Gossip Girls: Louella Parsons And Hedda Hopper (Sex and Shame in the 1950s, Episode 7)
You Must Remember This
Karina Longworth
4.6 • 15.7K Ratings
🗓️ 15 June 2021
⏱️ 50 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The 1950s were a decade of massive contradictions in terms of national and cultural attitudes towards sex. As Louella Parsons struggled to keep up with these rapid changes -- and to compete with her bolder, bitchier rival Hedda Hopper -- she reflected and steered the sexual panic through her coverage of two stories: Rita Hayworth’s marriage to a Muslim prince, and Ingrid Bergman’s “illegitimate” pregnancy. Plus: the emergence of Sheilah Graham, the international woman of mystery who would eventually beat the gossip girls at their own game.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | 살�ays |
| 0:10.7 | two |
| 0:28.1 | To another episode of You Must Remember This, the podcast dedicated to exploring the |
| 0:35.4 | secret and or forgotten histories of Hollywood's first century. |
| 0:42.4 | I'm your host, Karina Longworth, and this is another installment of our new series, |
| 0:50.7 | Gossip Girls. |
| 0:51.9 | The desire of people to tell a story that is the dream of which my town was built. |
| 0:58.9 | What is possible to be in the retool of the town? |
| 1:01.1 | Now it isn't the way I'm parsing, it must be the shadow of the world. |
| 1:04.8 | What about public insult? Did you ever suffer at the hands of the old crack, Slelly, and |
| 1:09.0 | Eddyn? |
| 1:10.0 | Hollywood's best known, best loved, most distinguished reporter. |
| 1:13.1 | Moving news from both Hollywood and New York. |
| 1:15.5 | And that dream will remain forever. |
| 1:24.6 | After World War II, Hedda and Luella would face competition from a number of directions. |
| 1:31.9 | Last week, we talked about the Hollywood Reporter columnist, Mike Connolly. |
| 1:37.2 | Today, we're going to talk about a woman who saw herself as the only real challenger to |
| 1:43.0 | the two gossip queens. |
| 1:45.2 | How much so that she referred to Hedda and Luella and herself as a threesome, which she |
| 1:51.3 | dubbed the unholy trio. |
| 1:55.9 | This third spoke of the triangle was Sheila Graham. |
| 2:01.1 | And today, we'll discuss how she, a famous self-made woman in more ways than one, who built |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Karina Longworth, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Karina Longworth and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.