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 2 of 6

  1. 52: Charles Manson’s Hollywood, Part 9: August 8-10, 1969

    · 48 min · S4 E52

    Over the course of a single weekend, half a dozen hippies massacred seven people. This episode includes disturbing details about very violent crimes.

  2. 53: Charles Manson’s Hollywood, Part 10: Roman Polanski After Sharon Tate

    · 41 min · S4 E53

    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…

  3. 54: Charles Manson’s Hollywood, Part 11: Death Valley ’69

    · 44 min · S4 E54

    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…

  4. 55: Charles Manson’s Hollywood, Part 12: The Manson Family on Trial

    · 52 min · S4 E55

    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…

  5. 56: MGM Stories Part 1: Louis B. Mayer vs. Irving Thalberg

    · 39 min · S5 E56

    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 industry transitioned from silents to sound, into its Golden Era and…

  6. 57: MGM Stories Part 2: Marion Davies, William Randolph Hearst, and Citizen Kane

    · 36 min · S5 E57

    Marion Davies is enshrined in memory as the gorgeous but questionably talented mistress of publishing magnate William Randolph Hearst -- thanks in part to the depiction of a Davies-esque character in Orson Welles’…

  7. 58: MGM Stories Part 3: Buster Keaton’s Biggest Mistake

    · 43 min · S5 E58

    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 comedy auteurs like Charlie Chaplin, he gave up his independent production…

  8. 59: MGM Stories Part 4: John Gilbert and Greta Garbo

    · 36 min · S5 E59

    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 the silent era. That same year, Louis B. Mayer brought his new…

  9. 60: MGM Stories Part 5: William Haines and Hollywood’s First Openly Gay Marriage

    · 37 min · S5 E60

    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 late 1920s-early 1930s. Beginning in 1926, Haines started living with…

  10. 61: MGM Stories Part 6: Jean Harlow

    · 42 min · S5 E61

    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 after Hell’s Angels, Hughes couldn’t figure out what to do with Harlow, so…

  11. 62: MGM Stories Part 7: MGM's children: Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland

    · 41 min · S5 E62

    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 started signing younger and younger performers to groom into stars —…

  12. 63: MGM Stories Part 8: Eddie Mannix

    · 40 min · S5 E63

    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 reputed gangster who rose through the ranks at MGM to become the…

  13. 64: MGM Stories Part 9: Spencer Tracy

    · 40 min · S5 E64

    When Spencer Tracy signed with MGM, he was a character actor better known for his problem drinking (and very public extramarital affair with Loretta Young) than for his movie hits. But the studio made him a star, and…

  14. 65: MGM Stories Part 10: David O. Selznick Part One: The Mayers and Gone With the Wind

    · 30 min · S5 E65

    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 would soon thereafter bring Selznick to MGM to fill in for an ailing…

  15. 66: MGM Stories Part 11: David O. Selznick Part Two: Jennifer Jones and Robert Walker

    · 43 min · S5 E66

    In 1941, Selznick signed a young actress named Phylis, who was then married to actor Robert Walker. Selznick renamed Phylis “Jennifer Jones,” and set to work turning her into a star, helping her to earn an Oscar for…

  16. 67: MGM Stories Part 12: Lana Turner

    · 43 min · S5 E67

    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 single mom off-screen who would burn through seven husbands and…

  17. 68: MGM Stories Part 13: Gloria Grahame

    · 42 min · S5 E68

    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 was the rare actress who Mayer didn’t know how to turn into a star.…

  18. 69: MGM Stories Part 14: Elizabeth Taylor, The MGM Years

    · 43 min · S5 E69

    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 were arguably the most interesting. From 1956-1960, she made a run of…

  19. 70: MGM Stories Part 15: Mayer’s Downfall

    · 48 min · S5 E70

    In the 1940s, Louis B. Mayer was the highest paid man in America, one of the first celebrity CEOs and the figurehead of what for most Americans was the most glamorous industry on Earth. In 1951, Mayer was fired from…

  20. 71: The Blacklist Part 1: The Prehistory of the Blacklist

    · 49 min · S6 E71

    This episode will trace the roots of both communism and anti-communism in Hollywood, through the Depression, union struggles and scandals, and World War II. The major characters of the series will be introduced,…

  21. 72: The Blacklist Part 2: Crossfire – The Trials of the Hollywood Ten

    · 55 min · S6 E72

    In 1947, the House Un-American Activities Committee subpoenaed dozens of Hollywood workers to come to Washington and testify to the presence of Communists in the film industry. 19 of those who were subpoenaed announced…

