You Must Remember This18 Helmi 2020

156: Esther Williams and the Birth of Waterproof Makeup (Make Me Over, Episode 5)

Esther Williams single-handedly helped popularize the pastime of swimming — first as the star swimmer of the San Francisco production of Billy Rose's Aquacade, and then as the star of Hollywood films like Bathing Beauties and Million Dollar Mermaid. Williams’s stardom — and the necessity to maintain her image as a grinning glamour girl, even while submerged underwater — led to the creation of several waterproof products and swimwear innovations, from waterproof foundation and eyeliner to bathing cap couture. Despite two decades of sustained celebrity and brand power, Williams eventually struggled to maintain the pristine bathing beauty facade. She lost her MGM contract in the 1960s and had to pay millions to the studio in damages. On her way down, she slapped her name on swimming pools and exercise videos, stumbled through four unhappy marriages and started to experiment with LSD for her depression. Drawing on previously untapped resources, Rachel Syme will tell the story of Williams' rise and fall, and the innovations in aqua-beauty she inspired, while also analyzing why we want to be waterproof, why we want to be so invulnerable to the elements and why putting swimming on-screen led to pressures for women to look put-together, even when sopping wet. This episode was written and performed by Rachel Syme, a writer, reporter and cultural critic living in New York City. She writes a regular column for The New Yorker on fashion and beauty. She is also a regular contributor to The New York Times Magazine, GQ, Vanity Fair and Esquire. She often writes about the complex intersection between fame, glamour, beauty and feminism.

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A Yankee Jewess in the Deep South (The Bisexuals, Part 2)

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 m...

22 Syys 1h 6min

Broadway Blackface & Harlem Sex Tourism (The Bisexuals, Part 1)

Libby Holman, a Jewish girl from Cincinnati, arrives in Manhattan in 1925 and begins to make a name for herself as a torch singer, trading on her racially-ambiguous skin tone and deep voice at a time ...

15 Syys 1h 12min

Trailer: The Bisexuals

Listen to a trailer for The Bisexuals, the new season of You Must Remember This, coming September 15.A sultry, racially-ambiguous singer who became a sensation on Broadway in the late 1920s and 30s, L...

11 Syys 1min

Your Next Listen: Talking Pictures

If you're a fan of You Must Remember This, we think you'll also enjoy Talking Pictures, a podcast from TCM and HBO Max. On this episode, Oscar-nominated actress Rosie Perez sits down with host Ben ...

28 Touko 59min

Presenting Cautionary Tales | Lights, Camera, Tax Break

If you like You Must Remember This, you might also enjoy Cautionary Tales with Tim Harford, a podcast about stories of historic human error, catastrophes, and heists, and the lessons we can learn from...

23 Touko 202540min

Welcome to Hollywoodland: John Waters: Subversion, Shock, and the Ultimate Outsider

If you’ve finished all episodes of The Old Man is Still Alive, I’ve got another treat for you from Jake Brennan at Hollywoodland. Have a listen to this episode of Hollywoodland about John Waters, fro...

2 Touko 202534min

John Huston, Part Two: 1975-1987 (The Old Man is Still Alive, Part 15)

In part two of our season finale, we explore the final decade of John Huston’s life and career. As he was slowly dying of emphysema and undergoing massive turmoil in his personal life, Huston continue...

24 Huhti 202553min

John Huston, Part One: 1966-1974 (The Old Man is Still Alive, Part 14)

This series began with the story of a director who wrote his autobiography to secure his place in history after his career had gone down the drain. It ends with the story of a man who wrote his autobi...

22 Huhti 202549min