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Transcript

It's a Cult! · Boozy Banter with Friends

• 0:18
  Leyla Zmeskal: Hello and welcome to boozy banter,
• 0:20
  Diane Black: With friends.
• 0:21
  Leyla Zmeskal: I'm Leyla.
• 0:22
  Trisha Smith: I'm Trisha.
• 0:23
  Diane Black: I'm Diane.
• 0:24
  Leyla Zmeskal: Grab your favorite spirit and join us because shits about to get real.
• 0:37
  Leyla Zmeskal: Hello.
• 0:38
  Trisha Smith: Hi.
• 0:39
  Leyla Zmeskal: How are you doing?
• 0:40
  Trisha Smith: I'm good. How are you?
• 0:42
  Leyla Zmeskal: I'm doing, well.
• 0:42
  Leyla Zmeskal: I said well, because that is a nod to our worker bee ,Diane.
• 0:51
  Trisha Smith: Yes. She's been a busy bee this fall.
• 0:54
  Leyla Zmeskal: She has. She is, the she's a busy one.
• 0:59
  Trisha Smith: Right. So we are going on without her.
• 1:03
  Leyla Zmeskal: Foraging ahead.
• 1:04
  Trisha Smith: Right. Right. But maybe, I think she'll be back, soon.
• 1:09
  Leyla Zmeskal: She will. I believe. I believe in our Diane.
• 1:16
  Trisha Smith: Yes.
• 1:17
  Leyla Zmeskal: Yes. So anything new?
• 1:20
  Trisha Smith: No. We're doing the same old, same old.
• 1:24
  Leyla Zmeskal: Yeah, watching anything new or reading anything new.
• 1:28
  Trisha Smith: I did, what did I just watch? I watched something the other day. Oh, I just finished watching squid game.
• 1:35
  Leyla Zmeskal: I,
• 1:37
  Trisha Smith: Did we talk about this already?
• 1:38
  Leyla Zmeskal: Did we?
• 1:39
  Trisha Smith: I hope not.
• 1:40
  Leyla Zmeskal: I don't know.
• 1:40
  Leyla Zmeskal: Yes. I think we did.
• 1:43
  Trisha Smith: Well, I finished it, and it was good.
• 1:46
  Leyla Zmeskal: I have watched. I just watched a YouTube, like spoiler for, Squid Game and I knew something was up with the old man, but I didn't know it was to that extent. So I'm like, Oh,
• 2:04
  Trisha Smith: Right.
• 2:04
  Leyla Zmeskal: Wow.
• 2:05
  Trisha Smith: Yeah. Yeah. But I mean, it makes sense. Like when you think back about,
• 2:12
  Leyla Zmeskal: Yeah,
• 2:12
  Trisha Smith: You know,
• 2:13
  Leyla Zmeskal: It made sense.
• 2:14
  Trisha Smith: I mean, the clues were there, it's just weird that, I mean I felt so bad. I felt so bad for the main character. Like to go, he lost all his friends, and then have to, you know, go back out into the real world. And I, you know, and then to find that out where he thought he was responsible for that old man dying and then I just felt so bad for him. So I wasn't surprised at the very end when he's like, yeah, yeah, this ain't happening again. I'm waiting to find out now. So many spoilers if you haven't watched it, don't listen.
• 2:53
  Leyla Zmeskal: Yeah, don't.
• 2:53
  Trisha Smith: Don't turn us off, but don't listen as part. But,
• 2:55
  Leyla Zmeskal: Yeah,
• 2:56
  Trisha Smith: You know just, lalala for 10 seconds. I'm wondering if the cop really died because they just showed him falling off the side of the cliff. He could have like fell in the water and swam to safety or something? I don't think he's I don't think he's a goner.
• 3:10
  Leyla Zmeskal: Well, they say there's gonna be a season, two.
• 3:13
  Trisha Smith: I hope so., because it's, it was good. I
• 3:16
  Leyla Zmeskal: I hope they do a little better job with the liked it.
• 3:18
  Leyla Zmeskal: dubbing.
• 3:19
  Trisha Smith: I know.
• 3:20
  Leyla Zmeskal: So hard at times for me.
• 3:21
  Trisha Smith: I almost now that I've seen the whole thing almost feel like going back and rewatching it with the subtitles because they said you should watch it with the original subtitle.
