And my imagination will feed my hungry heart
April 29, 2015 10:34 AM   Subscribe

 
Thank you for doing this griphus as I was literally planning on doing this today.

The two takeaway lessons from YMRT is that all roads in Classic Hollywood lead to Howard Hughes' pants and automobiles are the natural predators of Celebrities.
posted by The Whelk at 10:43 AM on April 29, 2015 [7 favorites]


I have enjoyed this series a great deal.
posted by sandettie light vessel automatic at 10:46 AM on April 29, 2015


(the latest Van Johnson story is so weird! Was he sleeping with the husband? the wife? both? Neither? Also, most likely cut for time but the openly gay silent film actor who got arrested sleeping with a dude at the Y and who became a successful interior decorator? One of Joan Crawford's best friends - she made a big speech to the Beverly Hills neighborhood association in order to allow him and his partner to buy a house there - so when Van returns from Joan Crawford's house after a party and gets the idea to get married to buy respectability and a ig house, that guy was most likely in attendance.)


dear god how do I know that
posted by The Whelk at 10:47 AM on April 29, 2015 [1 favorite]


Also also also Dietrich's plan to save England from the succession crisis by sleeping with King Edward ...and her plan to save the world from war ...by seducing Hitler.

I guess when you have a hammer....
posted by The Whelk at 10:50 AM on April 29, 2015 [1 favorite]


ALSO the Hollywood Canteen episode showing how racism and color-barrier breaking helped lay the groundwork for the FBI spying and Communist witch hunts cause ONLY PINKO COMMIES WANT THE RACES TO BE EQUAL.

I learn so much when I work out to these.
posted by The Whelk at 10:53 AM on April 29, 2015 [3 favorites]


Oh man is this in my wheelhouse even more than using sports metaphors I don't always get exactly right. Can't wait to listen to these.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 10:53 AM on April 29, 2015


You Must Remember This is straight up my favorite podcast out there right now.
posted by KernalM at 10:54 AM on April 29, 2015


Who was it that Van Johnson was living with when he moved to Hollywood that she mentioned? I think it was June Havoc and someone else that got big.
posted by griphus at 10:56 AM on April 29, 2015


I've been subscribed to this for a while and they've been piling up on my phone and I can't listen because my wife asked if we could listen to them together and yet there hasn't been any time to do that yet and they pile up and I am going to explode
posted by the phlegmatic king at 10:58 AM on April 29, 2015 [1 favorite]


or oh god, the Eroll Flynn episode, oh god what a bastard,
posted by The Whelk at 11:01 AM on April 29, 2015 [3 favorites]


Here's the Q&A anniversary episode where she mentioned "Well I'm going to be in England cause my boyfriend is directing a movie" and then you remember her boyfriend is Rian Johnson realize she means THIS MOVIE

Star Wars indeed.
posted by The Whelk at 11:08 AM on April 29, 2015 [3 favorites]


Been listening to this for a while - I'm suprised it's not made the blue before. Really fantastic stuff.

Anything with Hughes is the best of course. Or the FBI being shitbags. That's 80% of episides covered really.
posted by Artw at 11:14 AM on April 29, 2015


It has been on the blue before! It's how I found it!
posted by The Whelk at 11:17 AM on April 29, 2015 [1 favorite]


I remember when commutes and work breaks were strictly for reading books. Now I just listen to podcasts. So many podcasts. I think I need help, and you're not helping!
posted by Atom Eyes at 11:27 AM on April 29, 2015 [1 favorite]


The Whelk: "I guess when you have a hammer...."

Almost, dear heart. Almost.
posted by boo_radley at 11:27 AM on April 29, 2015 [1 favorite]


I came out of the John Wayne episode with LESS respect for him than when I went in, which was no mean feat.

At least she didn't do Reagan, so I didn't have to throw my iPhone accross the room.
posted by ursus_comiter at 11:39 AM on April 29, 2015 [3 favorites]


I love this podcast so much, it's one of the few my husband and I save to listen to together (usually when we're driving around Los Angeles, which makes it even awesomer).

I hate that she's caved to pressure and fixed her pronunciation of "tt" though. Karina saying "forgodden" is basically the show's real theme song.
posted by Lyn Never at 11:39 AM on April 29, 2015 [9 favorites]


Partner and I now eagerly wait to hear the pronunciation of each 'tt' occurrence.
posted by sandettie light vessel automatic at 11:53 AM on April 29, 2015 [1 favorite]


Great podcast. I'm recommending it to all my real life friends so I have someone to talk to it about. Apparently she's working on a new series and I can't wait.

I've been saving up little digs about John Wayne for next time I meet someone who idolizes him. Marilyn Monroe's story is so much sadder and Mia Farrow's crazier than I knew. Marlene Dietrich is the best and probably her seduction plans would have worked. Lombard and Gable was so sad. Theda Bara (non-Star Wars) was great and I want to be a vamp.

Also can someone explain the t/d pronunciation? I notice it a lot with Americans (wrote/rode especially) but I thought it was mostly mid-West, but Longworth is from LA originally?
posted by hydrobatidae at 12:02 PM on April 29, 2015


Oi you beat me to the post, griphus, I was about to do this!

