodganovich.

This episode includes excerpts from interviews with: Nessa Hyams, Antonia Bogdanovich  Frank Marshall and Rachel Abramovitz.  

Here is a full list of sources referenced on this season.

Music:

The music used in this episode, with the exception of the intro, was sourced from royalty-free music libraries and licensed music collections. The intro includes a clip from the film Casablanca.  

Excerpts from the following songs were used throughout the episode:

Land on the Golden Gate - Chris Zabriskie
Cylinder - Chris Zabriskie
Sentimental Blues - Eric Jules Georges Gemsa
After Work - Neuromancer
Simple Sample Blues - Philippe Jacques Michel Bas
Slow Hypnosis - Johan Kristoffer Hugosson
No Place - DJ Masque
Rite of Passage - Kevin MaLeod
Danse Morialta - Kevin MacLeod
Undercover Vampire Policeman - Chris Zabriskie
Blue Feather - Kevin McLeod

Bogdanovich and Stratten, 1980, Time & Life Pictures/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty

Credits:

This episode was written, narrated and produced by Karina Longworth.

Featuring special guests: Maggie Siff as the voice of Polly Platt.

Research and production assistant: Lindsey D. Schoenholtz.

Social media, transcription and additional research: Brendan Whalen.

Transcription and additional research: Kristen Sales and Wiley Wiggins

Produced and Edited by: Tomeka Weatherspoon.

Audio engineers: Jared O'Connell, Andrea Kristins and Brendan Byrnes.

Supervising Producer: Josephine Martorana.

Executive Producer: Chris Bannon. 

Logo design: Teddy Blanks.

A Star is Born (Polly Platt, The Invisible Woman, Episode 5)

Listen to this episode on Apple Podcasts. 

When Polly begins her own on-set affair, the double standard of what men can get away with in Hollywood versus what was expected for women would push her to a breaking point. With collaborating with her ex-husband no longer an option, Platt starts attempting to rebuild her career, designing classics such as A Star is Born and Bad News Bears, while also navigating predatory men in power in post-sexual revolution Hollywood.  

Barbra Streisand, Kris Kristofferson in A Star is Born (1976)

SHOW NOTES: 

Sources specific to this episode:

This season is based in large part on Polly Platt's unpublished memoir, It Was Worth It, excerpted with the permission of Sashy Bodganovich.

 This episode includes excerpts from interviews with: Frank Marshall, Antonia Bogdanovich, Sashy Bogdanovich, Nessa Hyams, Rachel Abramovitz, and Nancy Griffin. 

Here is a full list of sources referenced on this season. 

Polly Platt c. 1970’s | Photo Courtesy of Antonia Bogdanovich

Music:

The music used in this episode, with the exception of the intro, was sourced from royalty-free music libraries and licensed music collections. The intro includes a clip from the film Casablanca.  

Excerpts from the following songs were used throughout the episode: 

I Know A Guy - Kevin McLeod
Sunset - Kai Engel
There’s a Special Place For Some People - Chris Zabriskie
Sleeping Beauty - Dominic Ashworth, Derek Nash
Still Moment - Gemma Barkerwood, Sophie Barkerwood 
Rite of Passage - Kevin McLeod
Never Wake Up - David Schmidt
Trust In Fate - Julien Bonneau, Fransois Rousselot 
Suspicious Cat -Ilan Moshe Abou,Thierry Oliver Faure 
Michaela - Alfred Jack
Silver Bullet - Elliot Holmes
Divider - Chris Zabriskie
Easy Listening In Jazz - Neruomancer
Some People Call Me Sam - Gabriel Lucas
Undercover Vampire Policeman - Chris Zabriskie
Devil In Disguise - Gabriel Parker
Walkin On Velvet - Kenny Salmon
Snowmen - Kai Engel
We Can Get By Baby - Matthew Sibley, Giacomo Trivelli 
After Work - Neuromancer

Walter Matthau and Bears in The Bad News Bears (1976)

Credits:

This episode was written, narrated and produced by Karina Longworth.

Featuring special guests: Maggie Siff as the voice of Polly Platt.

Research and production assistant: Lindsey D. Schoenholtz.

Social media, transcription and additional research: Brendan Whalen.

Transcription and additional research: Kristen Sales and Wiley Wiggins

Producer: Tomeka Weatherspoon.

Editor:  Brendan Byrnes

Audio engineers: Jared O'Connell, Andrea Kristins and Brendan Byrnes.

Supervising Producer: Josephine Martorana.

Executive Producer: Chris Bannon.

Logo design: Teddy Blanks.

Orson Welles, What’s Up Doc, Paper Moon (Polly Platt, The Invisible Woman, Episode 4)

Polly Platt and Peter Bogdanovich on the set of Paper Moon | Photo courtesy of Sashy Bogdanovich

Listen to this episode on Apple Podcasts. 

In the aftermath of Picture Show—and the collapse of her second marriage—Polly finds an unlikely ally, and a new job, in Orson Welles. Anxious to build on her career momentum (and become the first female film art director accepted into her union), Polly agrees to work on Peter’s next two films, What’s Up Doc and Paper Moon – two massive hits which make Peter one of the most famous directors of the decade. 

SHOW NOTES: 

Sources specific to this episode:

This season is based in large part on Polly Platt's unpublished memoir, It Was Worth It, excerpted with the permission of Sashy Bodganovich.

 This episode includes excerpts from interviews with: Frank Marshall, Sashy Bodganovich, Nessa Hyams, Toby Rafelson, and Nancy Griffin. 

Here is a full list of sources referenced on this season. 

Polly Platt at the Pool with Orson Welles, Oja Kodar, and Garry in Carefree, AZ 1971 while shooting The Other Side of The Wind,

Music:

The music used in this episode, with the exception of the intro, was sourced from royalty-free music libraries and licensed music collections. The intro includes a clip from the film Casablanca.  

Excerpts from the following songs were used throughout the episode:

Bittersweet Discourse (Piano Only) - Various Composers
Open Roads - Nick Ingman, Tony Kinsey
Tooth Fairy - Various Composers
I Knew A Guy - Kevin MacLeod
Divider - Chris Zabriskie
Protest Generation - Various Composers
There's a Special Place for Some People - Chris Zabriskie
Railroad's Whiskey - Jahzzar
After Work (Piano Elevator Music) - Musique Libre de Droit Club
On My Way Home (Easy Listening Music) - Musique Libre de Droit Club
Lullaby (Berceuse, Piano) - Musique Libre de Droit Club
Playing with Sunbeams (Instrumental) - Franck Fossey, Aurelie Constance Renee Guillier de Chalvron
Meanwhile - Various Composers

Polly Platt and Tatum O’Neill on the set of Paper Moon | Photo Courtesy of Sashy Bogdanovich

Credits:

This episode was written, narrated and produced by Karina Longworth.

Featuring special guest Maggie Siff as the voice of Polly Platt.

Research and production assistant: Lindsey D. Schoenholtz.

Social media, transcription and additional research: Brendan Whalen.

Transcription and additional research: Kristen Sales and Wiley Wiggins

Producer and editor: Tomeka Weatherspoon.

Audio engineers: Jared O'Connell, Andrea Kristins and Brendan Byrnes.

Supervising Producer: Josephine Martorana.

Executive Producer: Chris Bannon.

Logo design: Teddy Blanks.

Ryan O’Neal, Peter Bogdanovich and Barbra Steisand on the set of What’s Up, Doc?

Last Picture Show Love Triangle: Polly Platt, The Invisible Woman Part 3

Listen to this episode on Apple Podcasts. 

At Polly’s urging, Peter decides to direct an adaptation of Larry McMurtry’s novel The Last Picture Show. Though credited only as the film’s “designer,” Polly is involved in every creative decision, including casting — and it’s with his pregnant-again wife’s enthusiasm that Bogdanovich casts 20-year-old model Cybill Shepherd as the film’s femme fatale. Though Polly believed she and Peter were “deliriously happy,” Bogdanovich and Shepherd fall in love on the set of the movie, and Polly has to make a decision: to save face and avoid personal humiliation by walking away from the production, or stay and fight for the creative baby that she feels ownership over. 

