You Must Remember This
Episodes
69: MGM Stories Part 14: Elizabeth Taylor, The MGM Years
15 Dec 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Elizabeth Taylor grew up on the MGM lot, spending 18 years as what she referred to as “MGM chattel.” The last four years of that 18 year sentence ...
68: MGM Stories Part 13: Gloria Grahame
08 Dec 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Gloria Grahame arrived in Hollywood in 1944, after Louis B. Mayer personally plucked her from the New York stage, and changed her name. But Grahame wa...
67: MGM Stories Part 12: Lana Turner
01 Dec 2015
Contributed by Lukas
The legendary "Sweater Girl" was one of MGM’s prized contract players, the epitome of the mid-century sex goddess on-screen and an unlucky-in-love s...
66: MGM Stories Part 11: David O. Selznick Part Two: Jennifer Jones and Robert Walker
24 Nov 2015
Contributed by Lukas
In 1941, Selznick signed a young actress named Phylis, who was then married to actor Robert Walker. Selznick renamed Phylis “Jennifer Jones,” and ...
65: MGM Stories Part 10: David O. Selznick Part One: The Mayers and Gone With the Wind
17 Nov 2015
Contributed by Lukas
In 1930, after putting in time at MGM and RKO, Paramount executive David O. Selznick married Irene Mayer, the daughter of L.B. Mayer. Irene’s father...
64: MGM Stories Part 9: Spencer Tracy
10 Nov 2015
Contributed by Lukas
When Spencer Tracy signed with MGM, he was a character actor better known for his problem drinking (and very public extramarital affair with Loretta Y...
63: MGM Stories Part 8: Eddie Mannix
03 Nov 2015
Contributed by Lukas
In the new Hollywood satire from the Coen Brothers, Josh Brolin plays a studio "fixer" named Eddie Mannix. The real Eddie Mannix was a New Jersey-born...
62: MGM Stories Part 7: MGM's children: Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland
27 Oct 2015
Contributed by Lukas
After Irving Thalberg’s death in 1936, Louis B. Mayer doubled down on "family entertainment" at MGM. To support this new wave of content, Mayer star...
61: MGM Stories Part 6: Jean Harlow
20 Oct 2015
Contributed by Lukas
As part of the publicity campaign for his film Hell’s Angels, Howard Hughes made Jean Harlow a star, branding her “The Platinum Blonde.” But aft...
60: MGM Stories Part 5: William Haines and Hollywood’s First Openly Gay Marriage
13 Oct 2015
Contributed by Lukas
The rare silent star who made a relatively smooth transition to sound films, William “Billy” Haines was one of the top box office stars of the lat...
59: MGM Stories Part 4: John Gilbert and Greta Garbo
06 Oct 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Rising romantic lead John Gilbert signed with MGM in 1924 and the next year he starred in King Vidor’s The Big Parade, the studio’s biggest hit of...
58: MGM Stories Part 3: Buster Keaton’s Biggest Mistake
29 Sep 2015
Contributed by Lukas
In 1928, silent comedy star Buster Keaton made what he would later call “the worst mistake of my career”: against the advice of fellow silent come...
57: MGM Stories Part 2: Marion Davies, William Randolph Hearst, and Citizen Kane
22 Sep 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Marion Davies is enshrined in memory as the gorgeous but questionably talented mistress of publishing magnate William Randolph Hearst -- thanks in par...
56: MGM Stories Part 1: Louis B. Mayer vs. Irving Thalberg
15 Sep 2015
Contributed by Lukas
This season we're going to tell 15 stories about different people who worked at the same movie studio over the course of five decades, as the movie in...
55: Charles Manson’s Hollywood, Part 12: The Manson Family on Trial
11 Aug 2015
Contributed by Lukas
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 Di...
54: Charles Manson’s Hollywood, Part 11: Death Valley ’69
04 Aug 2015
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
53: Charles Manson’s Hollywood, Part 10: Roman Polanski After Sharon Tate
28 Jul 2015
Contributed by Lukas
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 fo...
