November 19, 2024, 11:58am
Karina Longworth, the host and historian behind the in-depth Hollywood history podcast, You Must Remember This, recently teased the long-awaited return of her show.
Last week via Insta, Longworth posted a shelf of research books that she consulted while sculpting a new season, which is set to premiere in January. The post offered no overt announcement about next season’s topic, but it did come with the cryptic caption “more details soon.”
For pod fans, this all slakes a thirst for some very niche gossip. But it also brings mystery. Who will the major players of YMRT’s next season be? What mystery will Longworth unravel? What themes will she pursue? One woman with a little bit of time on her hands set to decoding the contents The Shelf, with an eye to answering these questions.
Frank Capra, The Name Above the Title
The auteur behind It’s a Wonderful Life was a major player in Hollywood’s Golden Age. This autobiography looks like a generalist entry-point. Great era-appropriate background.
Gerald Clarke, Get Happy: The Life of Judy Garland
This eminent biography of the late JUDY was feted on its 2000 release for its extraordinary level of detail. But the inclusion of this title from one of the most famous actors ever could point us in a lot of directions. We could be diving into Oz, or dynasties.
George Cukor, edited by Robert Emmet Long, Interviews
Cukor, another Golden Age director, helped make the careers of Joan Crawford, Ingrid Bergman, Marilyn Monroe, and almost every other era star you can name off the top of your head. He also famously directed A Star is Born (1954), which Judy starred in.
A theme emerges!
Barbara Deming, Running Away From Myself: A Dream Portrait of America Drawn From the Films of the 40s
This out-of-print memoir from a Library of Congress film analyst looks so fascinating, it’s sent me on a quest to deep corners of the archival internet for a copy. By all accounts this one is a uniquely personal work of film criticism, grounded in a huge amount of research. A vague clue for content, but sounds pretty Longworthian to me.
Joan Didion, Slouching Towards Bethlehem
Ah, a familiar face. Though another curveball, for this sleuth. How do we fit a 70s-era Didion into a puzzle with all these older Hollywood cats? What do the fallen hippies in the Haight have to do with Judy and George?
Mark Griffin, A Hundred or More Hidden Things: The Life and Films of Vincente Minnelli
This interview-based account is said to be speckled with secrets. And of course Minnelli, as you-you-you oughta know, was married to Judy. Another point for the Star-is-Born theory.
Foster Hirsch, Otto Preminger: The Man Who Would Be King
Did you know Preminger was known to colleagues as “Otto the Terrible”?! This controversial auteur was sometimes painted as an outsider, hostile to hegemonic Hollywood forces. Curious to see what counterpoint his voice might offer to the better known entities on this list.
Laurence Kardish, Reel Plastic Magic
This currently out-of-print 1972 history covers the silent era through the heyday of the talkies. Another idiosyncratic survey text. The plot thickens.
Lawrence Leamer, Hitchcock’s Blondes
Leamer’s history focuses on the actresses that so fixed Hitchcock’s eye. Longworth has covered the mystery man in previous seasons, so the presence of this book complicates the reigning thesis. And Judy never worked with Alfred.
Grover Lewis, Academy All the Way
This hard-to-find collection from an associate editor of Rolling Stone features encounters with stars like Robert Mitchum, Paul Newman, the Allman Brothers, and…Barbara Streisand.
Otherwise known as the star of A Star is Born (1976).
Jan Herman, A Talent For Trouble
This authorized biography of William Wyler joins a chorus of several Wyler-centric texts teased on The Shelf. Its inclusion reminds me that Wyler made Funny Girl (1968), another Babs vehicle. Now we’re cooking with gas?!
Clancy Sigal, Black Sunset: Hollywood Sex, Lies, Glamour, Betrayal and Raging Egos
This memoir from a reformed Golden Age agent had me at log-line; I’m ready to buy it in the room. This “ribald” account of the salesman son of two labor organizers features run-ins with the FBI and a whole lotta STARRY anecdotes.
Michael Schulman, Oscar Wars: A History of Hollywood in Gold, Sweat, and Tears
This expansive history of award season has been on my list for a while. Written by The New Yorker‘s Michael Schulman, this breathless account digs into behind-the-scenes Oscars drama.
And hey, you know what film has won a lot of Academy Awards, over several adaptive iterations? A Star is Born.
Barbra Streisand, My Name is Barbra
If you’re wise, you’ve already been working out all year to the sound of Barbra narrating her doorstop (sorry—memoir!). But let this be a good reminder for the rest of us. Another obvious point for the Star theory.
Francois Truffaut, The Films in My Life
This autobiography is a decade-spanning collection of the French auteur’s writings. Max Nelson at Film Comment gave this one a nice gloss a few years ago.
Unsure where the New Wave sits in the established subject, but I stay intrigued.
Nicholas Wapshott, The Man Between
Another truly mystifying clue. This in-depth biography of the British noir director Carol Reed falls squarely outside of the Cali-heavy purview. What are you up to, Karina?
Maurice Zolotow, Billy Wilder in Hollywood
And finally, another good-looking gloss. Billy Wilder made Sunset Boulevard, Some Like it Hot, and The Apartment, among other immortal crowd-pleasers. In the thick of the Red Scare, he also sat on the Hollywood Ten-supporting Committee for the First Amendment—with Judy Garland.
Not pictured: more conversations with William Wyler, Billy Wilder, Peter Bogdanovich, and other historic moviemakers. Though the sheer span of eras covered on The Shelf stumps this emphatically amateur historian, if previous seasons are anything to go by we can expect a highly particular web of film history. In other words, get in, hive. It’s going to be a bumpy night.
And perhaps Karina will finally settle the age-old question. Which star bore it best?
