Show Notes
George Cukor had always experimented within his relatively broad lane, often finding nuanced ways to explore women’s lives, including their sex lives, under the constraints of the Production Code. But after winning the best Director Oscar for Best Picture-winner My Fair Lady in 1964, Cukor’s career slowed down considerably, and as the 60s turned into the 70s and both gender roles and the movies went through massive changes, Cukor was still making the same kinds of things he would have made at the peak of the studio system, regarding which he adopted an extremely defensive stance. Then, suddenly, in 1981, with Rich and Famous, Cukor caught up with the sexual revolution – a decade too late. (00:00) “George Cukor’s filmography is his most eloquent defense” (07:21) Thriving Under the Studio System (11:43) Heller In Pink Tights and The Chapman Report (21:26) My Fair Lady and Cukor in the Sixties (40:53) Justine (48:03) The “I’ll do anything” Tour and Financial Woes (54:40) Rich and Famous
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Monty’s arc as a tragic romantic figure continues with I Confess and Terminal Station – even as his relationship with Libby becomes all consuming, in the decadent party scene at her secluded estate. Meanwhile, Libby brings her act singing black folk music to Broadway, but her dreams of renewed stardom turn out to be one thing money can’t buy. (00:00) Montgomery Clift’s Juggling Act (07:54) Partner Swapping with Paul Bowles (11:13) An American Tragedy vs. A Place in the Sun (16:09) I Confess (28:43) “Love relationships are ludicrous” (36:20) “Everything seemed erotic” (44:03) Blues, Ballads and Sin-Songs (50:49) Oedipal Overtones
With Red River, Montgomery Clift becomes a new kind of movie star, projecting a new kind of sexuality – while still figuring out how he wants to express his own sexuality. Meanwhile, Libby becomes entangled with bisexual couple Jane and Paul Bowles, whose globetrotting becomes an inspiration to Libby’s teenage son, ending in tragedy. Plus: did Libby forbid Monty from starring in Sunset Boulevard because the story of a young man and a haunted older woman hit too close to home? (00:00) Affair with Nick Ray and Influence on Key Largo (09:42) Digging Deeper into Black Folk Music (14:32) Jane and Paul Bowles (25:00) The Tragedy of Libby’s Son, Topper (32:15) Montgomery Clift’s Bisexuality (40:34) Red River as Queer Melodrama (48:53) The Heiress and Monty Reconnects with Libby (57:48) Did Libby Bar Monty From Starring in Sunset Boulevard?
Montgomery Clift enters the chat as a teenage acting prodigy who immediately attracts 34 year-old Libby’s attention. Through her sometime-lover Nicholas Ray, Libby starts exploring Black folk music, launching a new singing career in collaboration with guitarist Josh White (“One Meatball”). Plus Libby’s old friend Clifton Webb becomes a late-in-life, closeted movie star, and Tallulah – effectively banished from Hollywood a decade earlier due to her refusal to be discreet about her sexuality – triumphantly returns to the screen thanks to Alfred Hitchcock. (00:00) Libby and Monty “Under the Sheets” (03:51) Appreciation or Cultural Appropriation? (06:23) Nicholas Ray, Leadbelly, Josh White (13:24) No White Person Has Ever Sung Them in Public (22:02) Everybody is in Love With Monty (28:44) Tallulah Bankhead in Movie Jail (36:13) Lifeboat (40:20) Clifton Webb’s Queer Success Story (45:46) Libby Lashes Out at Older Women (51:08) The Black Widow and Josh White (58:45) Libby’s Only Movie
While the racist, antisemitic Southern authorities try to indict a pregnant Libby for the murder of her husband, the national media effectively puts her on trial. When Libby gives birth to a new Reynolds heir, the circus only grows bigger. Meanwhile, Hollywood gets to work dramatizing the case with the aid of stars such as Claudette Colbert, Jean Harlow and Libby’s friend Franchot Tone. (00:00) A Pre-Code Anti-Heroine (04:53) A “Peculiar Opinion” of Jews (11:09) Libby Testifies (17:23) Indicted by Jury, Convicted by Media (29:09) Who Actually Killed Smith Reynolds? (34:19) Pre-Code Movies Inspired by Libby’s Story (42:50) A Career Tainted by Scandal (52:38) Jean Harlow as Libby Holman (01:02:02) An American Tragedy (01:09:11) Lupe Velez, Libby’s Nemesis
While riding a crest of Broadway stardom – and in a serious romance with a woman – Libby is pursued by Zachary Smith Reynolds, the reckless, emotional teenage heir to the Camel tobacco fortune. Just months after their marriage, at the close of a drunken party, Reynolds is dead of a gunshot wound to the head. Was Libby responsible? Also: Tallulah Bankhead is brought to Hollywood to compete with bisexual icon Marlene Dietrich, while Libby, no stranger to blackface, wants to star in a film about Josephine Baker. (00:00) Libby’s Heiress Girlfriend (13:15) Libby’s Tobacco-Heir Boyfriend (19:25) Tallulah Bankhead & the Gary Cooper Threesome (37:16) Libby Tries to Play Josephine Baker in Movie (43:56) A Yankee Jewess on the Plantation (54:36) Who Shot Zachary Smith Reynolds?