Podcasts · TV & Film

You Must Remember This

Karina Longworth

276 episodes · in order · Explicit

You Must Remember This is a storytelling podcast exploring the secret and/or forgotten histories of Hollywood’s first century. It’s the brainchild and passion project of Karina Longworth (founder of Cinematical.com, former film critic for LA Weekly), who writes, narrates, records and edits each episode. It is a heavily-researched work of creative nonfiction: navigating through conflicting reports, mythology, and institutionalized spin, Karina tries to sort out what really happened behind the films, stars and scandals of the 20th century.

Episodes page 1 of 6

  1. 2: Frank Sinatra in Outer Space

    · 30 min · S1 E2

    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 century. Today, we look back to 1979, when — while the music world…

  2. 3: Happy 110th Birthday, Val Lewton

    · 36 min · S1 E3

    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 RKO, many of which — Cat People, I Walked With A Zombie, The Curse of…

  3. 4: (The Printing of) the Legend of Frances Farmer

    · 32 min · S1 E4

    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. Farmer’s beauty and unique screen presence made her a star, but her…

  4. 5: The Lives, Deaths and Afterlives of Judy Garland

    · 37 min · S1 E5

    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, encouraged to become a pill addict as a teenage MGM contract player,…

  5. 6: Isabella Rossellini in the 1990s

    · 33 min · S1 E6

    Today we celebrate the 62nd birthday of actress/model/filmmaker Isabella Rossellini. She was born into Hollywood scandal: her mother, Ingrid Bergman, was denounced on the floor of Congress for her adulterous…

  6. 7: The Many Loves of Howard Hughes, Chapter 1

    · 37 min · S1 E7

    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 belle Ella Rice; his affairs with silent star Billie Dove and Jean…

  7. 8: Follies of 1938, Part 1: Hollywood’s Greatest Year

    · 18 min · S1 E8

    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, Hollywood was in such a desperate downswing — and so concerned that…

  8. 9: The Many Loves of Howard Hughes, Part 2: The Many Loves of Ida Lupino

    · 35 min · S1 E9

    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 Lupino when she was a teenage starlet; nearly 20 years later, after…

  9. 10: Follies of 1938, Chapter 2: Kay Francis, Pretty Poison

    · 34 min · S1 E10

    In May 1938, the Independent Theater Owners Association published a full-page paid editorial in The Hollywood Reporter, branding a number of big stars — including Mae West, Marlene Dietrich, Greta Garbo, Joan Crawford,…

  10. 11: The Many Loves of Howard Hughes: Katharine Hepburn, 1938

    · 27 min · S1 E11

    A crossover episode, uniting our two ongoing series, The Many Loves of Howard Hughes and Follies of 1938, focusing on Hughes’ relationship with Katharine Hepburn, which peaked and crashed in 1938. Introduced by Hughes’…

  11. 12: Madonna, from Sean to Warren, Part One

    · 35 min · S2 E12

    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 Penn and ending with the dissolution of her rebound affair with…

  12. 13: Bogart, Before Bacall

    · 33 min · S2 E13

    A look at how Humphrey Bogart became Bogey, tracing his journey from blue blood beginnings through years of undistinguished work and outright failure, to his emergence in the early 1940s as a symbol of wartime…

  13. 14: Bacall, After Bogart

    · 32 min · S2 E14

    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 lifelong struggle to find a balance between being Mrs. So-and-So, and…

  14. 15: Madonna, from Sean to Warren, Part Two

    · 40 min · S2 E15

    In the concluding chapter of a two-part episode about Madonna and movies, we talk about her mutually beneficial professional and personal involvement with Warren Beatty.

  15. 16: Marlon Brando 1971-1973

    · 41 min · S2 E16

    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 social activism, and put Hollywood's culture of self-adoration in its…

  16. 17: Theda Bara, Hollywood’s First Sex Symbol

    · 36 min · S2 E17

    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 first femme fatale; and she might have been America’s first homegrown goth.

  17. 18: The Many Loves of Howard Hughes, Chapter 4: Jane Russell

    · 42 min · S2 E18

    Our long-running series on the women in the life of the infamous aviator/filmmaker continues with a look at Hughes’ professional and personal relationship with Jane Russell, which began in 1940 when Hughes randomly…

  18. 19: Raquel Welch, From Pin-up to Pariah

    · 33 min · S2 E19

    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 age of flower children and feminism.

  19. 20: LIZ <3 MONTY

    · 35 min · S2 E20

    Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Clift were best friends and co-stars in three films. This episode tracks Taylor's relationship with the troubled Clift, from their first, studio-setup date through his untimely death.

  20. 21: The Birth of Barbra Streisand’s A Star is Born

    · 38 min · S2 E21

    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 Barbra Streisand, made in 1976 and produced by Barbra’s hair…

  21. 22: Audrey Hepburn: Sex, Style, and Sabrina

    · 36 min · S2 E22

    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 about a film which sparked this evolution, Sabrina.

  22. 23: Mia Farrow in the 1960s, Part One: Mia & Frank

    · 37 min · S2 E23

    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 things. Today in the first of a two parter, we’ll begin to explore…

  23. 24: Mia Farrow in the 1960s, Part Two: Mia & Dory

    · 37 min · S2 E24

    Part Two of Mia Farrow in the 1960s traces Mia’s flight to India, studying transcendental meditation with the Beatles, the movies Secret Ceremony and John and Mary, her affair with Andre Previn, and the impact it had…

  24. 25: The Short Lives of Bruce and Brandon Lee

    · 31 min · S2 E25

    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 of Hollywood’s racism to one of the industry’s biggest moneymakers…

  25. 26: Tales of Celebrity Drunkenness, 2014

    · 40 min · S2 E26

    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 far.

