Sex & Scandal in Hollywood’s Golden Age
Betwixt The Sheets: The History of Sex, Scandal & Society
History Hit
4.8 • 2.1K Ratings
🗓️ 6 March 2026
⏱️ 41 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Over 100 years ago the Hollywood film industry was shiny, new and sexy.
Sex and sexuality was present on screen, but as the 1920s drew to a close, scandals and censorship crept in.
Why did films begin to be made out in Hollywood? How raunchy was it? And what was the impact of such extreme censorship?
Joining Kate today is the fantastic historian and author William Mann, to take us back to Hollywood's Golden Age.
This episode was edited by Hannah Feodorov. The producer was Stuart Beckwith. The senior producer was Freddy Chick.
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All music from Epidemic Sounds.
Betwixt the Sheets: History of Sex, Scandal & Society is a History Hit podcast.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Do you want even more shocking and scandalous history? |
| 0:03.2 | Like why the ancient Greek statues had such small manhoods? |
| 0:06.8 | Or what went on behind closed doors in the Georgian era? |
| 0:10.8 | We'll sign up to History Hit, |
| 0:12.5 | where you can see me discover the scandalous side of history, |
| 0:15.3 | as well as hundreds of hours of original documentaries, |
| 0:18.7 | plus new releases every week, covering everything from prehistoric |
| 0:22.8 | Scotland to the Treaty of Versailles sign up to join me in locations around the world and explore |
| 0:29.2 | the past just visit history hit dot com forward slash subscribe hello my lovely betwixters it's me |
| 0:37.3 | kate lister welcome back to betwixters, it's me, Cade Lister. |
| 0:38.1 | Welcome back to Betwix the Sheeds. Hello, how lovely to see you again. Can I get you a cup of tea? Sit down and take a load off. But before we can go any further, I have to tell you, this is an adult podcast, Pokamai, Adults, Other Adults, About Adulty Things, and an adulgy, over a range, and you used to be an adult too. And now we've covered that. |
| 0:55.0 | Let's have tea. |
| 0:56.8 | Right on with the show. |
| 1:07.5 | Glad you could make it to the party betwixters. |
| 1:14.6 | We are in Hollywood at the start of the 1930s, and despite it being the prohibition era, the liquor is flowing. You've got studio stars mixing with Hollywood producer Big Whig people. You've got people sneaking off together upstairs. I'm telling you, it's all go here and the night is yet young. |
| 1:25.6 | The industry is not without its scandals, though, that's for sure. |
| 1:30.3 | And sex seems to be a big one, |
| 1:33.0 | and it's been a sticking point for this industry since day dot. |
| 1:38.7 | But how will this all play out in the business that they call show? |
| 1:42.2 | Well, stick around and we're going to find out. Hello and welcome back to Betwixt The History of Sex Scandal and Society with me, Kate Lister. |
| 2:13.7 | The so-called golden era of Hollywood started in the 1920s when it was a wild west of filmmaking, |
| 2:20.7 | literally and figuratively. It was a time when sexuality and queerness was actually portrayed on screen, |
... |
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