• 3:31
  Leyla Zmeskal: Right?
• 3:32
  Trisha Smith: And but how do you watch the action on the TV when you're reading?
• 3:37
  Leyla Zmeskal: You can't.
• 3:37
  Trisha Smith: Yeah, so I almost feel like going back and then just fast forwarding through some stuff. Because I'm like, okay, really this guy, the main character he really can't be that big of a jerk.
• 3:50
  Leyla Zmeskal: He doesn't seemed like a jerk to me just seems like a baby.
• 3:55
  Trisha Smith: Right.
• 3:55
  Leyla Zmeskal: A little whiny baby.
• 3:57
  Trisha Smith: I felt so bad when he came back and his mom had died you know, just a hole but,
• 4:02
  Leyla Zmeskal: Oh,
• 4:02
  Trisha Smith: You haven't,
• 4:02
  Leyla Zmeskal: I haven't seen that.
• 4:05
  Trisha Smith: Okay, nevermind.
• 4:05
  Trisha Smith: You didn't say you couldn't have spoilers, fingers in your ears, lalala.
• 4:11
  Leyla Zmeskal: Trisha are you done talking yet?
• 4:14
  Trisha Smith: I am now and I only have one more episode to catch up on with only murders in the building. And I have to watch,
• 4:24
  Leyla Zmeskal: Okay, now I have a whole different theory.
• 4:27
  Trisha Smith: Oh, no. Yes, after knowing.
• 4:29
  Leyla Zmeskal: After knowing the what happened in this previous episode, I have a whole different theory.
• 4:34
  Trisha Smith: Right. Right.
• 4:35
  Leyla Zmeskal: Do you?
• 4:36
  Trisha Smith: Mm hmm.
• 4:37
  Leyla Zmeskal: Yeah. Our theories are probably the same.
• 4:40
  Trisha Smith: Probably
• 4:41
  Leyla Zmeskal: Probably.
• 4:42
  Trisha Smith: So we'll find out next week. This the last is the last week.
• 4:47
  Leyla Zmeskal: Yeah, that was a little like, Oh,
• 4:49
  Trisha Smith: Right.
• 4:49
  Leyla Zmeskal: You know what?
• 4:49
  Leyla Zmeskal: Could be.
• 4:53
  Trisha Smith: Right.
• 4:53
  Leyla Zmeskal: Even down to the.
• 4:55
  Trisha Smith: Yep, yep. But we are probably a month by the time this airs, our episode airs.
• 5:00
  Trisha Smith: We're like a month out from it being over so everybody will know.
• 5:06
  Leyla Zmeskal: Everybody will know. Just gonna go out on a limb, I say I think it's the girlfriend.
• 5:14
  Trisha Smith: I don't know. I think that's too obvious. But I don't know. We'll see.
• 5:19
  Leyla Zmeskal: I don't think it's the guy, the the crazy reclusive cat guy now.
• 5:24
  Trisha Smith: Yeah,
• 5:25
  Leyla Zmeskal: No, I think it's the I think it's the girlfriend.
• 5:27
  Trisha Smith: I don't know. I feel like they threw that in Yhe bassoonist. I don't know and she, but it's there,
• 5:30
  Leyla Zmeskal: The bassoonist.
• 5:33
  Leyla Zmeskal: just too convenient.
• 5:35
  Leyla Zmeskal: But is it?
• 5:38
  Leyla Zmeskal: True? I mean, I don't know.
• 5:40
  Leyla Zmeskal: Yeah, we'll see.
• 5:42
  Trisha Smith: Well, what are you drinking today?
• 5:43
  Leyla Zmeskal: Today I am drinking a split, splice, splicey.
• 5:47
  Trisha Smith: A splicey?
• 5:49
  Leyla Zmeskal: I swear. I haven't had a full one yet. I'm having a spicy blood orange Margarita. Oh, yeah. It's kind of tasty. I will tell you what, tequila, isn't it? But it's something something something., something tequila,
• 6:06
  Trisha Smith: Spicy Tequila.
• 6:07
  Leyla Zmeskal: Spicy Tequila.
• 6:07
  Leyla Zmeskal: And it's that skinny something.
• 6:13
  Trisha Smith: Mixer.
• 6:14
  Leyla Zmeskal: Something blood orange mixer.
