Tag: Podcast

Podcast Highlights

Looking for stories about ambitious women who climbed to the top in Hollywood?

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RKO thought Lucille Ball was only good enough for ‘B’ pictures–then she bought the studio

Joan Crawford showed Depression-era women how to survive by their wits

Sheilah Graham was the gossip columnist who sobered up F. Scott Fitzgerald enough to write his last novel

Lynn Bari started out as an MGM showgirl at 13. She came of age when Hollywood was a woman’s town

June Havoc endured a monstrous stage mother in vaudeville and then horrors in the dance marathon racket before she went to Hollywood

June’s sister Gypsy Rose Lee survived by turning burlesque into a highbrow art form even though censors prevented her name from appearing in the credits

Susan Hayward lost an Oscar to scandal but ignored bad publicity as Queen of 20th Century Fox

Two studios shared Mae Clarke’s contract, worked her relentlessly, until she was under care of shady doctors who nearly let her die in a psychiatric ward

Carole Landis had a famous figure but was really born for screwball comedy

Ann Todd had a smoking hot affair with James Mason while they made a picture where she played the genius

Geraldine Fitzgerald earned an Oscar nomination for her first Hollywood picture yet had Jack Warner insist she wasn’t in Ingrid Bergman’s league.

Yvonne De Carlo paid her dues in burlesque then leveraged ballet training into top-billing

After Esther Williams scolded Louis B Mayer, she gained the first lucrative endorsement deal for an MGM star

The World’s Dead and Everybody in It’s Dead But You: Podcast ep 85

Joan Crawford has her pick between a troubled veteran (Henry Fonda) and a smug married man (Dana Andrews). Does she want the man who has good lines (‘The world’s dead and everybody in it’s dead but you’) or does she stay with the same old masculine lines (‘It won’t be over til we’re dead’)? Crawford looks good in the back street as well as the sunshine, thanks to the poetic photography of Leon Shamroy, who believed that every light had to be justified ‘like words in a sentence’.

Career gal Joan has a cute flat, the freedom to lose herself in work, and a great wardrobe by Charles LeMaire. I’m not sure why she wants a husband, but my interest in woman’s pictures is always seeing a woman who gets what she wants.

Catch up with podcast episode 85 on Daisy Kenyon (1947).

If you’re looking for more podcast episodes on Joan Crawford, step this way—>

In episode 60, I talk about Sadie McKee (1934) , the gold standard Crawford picture. It has everything I desire: Joan absorbs the slings and arrows of unworthy men, triumphs over their low opinion, has the support of a dear friend (Jean Dixon), and parades in exquisite designs by Adrian. And it has a scene set in the Automat, which is what I use to centre my best intentions each time when I sit down to write. Joan has a few coins in her pocket, but fortified by a smart wool topper and hat, she uses great style as a shield against pity and misfortune.

For episode 50, I talk about how Joan Crawford just wants to be left alone in her beach house. She foils the plot of a rough trade grifter and his backers, sidestepping the fate of women of a certain age.

In episode 36, Joan stars in a fabulous spy caper to defeat the Nazis.

Matt Harris, archivist and fellow Joan Crawford obsessive, joins me for episode 20 to talk about Joan in Flamingo Road (1949) and in episode 66 for Queen Bee (1955).

In episode 77, I admire the way Adrian develops his signature metallic look for Joan Crawford in No More Ladies (1935). The picture evades the usual tropes about a woman driven witless by a cheating husband. Joan turns the tables on Bob Montgomery until he sobs in her arms and begs forgiveness.

In episode 4, I talk about how watching Joan Crawford in Torch Song (1953) as she tries to do nothing on a Sunday leaves me with white knuckles.