Transcript
Julia Louis-Dreyfus (0:01)
Hey, listeners, it's me, Julia. We're back for season three of Wiser Than Me. We've got so much more wisdom to share from the legendary old ladies featured this season. You know, so many of our guests have written memoirs reflecting on their experiences. And by putting it all into writing, they've uncovered a better understanding of what truly matters. Jane Fonda calls it a life review and wisely says, to know where you want to go, you. You first have to understand where you've been. So brilliant. Right? That's why we've created a special Wiser Than Me notebook so you can kickstart your own life review and write down some of the nuggets of wisdom these women share in each new episode. We just added these groovy hardcover notebooks to our merch shop. To buy yours, head over to wiserthanmeshop.com today.
Rita Moreno (0:55)
Lemonade.
Julia Louis-Dreyfus (1:00)
Just a quick note before we begin. This episode contains discussion of sexual assault, and there is a brief conversation about suicide. If you or someone you know is in emotional distress or contemplating suicide, you can call or text 988 to access a trained crisis counselor. Okay, so we got invited to a fancy friend's fancy apartment in New York for dinner. The kind of thing I'm usually actually quite good at getting out of gracefully. But in this case, it actually did sound like a nice group. And I hadn't been around humans for a bit, you know, because I've been working and whatever. And so off we went. And I got seated next to a gentleman whom I have met before and I've never really cotton to, but what the heck? I mean, how bad can it be? Bad. Okay, so first of all, he starts to butt into conversations from all around the table. The mansplaining gets going pretty fucking quickly, and we learn that apparently he's an expert in everything and most of all in making a lot of money. Which is just so thrilling to hear about again from another Ivy League educated white guy who wouldn't know his own privilege if it ran him over, which it did several times. But did it stop him from bloviating? Oh, no. No, it did not. And like I said, you know what? These were fancy friends and they have a little balcony thing. So we're sitting outside and it was a lovely early fall evening. And as this guy is pontificating about his latest trip to Dubai and the rising value of something or other, and I'm just praying that dessert is coming so I can get the hell out of there, I started to notice this really weird smell right I mean, it's like this awful smell, and it's very close by, and I'm trying to identify it, and then it hits me. Oh, my God, it's dog shit. This motherfucker is not just completely full of shit. He has stepped in shit. Okay, Dog shit. What a tremendous justice this was. But it was an awful stench. So dessert comes, and I hurry through it, and I make an excuse, and we hightail it out of there. And that dog crap smell follows us into the elevator where I'm telling my husband about how awful this guy was. And then the smell is with me straight out into the street, and it's still lingering as I'm, you know, dotting the I's and crossing the T's of my description of this. Let's just say it's asshole. And it's not until we are literally stepping into the cab that I realize the dog shit is on my shoe. Yeah. Here endeth the lesson. Judge not that you yourself be not judged and all of that, but my big takeaway was that when you step in dog crap, you really have to just throw away the shoes. And my other big takeaway is how much I enjoy talking here to the wonderful wise women on this show. I mean, it's so refreshing and revitalizing for me, and I hope, dear listener, for you, too. So thank God. Thank God, then, that today we get to talk to someone who is not full of shit, but is full of wit and grace and talent and wisdom. The incomparable Rita Moreno. I'm Julia Louis Dreyfuss, and this is Wiser Than Me, the podcast where I get schooled by women who are wiser than me. Some actors have a kind of motor, an energy in their performances from role to role that is kind of supernatural. You know what I'm talking about? It's like an inner light that they bring to all their characters. They seem somehow to be totally alive, powerful, and impossibly vibrant. Our guest today is an actor like that. The first time I saw her, she was singing and dancing across the screen as Anita in West side Story, a movie that came out the year I was born. The film was shot in English with heavy accents, and she was totally captivating to me, from the bitter comedy of her killer dance number America to the unforgettably gorgeous harmony of I have A Love. Oh, God, I can't even think about it. It's so good. Knockout stuff. And, of course, she won an Oscar for it. And if it was compelling to me when I saw it on TV in reruns in the 70s. Imagine what it meant to Latin families across this country and its territories as they watched her in a Spanish dubbed version. For them, Rita Moreno wasn't just a star, she was their star. La Nuestra. Her extraordinary career on stage in the movies and on TV spans seven decades. She was the first Latina to win an Emmy. She has two, actually. A Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony. The famous egotistical. At a time when Latin people were especially marginalized in Hollywood, Rita fought and continues to fight for roles that portray Latinas with dignity and depth. To put this into perspective, despite being the largest minority group in the US Latinos still remain underrepresented in the media. Let that sink in for a second. If it's bad now, can you imagine the shitshow it must have been like back then? She has channeled that strength into becoming a trailblazer beyond showbiz, too. She marched for Civil Rights alongside Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Advocated for her friend Norman Lear's People for the American Way, a progressive advocacy organization, and has consistently worked to empower Puerto Ricans, urging them to vote and hold elected officials accountable. And that energy that I was talking about before, it's still there. The woman is a dynamo when she performs now. Amazing. Whether you know her from the Ritz, Broadway or West side Story, the Electric company. Hey, you guys 80? For Brady or her scene stealing role in One Day at a Time, Rita has managed to keep the same irrepressible charisma she's had since starting Spanish dance lessons in the Bronx at the age of six. There's even, by the way, a tribute Barbie doll of her in her Oscar dress. I am so thrilled to welcome a real star, a mother, a grandmother of two, a true force of nature, and someone who is miles and miles and miles wiser than me, the wonderful Rita Moreno. Welcome, Rita.