52: Charles Manson’s Hollywood, Part 9: August 8-10, 1969
21 Jul 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Over the course of a single weekend, half a dozen hippies massacred seven people. This episode includes disturbing details about very violent crimes. ...
51: Charles Manson’s Hollywood, Part 8: Sharon Tate and Roman Polanski
14 Jul 2015
Contributed by Lukas
While trying to launch her own acting career, Sharon Tate fell in love with, and eventually married, Roman Polanski, the hotshot Polish filmmaker who ...
50: Charles Manson’s Hollywood, Part 7: Sharon Tate and Jay Sebring
07 Jul 2015
Contributed by Lukas
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 celeb...
49: Charles Manson’s Hollywood, Part 6: Kenneth Anger and Bobby Beausoleil
30 Jun 2015
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
48: Charles Manson’s Hollywood, Part 5: Doris Day and Terry Melcher
23 Jun 2015
Contributed by Lukas
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, ...
47: Charles Manson’s Hollywood, Part 4: Spahn Ranch and the Beatles’ White Album
16 Jun 2015
Contributed by Lukas
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 start...
46: Charles Manson’s Hollywood, Part 3: The Beach Boys, Dennis Wilson, and Charles Manson, Songwriter
09 Jun 2015
Contributed by Lukas
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...
45: Charles Manson’s Hollywood, Part 2: How Manson Found His Family
02 Jun 2015
Contributed by Lukas
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 t...
44: Charles Manson’s Hollywood, Part 1: What We Talk About When We Talk About The Manson Murders
26 May 2015
Contributed by Lukas
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...
43: Star Wars Episode XVI: Van Johnson
28 Apr 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Van Johnson was MGM’s big, all-American heartthrob during World War II, an one of the most reliably bankable stars in Hollywood, on and off, for ove...
42: Star Wars Episode XV: Why John Wayne Didn’t Sign Up
21 Apr 2015
Contributed by Lukas
No actor on movie screens in the 1940s embodied American patriotism and unpretentious masculinity better than John Wayne. But Wayne didn’t have the ...
41: Star Wars Episode XIV: Frank Sinatra Through 1945
14 Apr 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Frank Sinatra's rise to fame coincided almost exactly with the run up to and fighting of World War II. Unlike so many young men, famous or otherwise, ...
40: The You Must Remember This One Year Anniversary Ask Us Anything Show
07 Apr 2015
Contributed by Lukas
You Must Remember This turns one year old this month, and to celebrate, Karina takes questions from listeners. Topics range from book recommendations ...
39: Star Wars Episode XIII: Walt Disney
31 Mar 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Walt Disney changed Hollywood and brought millions of children and adults boundless joy. And yet, Disney’s legacy is marred by the common perception...
38: Star Wars Episode XII: Bob Hope vs. Bing Crosby
24 Mar 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Bob Hope is remembered as the 20th century celebrity most devoted to entertaining the troops. Bing Crosby, Hope’s partner on seven Road to… films,...
37: Star Wars Episode XI: Charlie Chaplin
17 Mar 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Charlie Chaplin’s most successful (and controversial) film was The Great Dictator, a vicious satire of Adolf Hitler. We’ll explore the connections...
36: Star Wars Episode X: Errol Flynn
10 Mar 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Errol Flynn arrived in Hollywood in 1934 and almost immediately became a massive star, his swashbuckler-persona propelling many of the decades biggest...
35: Star Wars Episode IX: Olivia de Havilland and John Huston, with Special Guest Rian Johnson
03 Mar 2015
Contributed by Lukas
She was the raven-haired beauty whose lily white persona was forged by supporting roles in Gone With the Wind and several Errol Flynn swashbucklers. H...