• 6:16
  Trisha Smith: Yeah,
• 6:16
  Leyla Zmeskal: Yeah, it's actually that mixer is potent.
• 6:20
  Trisha Smith: It's so sweet.
• 6:21
  Leyla Zmeskal: It's really packs a lot of flavor.
• 6:24
  Trisha Smith: It does,
• 6:24
  Leyla Zmeskal: I really probably should have tried the mixer.
• 6:27
  Leyla Zmeskal: Before I made the contact cocktail, because I would have probably pulled back a lot on the amount of mixer I added.
• 6:35
  Trisha Smith: You always assume you know, double the mixer from the alcohol,
• 6:39
  Leyla Zmeskal: Right.
• 6:39
  Trisha Smith: But this is kind of one of those things where you could probably just add,
• 6:43
  Leyla Zmeskal: I wouldn't say,
• 6:43
  Trisha Smith: Equal amounts.
• 6:44
  Leyla Zmeskal: Equal amounts or even adding some like sparkling water, soda water or something to kind of help break it up. But yeah, it's it's, it's actually gives you a lot of bang for your buck.
• 6:56
  Trisha Smith: Yeah. Yeah.
• 6:57
  Leyla Zmeskal: Surprisingly enough. I didn't expect that to be honest. It's the first time i've used that mixer. So what about you?
• 7:03
  Trisha Smith: I am still super into fall,
• 7:07
  Leyla Zmeskal: As you should be.
• 7:08
  Trisha Smith: I know. I mean, the only thing that's gonna top this is Christmas, of course,
• 7:12
  Leyla Zmeskal: Which is right around the corner.
• 7:14
  Trisha Smith: I can't wait.
• 7:14
  Leyla Zmeskal: Get ready for a bunch of Christmas themed cocktails.
• 7:19
  Trisha Smith: I've got it. I'm ready. I'm ready.
• 7:23
  Leyla Zmeskal: This is your jam.
• 7:23
  Trisha Smith: Right. I'm having apple cider again, and this time I paired it with some spiced rum.
• 7:31
  Leyla Zmeskal: It's good.
• 7:32
  Trisha Smith: It's good.
• 7:33
  Leyla Zmeskal: It's really good.
• 7:33
  Leyla Zmeskal: I liked it. I was like, oh, you sure you don't like your drink?
• 7:36
  Leyla Zmeskal: I really like yours, and then you did like a sprinkle of cinnamon, which brought all the flavors, I think brought it together.
• 7:47
  Trisha Smith: And when you go to take a drink it smells like apple pie. It's just so good.
• 7:50
  Trisha Smith: And it does. I mean, it may be Florida and hot outside. But inside it feels like it should be you know, it should be fall.
• 8:04
  Leyla Zmeskal: I wanna say, fall in your mouth. But we'll reserve that purely for summer.
• 8:14
  Trisha Smith: Right? Right. Cuz you know,
• 8:17
  Leyla Zmeskal: Fall in a cup.
• 8:20
  Trisha Smith: Fall in a cup just doesn't pack was same punch.
• 8:25
  Leyla Zmeskal: Not that same oh oh oh, goodness.
• 8:34
  Trisha Smith: So what do you have for me today?
• 8:35
  Leyla Zmeskal: I have a story about a movie, and it's an older movie that's been remade a couple of times. It's had some miniseries spin offs. But I don't think anything can compare to the original. This was this was like, so controversial at the time and so groundbreaking as far as the theme of the movie, and it just did a lot of spin offs, and apparently because of controversy about it.
• 9:06
  Leyla Zmeskal: It's considered it might be cursed. And a lot of people that have that were a part of the movie, the directors and producers. They've had some weird things happen to them. So it they say that just further adds to the curse. And I'll have to say that if you're a conspiracy theorist, when you read some of the crap that goes on in Hollywood Yeah, I can see how people are like it is a giant like cult, and things are all connected and tied together.
• 9:43
  Leyla Zmeskal: And there's a lot of weird coincidences,
• 9:47
  Trisha Smith: Right.
• 9:47
  Leyla Zmeskal: So I'm going to tell you about Rosemary's Baby.
• 9:51
  Trisha Smith: See my second or my first guess after that description would have been the, Exorcist.