  22. 73: The Blacklist Part 3: Dorothy Parker

    · 49 min · S6 E73

    The New Yorker columnist, poet and celebrated Algonquin Roundtable wit spent years in Hollywood, working as a screenwriter in partnership with her second husband, Alan Campbell, and contributing to important films such…

  23. Blacklist Flashback: Bogey Before Bacall

    · 40 min

    Humphrey Bogart was Warner Brothers' most valuable star in 1947, when he, his wife Lauren Bacall, his future African Queen co-star Katharine Hepburn, his friend and frequent director John Huston and many other stars…

  24. 74: The Blacklist Part 4: The African Queen: Humphrey Bogart, Katharine Hepburn and John Huston

    · 47 min · S6 E74

    In the late 1940s, as the country was moving to the right and there was pressure on Hollywood to do the same, Katharine Hepburn, Humphrey Bogart and John Huston all protested HUAC in ways that damaged their public…

  25. 75: The Blacklist Part 5: The Strange Love of Barbara Stanwyck: Robert Taylor

    · 46 min · S6 E75

    Barbara Stanwyck’s first marriage helped to inspire A Star is Born. Her second marriage, to heartthrob Robert Taylor, didn’t make sense in a lot of ways, but the pair were united by their conservative politics. Both…

  26. 76: The Blacklist Part 6: He Ran All The Way: John Garfield

    · 45 min · S6 E76

    John Garfield was Brando before Brando -- a Method-style actor who repped the New York working class while becoming a major sex symbol in film noir and World War II films. Garfield was not a Communist; most of his…

  27. Blacklist Flashback: Charlie Chaplin During World War II

    · 43 min

    In 1922, Charlie Chaplin was one of the most beloved men in the world. In 1952, after over a decade of being publicly shamed, he was essentially manipulated into self-deportation. What happened in between? We’ll…

  28. 77: The Blacklist Part 7: Monsieur Verdoux: Charlie Chaplin's Road to Hollywood Exile

    · 37 min · S6 E77

    Picking up where last week’s episode left off, we’ll catch up with Chaplin’s post-The Great Dictator activism, talk about Chaplin’s savage satirical follow-up, Monsieur Verdoux, and explain the witch hunt that ended…

  29. 78: The Blacklist Part 8: Storm Warning: Ronald Reagan, the FBI and HUAC

    · 33 min · S6 E78

    The post-war Communist witch hunt had a big impact on Ronald Reagan’s evolution from movie actor to politician, and from Democrat to Republican. And Ronald Reagan had a major personal impact on the witch hunt’s…

  30. 79: The Blacklist Part 9: She: Richard Nixon + Helen Gahagan Douglas

    · 49 min · S6 E79

    The wife of actor Melvyn Douglas (Ninotchka, Being There), Helen Gahagan Douglas transformed herself from a Broadway and opera star into an exciting new politician in the days of FDR. A persistent, nagging voice of…

  31. Blacklist Flashback: Howard Hughes + Jane Russell

    · 49 min

    In advance of next week’s episode dealing with Howard Hughes’ role in the blacklist, we revisit our October 2014 episode on Hughes’ relationship with Jane Russell, his wartime efforts to balance his aviation and…

  32. 80: The Blacklist Part 10: Salt of the Earth: Howard Hughes + Paul Jarrico

    · 53 min · S6 E80

    Today we explore one of the more troubling aspects of Howard Hughes’ legacy: the firm hand he played in enforcing the blacklisting of Hollywood workers, both as the head and owner of RKO Pictures, and as a powerful…

  33. 81: The Blacklist Part 11: Born Yesterday: Judy Holliday

    · 43 min · S6 E81

    Judy Holliday won an Oscar for her first starring film role, and of her eight major film roles between 1950 and 1960, four were in films now considered classics. She was one star who was subpoenaed to testify about her…

  34. Blacklist Flashback: Lena Horne During WWII

    · 1 h 05 min

    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…

  35. 82: The Blacklist Part 12: Stormy Weather: Lena Horne + Paul Robeson

    · 43 min · S6 E82

    Horne's last years at MGM overlapped with the first HUAC hearings. Horne, an outspoken proponent of equal rights, who from the beginning of her career had associated with leftists and “agitators,” got caught up in the…

  36. 83: The Blacklist Part 13: On the Waterfront: Elia Kazan

    · 48 min · S6 E83

    Elia Kazan introduced audiences to Warren Beatty, James Dean and Marlon Brando. His films of the 1950s -- including A Streetcar Named Desire, On the Waterfront, and East of Eden -- comprise perhaps the most impressive…