Polly Platt applying makeup blood to Timothy Bottoms on The Last Picture Show set | Photo Courtesy of Sashy Bogdanovich

SHOW NOTES: 

Sources specific to this episode:

This season is based in large part on Polly Platt's unpublished memoir, It Was Worth It, excerpted with the permission of Sashy Bodganovich.

 This episode includes excerpts from interviews with: Jules Fisher, Frank Marshall, Toby Rafelson, Nancy Griffin and Peggy Steffans. 

Here is a full list of sources referenced on this season. 

Cybill Shepherd with director Peter Bogdanovich on The Last Picture Show set

Music:

The music used in this episode, with the exception of the intro, was sourced from royalty-free music libraries and licensed music collections. The intro includes a clip from the film Casablanca.  

Excerpts from the following songs were used throughout the episode: 

There’s A Special Place for Some People - Chris Zabriskie
Bella Roma - Nonemis
Mister Poke Man - Peter Rockwell, Asger Wilde, Moellehoej Larsen 
A Dog with An Umbrella - Paul-Marie Jacques Bernard Barbier
A Walk in the Woods - Paul-Marie Jacques Bernard Barbier
Feel My Swagger - The New Fools
Organic Drums - Frederic Charles Sicart
The Eternal Scene - Rand Aldo
Land on the Golden Gate - Chris Zabriskie
Troubled Thoughts - Daryl Griffith
Glimmer - Hutch Demouilpied, Mix Amylo
Curious and Weird - Jean-Michel Vallet, Claire Guillot, Patrick Jean Chartol
Gobelin of Forest - Jean-Michel Vallet, Claire Guillot, Patrick Jean Chartol
Calm Waters - James Warburton
Open Window - Etienne Roussel

Credits:

This episode was written, narrated and produced by Karina Longworth.

Featuring special guests: Maggie Siff as the voice of Polly Platt, Bill Sage as Larry McMurtry and Meghann Lee as Cybill Shepherd.

Research and production assistant: Lindsey D. Schoenholtz.

Social media, transcription and additional research: Brendan Whalen.

Transcription and additional research: Kristen Sales and Wiley Wiggins

Producer: Tomeka Weatherspoon.

Editor:  Brendan Byrnes

Audio engineers: Jared O'Connell, Andrea Kristins and Brendan Byrnes.

Supervising Producer: Josephine Martorana.

Executive Producer: Chris Bannon.

Logo design: Teddy Blanks.

TARGETS with Karyn Kusama and new virtual screening series schedule

Due to the very necessary national conversation about race and police brutality that has been happening over the past 10 days, this week we postponed our schedule second installment of our Virtual Screening Series, in partnership with Vidiots Foundation. The conversation that had previously been scheduled for June 2, about Targets and episode 2 of Polly Platt, The Invisible Woman, is now rescheduled for this coming Tuesday, June 9.

Here’s the new Virtual Screening Series schedule…. Join us, won’t you?

June 9: Targets
Polly Platt got her first story and production design credits on her then-husband Peter Bogdanovich’s feature directorial debut, a bone-dry, bare-bones thriller about the real horror -- ie: mass shootings. Platt found the locations and designed the total look of the film around an aesthetic that, as she put it, "I thought would make a murderer out of me."

June 16: The Last Picture Show
While he and Polly were making this now-classic, Oscar-winning film, Peter Bogdanovich began an open affair with actress Cybill Shepherd. Humiliated though she was, Polly felt so much ownership over this movie that she refused to leave the production. 

June 23: What's Up Doc
Though their marriage was over, Polly Platt agreed to production design her now ex-husband’s next two movies, What’s Up Doc (1972) and Paper Moon (1973). What’s Up Doc would be an anomaly in Polly’s filmography as a production designer: a trailblazer in American realism, here Platt went all in on designing a live-action cartoon. 

June 30: A Star is Born (1976)
In production designing the Barbra Streisand-starring remake of one of Hollywood’s oldest myths, Polly got an up-close-and-personal glimpse into what it really looked like to be a powerful woman in Hollywood. She also got a chance to subtly work some of her own story into the design of the film. 

July 7:  Pretty Baby 
Platt began a major career transition with this controversial film, which she wrote and produced. Though set in a brothel in early 20th century New Orleans, Pretty Baby is infused with much of Polly’s own autobiography, and shows how deeply she was grappling with her feelings of abandonment—and worries that she was abandoning her own children. 

July 14: Terms of Endearment
A decade after her creative partnership with Bogdanovich ended, Platt began a new collaboration with an incredibly talented writer/director: James L. Brooks. This was the perfect job for Polly; many of those close to her believed that the novel that the movie was based on had been at least partially inspired by her.

July 21: The Witches of Eastwick 
Polly Platt’s last film as a production designer — a job she took after she had established herself as a writer/producer and announced her intention to direct –– also features the most production design of her career, as she matched her instinct for visual storytelling to the format of the 80s special effects blockbuster. 

July 28: Say Anything... 
During one of the last phases of her career, Polly became a mentor to a number of first-time directors, including Cameron Crowe, whose now-classic rom-com features Polly on-screen in a memorable cameo.

August 4: Bottle Rocket 
Polly shepherded Wes Anderson’s first feature through a long development process, believing strongly that he and the Wilson brothers were telling an independent, American story that would fall in the lineage of The Last Picture Show.

Peter Bogdanovich and the Woman Behind the Auteur (Polly Platt, The Invisible Woman, Episode 2)

Peter Bogdanovich and Polly Platt c. 1968 | Photo by Bruce McBroom via mptvimages

Listen to this episode Apple Podcasts. 

After the death of her first husband and creative partner, Polly moves to New York, where she swiftly meets and falls in love with Peter Bogdanovich. Together Polly and Peter build a life around the obsessive consumption of Hollywood movies, with Polly acting as Peter’s Jill-of-all-trades support system as he first ingratiates himself with the previous two generations of Hollywood auteurs as a critic/historian, and then makes his way into making his own films. Together, Polly and Peter write and produce Targets, Bogdanovich’s first credited feature, and also collaborate on a documentary about the great director John Ford. By the time Polly gives birth to their first daughter, she believes she and Peter are an indivisible, equal creative partnership — regardless of how credit is distributed in Hollywood. 

Peter and Polly in England, c. 1965 | Photo courtesy of Antonia Bogdanovich

SHOW NOTES: 

Sources specific to this episode:

This season is based in large part on Polly Platt's unpublished memoir, It Was Worth It, excerpted with the permission of Sashy Bodganovich.

 This episode includes excerpts from interviews with: Jules Fisher, Sashy Bogdanovich, Barbara Boyle, Fred Roos, Frank Marshall, Peggy Steffans and Rachel Ambramowitz. 

 Here is a full list of sources referenced on this season. 

Boris Karloff and Peter Bogdanovich in Targets c. 1968

Music:

The music used in this episode, with the exception of the intro, was sourced from royalty-free music libraries and licensed music collections. The intro includes a clip from the film Casablanca.  

Excerpts from the following songs were used throughout the episode: 

Trust In Fate - Julien Guillaume Yves Bonneau, François Rousselot
Play Smart - Franck Sarkissian
Hazy Nights - Various Composers
Without You Crooner - Franck Sarkissian
Strain Therapy - Massimo Catalano, Remigio Ducros
Silver Bullet - Elliot Holmes
Tooth Fairy - Various Composers
Sunset - Kai Engel
Suspicious Cat - Ilan Moshe Abou, Thierry Oliver Faure
Low Horizon - Kai Engel
Locked Minds - Walt Adams
Rite of Passage - Unknown Composer
Stripper - Geoffrey Peter Gascoyne
The Call of the Sea (Piano Only) - John Paul Labno
Nashville Girl - Various Composers
I Knew A Guy - Unknown Composer
Piano Sonata in C Minor
Ready to Love - Various Composers

Peter Bogdanovich and John Ford on the set of Bogdanovich's documentary Directed by John Ford

Credits:

This episode was written, narrated and produced by Karina Longworth.