• 9:56
  Leyla Zmeskal: Yeah, you've talked about the exorcist a while and I would never steal your thunder. Because I know you want to do the, Exorcist.
• 10:02
  Trisha Smith: But,
• 10:03
  Leyla Zmeskal: I know you want to do that one?
• 10:03
  Trisha Smith: Yeah, cuz I mean, there's some creepy shit about that movie. But anyways, we're not talking about that today,
• 10:10
  Leyla Zmeskal: No.
• 10:10
  Trisha Smith: We're talking about Rosemary's Baby.
• 10:11
  Leyla Zmeskal: So, if you are of a certain age, you may remember or if you are a movie buff, you may remember the classic movie Rosemary's Baby, but I didn't know that there's a curse possibly associated with it,
• 10:26
  Trisha Smith: Right.
• 10:27
  Leyla Zmeskal: And if you don't know, you need to watch the 1968 original and not the remake, I've heard the remake was just kind of like wah wah.
• 10:36
  Trisha Smith: Right
• 10:37
  Leyla Zmeskal: So definitely watch the 1968, I'm not going to give you you know, the premise of the movie, I'm not going to give you like a crap ton of history about it. I'm just going to be like, here's a little blurb about it. And here's why people think it's hot are cursed.
• 10:56
  Trisha Smith: Okay,
• 10:57
  Leyla Zmeskal: So the movie was based off a book by Ira Levin, and made into a movie in 1968.
• 11:00
  Leyla Zmeskal: Now this book was written when his wife was pregnant. Ah,
• 11:09
  Trisha Smith: That's where that baby comes in.
• 11:11
  Leyla Zmeskal: That's kind odd, well that just explains, like clearly. I was like, Oh, that's weird. And they were living in a New York apartment.
• 11:18
  Trisha Smith: Hmm.
• 11:19
  Leyla Zmeskal: Interesting. Even before the novel hit the bookstores. It was a hot topic around Hollywood, I guess there was a lot of buzz and people were interested because of course, at the time, it was completely, like out of left wing. No one saw this one coming. And it caught the eye of director producer William Castle. Now William Castle was known for B movies, which I didn't think that House on Haunted Hill was a B movie, but I guess that's considered a B movie.
• 11:47
  Trisha Smith: Really?
• 11:48
  Leyla Zmeskal: Yeah, I didn't think so either,
• 11:50
  Trisha Smith: Huh.
• 11:50
  Leyla Zmeskal: But that's what he was known for. And he really tried to get a deal with Paramount Pictures. But Robert Evans, who saw the potential in the novel, said that yes, he'll do it. But he didn't want castle to be the director. He said, I'll do it. But I want you to only be a producer, because he thought the movie had was potentially too big for him and was, you know, he wanted somebody better, I guess. So.
• 12:19
  Leyla Zmeskal: Evans decided on Roman Polanski to direct the film. Now that you know a bit of the background, here's why people say it's possibly cursed. The first odd event happened when composer, I'm gonna butcher his name and I apologize to his family. He's no longer with us. Krzystof Komeda.
• 12:41
  Trisha Smith: Oh,
• 12:42
  Leyla Zmeskal: So it was said that he was 37 at the time. And he was roughhousing at a party and fell down a rocky slope and went into a coma. Well your like oh, that's so tragic and sad, but oddly enough, it is the very same fate, Levin's witches used to kill Rosemary's suspicious friend in the novel.
• 13:05
  Trisha Smith: Oh,
• 13:06
  Leyla Zmeskal: Now that's like, oh, that's a little weird.
• 13:10
  Trisha Smith: Right.
• 13:10
  Leyla Zmeskal: Komeda for most of what I've read, Komeda never regained consciousness. And he died the following year.
• 13:16
  Leyla Zmeskal: However, there is one little snippet that I read. Now, I don't know if they just added this in there for flavor. But it said that he was unconscious the whole time, except when they played the theme song to Rosemary's Baby. And he's in it said that he woke up just the once when he heard the music.
• 13:36
  Trisha Smith: Wow.
• 13:37
  Leyla Zmeskal: Like, okay, so this is the only time that I'm reading that. Did this really happen?
• 13:41
  Trisha Smith: Right, right.
• 13:42
  Leyla Zmeskal: I don't think so.
• 13:42
  Leyla Zmeskal: I think that was just in there for flair.