34: Star Wars Episode VIII: How Norma Jeane Became Marilyn Monroe
24 Feb 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Today’s episode tells the secret, forgotten, and highly disputed story of the making of Marilyn Monroe, arguably the most potent Hollywood sex symbo...
33: Star Wars Episode VII: Lena Horne
17 Feb 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Stunning singer/actress Lena Horne was the first black performer to be given the full glamour girl star-making treatment. But as the years went on and...
32: Star Wars Episode VI: Marlene Dietrich
10 Feb 2015
Contributed by Lukas
One of the most glamorous stars of the 1930s -- and also one of the first androgynous sex symbols -- Marlene Dietrich was a German actress turned majo...
31: Star Wars Episode V: Rita Hayworth and Orson Welles
03 Feb 2015
Contributed by Lukas
The Citizen Kane boy wonder's second wife was the former Margarita Cansino -- a dancer-turned-actress whose Hispanic heritage Hollywood went to great ...
30: Star Wars Episode IV: Gene Tierney (Or: The Many Loves of Howard Hughes, Chapter 5)
27 Jan 2015
Contributed by Lukas
The luminous star of a number of key film noirs and melodramas of the 1940s, Gene Tierney's personal life was highly dramatic and heartbreakingly trag...
29: Star Wars Episode III: Hedy Lamarr
20 Jan 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Hedy Lamarr was a pioneer in more ways than one, including, but not limited to, scandalous movie sex scenes, radio control technology, breast implants...
28: Star Wars Episode II: Carole Lombard and Clark Gable
13 Jan 2015
Contributed by Lukas
The queen of screwball comedies married the king of Hollywood in 1939, but Lombard's 1942 death in a plane crash on the way home from a trip to sell w...
27: Star Wars Episode I: Bette Davis and the Hollywood Canteen
05 Jan 2015
Contributed by Lukas
In the first installment of 'Star Wars' (about the experiences of stars during wartime, not Chewbacca or Mos Eisley), Karina Longworth looks at Bette ...
26: Tales of Celebrity Drunkenness, 2014
23 Dec 2014
Contributed by Lukas
In our first annual end-of-year clip show, we'll listen to some of the booziest excerpts from the 25 episodes of You Must Remember This released thus ...
25: The Short Lives of Bruce and Brandon Lee
16 Dec 2014
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we’ll explore what really happened to Bruce and Brandon Lee, and discuss how an extraordinarily talented artist went from a victim ...
24: Mia Farrow in the 1960s, Part Two: Mia & Dory
09 Dec 2014
Contributed by Lukas
Part Two of Mia Farrow in the 1960s traces Mia’s flight to India, studying transcendental meditation with the Beatles, the movies Secret Ceremony an...
23: Mia Farrow in the 1960s, Part One: Mia & Frank
17 Nov 2014
Contributed by Lukas
Before Mia Farrow was an outspoken activist, devoted mother to 14 children, and the famously jilted partner of Woody Allen, she was … a lot of other...
22: Audrey Hepburn: Sex, Style, and Sabrina
11 Nov 2014
Contributed by Lukas
Audrey Hepburn was the first glamorous actress whose style seemed to be to dress for herself, and not to appeal to men. Today we’re going to talk ab...
21: The Birth of Barbra Streisand’s A Star is Born
04 Nov 2014
Contributed by Lukas
There have been four Hollywood films made under the name and/or with the basic story of A Star is Born. The most reviled version is the one starring B...
20: LIZ <3 MONTY
28 Oct 2014
Contributed by Lukas
Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Clift were best friends and co-stars in three films. This episode tracks Taylor's relationship with the troubled Clift...
19: Raquel Welch, From Pin-up to Pariah
21 Oct 2014
Contributed by Lukas
Raquel Welch, a former cocktail waitress and divorced mother of two, found herself in the odd position of being an old-fashioned sex goddess in the ag...
18: The Many Loves of Howard Hughes, Chapter 4: Jane Russell
14 Oct 2014
Contributed by Lukas
Our long-running series on the women in the life of the infamous aviator/filmmaker continues with a look at Hughes’ professional and personal relati...