  37. 84: The Blacklist Part 14: After the Fall: Arthur Miller

    · 51 min · S6 E84

    Arthur Miller considered Elia Kazan a close friend and collaborator, but when Kazan named names to HUAC, Miller broke with him and wrote The Crucible, a parable about anti-communist hysteria set amidst the Salem Witch…

  38. Blacklist Flashback: Frank Sinatra through 1945

    · 35 min

    Before our episode on Frank Sinatra’s attempt to end the blacklist, we’re going to flashback to an episode from April 2015, on Sinatra’s rise to fame and his experiences during World War II. In the early 1940s, shortly…

  39. 85: The Blacklist Part 15: Frank Sinatra and Albert Maltz (Breaking The Blacklist, Part 1)

    · 40 min · S6 E85

    In the first of two episodes about major stars attempting to end the Blacklist, we’ll look at Frank Sinatra’s efforts to hire Hollywood Ten member Albert Maltz. Timing got in the way of Sinatra’s good intentions: this…

  40. 86: The Blacklist Part 16: Kirk Douglas, Dalton Trumbo, and Otto Preminger (Breaking the Blacklist, Part 2)

    · 52 min · S6 E86

    How did the Blacklist come to an end? If you ask Kirk Douglas, the end began with his hiring of Dalton Trumbo to write Spartacus -- or, rather Douglas flaunting of that hiring. Otto Preminger, who hired Trumbo to write…

  41. 87: Six Degrees of Joan Crawford: Douglas Fairbanks / Lucille LeSueur Goes to Hollywood

    · 40 min · S7 E87

    In order to understand Joan Crawford’s rise to fame, we have to talk about what Joan - born Lucille LeSueur, and called “Billie Cassin” for much of her childhood - was like before she got to Hollywood, and what…

  42. 88: Six Degrees of Joan Crawford: Douglas Fairbanks Jr. / Our Dancing Daughters to Grand Hotel

    · 39 min · S7 E88

    Joan Crawford’s early years in Hollywood were like - well, a pre-code Joan Crawford movie: a highly ambitious beauty of low birth does what she has to do (whatever she has to do) to transform herself into a…

  43. 89: Six Degrees of Joan Crawford: Clark Gable, Franchot Tone and Barbara Payton

    · 45 min · S7 E89

    By the mid-1930s, Joan Crawford was very, very famous, and negotiating both an affair with Clark Gable (her most frequent co-star and the only male star of her stature), and a new marriage to Franchot Tone, who, like…

  44. 90: Six Degrees of Joan Crawford: The Middle Years (Mildred Pierce to Johnny Guitar)

    · 48 min · S7 E90

    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…

  45. 91: Six Degrees of Joan Crawford: Bette Davis, "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?," and Crawford’s last years

    · 42 min · S7 E91

    Robert Aldrich’s What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? has done more to define later generation’s ideas about who Crawford was than perhaps any other movie that she was actually in. Unfortunately, most of those ideas center…

  46. 92: Six Degrees of Joan Crawford: Mommie Dearest

    · 59 min · S7 E92

    The year after Joan Crawford died, her estranged, adopted daughter Christina published a tell-all, accusing her late mother of having been an abusive monster when the cameras weren’t around. Three years later, Mommie…

  47. 93: Peg Entwistle (Dead Blondes Part 1)

    · 45 min · S8 E93

    This season we’re going to explore the stories of 11 blonde actresses who died unusual, untimely or otherwise notable deaths - deaths which, in various ways, have outshined these actress’ lives. Today we’ll explain why…

  48. 94: Thelma Todd (Dead Blondes Part 2)

    · 43 min · S8 E94

    Thelma Todd - a curvaceous white-blonde who predated Jean Harlow - was a sparkling comedienne who began in the silent era and flourished in the talkies, both holding her own opposite the Marx Brothers and playing…

  49. 95: Jean Harlow Flashback (Dead Blondes Part 3)

    · 43 min · S8 E95 · Explicit

    Jean Harlow was the top blonde of the 1930s, and even though she didn’t survive the decade - she died in 1937 at the age of 26 - she’d inspire a generation of would-be platinum-haired bombshell stars. Today we revisit…

  50. 96: Veronica Lake (Dead Blondes Part 4)

    · 47 min · S8 E96 · Explicit

    Veronica Lake had the most famous hairdo of the 1940s, if not the twentieth century. Her star turn in Preston Sturges’ Sullivan’s Travels and her noir pairings with Alan Ladd made her Paramount’s biggest wartime draw…

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