Transcript
Verizon Advertiser (0:10)
Popsicles, sprinklers, a cool breeze. Talk about refreshing. You know what else is refreshing this summer? A brand new phone with Verizon.
Katy Charlwood (0:18)
Yep.
Verizon Advertiser (0:18)
Get a new phone on any plan with select phone. Trade in and MyPlan and lock down a low price for three years on any plan with MyPlan. This is a deal for everyone whether you're a new or existing customer. Swing by Verizon today for our best phone deals. 3 year price guarantee applies to then current base monthly rate only. Additional terms and conditions apply for all offers.
Alltrails Advertiser (0:42)
Out here we feel things. The sore calves that lead to epic views, the cool waterfall mist during a hot hike and the breeze that hits just right at the summit. But hey, don't just listen to us. Experience it for yourself. Alltrails makes it easy to discover the best of the outdoors. With more than 450,000 trails around the world. Points of interest along the trail and offline maps for always on navigation. Download the free app today and find your next outdoor adventure.
Stem Regen Advertiser (1:10)
I finally committed to getting back in shape. Hit the gym, ate clean, did everything right. But after two days I felt drained. My body just couldn't keep up. That's when I found Stem Regen. It supports the release of my own stem cells to repair, recover and actually rebuild from the inside out. Now I'm not just working out, I'm bouncing back. I feel stronger, more energized and more like myself every single day. Stem Regen didn't just change my routine, it changed my recovery. Empower your body to recover from within. Whether you are focused on recovery, longevity or just overall wellness, Stem Regen helps your body feel the best it can, release the best version of you. Try Stem Regen Today at StemRegen co. You use code POD25 for 25% off your first order. Again, that's StemRegen code POD25.
Katy Charlwood (2:02)
Hello delicious friends and welcome to who did what Now? The History podcast. That's not your history class. With me, your host, Katy Charlwood, history harlot and reader of books. And I want to extend a really warm welcome to anyone who's made their way here directly from the Gossip at the Corpse Cart episode on the Wine and Crime Podcast. Hi, welcome to the Fuckworld History Show. Allegedly. Just start was you mean to go on. It's good to just shock the system. It's not your history class. I will swear I have colourful language and if you don't like it, you might want to exit stage left. And so yeah, I was on the Wine and Crime podcast and if they Ever ask me to guest again? You? Yes, yes. A thousand times, yes. I had such a good time. I had such fun. The gals are so fun. And not to blow my own trumpet, but at least two people contacted me to inform me that I am, in fact, a hoot. I am a hoot. And, yeah, so it was such a good time. And that was like my good, fun Internet time. This week I had less fun Internet time. Less than stellar, some might say, for two reasons. One, I have to keep explaining that my friend Paul is not my boyfriend. I actually disappointed my cousin's group chat. I've got a group chat with all my female cousins, by the way, and one of them's like, katie, who's this guy in your videos? And I'm like, oh, that's my pal Paul. And they were like. I could just feel the energy drain from the text chat because they were like, oh, man, I thought you had a new man. I thought something was happening. And, like, I just really brought the mood down. I really deflated the group chat. Everyone was so disappointed. They thought something was happening. And I'm like, I'm sorry to disappoint you, but I'm. I'm probably closer to becoming a nun than I am to getting married. And that's where we're at today. So that was fun. If you have seen the videos where I'm just like, lip syncing with my friend Paul. Yeah, he's single ladies. Cisgender ladies who like nerdy men with beards, I guess, go to town, have fun. So, yeah, I mean, with his consent. Jesus. With his consent. Like, don't just try and kidnap my friend Paul. Please don't kidnap my friend Paul. Don't do that. Like, he. He's a gentle soul underneath all that trauma. But, yeah, so, like, that's. That's that. We are not a thing. We have never been a thing, though. We do escape rooms together. We get dressed up and we go places and like, that's. That's it. So that's what that is. So, yeah. And. And my other. My other less than stellar Internet experience this week is all to do with. How do I put it? People not understanding the parallels in history. Because history doesn't repeat. It