155: Passing for White: Merle Oberon (Make Me Over, Episode 4)
You Must Remember This
Karina Longworth
4.6 • 15.7K Ratings
🗓️ 11 February 2020
⏱️ 48 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In 1935, Merle Oberon became the first biracial actress to be nominated for a Best Actress Oscar, an incredible achievement in then-segregated Hollywood -- except that nobody in Hollywood knew Oberon was biracial. Born in Bombay into abject poverty in 1911, Oberon's fate seemed sealed in her racist colonial society. But a series of events, lies, men and an obsession with controlling her own image -- even if it meant bleaching her own skin -- changed Oberon's path forever. This episode was written and performed by Halley Bondy, a writer and journalist whose work has appeared on NBC, The Outline, Eater NY, Paste Magazine, Scary Mommy, Bustle, Vice and more. She's an author of five young adult books plus a handful of plays and is a writer / producer for the podcast "Masters of Scale." She lives in Brooklyn with husband / cheerleader Tim and her amazing toddler Robin.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | One thing we can all agree on, no one wants another energy crisis. |
| 0:07.1 | But just talking about it won't make it go away. |
| 0:09.8 | Here's what we're actually doing at British Gas. |
| 0:12.2 | We're increasing the UK's gas storage so that we can help make energy prices more predictable |
| 0:17.0 | for everyone. |
| 0:18.0 | And so the 8 million homes and businesses who rely on us for their energy today can rely |
| 0:23.1 | on us tomorrow too. |
| 0:25.5 | That's enough talking. |
| 0:26.5 | Let's get on with it doing. |
| 0:28.4 | British Gas. |
| 0:30.4 | And now we go live to Tural's Farm. |
| 0:33.6 | Down here in Harifacher, the folks are busy bringing in a bumper crop of local spuds. |
| 0:39.2 | And of course, when you have the finest potatoes, only the tastiest ingredients will do. |
| 0:44.2 | That's where the tasting team come in. |
| 0:45.9 | The cheer they come in for. |
| 0:47.2 | All this ensures their crisps taste de-radi-licious. |
| 0:52.5 | In fact, the Tural's team have done such a spiffing job. |
| 0:56.2 | People across the land are calling their crisps terribly, terribly tasty. |
| 1:00.5 | South Zealand's Columbian |
| 1:13.0 | I |
| 1:25.8 | Smoldered with all the passion of the Orient flickered with unslake desire I |
| 1:30.3 | Entered the room is one enters in a dream walking on air |
... |
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