  26. 27: Star Wars Episode I: Bette Davis and the Hollywood Canteen

    · 46 min · S3 E27

    In the first installment of 'Star Wars' (about the experiences of stars during wartime, not Chewbacca or Mos Eisley), Karina Longworth looks at Bette Davis and the Hollywood Canteen.

  27. 28: Star Wars Episode II: Carole Lombard and Clark Gable

    · 41 min · S3 E28

    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 war bonds drove Gable into a physical and emotional breakdown, and…

  28. 29: Star Wars Episode III: Hedy Lamarr

    · 39 min · S3 E29

    Hedy Lamarr was a pioneer in more ways than one, including, but not limited to, scandalous movie sex scenes, radio control technology, breast implants, frivolous lawsuits, and celebrity shoplifting.

  29. 30: Star Wars Episode IV: Gene Tierney (Or: The Many Loves of Howard Hughes, Chapter 5)

    · 38 min · S3 E30

    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 tragic.

  30. 31: Star Wars Episode V: Rita Hayworth and Orson Welles

    · 43 min · S3 E31

    The Citizen Kane boy wonder's second wife was the former Margarita Cansino -- a dancer-turned-actress whose Hispanic heritage Hollywood went to great lengths to obscure.

  31. 32: Star Wars Episode VI: Marlene Dietrich

    · 36 min · S3 E32

    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 major Hollywood star, one who essentially became the USO's female Bob…

  32. 33: Star Wars Episode VII: Lena Horne

    · 1 h 00 min · S3 E33

    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 her studio failed to make much use of her, Horne started feeling…

  33. 34: Star Wars Episode VIII: How Norma Jeane Became Marilyn Monroe

    · 43 min · S3 E34

    Today’s episode tells the secret, forgotten, and highly disputed story of the making of Marilyn Monroe, arguably the most potent Hollywood sex symbol of all time.

  34. 35: Star Wars Episode IX: Olivia de Havilland and John Huston, with Special Guest Rian Johnson

    · 40 min · S3 E35

    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. He was the real-life swashbuckler whose directorial debut, The…

  35. 36: Star Wars Episode X: Errol Flynn

    · 43 min · S3 E36

    Errol Flynn arrived in Hollywood in 1934 and almost immediately became a massive star, his swashbuckler-persona propelling many of the decades biggest action hits. But his dashing good looks and life-of-the-party…

  36. 37: Star Wars Episode XI: Charlie Chaplin

    · 37 min · S3 E37

    Charlie Chaplin’s most successful (and controversial) film was The Great Dictator, a vicious satire of Adolf Hitler. We’ll explore the connections between the two men, and explain why most of Hollywood tried to stop…

  37. 38: Star Wars Episode XII: Bob Hope vs. Bing Crosby

    · 43 min · S3 E38

    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, sang the song that became an unlikely alternate national anthem during…

  38. 39: Star Wars Episode XIII: Walt Disney

    · 43 min · S3 E39

    Walt Disney changed Hollywood and brought millions of children and adults boundless joy. And yet, Disney’s legacy is marred by the common perception that he was also a racist, misogynist and anti-semite.

  39. 40: The You Must Remember This One Year Anniversary Ask Us Anything Show

    · 44 min · S3 E40

    You Must Remember This turns one year old this month, and to celebrate, Karina takes questions from listeners. Topics range from book recommendations to the blacklist to baseball to Karina’s abandoned, unfinished novel.

  40. 41: Star Wars Episode XIV: Frank Sinatra Through 1945

    · 30 min · S3 E41

    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, Sinatra didn't enlist, and the controversy over whether or not he…

  41. 42: Star Wars Episode XV: Why John Wayne Didn’t Sign Up

    · 34 min · S3 E42

    No actor on movie screens in the 1940s embodied American patriotism and unpretentious masculinity better than John Wayne. But Wayne didn’t have the defining experience of most adult American men of the 1940s — Wayne…

  42. 43: Star Wars Episode XVI: Van Johnson

    · 42 min · S3 E43

    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 over a decade. Off-screen, he was an introvert with a mysterious personal…

  43. 44: Charles Manson’s Hollywood, Part 1: What We Talk About When We Talk About The Manson Murders

    · 36 min · S4 E44

    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…

  44. 45: Charles Manson’s Hollywood, Part 2: How Manson Found His Family

    · 35 min · S4 E45

    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…

  45. 46: Charles Manson’s Hollywood, Part 3: The Beach Boys, Dennis Wilson, and Charles Manson, Songwriter

    · 46 min · S4 E46

    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…

  46. 47: Charles Manson’s Hollywood, Part 4: Spahn Ranch and the Beatles’ White Album

    · 39 min · S4 E47

    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…

  47. 48: Charles Manson’s Hollywood, Part 5: Doris Day and Terry Melcher

    · 43 min · S4 E48

    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.

  48. 49: Charles Manson’s Hollywood, Part 6: Kenneth Anger and Bobby Beausoleil

    · 47 min · S4 E49

    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…

  49. 50: Charles Manson’s Hollywood, Part 7: Sharon Tate and Jay Sebring

    · 31 min · S4 E50

    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…

  50. 51: Charles Manson’s Hollywood, Part 8: Sharon Tate and Roman Polanski

    · 30 min · S4 E51

    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…

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