After struggling for years under the controlling grip of Harry Cohn, Kim Novak was finally able to relax once the Columbia boss had a heart attack and turned up his toes three weeks into production of Bell Book and Candle. In a few months, she would also be free of Muriel Roberts, the studio publicist who had pretended to be a close friend, when she was nothing more than a spy for Harry Cohn. Novak would not learn the extent of Muriel's betrayal until 1961.
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38:42
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38:42
Ep 151: Joan Crawford in Johnny Guitar (1954)
During production of Johnny Guitar, Joan Crawford wrangled a lacklustre script, a mercurial director, a chaos agent, and columnists who put a bounty on her head. Johnny Guitar is a parable about the persecutions of McCarthyism, but it's also about the perils in store for an aging film star.
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36:11
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36:11
Ep 150: Constance Bennett in Two Against the World (1932)
Constance Bennett's deal with Warner Bros. became a Hollywood scandal after Louella Parsons estimated that the star would earn $30,000 a week. Few reporters told the whole story. Two Against the World (1932) was her second picture on the deal. In the first half. Connie's performance anticipates the bratty screwball heiress types which were later portrayed by Claudette Colbert and Carole Lombard. And in the second half, she embodies the noble women of Depression-era melodramas starring Margaret Sullivan and Irene Dunne.
Special thanks to Thomas O'Mahony for sound editing the episode.
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30:36
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30:36
Ep 149: A LETTER TO THREE WIVES (1949)
During a turbulent era in Hollywood, Joseph L. Mankiewicz reinvigorated woman's pictures when they might have easily been cast aside. Ann Sothern's storyline, about a woman who scrambles to balance her career with her family life, is as relevant today as when the film premiered. Sothern had a series of false starts in her own career and she also struggled with the limitations of typecasting.
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34:57
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34:57
SATIN RACKETS: PART TWO
Showgirls on Broadway keep Old Man Depression from the door with a repertoire of gags to squeeze money from men.
Satin Rackets is written and directed by Megan McGurk.
Starring:
Clara Higgins plays Kitty Adare
M. Shawn plays Iris
Patrick McGurk plays Buzz and Talbot
Shane McCormack plays Joe and Carstairs
Olympia Kiriakou plays Dinah
Savannah Monroe plays Pansy
Beatrix Herriott O'Gorman plays Laurel
Jack Warren plays Mad Dog Healy
Art design by Mot Collins
Sound editing and special effects by Thomas O'Mahony
Ireland