Featuring special guest Maggie Siff as the voice of Polly Platt.

Research and production assistant: Lindsey D. Schoenholtz.

Social media, transcription and additional research: Brendan Whalen.

Transcription and additional research: Kristen Sales and Wiley Wiggins

 Produced and edited by Tomeka Weatherspoon.

 Audio engineers: Jared O'Connell, Andrea Kristins and Brendan Byrnes.

 Supervising Producer: Josephine Martorana.

 Executive Producer: Chris Bannon.

Logo design: Teddy Blanks.

Polly Platt Season Sources

 Sources for the full season:

It Was Worth It by Polly Platt

Polly Platt, Art Directors Guild Oral History, 2002

American Film Institute seminars featuring Polly Platt, quoted with permission from AFI

James L. Brooks papers, Margaret Herrick Library

Polly Platt clippings, Margaret Herrick Library

Polly Platt files, Art Directors Guild

INTERVIEWS:

Antonia Bogdanovich
Sashy Bogdanovich
Rachel Abramowitz
Alison Anders 
Don Block 
Barbara Boyle 
Jerry Bruckheimer 
Penny Finkelman Cox
Cameron Crowe 
Danny Devito 
Jules Fisher
Nancy Griffin 
Paula Herold 
Nessa Hyams 
Frank Marshall 
Larry McMurtry
David Moritz
Amy Pascal 
Lisa Maria Radano
Toby Rafelson
Fred Roos 
Stacey Sher
Peggy Steffans
Phoef Sutton
Kelly Wade 

BOOKS:

Picture Shows: The Life and Films of Peter Bogdanovich

Easy Riders, Raging Bulls by Peter Biskind

Cybill Disobedience by Cybill Shepherd

All My Friends are Going to Be Strangers by Larry McMurtry

The Last Picture Show by Larry McMurtry

Hollywood by Larry McMurtry

Terms of Endearment by Larry McMurtry

Robert Altman by Mitchell Zuckoff

A Paper Life by Tatum O’Neal

Hit and Run by Nancy Griffin and Kim Masters

Is That a Gun in Your Pocket? by Rachel Abramowitz

Pictures at a Revolution by Mark Harris

Can I Go Now? by Brian Kellow

My Lucky Stars by Shirley MacLaine

There Was a Little Girl by Brooke Shields

Barbra by Christopher Andersen

Lessons in Becoming Myself by Ellen Burstyn

In Pieces by Sally Field

Leading Lady by Stephen Galloway

My Lunches with Orson by Henry Jaglom

Watch Me by Anjelica Huston

Roger Corman by Beverly Gray

Best of Enemies by Gus Russo

The Simpsons: An Uncensored, Unauthorized History by John Ortved

The Moguls by Norman J. Zierold

The Simpsons: A Cultural History By Moritz Fink

ARTICLES:

“Remembering Polly Platt” The Hollywood Reporter, August 12, 2011

‘Lonesome Dove’ Legend Larry McMurtry on Fiction, Money, Womanizing, and Old Age by Michael Hoinski, Grantland, May 22, 2014

“Polly Platt, Film Producer and Designer, Dies at 72” Margalit Fox, New York Times, 7-31-2011

“Films Will be Dimmer Without Her” by Patrick Goldstein, LA Times, 7-30-11

Obituaries: Polly Platt. by Ryan Gilbey. The Guardian, 8-8-11

“Flashback for ‘60s filmmakers” by Lynette Rice, THR, 3-8-99

“Carsey-Werner signs up Platt” by Donna Parker, THR, 2-13-1995

“Platt pens McMurtry Pic, Hopes to Helm” — Variety, 2-26-96

“Crafts” by Holly Willis, THR, 12-7-93

“Polly’s progress” by Jean Cox, Women’s Wear Daily, 12-20-76

“Now Polly Platt Has a Script of Her Own” by John M. Wilson, Los Angeles Times, 1-15-78

SHE'S DONE EVERYTHING (except direct) BY RACHEL ABRAMOWITZ, Premiere magazine, November 1993

“Moving ‘Targets’” Variety, April 21, 2004

“Critic-Into-Film-maker int the French Style” by Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times, June 4, 1967

“Target’ For Exploitation: Refreshing, Promising 1st” by John Mahoney, The Hollywood Reporter May 6, 1968

“Par Buys ‘Targets’, Bogdanovich Indie” July 26, 1968, Hollywood Reporter

“Par Gropes on Sniper Pic” By Lee Beaupre, Variety,  August 7, 1968

“One Does Not Want This Sniper To Miss” by Renata Adler, New York Times August 25, 1968

“Bogdanovich Debuts as a Director with Targets” by Kevin Thomas, LA Times, September 6, 1968

“Larry McMurtry Speaks His Mind, Again” by Andrea Valdez, October 13, 2013

“Susan Sarandon on Her Love Affair With David Bowie, Woody Allen’s Creepiness, and Psychedelics” by Marlow Stern, The Daily Beast, Jul. 24, 2014

“Will ‘Anything’ Go Over?” by Jeffrey Wells, 8-8-93

“Pretty Baby” by Joan Goodman, NYM, September 26, 1977

Adler’s ‘Roses’ Set For Fox Film; Author Now To Adapt ‘Random,’ September

11, 1985, Variety 

“On Its Own Terms” by Joe Leydon, April 7, 1996, LA Times“When Hollywood Was Really a Man's World” July 19, 1998, LA Times

“Jack Nicholson Skiing Aspen’s Slopes” March 27, 1977, Arizona Republic

“Women Directors in Hollywood” by Jan Haag

“Breaking Away from Reverence and Rape: The AFI Directing Workshop for Women, Feminism, and the Politics of the Accidental Archive”

“The Moving Image: The Journal of the Association of Moving Image Archivists” Philis M. Barragán Goetz

Vol. 15, No. 2 (Fall 2015), Published by University of Minnesota Press“How to Succeed: Fail, Lose, Die - Women in Hollywood” by Maureen Orth  

“Shirley MacLaine on a Different Age of Sexual Harassers in Hollywood” by David Marchese, NYTimes, Nov. 4, 2019

“Shirley Maclaine’s Aurora Shines Again” by Pual Willistein, The Morning Call, 12/22/1996

“Winging It”, L.A. Examiner 2/21/1983

“She’s Done Everything Except Direct” by Rachel Abramovitz, Premiere, November 1993

“It wasn’t sexism, then” (Polly Platt, The Invisible Woman, Episode 1)

Listen to this episode on Apple Podcasts. 

As an Oscar-nominated production designer, screenwriter, producer and executive who put her stamp on some of the greatest and most loved films of the 1970s and 80s – including Paper Moon, Bad News Bears, Terms of Endearment, Broadcast News, The Witches of Eastwick and more—Polly Platt had a major impact on the careers of Barbra Streisand, Tatum O’Neal, Garry Marshall, Cameron Crowe and Wes Anderson. She also lived an epic Hollywood life off-screen; her personal life was the stuff of a Great American Novel, full of romances, heartbreak, alcoholism and the challenges of adapting to cataclysmic cultural change as an independent, professional woman – and single mom. And yet, despite all of this, if you know Polly Platt’s name today, it’s probably because, in 1970, her husband and creative collaborator Peter Bogdanovich had an affair with Cybill Shepherd while shooting the film that made both Bogdanovich and Shepherd major stars of their era, The Last Picture Show. But Platt was much more than a jilted wife: she was the secret, often invisible-to-the-public weapon behind some of the most loved American “auteur” films (many of them comedies, directed by men) of the last decades of the 20th century. 

Drawing on Platt’s unpublished memoir (which remained unfinished when she died in 2011), as well as ample interviews and archival research, The Invisible Woman will tell Polly Platt’s incredible story from her perspective, for the first time. A trailblazer in jobs rarely held by women in Hollywood to that point, Polly Platt’s story helps us understand the obstacles preventing gender equality behind the scenes in Hollywood — in the 1970s through the 1990s, and in the present day -- and allows us to contemplate what it was like to be a woman in Hollywood during a time when the feminist movement may have been remaking American society to some extent, but failed to make major inroads in the movie industry.