17: Theda Bara, Hollywood’s First Sex Symbol
07 Oct 2014
Contributed by Lukas
Theda Bara might be the most significant celebrity pioneer whose movies you’ve never seen. She was the movie industry’s first sex symbol; the firs...
16: Marlon Brando 1971-1973
29 Sep 2014
Contributed by Lukas
This is the story of how, with two movies shot in 1971, Marlon Brando turned his career around, spent his regained celebrity capital on an act of soci...
15: Madonna, from Sean to Warren, Part Two
23 Sep 2014
Contributed by Lukas
In the concluding chapter of a two-part episode about Madonna and movies, we talk about her mutually beneficial professional and personal involvement ...
14: Bacall, After Bogart
16 Sep 2014
Contributed by Lukas
When Humphrey Bogart died, Lauren Bacall was just 32 years old. This is the story of how Bacall spent the remaining 57 years of her life, and her life...
13: Bogart, Before Bacall
09 Sep 2014
Contributed by Lukas
A look at how Humphrey Bogart became Bogey, tracing his journey from blue blood beginnings through years of undistinguished work and outright failure,...
12: Madonna, from Sean to Warren, Part One
02 Sep 2014
Contributed by Lukas
Over the course of two episodes, we will explore the high-cinephile period of Madonna's life and work, roughly bracketed by her relationship with Sean...
11: The Many Loves of Howard Hughes: Katharine Hepburn, 1938
25 Jul 2014
Contributed by Lukas
A crossover episode, uniting our two ongoing series, The Many Loves of Howard Hughes and Follies of 1938, focusing on Hughes’ relationship with Kath...
10: Follies of 1938, Chapter 2: Kay Francis, Pretty Poison
18 Jul 2014
Contributed by Lukas
In May 1938, the Independent Theater Owners Association published a full-page paid editorial in The Hollywood Reporter, branding a number of big stars...
9: The Many Loves of Howard Hughes, Part 2: The Many Loves of Ida Lupino
10 Jul 2014
Contributed by Lukas
In this second installment of our ongoing series, The Many Loves of Howard Hughes, we explore the life, loves and work of Ida Lupino. Hughes dated Lup...
8: Follies of 1938, Part 1: Hollywood’s Greatest Year
02 Jul 2014
Contributed by Lukas
This micro-episode sets up a topic we’ll be exploring throughout the summer: the films, stars and scandals of 1938. By midway through that year, Hol...
7: The Many Loves of Howard Hughes, Chapter 1
24 Jun 2014
Contributed by Lukas
The first episode of a multi-part series on the Hollywood romances of Howard Hughes traces Hughes’ arranged marriage at age 18 to Southern society b...
6: Isabella Rossellini in the 1990s
17 Jun 2014
Contributed by Lukas
Today we celebrate the 62nd birthday of actress/model/filmmaker Isabella Rossellini. She was born into Hollywood scandal: her mother, Ingrid Bergman, ...
5: The Lives, Deaths and Afterlives of Judy Garland
09 Jun 2014
Contributed by Lukas
Today we’re commemorating the life and career of Judy Garland, who died 45 years ago this month. Signed to a studio contract at the age of 13, encou...
4: (The Printing of) the Legend of Frances Farmer
27 May 2014
Contributed by Lukas
During the last year of his life, Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain was obsessed with Frances Farmer, an actress from his hometown of Seattle who died in 1970. ...
3: Happy 110th Birthday, Val Lewton
07 May 2014
Contributed by Lukas
A Very Special Halloween Episode! The writer-producer Val Lewton produced and ghost-wrote 11 films in just three years as head of the horror unit at R...
2: Frank Sinatra in Outer Space
16 Apr 2014
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome to the second episode of You Must Remember This, the podcast devoted to exploring the secret and or/forgotten histories of Hollywood’s first...