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 a

44: Charles Manson’s Hollywood, Part 1: What We Talk About When We Talk About The Manson Murders

1 May 26th, 2015 40m 14s

This season, You Must Remember This will explore the murders committed in the summer of 1969 by followers of Charles Manson. Today, we’ll talk about what was going on in the show business capital that made Manson seem like a relatively normal g

146: Disney’s Most Controversial Film (Six Degrees of Song of the South, Episode 1)

1 Oct 22nd, 2019 1h

Disney Plus is launching with the stated intention of streaming the entire Disney library... except for "Song of the South," a 1946 animation/live-action hybrid film set on a post-Civil War plantation. It was theatrically re-released as recentl

Sammy and Dino Episode 7: Yes I Can

1 Dec 7th, 2021 1h 7m

Released in 1965, Sammy Davis Jr.'s autobiography became an instant classic, one of the most dynamic celebrity memoirs ever published and a testament to Davis’s barrier-breaking success as a black man in America. But the story behind the book,

Sammy and Dino Episode 6: The Rat Pack

Nov 30th, 2021 1h 3m

In the early 40s, both Dean and Sammy idolized Frank Sinatra. 20 years later, they became Sinatra’s cohorts in the Rat Pack, and, through Vegas gigs and increasingly disposable movies, the trio set a standard for grown men behaving badly that’s

147: Hattie McDaniel (Six Degrees of Song of the South, Episode 2)

Oct 29th, 2019 1h

Song of the South co-stars Hattie McDaniel, the first black performer to win an Oscar (for her supporting role as “Mammy” in Gone with the Wind). By the time Song of the South was released, McDaniel was the subject of much criticism in the blac

90: Six Degrees of Joan Crawford: The Middle Years (Mildred Pierce to Johnny Guitar)

1 Aug 30th, 2016 52m 19s

Joan Crawford struggled through what she called her “middle years,” the period during her 40s before she remade herself from aging, slumping MGM deadweight into a fleet, journeywoman powerhouse who starred in some of the most interesting films

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

2 Mar 10th, 2020 41m 35s

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 going to publish unauthorized nude images of her in their m

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

2 Feb 11th, 2020 49m 21s

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 pov

Sammy and Dino Episode 9: Is That All There Is?

Dec 21st, 2021 1h 15m

Desperate to be seen as cool and not a relic of an earlier age in 70s America, Sammy gets into porn and drugs. A Rat Pack reunion gives him renewed purpose, but causes Dean to alienate himself further. As their time begins to run out, both Samm

Sammy and Dino Episode 8: Generation Gap

Dec 14th, 2021 1h 21m

In the mid-1960s, 47 year-old Dean Martin proves he's still got it by knocking the Beatles off the top of the pop charts, and by launching his long-running TV show, which brought a version of his nightclub act into America’s living rooms every

Sammy and Dino Episode 2: Martin and Lewis, Sammy and Mickey and Frank

Nov 2nd, 2021 1h 2m

Dean Martin meets and begins collaborating with Jerry Lewis. Martin and Lewis — an Italian and a Jew — become the most successful nightclub act in the country, and transition to Hollywood. Meanwhile, Sammy Davis Jr, determined to get the attent

Sammy and Dino Episode 1: The Hustle

1 Oct 26th, 2021 1h 3m

Sammy Davis Jr. and Dean Martin would become icons for how immigrants and people of color could access the American Dream in the 20th Century. Both grew up in marginalized communities where they learned an ethos of success based on hustle. Toda

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

Feb 4th, 2020 47m 37s

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

55: Charles Manson’s Hollywood, Part 12: The Manson Family on Trial

Aug 11th, 2015 56m 38s

The trials of the Manson family became a kind of public theater which a number of current and future filmmakers found themselves caught up in. Joan Didion bought a dress for a Manson girl to wear to court, Dennis Hopper visited Manson in prison

54: Charles Manson’s Hollywood, Part 11: Death Valley ’69

Aug 4th, 2015 48m 28s

After the murders, Manson moved his family to the depths of the California desert. There, even before they were finally apprehended by the law, their utopia started to fall apart. Hollywood was in the process of being changed by Dennis Hopper's

53: Charles Manson’s Hollywood, Part 10: Roman Polanski After Sharon Tate

Jul 28th, 2015 45m 51s

Roman Polanski was in London the night his pregnant wife was murdered in their home. He returned to Los Angeles, devastated, to find himself wanted for questioning in a crime which the LAPD, initially, had no idea how to solve.To learn more

51: Charles Manson’s Hollywood, Part 8: Sharon Tate and Roman Polanski

Jul 14th, 2015 34m 25s

While trying to launch her own acting career, Sharon Tate fell in love with, and eventually married, Roman Polanski, the hotshot Polish filmmaker who had his first massive American hit in the summer of 1968, Rosemary’s Baby.To learn more abo

50: Charles Manson’s Hollywood, Part 7: Sharon Tate and Jay Sebring

Jul 7th, 2015 35m 10s

In the first of two episodes about the Manson Family’s most famous victim, we’ll trace actress Sharon Tate’s early years, her romance with celebrity hairdresser Jay Sebring, and the on-set affair that changed the course of Tate’s life and caree

49: Charles Manson’s Hollywood, Part 6: Kenneth Anger and Bobby Beausoleil

Jun 30th, 2015 51m 40s

The first person to go to jail for a Charles Manson-associated murder was Bobby Beausoleil, a charismatic would-be rock star who had put in time as a muse to Kenneth Anger -- child actor-turned-occultist experimental filmmaker and author.To

48: Charles Manson’s Hollywood, Part 5: Doris Day and Terry Melcher

Jun 23rd, 2015 47m 45s

Charles Manson became convinced his best chance at rock stardom was impressing Terry Melcher, a record executive who had made stars out of The Byrds, who was also Doris Day's son and Candice Bergen's boyfriend.To learn more about listener da

47: Charles Manson’s Hollywood, Part 4: Spahn Ranch and the Beatles’ White Album

Jun 16th, 2015 43m 29s

After wearing out his welcome at Dennis Wilson’s house, Manson moves his family to Spahn Ranch, a dilapidated Western movie set where the cult starts preparing for Helter Skelter, Manson's made-up apocalypse inspired by The Beatles.To learn

46: Charles Manson’s Hollywood, Part 3: The Beach Boys, Dennis Wilson, and Charles Manson, Songwriter

Jun 9th, 2015 50m 2s

In this episode we’ll talk about Charlie Manson’s arrival in Los Angeles, discuss Dennis Wilson’s life and the role he played in enabling Manson’s rock n’ roll delusions, and explain how The Beach Boys came to record a song written by Charles M

45: Charles Manson’s Hollywood, Part 2: How Manson Found His Family

Jun 2nd, 2015 39m 17s

Today we're tracing Charles Manson's life from his birth to a teenage con artist, through multiple stints in reform schools and prisons, and finally to San Francisco circa 1967, where Manson began to try out his guru act on the local hippie kid

The Hard Hollywood Life of Kim Novak — 10th anniversary restoration

18 days ago 43m 30s

The first episode of You Must Remember This tells the story of actress Kim Novak -- a top box office draw of the late 1950s and the iconic star of Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo -- and her painful struggles to assert herself from the mid-20th centu