Today, we’ll begin with a look at how Polly Platt’s legacy was appraised when she died in 2011. Then we’ll go back in time to tell Polly’s story from the start, beginning with her Revolutionary Road-esque childhood in Europe and America as the neglected daughter of two alcoholics; to her years studying scenic design in environments in which women weren’t welcome; the secret pregnancy that halted her formal education, and the early marriage that took her West and cemented her desire to tell stories through design. Throughout, we’ll talk about how Platt’s experiences, as the product of an American military family of the 1950s—and the daughter of a mother who had been forced to abandon a career for motherhood––shaped her view of gender roles and relations, and her idea of what it meant to be the wife of an important man.

Polly Platt and her family, c. 1940's | Photo courtesy of Antonia Bogdanovich

SHOW NOTES: 

Sources specific to this episode:

This season is based in large part on Polly Platt's unpublished memoir, It Was Worth It, excerpted with the permission of Sashy Bodganovich.

 This episode includes excerpts from interviews with: Barbara Boyle, Rachel Abramowitz, Sashy Bogdanovich, Antonia Bogdanovich, Alison Anders, Penney Finkelman Cox and Jules Fisher.  

 Here is a full list of sources referenced on this season. 

Polly Platt and her family with a Nazi airplane | Photo courtesy of Antonia Bogdanovich

Music:

The music used in this episode, with the exception of the intro, was sourced from royalty-free music libraries and licensed music collections. The intro includes a clip from the film Casablanca.  

Excerpts from the following songs were used throughout the episode: 

Snowmen - Kai Engel
Play Smart - Franck Sarkissian
Out of the Skies, Under the Earth - Chris Zabriskie
Cylander Six - Chris Zabriskie
Triad March - Jack Shaindlin
After Work - Neuromancer
Will Be War Soon - T. Kosta
Ruins and Desolation - Bruno Pierre, Emmanuel Alexiu
Strain Therapy -  Massimo Catalano, Remigio Ducros
Sunset Finale - Jody Jenkins
Faster Does It - Kevin MacLeod
Memories of Vienna - Various Composers
Watch Me Now - David Thomas Connolly
Hazy Nights - Charlotte Glasson, Peter Ludlam, Hans Hummer
Land on the Golden Gate - Chris Zabriskie
A Dog with an Umbrella - Paul-Marie Jacques Bernard Barbier
The Call of the Sea - John Paul Labno
Tooth Fairy - Various Composers
Sunset - Kai Engel
Laser Disc - Chris Zabriskie
Undercover Vampire Policeman - Chris Zabriskie
Pangs of Fear - Various Composers
Dark Tavern - Walt Adams
Peaceful Piano - Neuromancer
What You’re Made Of - Gary Combs

Young Polly | Photo courtesy of Antonia Bogdanovich

Credits:

This episode was written, narrated and produced by Karina Longworth.

Featuring special guest Maggie Siff as the voice of Polly Platt.

Research and production assistant: Lindsey D. Schoenholtz.

Social media, transcription and additional research: Brendan Whalen.

Transcription and additional research: Kristen Sales and Wiley Wiggins

Producer: Tomeka Weatherspoon.

Edited by Brendan Byrnes.

Technical Support: Brendan Byrnes and Jared O'Connell.

Executive Producers: Chris Bannon and Josephine Martorana.

Logo design: Teddy Blanks.

VIDIOTS FOUNDATION & YOU MUST REMEMBER THIS VIRTUAL FILM SCREENING SERIES

Karina Longworth, film historian, and creator and host of You Must Remember This podcast, and Vidiots Foundation, the iconic L.A. video store-turned-film non-profit, are teaming up for a VIRTUAL FILM SCREENING SERIES, running Tuesday, May 26 through Tuesday, July 28, 2020. Follow @karinalongworth and @vidiots on Instagram for more information. 

The virtual screening series will follow the new season of You Must Remember This -- Polly Platt, The Invisible Woman. YMRT listeners, Vidiots fans, and classic movie buffs are invited to watch a movie every week, handpicked by Karina and Maggie, that relate to the week's podcast episode. Every Tuesday during the series they’ll be on Instagram Live at 6:30 PST/9:30 EST to discuss the movie and that week's episode with fans, and special guests.

Films include:

May 26: One-Eyed Jacks
When Polly Platt was a kid, she sought escape from her troubled home life by going to see Westerns. At age 20, in the midst of paralyzing grief, she saw One-Eyed Jacks — directed by and starring Marlon Brando — and the experience made her take action to follow her dream of working in movies.  

June 9: Targets
Polly Platt got her first story and production design credits on her then-husband Peter Bogdanovich’s feature directorial debut, a bone-dry, bare-bones thriller about the real horror -- ie: mass shootings. Platt found the locations and designed the total look of the film around an aesthetic that, as she put it, "I thought would make a murderer out of me."

June 16: The Last Picture Show
While he and Polly were making this now-classic, Oscar-winning film, Peter Bogdanovich began an open affair with actress Cybill Shepherd. Humiliated though she was, Polly felt so much ownership over this movie that she refused to leave the production. 

June 23: What's Up Doc
Though their marriage was over, Polly Platt agreed to production design her now ex-husband’s next two movies, What’s Up Doc (1972) and Paper Moon (1973). What’s Up Doc would be an anomaly in Polly’s filmography as a production designer: a trailblazer in American realism, here Platt went all in on designing a live-action cartoon. 

June 30: A Star is Born (1976)
In production designing the Barbra Streisand-starring remake of one of Hollywood’s oldest myths, Polly got an up-close-and-personal glimpse into what it really looked like to be a powerful woman in Hollywood. She also got a chance to subtly work some of her own story into the design of the film. 

July 7:  Pretty Baby 
Platt began a major career transition with this controversial film, which she wrote and produced. Though set in a brothel in early 20th century New Orleans, Pretty Baby is infused with much of Polly’s own autobiography, and shows how deeply she was grappling with her feelings of abandonment—and worries that she was abandoning her own children. 

July 14: Terms of Endearment
A decade after her creative partnership with Bogdanovich ended, Platt began a new collaboration with an incredibly talented writer/director: James L. Brooks. This was the perfect job for Polly; many of those close to her believed that the novel that the movie was based on had been at least partially inspired by her.

July 21: The Witches of Eastwick 
Polly Platt’s last film as a production designer — a job she took after she had established herself as a writer/producer and announced her intention to direct –– also features the most production design of her career, as she matched her instinct for visual storytelling to the format of the 80s special effects blockbuster. 

July 28: Say Anything... 
During one of the last phases of her career, Polly became a mentor to a number of first-time directors, including Cameron Crowe, whose now-classic rom-com features Polly on-screen in a memorable cameo.

August 4: Bottle Rocket 
Polly shepherded Wes Anderson’s first feature through a long development process, believing strongly that he and the Wilson brothers were telling an independent, American story that would fall in the lineage of The Last Picture Show.

More about Karina and YMRT: Karina Longworth is a film critic, author, and journalist based in LA. Longworth writes, hosts and produces the podcast You Must Remember This, about the secret and/or forgotten histories of Hollywood’s first century. Since launching as a passion project in April 2014, YMRT has become a critically acclaimed top podcast. "Ms. Longworth has hit on a peculiar sweet spot, where Hipsterdom meets Turner Classic Movies!" —The New York Times; "This podcast will change the way you think about movies" —Esquire Magazine; "Deep research, delicious tidbits & eyebrow arched narration!" —Flavorwire. The newest YMRT series stars Polly Platt -- producer, writer and Oscar-nominated production designer -- who lived an epic Hollywood life. If you know Platt’s name today, it’s probably because in 1970 her husband and creative collaborator Peter Bogdanovich had an affair with Cybill Shepherd while shooting the film that launched their careers, The Last Picture Show. But Platt was much more than a jilted wife: she was the secret, often invisible-to-the-public weapon behind some of the best films of the 1970s, '80s and '90s. Drawing on Platt’s unpublished memoir, as well as ample interviews and archival research, The Invisible Woman will tell Polly Platt’s incredible story from her perspective, for the first time. Learn more about the podcast at youmustrememberthispodcast.com.