• 13:45
  Trisha Smith: Yeah. But if he was working on it, right before it happened, you know, it may have been what was on his mind.
• 13:56
  Leyla Zmeskal: Yeah. Or he had just finished it. You know, that was gonna be his claim to fame.
• 14:00
  Trisha Smith: Or he woke up and he's like, God damn it wasn't really done.
• 14:04
  Leyla Zmeskal: Damn it, I should have done else right there at that part?
• 14:07
  Trisha Smith: That doesn't sound right at all. Because I know I would do that. If I was in a coma, and somebody was like, look what I made for you. I'll be like, that's not right. I'm pop right up and say it to.
• 14:23
  Leyla Zmeskal: And immediately fall back into a coma.
• 14:26
  Trisha Smith: Once I had the last word, I'd be like, Okay, I'm done.
• 14:30
  Leyla Zmeskal: And then I'd be like, but do you really have the last word?
• 14:34
  Trisha Smith: Yes.
• 14:36
  Leyla Zmeskal: Damn it Trisha.
• 14:38
  Trisha Smith: One eye open, yes.
• 14:41
  Leyla Zmeskal: And then as you're like your hands moving to give me the finger.
• 14:48
  Trisha Smith: And then somebody will write about it later be like, and when she heard Leyla's voice, up came one finger.
• 14:57
  Leyla Zmeskal: All the fucks that she had stored up were then given.
• 15:00
  Trisha Smith: She only had one left to give,
• 15:02
  Leyla Zmeskal: She gave it away to Leyla.
• 15:06
  Trisha Smith: Exactly.
• 15:07
  Leyla Zmeskal: And now her field is bare.
• 15:13
  Trisha Smith: That's right.
• 15:16
  Leyla Zmeskal: So, so moving on and back to Polanski. You know, Polanski had his own tragedy when his very pregnant wife, as you may heard of Sharon Tate was murdered by the Manson Family on August 9th of 1969. Now, I'm planning on doing a story about a house that's connected to Sharon Tate.
• 15:44
  Trisha Smith: Is it the one that just sold? I'll save that for another day.
• 15:49
  Leyla Zmeskal: It's interesting when I, I mean already have like a gathering information for the story. But when I read this, I'm like, Holy shit, everything in Hollywood's freakin connected,
• 15:59
  Trisha Smith: Right.
• 15:59
  Leyla Zmeskal: So weird,
• 16:00
  Trisha Smith: Well you know, okay, so the the house, I think it's the same. No, it's the house that was next door that got broken. It was bought by tactical ghost guy. And it just recently sold for shit ton of money.
• 16:15
  Leyla Zmeskal: Oh, wow.
• 16:16
  Trisha Smith: So anyway,
• 16:18
  Leyla Zmeskal: So but before she was murdered, Right, It said that, Polanski wanted her, Sharon Tate to be the star in there. But the studio was like, no, we want Mia Farrow.
• 16:30
  Trisha Smith: Mm hmm.
• 16:31
  Leyla Zmeskal: So before she was murdered, she would hang around the movie set even appearing in the background of Rosemary's, young people only party scene.
• 16:37
  Leyla Zmeskal: You know, like, there's that single scene in the movie. Yeah.
• 16:40
  Leyla Zmeskal: But during that time, her friend said that she was becoming obsessed with the occult.
• 16:47
  Trisha Smith: Really,
• 16:48
  Leyla Zmeskal: I didn't know that.
• 16:49
  Trisha Smith: Wow,
• 16:49
  Leyla Zmeskal: It was kind of weird. One friend even quoted her as saying, "The devil is beautiful. Most people think he's ugly, but he's not".
• 16:57
  Trisha Smith: Okay.
• 16:58
  Leyla Zmeskal: Kind of weird.
• 16:59
  Trisha Smith: Yeah,
• 17:00
  Leyla Zmeskal: Kind of weird. So the last time Polanski saw his wife was in July, she was very, very pregnant. She was about eight and a half months pregnant. And he had this like, the weirdest thought, he thought to himself, he would never see her again.
• 17:16
  Trisha Smith: Oh, wow.