This is such a great podcast on just about every level. I love that non-comedian professionals are starting to ply their chops in podcasting. It enriches the entire medium. I listen to so, so, so many podcasts but this one really inspired a joy in me that very few do.

My favorite episode of YMRT, so far, has been the Hollywood Canteen and Bette Davis. I was totally unlearned on the whole subject but learning about it now was such a perfect reflection of now-times ...

Anyway. Great show.
posted by Tevin at 12:03 PM on April 29, 2015


I was so happy in the 2nd Mia Farrow episode when it turned to Dory Previn, a personal favorite of mine. It was strange to hear passages from the autobiography sitting on my table being read.
posted by The Whelk at 12:07 PM on April 29, 2015


I've been saving up little digs about John Wayne for next time I meet someone who idolizes him

I loved the whole "if you're used to Old John Wayne, Google a photo of him when he was young. I'll wait [holding music] RIGHT?" thing.
posted by griphus at 12:12 PM on April 29, 2015 [5 favorites]


Apparently she's working on a new series and I can't wait.

Based on what little she has dropped, the next series is going to be about the Hollywood Blacklist years and the commie hunts that ruined so many lives.

Should be quite interesting.

(Really, basically ALL of the Infinite Guest podcasts are worth putting in your queue. But this one in particular is a gem.)
posted by hippybear at 12:13 PM on April 29, 2015 [2 favorites]


Having been turned onto this thanks to the cross promotion from my fave TBTL, I've been listening to a bunch of this lately.

HOLY CRAP I LOVE IT! The Marylin Monroe episode was uuuhmazing.

I love that she's deep enough on the subject to compare the work of various writers and try to piece together a reasonable approximation of the truth from them. That is some great work.
posted by lumpenprole at 12:20 PM on April 29, 2015 [2 favorites]


Based on what little she has dropped, the next series is going to be about the Hollywood Blacklist years and the commie hunts that ruined so many lives.

Oh boy.

This'll be ALL the motherfuckers. Can't wait.
posted by Artw at 12:20 PM on April 29, 2015 [3 favorites]


The Blacklist! Something I'm tangentially related too!
posted by The Whelk at 12:26 PM on April 29, 2015 [1 favorite]


Dalton Trumbo - best name ever or bestest name ever?
posted by Artw at 12:28 PM on April 29, 2015


/hoping for an episide that is just Elia Kazan repeatedly being kicked.
posted by Artw at 12:32 PM on April 29, 2015 [3 favorites]


Zero Mostel was apparently a terror at the HUAC meetings and I am hope there will be one on him.
posted by griphus at 12:34 PM on April 29, 2015 [2 favorites]


Also if anyone likes this podcast and has somehow missed out on Anne Helen Petersen's Scandals of Classic Hollywood (either the feature on the Hairpin or the book), go check that out.
posted by griphus at 12:36 PM on April 29, 2015 [1 favorite]


The Whelk: "or oh god, the Eroll Flynn episode, oh god what a bastard,"

I really like how Thrilling Adventure Hour portrayed Flynn which seems super fitting.
posted by boo_radley at 1:26 PM on April 29, 2015 [1 favorite]


Well, how about that prank with John Barrymore's corpse? O_o
posted by ursus_comiter at 1:44 PM on April 29, 2015


Given the number of people involved in that CORPSE PRANK no one said no cause it was A PRACTICAL JOKE INVOVLING THE CORPSE OF YOUR OLD FRIEND
posted by The Whelk at 1:59 PM on April 29, 2015


"Donated to friends for distasteful pranks" has now taken the #1 spot in my Last Will and Testament over "pushed out of a space shuttle into orbit around the earth."
posted by griphus at 2:08 PM on April 29, 2015 [2 favorites]


Thanks for these. I'll be listening to them on the tractor.

But, am I too fussy in that I find them a bit over produced?
posted by Trochanter at 8:31 AM on April 30, 2015


Ah, Johhny, I hardly knew ya.

I was (and still am) a fan of many of his movies. BTW, I recommend Lemay's book, "The Searchers." The plot has a small though significant twist that makes the book shine. I did like the movie, mostly because of the cinematography. The cavalry trilogy is among my favorites. Maybe it's Ford that I like. Maybe it's the horses.

Contrasted to this is the way I thought of him when I was in the Army (1963-71). In our outfit his name was a verb (to johnwayne any given action) meaning that someone did something stupid instead of tactically acute--I guess showboating would be a kinder word than the way we put it, because when someone johnwayned something it usually cost us casualties.. He was a joke. The Green Berets was almost surreal in its stupid and insensitive portrayal of Special Forces.

I suppose I can understand how remorse for not having had his ticket punched during the war may have led him into the witch hunts of HUAC, perhaps as a way to rehabilitate his image if not to salve his conscience. He johnwayned that too.

Anyhow, kudos for the links. I shall mine this site at my leisure.
posted by mule98J at 8:59 AM on April 30, 2015


I'm only about halfway through the Star Wars series, but I've listened to almost every previous episode. I enjoy them ... But about every other episode, Longworth will say something that lands with a thud. She'll drop a gratuitous F-bomb or say something like, "you might think that (something or other) ... But you would be a dick." Maybe she's trying to be edgy or funny. Maybe I'm just old. But it really detracts from an otherwise interesting podcast for me.
posted by pmurray63 at 9:45 AM on April 30, 2015


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