rhymes, right? It's never going to be tracing paper over the blueprints. You know, there's always going to be alterations. And so I've been providing basic factual information and talking about. As some of you know, my actual, like, speciality is propaganda and misinformation. Like, technically my area of expertise is the rise of sensationalism and the use of print as propaganda in the late modern period. And I was recently reminded that when I was in high school, when I was in secondary school, history, my like, leaving cert essay was about the use of film as propaganda in the First World War. And yet here we are. Here's where I have. I have stationed myself. Bonjour, motherfuckers. So it's been, it's been a whole thing and it, it's led to me just getting like more disheveled and angry with people who are not taking in very clear information. It could be cognitive dissonance. So, like, I really shouldn't. But anyway, anyway, I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, katie, chill the hell out. And also, quit your jibber jabber. In fact me. In fact you. I will. But first we've got to get our source on. Our sources are My Story, An Autobiography by Mary Astor. The Purple Diaries, Mary Aster and the Most Sensational Hollywood scandal of the 1930s by Joseph Egan. Investigation of UN American propaganda activities in the United States. The executive hearings of August 27, 1940. The great lie, the Creation of Mary Astor by Kathleen Spaltrow. Mary Astor's Purple Diary, the Great American sex scandal of 1936. Mary Aster, prisoner of Kicks by Dan Callaghan. I also have articles from Hollywood, Babylon, the LA Times and the New York Times. And let's not forget our old favourite, biography.com? are you sitting comfortably? Good. Then let's begin. So I decided that this month, the month of July, for absolutely no reason, I was going to talk about American history, North America, American history, to be precise. Well, US History, to be more precise, and the people therein. And this episode, before I start, was actually one of the stories I told on my US and Canada tour. And this was from Ellie at the Lyric Hyperion. Because I wanted to talk about Hollywood, darling, and I did, because I could. And I have so many more exciting things happening this month. And I've been doing so much research for a bonus episode for you that I think deserves to be told in today's day and age. And so I hope you'll forgive me, anyone who was at the LA show and they're going to hear this story again, with a few tweaks and changes, a few improvements, if you will, thanks to some input from friends. Now our story starts, as many stories in the United States do, with immigrants. Mary Astor was born on 3 May 1906 as Lucille Vasconelas Laganque. In Quincy, Illinois. I don't know why I made her surname sound more like Hispanic when in fact it was German. She was born to her parents, Helen Marie de Vasconcelles, an American with Irish and Portuguese heritage, and Otto Ludwig Wilhelm Langonke, a German who emigrated to the USA from Berlin in 1891. Her parents were both teachers. Helen taught drama and elocution. So the rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain. And Otto, he taught German up until the US entered the First World War. And then he took up light farming. I shit you not, Light farming is the official, official piece of information there. Mary was homeschooled and also played the piano. And when I say also played the piano, I mean her parents forced her to continuously play the piano until she was perfect. I say perfect. But like they really, they really got into it. Like they demanded that she was going to be like good at it. And like her dad, he made her practice like every day, several times a day. Now this may shock you with her father being German, but they were not the most affectionate of parents. And her upbringing was fairly rigid or strict. And when she's 12 years old, she submits her picture into a contest in Motion Picture Magazine, which I'm fairly certain is the same one that Tallulah Bankhead sent her photo into. So she's in this contest and she gets to the semi finals and the next year she sends a picture in again, this time becoming a finalist and, and runner up in the national contest. And so this point the family had moved to Chicago as Otto had a job as something there, but he sees dollar signs. I love that like he got a job there. What was he doing? I think teaching, I'm not entirely sure because like he was and then he wasn't and then he was and I'm not that interested in Otto to be honest, because my focus is on Mary. So Otto, he sees