About Vidiots: Vidiots, the iconic Los Angeles video store-turned-film non-profit, is relaunching as an expanded entertainment, social, and community space at the historic Eagle Theatre in Northeast L.A. Vidiots' new home will include a 250-seat state-of-the-art cinema for a full calendar of screenings, special events, and educational programs; beer, wine and food; a 40-seat flexible screening space, and Vidiots' over-50,000-title film and media collection. To learn more and support Vidiots' relaunch with a donation of any size, please visit vidiotsfoundation.org

Polly Platt Sneak Peek

We can hardly wait to share the untold story of Polly Platt, the secret weapon behind some of the most highly acclaimed films of the 1970s, '80s and '90s. Debuting Tuesday, May 26, this season will feature interviews and intimate details about her trailblazing legacy and heartbreaking private life, including excerpts from her own unpublished memoirs dealing with her creative collaborations and relationship with her second husband, Oscar-nominated filmmaker Peter Bogdanovich. Each episode features special guest, actress Maggie Siff, as the voice of Polly Platt.

We’re so excited about this season that we’re releasing the first 20 minutes here, as an extended preview. Enjoy, and please subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts to hear all 10 full length episodes, beginning next week. 

You Must Remember This New Season Coming May 26 - Polly Platt, The Invisible Woman

Polly Platt -- producer, writer and Oscar-nominated production designer -- lived an epic Hollywood life. And yet, if you know Platt’s name today, it’s probably because in 1970 her husband and creative collaborator Peter Bogdanovich had an affair with Cybill Shepherd while shooting the film that launched their careers, The Last Picture Show. But Platt was much more than a jilted wife: she was the secret, often invisible-to-the-public weapon behind some of the best films of the 1970s, '80s and '90s. Drawing on Platt’s unpublished memoir, as well as ample interviews and archival research, The Invisible Woman will tell Polly Platt’s incredible story from her perspective, for the first time. New episodes will begin releasing May 26.

MAKE ME OVER ARCHIVE

In this companion series to You Must Remember This, Karina Longworth will introduce eight stories about Hollywood’s intersection with the beauty industry. Told by writers/reporters known for their work at The New Yorker, The New York Times and other publications, Make Me Over will explore a range of topics, including Hollywood’s first weight loss surgery, the story of the star whose unique skills led to the development of waterproof mascara, black beauty in the 1990s, and much more. 

Episodes:

• HOLLYWOOD’S FIRST WEIGHT LOSS SURGERY: MOLLY O’DAY (MAKE ME OVER, EPISODE 1):

  At the age of 18, actress Molly O’Day’s career showed great promise—the only thing holding her back was a bit of pubescent pudge. When diets failed, she became the guinea pig of Hollywood's first highly-publicized weight loss surgery. This was in 1929, and the procedure was, as one fan magazine described it "dangerous...and all in vain." What lead Molly to such desperation? And what happened after the surgery her former lover, actor George Raft, declared “ruined her health, her career, and damn near killed her”? This episode was written and performed by Megan Koester. Listen
  

• HOLLYWOOD’S FIRST WEIGHT LOSS GURU: MADAME SYLVIA (MAKE ME OVER, EPISODE 2):

  Glamourous and shrewd, Sylvia of Hollywood became the movie industry’s first weight-loss guru during the end of the silent era. An immigrant of mysterious origin, she would cannily market herself to clients like Gloria Swanson, who she promised to ‘slenderize, refine, reduce, and squeeze’ into shape. But her taste for gossip and publicity would become her downfall in the 1930s when she published a catty tell-all memoir about her star clients. This episode was written and performed by Christina Newland. Listen
  

• MARIE DRESSLER, THE FIRST FEMALE STAR TO CONQUER HOLLYWOOD’S AGEISM (MAKE ME OVER, EPISODE 3):

  In 1933, the biggest female star in American movies wasn’t a sex symbol like Greta Garbo, Jean Harlow, or Marlene Dietrich. It was Marie Dressler — homely, overweight, and over 60 years old. The public loved nothing better than to see their Marie play a drunk or a dowager and steal every scene from the glamour girls less than half her age. Dressler had been down and out for most of the 1920s. That she became a star at age 60 was an achievement that told Depression-battered audiences it was never too late. Today we take a look at the life of Marie Dressler; from Broadway, to the picket lines, to the breadline and to the Oscar podium, she proved that in some cases, Hollywood stardom can be more than skin-deep. This episode was written and performed by Farran Smith Nehme. Listen
  

• PASSING FOR WHITE: MERLE OBERON (MAKE ME OVER, EPISODE 4):

  In 1935, Merle Oberon became the first biracial actress to be nominated for a Best Actress Oscar, an incredible achievement in then-segregated Hollywood -- except that nobody in Hollywood knew Oberon was biracial. Born in Bombay into abject poverty in 1911, Oberon's fate seemed sealed in her racist colonial society. But a series of events, lies, men, and an obsession with controlling her own image -- even if it meant bleaching her own skin -- changed Oberon's path forever. This episode was written and performed by Halley Bondy. Listen
  

• ESTHER WILLIAMS AND THE BIRTH OF WATERPROOF MAKEUP (MAKE ME OVER, EPISODE 5):

  Esther Williams single-handedly helped to popularize the past time of swimming, first as the star swimmer of the San Francisco production of Billy Rose's Aquacade, and then as the star of Hollywood films like Bathing Beauties and Million Dollar Mermaid. Williams’s stardom—and the necessity to maintain her image as a grinning glamour girl, even while submerged underwater—led to the creation of several waterproof products and swimwear innovations, from waterproof foundation and eyeliner to bathing cap couture. Despite two decades of sustained celebrity and brand power, Williams eventually struggled to maintain the pristine bathing beauty facade. She lost her MGM contract in the 1960s and had to pay millions to the studio in damages; on her way down, she slapped her name on swimming pools and exercise videos, stumbled through four unhappy marriages and started to experiment with taking LSD for her depression. This episode was written and performed by Rachel Syme Listen
  

• CASS ELLIOT, CARNIE WILSON AND FAT-SHAMING IN ROCK AND POP (MAKE ME OVER, EPISODE 6):

  Cass Elliot didn’t die eating a ham sandwich. But the lasting power of that urban legend speaks to a far darker story. Elliot possessed one of the most influential voices of the 1960s. However, while her big break with The Mamas and The Papas and meteoric career changed the LA music scene forever, it also entrapped Elliot in a cycle of fat-shaming, sending her spiraling into catastrophic weight-loss regimens. In this episode, we’ll talk about the music industry’s complicated relationship with weight, how crash dieting likely led to the untimely death of this music legend, and the true legacy of Elliot in pop culture. This episode was written and performed by Lexi Pandell. Listen
  

• THE HEMINGWAY CURSE?: MARIEL AND MARGAUX (MAKE ME OVER, EPISODE 7):

  A close look at the parallel lives of Margaux and Mariel Hemingway, sisters born with a world-famous last name that stood for both genius and self-destruction. Both rose to fame in the 1970s, Margaux as a supermodel and Mariel as an actress, and then struggled with various demons. But while Margaux followed her grandfather's fate, Mariel confronted the family's dark legacy and reinvented herself as a mental health and wellness advocate. This episode was written and performed by Michael Schulman. Listen
  

• VANESSA WILLIAMS, WHITNEY HOUSTON AND HOLLYWOOD’S MISOGYNOIR PROBLEM (MAKE ME OVER, EPISODE 8):

  In 1983, Vanessa Williams became the first black woman to win Miss America. In 1984, a few weeks from the end of her reign, she was forced to step down when she found out Penthouse was to publish unauthorized nude images of her in their magazine. Williams went on to have a successful singing career and star in movies, too, but her career trajectory tells more than the story of a black beauty icon who overcame obstacles to make it in Hollywood. It's a story that echoes the legacies of racism, colorism, tokenism, and misogynoir (the misogyny experienced specifically by black women) in 20th century Hollywood and how, as a result, black women — from Williams to Whitney Houston — have had to display exceptional talent to make the case that their images are worth circulating and celebrating as beautiful. This episode was written and performed by Cassie da Costa. Listen

Vanessa Williams, Whitney Houston and Hollywood’s Misogynoir Problem (Make Me Over, Episode 8)

Listen to this episode on Apple Podcasts. 

