A Dry Hot American Summer

Outside/In

NHPR

Society & Culture, Documentary, Natural Sciences, Nature, Science

4.7 • 1.5K Ratings

🗓️ 29 April 2026

⏱️ 30 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In the spring of 1936, the producer of King Kong hauled a film crew to the desert of Arizona to shoot a sweeping romantic epic. But the heat was so punishing that it melted film stock, caused the lead actress to pass out, and killed the production’s mascot – a baby camel. It was the beginning of a heat wave that parked itself over America for months, quickly becoming one of the deadliest natural disasters in our country’s history. It blew up sidewalks, cooked onions in the ground, claimed at least 12,000 lives, and turned the United States into a literal frying pan. Host Nate Hegyi talks with Geoff Williams, author of the forthcoming book The Summer of Death, about a ‘heat horror show’ that transformed American life 90 years ago, and what lessons it gives us on how to survive a hotter world today. Featuring Geoff Williams Produced by Nate Hegyi. For full credits and transcript, visit outsideinradio.org. SUPPORT Outside/In is made possible with listener support. Click here to become a sustaining member of Outside/In. Follow Outside/In on Instagram or join our private discussion group on Facebook. LINKS You can check out Geoff’s book, The Summer of Death, here. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt gave a speech about the impacts of the drought and heat wave in the fall of 1936. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	From NHPR, this is Outside In, a show where curiosity and the natural world collide.
0:05.6	I'm Nate Hedgy.
0:10.7	It was the spring of 1936, and the producer of King Kong was getting ready to make his next movie,
0:17.9	a sweeping romantic epic called The Garden of Allah.
0:22.6	The Arabs have a saying, madame. The desert is the garden of Allah.
0:28.7	This movie, it was set in the Sahara Desert, and David Selsnick, that's the producer's name,
0:33.4	he was tired of always shooting indoors on studio lots. He wanted the real thing.
0:40.0	So he hauled the entire cast and crew out to film in the desert of southwestern Arizona.
0:47.5	And they actually were at the desert where Return of the Geni was filmed.
0:53.9	That's author Jeff Williams.
0:55.2	So if you remember Jabba the Huts, that scene where he's trying to kill Luke Skywalker and
1:01.0	Han Solo.
1:02.0	You tell that slimy piece of worm-ridden filth, they'll get no such pleasure from us.
1:08.7	That's where they filmed the Garden of Allah.
1:30.3	Music no such pleasure from us. That's where they filmed the Garden of Allah. When the crew got to this desert, it was in the middle of a scorching heat wave, triple digits every day. Way hotter than it normally is in spring. Film stock began to melt.
1:32.3	The toupee on the lead actor kept falling off because of sweat.
1:36.3	People started getting sick because of the heat.
1:39.3	And then there was a baby camel named a
1:42.3	Dejimilla, and it was sort of the camp mascot.
1:46.0	And everybody loved Dejimilla.
1:49.0	Every day, the leading man, the leading actor, Charles Boyer, and the director, they would
1:53.6	bring snacks to feed the baby camel.
	...

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