dollar signs when he looks at his daughter. And so he moves them all the way to New York City for her to act in motion pictures. And Otto, he's basically the driving force for her career, but he also hinders it. So now all of the ladies, they need to get decent photos. You gotta have your headshots if you're gonna be doing any kind of like acting, performing, etc, etc, and so the Charles Alban, a Manhattan photographer, he takes her picture and this photo is seen by Harry Dunst. And this leads to her getting a six month contract with Paramount Pictures. And they decide that her name is too foreign sounding, it's too exotic and so they change her name foreign from Lucille Langanka to Mary Astor. A decision made by Walter Wanger, a producer, gossip columnist, Louella Parsons and Paramount Pictures chief himself, Jesse Laski. So she gets a screen test with Lillian Gish, who is so impressed with her charisma, her charm, her stage presence, her ability to recite Shakespeare, that she shoots over 1000ft of film with her. And Mary, she appears in one of the Lasky famous Player films. And then her contract expires. She's in Sentimental Tommy and it's great. She's amazing. And her contract just gone. Now Lillian Gish, she's just like, what the actual fuck? And she marches Mary aster over to D.W. griffith. And so she has this screen test with Griffith. And he loves her, right? He thinks she's amazing. But not Otto cannot stand Otto, right? So Mary's only what, like 14 years old, 15 years old at this point. And Griffith knows that Otto was going to be a pain. Like he watched him watch her and he was like, I don't like this vibe. And so by just his physical presence, Otto cost his daughter like career opportunities. So yeah, D.W. griffith does not sign her. Like, Otto has major dance mom vibes. Like that's the best way I can describe him. And so she ends up acting in, you know, independent movies like the Beggar Maid and the man who Played God. And she receives critical acclaim and she is being noticed. And so Otto moves them out to Hollywood and it's here that she signs a year long contract with Paramount Pictures. And then who shows up just like he did in the Tallulah Bankhead episode, which you should all listen to. It is one of my best. Just, I say it's not, it's not one of my best, but I fucking love Tallulah Bankhead. She is chaos personified. She is bisexual, chaos demon. Love her, right? Anyway, John Barrowmore, Drew Barrymore's grandfather. Drew Barrymore's grandfather, he shows up, he swings into the scene because he sees a picture of the teenage actress and is just like so into her ew. And also, ick. She is 17 at this point. He is 40. 17, 40. Just want to clarify that for everybody in the room. And he wants her to star in Beau Brummel with him at Warner Brothers. And during the screen test, he whispers in her ear, mary, Mary, you are so beautiful, you make me feel faint. Allegedly. Now, George Barrymore at this point, like he was a bonafide star. Like he's known as one of the finest actors of his generation. Like he is the cat's pajamas. Like, he, he's, he's, he's. He's kind of a big deal. And he convinces her parents to let them be alone together. Now, her parents would never let her be alone with anyone. Like, controlling is one way to put it. It's also the correct way to put it. But John Barrymore being John Barrymore, he convinces them to just like, let us be alone. He tells them that he wants to give her acting lessons first. He does this at their house so that they're comfortable with him. What's that called? Is it grooming? What? Who would say such a thing? What, me? You? Yes, I did. Anyway. Oh. Oh, that's actually really funny. Cuz, like in my notes, it actually says here he grooms them. I mean, earns their trust. Go past me. That was smart. I love the fact that I'm on the same wavelength as my own self from, like several months ago. And so after a while, you. He's like, oh, she's so nervous and self conscious around you. She needs to be privately taught private acting with me, privately with my privates. I mean, I mean, privately away from the, the paparazzi. Is that even a thing yet? I don't know. Oh. And he's like, it would be so much easier to get her out of her dress, I mean, out of her shell, if she did the acting lessons. Away from you, securely behind closed doors where you cannot see her. And so, without further ado, Drew Barrymore takes the teenage Mary Astor to a hotel for acting lessons. And Otto and Helen, they allow it. And he has this whole predatory situation. I mean, what's no. Mary and John start this love affair. See, here's. Here's the