In 1983, Vanessa Williams became the first black woman to win Miss America. In 1984, a few weeks from the end of her reign, she was forced to step down when she found out Penthouse was to publish unauthorized nude images of her in their magazine. Williams went on to have a successful singing career and star in movies, too, but her career trajectory tells more than the story of a black beauty icon who overcame obstacles to make it in Hollywood. It's a story that echoes the legacies of racism, colorism, tokenism, and misogynoir (the misogyny experienced specifically by black women) in 20th century Hollywood and how, as a result, black women — from Williams to Whitney Houston — have had to display exceptional talent to make the case that their images are worth circulating and celebrating as beautiful.

This episode was written and performed by Cassie da Costa, an entertainment writer for The Daily Beast. She lives in Ojai, California.

SHOW NOTES: 

Sources specific to this episode:

“Miss America: A History”, missamerica.org

There She Is, Miss America: The Politics of Sex, Beauty, and Race in America’s Most Famous Pageant edited by Elwood Watson and Darcy Martin

You Have No Idea: A Famous Daughter, Her No-nonsense Mother, and How They Survived Pageants, Hollywood, Love, Loss (and Each Other) by Vanessa Williams and Helen Williams

Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments: Intimate Histories of Social Upheaval by Saidiya Hartman

From Mammy to Miss America and Beyond: Cultural Images and the Shaping of U.S. Social policy by K. Sue Jewell

“Bob Giuccone, Penthouse Founder, Dies at 79”, obituary by Robert D. McFadden, The New York Times, October 20, 2010, The New York Times

“Bob Guccione’s FBI File: From Direct Mail Smut Peddler To Penthouse Founder” by Unknown, January 18, 2011, Talking Points Memo

“Interview with Penthouse’s Bob Guccione” October 27, 2008, YouTube

“The Indian Miss America and the First Native Miss America” by Indian Country Today, September 19, 2013, Indian Country Today

“Miss America: United States Pageant” by John M. Cunningham, November 8, 2019, Encyclopedia Britannica

“Ex Miss America Vanessa Williams Overcomes Her Disgrace by Showing and Singing the Right Stuff” by John Stark and Michael Alexander, January 30, 1989, People Magazine archives

“How Vanessa Williams Endured Her Miss America Scandal” by Oprah’s Master Class, July 13, 2014, OWN via YouTube 

“Vanessa Williams at age 29 interviewed by Oprah Winfrey”, August 18, 2019, YouTube

“Fifty Years Ago, Protesters Took on the Miss America Pageant and Electrified the Feminist Movement” by Roxane Gay, January 2018 issue, Smithsonian Magazine

“‘You can be unapologetically black’: How Miss Black America has endured 50 years” by Robin Givhan, August 28, 2018, The Washington Post

Vanessa Williams resigns her Miss America title, 1984

Music:

The music used in this episode, with the exception of the intro, was sourced from royalty-free music libraries and licensed music collections. The intro includes a clip from the film Casablanca.  

Excerpts from the following songs were used throughout the episode: 

Innervisions -  Stuart Alexander Elliott, Rick Driscoll, Jacqui Copland
Peacefire - Steve Baker
Beauties American Style - Hans Conzelmann, Delle Haensch
Dixie Blues - Geoffrey Peter Gascoyne
Good Vibe - Richard Glasser, Donald Geoffrey Peake
Ballad - Dick Walter
Dangerline - Giuliano Panella
The Dealer - Andrea Litkei, Ervin Litkei
Contemplation - Hans Haider
Style and Grace - Geoffrey Wilkinson
Beauty Queen - Rolf Anton Krueger
Romantic Soul - Dean Landon, Caron Lyn Nightingale
When Love Comes Around - Paul Lenart, Larry Luddecke
Pendulum - Didier Francois Dani Goret
Love Hope Rebuild - Steve Baker

Whitney Houston’s 1987 album, Whitney

Credits:

Make Me Over is a special presentation of You Must Remember This. It was created and directed by Karina Longworth, who also edited the scripts.

This episode was written and performed by Cassie da Costa. 

Research and production assistant: Lindsey D. Schoenholtz.

Social media assistant: Brendan Whalen.

Producer: Tomeka Weatherspoon. 

Editor: Jared O'Connell.

Audio engineers: Jared O'Connell, Andrea Kristins and Brendan Burns. 

Supervising Producer: Josephine Martorana. 

Executive Producer: Chris Bannon. 

Logo design: Teddy Blanks and Aaron Nestor.

Vanessa Williams, in a still from Save the Best for Last video, 1991

The Hemingway Curse?: Mariel and Margaux (Make Me Over, Episode 7)

Listen to this episode on Apple Podcasts. 

A close look at the parallel lives of Margaux and Mariel Hemingway, sisters born with a world-famous last name that stood for both genius and self-destruction. Both rose to fame in the 1970s, Margaux as a supermodel and Mariel as an actress, and then struggled with various demons. But while Margaux followed her grandfather's fate, Mariel confronted the family's dark legacy and reinvented herself as a mental health and wellness advocate.

This episode was written and performed by Michael Schulman, a writer at The New Yorker and the author of "Her Again: Becoming Meryl Streep," a New York Times bestseller. His work has also appeared in Vanity Fair, the New York Times, and other publications. Special thanks to our guest star Tavi Gevinson, who played the Hemingway sisters in this episode. 

Margaux Hemingway Photographed by Francesco Scavullo, Vogue, April 1975

SHOW NOTES: 

Sources specific to this episode:

Finding My Balance: A Memoir by Mariel Hemingway

Out Came the Sun: Overcoming the Legacy of Mental Illness, Addiction, and Suicide in My Family by Mariel Hemingway

Hemingway: Winner Take Nothing directed by Michael Collins

Running from Crazy directed by Barbara Kopple

“Two Films That Subvert Feminism” by Frank Rich, New York Post, June 12, 1976

“Rape: Does It Wow ’Em in Peoria?” by Marjorie Rosen, Ms., July, 1976

“The Screen: ‘Lipstick’” by Vincent Canby, New York Times, April 3, 1976

“Not the Vintage Margaux” by Kristin McMurran, People, Feb. 8, 1988

“A Life Eclipsed” by Karen S. Schneider, People, July 15, 1996

Woody Allen and Mariel Hemingway in Manhattan, 1979

Music:

The music used in this episode, with the exception of the intro, was sourced from royalty-free music libraries and licensed music collections. The intro includes a clip from the film Casablanca.  

Excerpts from the following songs were used throughout the episode: 

Motion Picture - Colin Currie
Objective - Robert Edwards, Mark Anderson
Devil Heart - Daniel Horacio Diaz, Andre Paul Marie Charlier
Space Cocaine - Sammy Burdson, Lewis Parker
Ambient Registers - Colin Currie
Roguish Stroll - Toby Marsden, Harvey David Wade
Mists of Antiquity - Sidney John Kay
Black Virgin - Piotr Moss
A Picture of You - Roman Raithel
Pendulum - Didier Francois Dani Goret

Margaux and Mariel Hemingway at Studio 54, 1979

Credits:

Make Me Over is a special presentation of You Must Remember This. It was created and directed by Karina Longworth, who also edited the scripts.

This episode was written and performed by Michael Schulman. 

Guest star Tavi Gevinson played the Hemingway sisters. 

Research and production assistant: Lindsey D. Schoenholtz.

Social media assistant: Brendan Whalen.

Producer: Tomeka Weatherspoon. 

Editor: Jared O'Connell.

Audio engineers: Jared O'Connell, Andrea Kristins and Brendan Burns. 

Supervising Producer: Josephine Martorana. 

Executive Producer: Chris Bannon. 

Logo design: Teddy Blanks and Aaron Nestor.

