Louella Parsons

At least he can give me the assignment I want.

A police reporter's assignment.

John! To

cover the case of the dangerous lunatic, George Sturgis, my brother.

You're putting me in an awful spot, John.

Why, Stillman, why? I mean, I know it's not exactly usual for a drama critic suddenly to turn crime reporter,

but I'll do a good job if that's what's troubling you.

Of course not.

Waldo Lydecker in Laura, or Paul Gerard in the Columbo episode Murder Under Glass.

And then you had the power of real-life gossip columnists like, uh, Walter Winchell or Louella Parsons.

These were individuals who had a reach and an authority in this mass media age they lived in that's really gone by the boards as media sources have become more diffuse, and the reach of any individual columnist or host is quite limited.

I think in many ways, uh, this was even the case when I was growing up, where a lot of people held these prominent, uh, columnist posts.

So Ryan introduced Karina Longworth.

Karina Longworth's must-listen Hollywood podcast, You Must Remember This, has for the past 12 years, which is crazy because I think I've been listening to it the entire time, taken audiences under the forgotten and often seedier surfaces of Hollywood with entire seasons devoted to filmmakers like John Huston and Alfred Hitchcock, but also actresses like Jane Fonda, Gene Seberg, production designer and Peter Bogdanovich whisperer Polly Platt, 90s erotic thrillers, gossipers Luella Parsons and Hedda Hopper, and dead blondes like Jane Mansfield and Marilyn Monroe.

Her deep research, erudition, and precise elocution have made this podcast essential storytelling for many cinephiles.

And her new season introduces or reacquaints fans with a lost artist of Hollywood's golden age, the racially ambiguous singer, actress, and socialite of the 30s and on, Libby Holman, once accused of murdering her Camel Cigarettes mogul husband, and who also enjoyed a bisexual romantic life with many familiar phrases.

[laughs] It's the truth.

Maila herself would conjecture that he was annoyed when she talked about their friendship with gossip witch Louella Parsons.

Love gossip witch.

Either way, he goes on to discuss her in an interview with Hedda Hopper.

Yeah

... known documented use of the word, uh, nothingburger was by celebrity gossip, gossip columnist Louella Parsons in 1953 speaking about actor, uh, Farley Granger.

She said he would be a nothingburger without producer Samuel Goldwyn.

I got a little sidetracked, I admit, but [laughs]

And even before Barbara Walters, really, Rona Barrett was the voice of Hollywood.

I think she kind of followed Luella Parsons and had a hopper.

And she was very powerful back in the late 60s and the 70s and early 80s.

And she had TV specials on, very similar to the Barbara Walters specials.