thing. Mary didn't really receive a lot of affection from her parents. And so she like, equated sex with emotional love. And so she assumed that a man being attracted to her and, and wanting to boink her that that was love. And so they're shagging. But also, John Barrymore, he is actually helping her with acting. So he is doing what. He's doing what he says he's doing. He's also doing her. Like it's. He's doing both. Right? Who says a man can't have range? And so he's got her reading books and poetry and studying music and drama and art. Like he's molding her into be the woman he wants her to be. I mean, no, that's. He's just helping her in her career. And she's very much still under her Parents control. And he is helping her to become an independent thinker. So, I mean, a broken clock is still right twice a day, you know. And he goes on to divorce his wife, and he asks Mary to marry him, but she keeps telling him to wait because she's still under her father's control because, remember, she's still a teenager. Okay? And John Barrymore, he gets tired of waiting around, and so his eyes wander to Dolores Costello, who, yes, Drew Barrymore's grandmother. So, like, that happened at least. So this led to that, which is interesting. Would he have met Dolores? Would he have married Dolores Costello is the real question. He would have met her, but would he have married her, like, if this hadn't happened? If Mary Astor hadn't, you know, for lack of better term, rejected him? So this whole scenario, because he goes off and marries Dolores, this makes Mary think that being so under the thumb regarding her parents and is preventing her from finding love. And, like, she calls this her, like, big regret, like, not saying yes to John Barrymore, who I would like to add, lest we forget in the Tallulah Bankhead episode, flashed a teenage Tallulah in his dressing room to try and, like, woo the young impressionable, or he thought was impressionable teenager. And she was like, no and tottered off. Anyhow, in 1925, Mary's parents use her money to buy a mansion called Moorcrest, which, incidentally, Andy Samberg currently lives in at time of writing and recording. And basically, it's like a. It's like a Beauty and the Beast without the romance or the talking furniture. Yeah, they basically keep her locked in the mansion. They let her out to make money and pee. And then they hold her prisoner in the mansion that her parents bought with her money from her acting that she did, you know, and she. She's making money like, she is making money. She's raking in like $5,000 a month, which in today's money is $93,508.48. Yes, I did use a calculator. You're welcome. She is the family meal ticket and the sole earner for the family. And they know it. Like, that's why they're trying to keep her contained and controlled and ruled by them. And so Otto decides that he is going to manage her affairs for her, because of course he fucking is. He wants to hold the purse, drinks. I mean, she's earning five grand a month, and Otto puts her on an allowance of $5 a week, and he is in complete control of her finances and he is living the high life. And he is what we like to call Guian Lal Die. And it all gets to become too much for Mary. And at the age of 21, she runs away. She runs away from home. And, and, and I swear it is, it is like out of a movie because she climbs out of her bedroom window on the second floor. Like she ties her bed sheets together and just like climbs down like proper, proper cartoony. And so she leaves and she checks into a hotel and listen, it's not like she ran away to join the circus, which never happens anymore. Like people run away from the circus to join corporate America. That's a joke from a Far side graphic novel that I read when I was like 10 years old. I'm sorry. It's like, oh, Bozo and Jingle's kids ran away from the circus to join corporate America. Or something to that effect. Yeah, I used to love the Far side. I have no idea how I came across it. I'm gonna assume by my cool big brother, but I can only assume. So, yeah, she moves out and she comes to a financial agreement with her parents and like she doesn't actually get full financial control like for another five years until she's 26 because her parents sued her for financial support. And it's like between 1920 and 1930, like Mary kept $24,000 and gave Otto $460,000. But she's got two wonderful arms, she's got two wonderful legs. She's over 21 and she's free. And she's got a handful of honey for her little honey bee. I can't help myself sometimes. I really can't. This seems like a good time to take like a little break.