Hemingway Sisters Muffet, Margaux and Mariel with their father Jack

Cass Elliot, Carnie Wilson and Fat-Shaming in Rock and Pop (Make Me Over, Episode 6)

Listen to this episode on Apple Podcasts. 

Cass Elliot didn’t die eating a ham sandwich. But the lasting power of that urban legend speaks to a far darker story. Elliot possessed one of the most influential voices of the 1960s. However, while her big break with The Mamas and The Papas and meteoric career changed the LA music scene forever, it also entrapped Elliot in a cycle of fat-shaming, sending her spiraling into catastrophic weight-loss regimens. In this episode, we’ll talk about the music industry’s complicated relationship with weight, how crash dieting likely led to the untimely death of this music legend, and the true legacy of Elliot in pop culture.

This episode was written and performed by Lexi Pandell, a writer from Oakland, California. Her work has been published by The Atlantic, The New York Times, WIRED, The New Republic, Condé Nast Traveler, GQ, Playboy, and many others.

Mamas & Papas c. 1967

SHOW NOTES: 

Sources specific to this episode:

Dream a Little Dream of Me by Eddie Fiegel

Go Where You Wanna Go: The Oral History of The Mamas and The Papas by Matthew Greenwald

American Legends: Mama Cass by Charles Rivers Editors

Reducing Bodies: Mass Culture and the Female Figure in Postwar America by Elizabeth Matelski

California Dreamin’ by Michelle Phillips

The Mamas & the Papas: Behind the Music from VH1, 1998

E! True Hollywood Story: Mama Cass Elliot, 1996

“Mama Cass: A Myth, Larger Than Life,” July 31, 1992, Entertainment Weekly

“California Dreamgirl,” December 2007, Vanity Fair

“Sink Along with Mama Cass,” June 1, 1969, Esquire

“What a Way to Lose 110 Pounds!” March 1969, The Ladies Home Journal

“The Untold Story: Cass Elliot’s Daughter On the Crushing Fat-Shaming Her Mother Endured,” May 24, 2019, NextTribe

“Cass Elliot, Pop Singer, Dies; Star of the Mamas and Papas,” July 30, 1974, The New York Times

“How Karen Carpenter's Death Changed the Way We Talk About Anorexia,” May 23, 2016, Time

“Wilson Phillips’s California Dream,” May 17, 1990, Rolling Stone

“Carnie Wilson Says She Was Weighed and Fat-Shamed by Howard Stern: 'I Was Devastated',” November 8, 2017, People

Excerpts from the following television shows and films were used throughout the episode:

The Mamas & the Papas: Behind the Music from VH1, 1998

Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, 1997

Man of the Year, 2006

The Mike Douglas Show, 1970

E! True Hollywood Story: Mama Cass Elliot, 1996

The Dinah Shore Show, 1972

Different - Cass Elliot featured in Pufnstuf, 1970

The Carol Burnett Show, Season 4, Episode 8, 1970

The Carol Burnett Show, Season 5, Episode 4, 1971

The Red Skelton Show, 1971

The Tonight Show, 1974

The Talk, November 8, 2017

Carnie Wilson: Unstapled, 2010

Cass Elliot, 1967 Photo by Jerry Schatzberg/Getty Images

Music:

The music used in this episode, with the exception of the intro, was sourced from royalty-free music libraries and licensed music collections. The intro includes a clip from the film Casablanca.  

Excerpts from the following songs were used throughout the episode: 

California Dreamin’ - The Mamas and The Papas
Creeque Alley - The Mamas and The Papas
Home Fires - Preservation Hall, Jenson Navarro
Summer Of Love - Christophe Marie Alai Deschamps , Brisa Roché
Picking Daisies - Dominique Gabriel Joseph Depret
Sometime - Rebecca Ruth Hall
Caribbean Fun - Gerhard Narholz
Nice To Meet You - Silvain Vanot
The Face - Julien Guillaume Yves Bonneau, David Alphonse Pierre Krutten, James Sheppard
Water Rising - Gareth David Dickson
One Emotion - Vasco, Jeremy Noel William Abbott
Snowmen - Kai Engel

Credits:

Make Me Over is a special presentation of You Must Remember This. It was created and directed by Karina Longworth, who also edited the scripts.

This episode was written and performed by Lexi Pandell.

Research and production assistant: Lindsey D. Schoenholtz.

Social media assistant: Brendan Whalen.

Producer: Tomeka Weatherspoon. 

Editor: Jared O'Connell.

Audio engineers: Jared O'Connell, Andrea Kristins and Brendan Burns. 

Supervising Producer: Josephine Martorana. 

Executive Producer: Chris Bannon. 

Logo design: Teddy Blanks and Aaron Nestor.

Wilson Phillips, 1991

Esther Williams and the Birth of Waterproof Makeup (Make Me Over, Episode 5)

Listen to this episode on Apple Podcasts.

Esther Williams single-handedly helped to popularize the past time of swimming, first as the star swimmer of the San Francisco production of Billy Rose's Aquacade, and then as the star of Hollywood films like Bathing Beauties and Million Dollar Mermaid. Williams’s stardom—and the necessity to maintain her image as a grinning glamour girl, even while submerged underwater—led to the creation of several waterproof products and swimwear innovations, from waterproof foundation and eyeliner to bathing cap couture. Despite two decades of sustained celebrity and brand power, Williams eventually struggled to maintain the pristine bathing beauty facade. She lost her MGM contract in the 1960s and had to pay millions to the studio in damages; on her way down, she slapped her name on swimming pools and exercise videos, stumbled through four unhappy marriages and started to experiment with taking LSD for her depression. Drawing on previously untapped resources, Rachel Syme will tell the story of Williams' rise and fall, and the innovations in aqua-beauty she inspired, while also analyzing why we want to be waterproof, why we want to be so invulnerable to the elements—and why putting swimming on-screen led to extra pressures for women to look put-together, even when sopping wet. 

This episode was written and performed by Rachel Syme, a writer, reporter and cultural critic living in New York City. who writes a regular column for The New Yorker on fashion and beauty. She is also a regular contributor to The New York Times Magazine, GQ, Vanity Fair, and Esquire. She often writes about the complex intersection between fame, glamour, beauty, and feminism.

SHOW NOTES: 

Sources specific to this episode:

The Million Dollar Mermaid: An Autobiography by Esther Williams 

Synchronized Swimming: An American History by Dawn Payson Bean

The Billy Rose Aquacade collection at the NYPL Performing Arts Library

“Tale of A Mermaid: Swimming Regimen Still Suits Esther Williams at 75,” July 23, 1997, The Pittsburgh Post Gazette

“Secret Sources” by Alexandra Penney, October 23, 1977, The New York Times 

“Beauty, Making a Splash” by Linda Wells, June 4, 1989, The New York Times

“Eleanor Holm Whalen, 30's Swimming Champion” obituary, February 2, 2004, The New York Times

“Esther Williams, Swimming Champion Who Became a Movie Star, Dies at 91” June 6, 2013, The New York Times

“The Aquacade of Queens,” by Sergey Kadinsky, Hidden Waters of New York

Esther Williams and Tom and Jerry in Dangerous When Wet (1953)

Music:

The music used in this episode, with the exception of the intro, was sourced from royalty-free music libraries and licensed music collections. The intro includes a clip from the film Casablanca.  

Excerpts from the following songs were used throughout the episode: 

Better Late Than Never - Laurence Holloway
Hollywood Forever - Jean Claudric
Make Believe You're A Hero - John Harry Cacavas, Hal David
How About Mine - John Harry Cacavas, Hal David
Two Latin Lovers - John Harry Cacavas, Hal David
Can't Get You Out Of My Mind - John Harry Cacavas, Hal David
Kitsch Comedy - Peter Jeffries
Wrong Track - Philippe Jacques Marie Hersant
Love Pain - Bruno Raymond Bertoli
Tragical Destiny - Bruno Raymond Bertoli
Escape In The Dark - Jean Claudric
Meet The Host - Max Harris
Johnny Ubiquitous - Trevor Duncan
A Life Of Memories - Jean Claudric

Esther Williams applying her makeup c. 1956

Credits:

Make Me Over is a special presentation of You Must Remember This. It was created and directed by Karina Longworth, who also edited the scripts.

This episode was written and performed by Rachel Syme.

Research and production assistant: Lindsey D. Schoenholtz.

Social media assistant: Brendan Whalen.

Producer: Tomeka Weatherspoon. 

Editor: Jared O'Connell.

Audio engineers: Jared O'Connell, Andrea Kristins and Brendan Burns. 

Supervising Producer: Josephine Martorana. 

Executive Producer: Chris Bannon. 

Logo design: Teddy Blanks and Aaron Nestor.

Passing for White: Merle Oberon (Make Me Over, Episode 4)

Listen to this episode on Apple Podcasts. 

In 1935, Merle Oberon became the first biracial actress to be nominated for a Best Actress Oscar, an incredible achievement in then-segregated Hollywood -- except that nobody in Hollywood knew Oberon was biracial. Born in Bombay into abject poverty in 1911, Oberon's fate seemed sealed in her racist colonial society. But a series of events, lies, men, and an obsession with controlling her own image -- even if it meant bleaching her own skin -- changed Oberon's path forever.

This episode was written and performed by Halley Bondy, a writer and journalist whose work has appeared in NBC, The Outline, Eater NY, Paste Magazine, Scary Mommy, Bustle, Vice, and more. She's an author of five young adult books, a handful of plays, an is a writer/producer for the podcast "Masters of Scale." She lives in Brooklyn with husband/cheerleader Tim, and her amazing toddler Robin.

Merle Oberon and Leslie Howard in the Scarlet Pimpernel, 1934

SHOW NOTES: 

Sources specific to this episode:

Race and the Modern Exotic: Three ‘Australian’ Women on Global Display by Angela Wollacott 

Merle: A Biography of Merle Oberon by Charles Higham and Roy Moseley

Charmed Lives: A Family Romance by Michael Korda

Another Life: A Memoir of Other People by Michael Korda

“‘Queenie’ and the Novel Fact of Oberon’s Fiction” feature by Kevin Thomas, May 31, 1985, The L.A. Times

Korda: Britain’s Only Movie Mogul by Charles Drazin

“The Trouble with Merle” a documentary by Marée Delofski, 2002

Goldwyn by A. Scott Berg, 1998

“Interval” the American Film Institute

“Asians Continue to Use Skin Whitening Products Despite Their Toxic Levels of Mercury” by Meera Navlakha, 5 September 2019, Vice.com 

“Sulfa drug.” ed. Kara Rogers, Britannica

“Health Effects of Exposures to Mercury,” by the Environmental Protection Agency

“Skin Lightening,” by the National Health Service

The Body Keeps the Score by Dr. Bessel van der Kolk

Cagney by John McCabe, 1997

Alexander Korda​ by Paul Taboni

Alexander Korda: The Man Who Could Miracles​ by Karol Kulik

Korda: Britain’s Only Movie Mogul​ by Charles Drazin

Fredric March and Merle Oberon, The Dark Angel, 1935

Music:

The music used in this episode, with the exception of the intro, was sourced from royalty-free music libraries and licensed music collections. The intro includes a clip from the film Casablanca.  

Excerpts from the following songs were used throughout the episode:

The Black Dahlia - Paul Martin Pritchard
A Deep Longing -  Laurent Eric Couson
Psychotic Mind - Patrick Thomas Hawes
Evening Papers - Geoffrey Peter Gascoyne
Blue Moan - Keith Charles Nichols
Sunset on Happiness - Laurent Eric Couson
Hollywood Holiday - Frank Samuels
Lonely Landscape - David Snell
Maze - Piotr Moss
Sentimental - Peter Yorke
Melancholy Feel - Mike Sunderland
Affairs of the Heart - Frederick Humphries
Tendre Billet Doux - Pierre Marcel Thierry Blanchard
Black Virgin - Piotr Moss
Voltar A Alfama - Marc-Olivier Nicolas Dupin,Christian Toucas
Farewell - Roman Raithel
A Picture of You - Roman Raithel

Credits:

Make Me Over is a special presentation of You Must Remember This. It was created and directed by Karina Longworth, who also edited the scripts.

This episode was written and performed by Halley Bondy.

Additional research by Kristen Sales. 

Research and production assistant: Lindsey D. Schoenholtz.

Social media assistant: Brendan Whalen.

Producer: Tomeka Weatherspoon. 

Editor: Jared O'Connell.

Audio engineers: Jared O'Connell, Andrea Kristins and Brendan Burns. 

Supervising Producer: Josephine Martorana. 

Executive Producer: Chris Bannon. 

Logo design: Teddy Blanks and Aaron Nestor.

Marie Dressler, the First Female Star to Conquer Hollywood’s Ageism (Make Me Over, Episode 3)

Listen to this episode on Apple Podcasts. 

In 1933, the biggest female star in American movies wasn’t a sex symbol like Greta Garbo, Jean Harlow, or Marlene Dietrich. It was Marie Dressler — homely, overweight, and over 60 years old. The public loved nothing better than to see their Marie play a drunk or a dowager and steal every scene from the glamour girls less than half her age. Dressler had been down and out for most of the 1920s. That she became a star at age 60 was an achievement that told Depression-battered audiences it was never too late. Today we take a look at the life of Marie Dressler; from Broadway, to the picket lines, to the breadline and to the Oscar podium, she proved that in some cases, Hollywood stardom can be more than skin-deep.

This episode was written and performed by Farran Smith Nehme, who has written about film and film history for the New York Post, the Wall Street Journal, Barron’s, the New York Times, Film Comment, Sight & Sound, Criterion, and at her blog, Self-Styled Siren. Her novel, Missing Reels, was published in 2014.

Charles Chaplin, Marie Dressler, Mabel Normand, and Peggy Page in Tillie's Punctured Romance, 1914

SHOW NOTES: 

Sources specific to this episode:

Without Lying Down: Frances Marion and the Powerful Early Women of Hollywood by Cari Beauchamp

My Own Story by Marie Dressler

Marie Dressler: A Biography by Matthew Kennedy

Marie Dressler: The Unlikeliest Star by Betty Lee

The Great Movie Stars: The Golden Years by David Shipman

“How to Lose Your Job as a Motion-Picture Exhibitor” by John McElwee, at Greenbriar Picture Shows

A Great Big Girl Like Me: The Films of Marie Dressler by Victoria Sturtevant

Interview with Cari Beauchamp, Oct. 15, 2019

Greta Garbo and Marie Dressler in Anna Christie, 1930

Music:

The music used in this episode, with the exception of the intro, was sourced from royalty-free music libraries and licensed music collections. The intro includes a clip from the film Casablanca.  

Excerpts from the following songs were used throughout the episode:

When Pictures Learned To Move - Roman Raithel
Sweet Annabelle -  Sam Fonteyn
Tell Me What You Know -  Jess Ellis Knubis
Twitten Twirlings - Miles Dylan, Harry Spencer
Dancing Society - Robert Sharples
The Great Depression - Geoffrey Peter Gascoyne
Old Slapper - Geoffrey Peter Gascoyne
Oh What Fun - Frederick George Charrosin
Yacht Club - Alain Francois Edouard Bernard
Radio Days - Nicolas Wilhem Mollard
Swing Nocturno - Otto Sieben
A Picture of You - Roman Raithel
Paris Blues - Marc-Olivier Nicolas Dupin
Periodicality - Laurent Dury

Credits:

Make Me Over is a special presentation of You Must Remember This. It was created and directed by Karina Longworth, who also edited the scripts.

This episode was written and performed by Farran Smith Nehme. 

Research and production assistant: Lindsey D. Schoenholtz.

Social media assistant: Brendan Whalen.

Producer: Tomeka Weatherspoon. 

Editor: Jared O'Connell.

Audio engineers: Jared O'Connell, Andrea Kristins and Brendan Burns. 

Supervising Producer: Josephine Martorana. 

Executive Producer: Chris Bannon. 

Logo design: Teddy Blanks and Aaron Nestor.