• 17:17
  Leyla Zmeskal: Like how,
• 17:18
  Trisha Smith: Yeah,
• 17:19
  Leyla Zmeskal: Out of that. So he did a lot of interviews about you know, leading up to it and his thoughts on it. So that sparked like, the internet fanatics crazy. So some said that he made that Polanski himself, made his young, bride or young wife a blood sacrifice in order in return for his untouchable status in Hollywood and beyond.
• 17:45
  Trisha Smith: What?
• 17:46
  Leyla Zmeskal: Yeah, like here take my wife now I'm untouchable. Which after his wife died, I guess he became like, spiraled down as he became you know, addicted to alcohol and drugs and got into a shit ton of legal problems.
• 18:03
  Trisha Smith: Right.
• 18:03
  Leyla Zmeskal: Where he had to flee the country and he can't come back because of extradition or no matter where he goes to so be very careful what country it goes to,
• 18:12
  Trisha Smith: Right.
• 18:12
  Leyla Zmeskal: Because of the extradition laws. Which that in itself, I was like, oh, you creepy little fuck. Oh, like seriously?
• 18:19
  Trisha Smith: Yeah,
• 18:19
  Leyla Zmeskal: You creepy little fuck. Some believe that man's that the Manson murders were part of a grand satanic conspiracy scored by the Beatles.
• 18:27
  Trisha Smith: What?
• 18:28
  Leyla Zmeskal: Yeah, The White Album was mostly written after a transcendental meditation practice in India with Mia Farrow, you know, she was she was in attendance of that little thing. In India, Helter Skelter, although misspelled was written in blood at the crime scene. And years later, Lennon was killed across the street from where Rosemary's Baby was filmed. I guess that's why they figured that all of that was part of grand conspiracy. I mean, people deep dive here,
• 19:05
  Trisha Smith: Right, right.
• 19:05
  Leyla Zmeskal: I mean, if you are a conspiracy theorist, I can absolutely see how you think everything in Hollywood is connected and right. It's all big cult. Also in 1969, William Castle, was hospitalized because of severe kidney stones. He was so stressed out because of all the hate mail he received being associated with Rosemary's Baby.
• 19:28
  Leyla Zmeskal: He was actually hallucinating scenes from the movie during his surgery. He even shouted Rosemary, for God's sakes drop that knife.
• 19:42
  Trisha Smith: Oh my god. Can you imagine me bring his Doctor?
• 19:45
  Leyla Zmeskal: Can you image the nurses inside, could you throttle back that anesthesia just a tad bit because he's hallucinating and it's really not good hallucinations either.
• 20:02
  Trisha Smith: Wow.
• 20:03
  Leyla Zmeskal: Yeah, so the producer Robert Evans was he didn't escape either. Of course, his is more stupid to me than anything. He was addicted to cocaine and he was actually convicted of cocaine trafficking upon receiving a prison sentence that was suspended when he agreed to do an anti drug commercial.
• 20:22
  Trisha Smith: Wow. Talk about getting a slap on the wrist.
• 20:26
  Leyla Zmeskal: Yes. So you think like, oh my god, I almost was sent to prison.
• 20:31
  Trisha Smith: Instead.
• 20:32
  Leyla Zmeskal: For cocaine trafficking.
• 20:33
  Trisha Smith: I'm going to do a commercial.
• 20:35
  Leyla Zmeskal: But I did this, don't do this is your brain on drugs commercial. And I got off you know, free. You think that he would keep his you know, head down and his nose clean? Nose clean...that just totally happened, it wasn't planned.
• 20:55
  Leyla Zmeskal: You're welcome. Three years later, he got caught up in a high profile murder that became known as the Cotton Club Murder.
• 21:05
  Trisha Smith: Oh,
• 21:06
  Leyla Zmeskal: And despite two witnesses testifying, Evans was involved. He was later cleared of charges. So people think like, oh, he's part of that., tou know, conspiracy.
• 21:16
  Trisha Smith: Cult.
• 21:17
  Leyla Zmeskal: Yeah, cuz there's some.
• 21:19
  Trisha Smith: Made a deal.
• 21:20
  Leyla Zmeskal: Yeah,
• 21:21
  Trisha Smith: Right.
• 21:21
  Leyla Zmeskal: Made a deal.
• 21:22
  Trisha Smith: Hmm.
• 21:23
  Leyla Zmeskal: So Mia Pharaoh got actually kind of off easy when it came to the curse,
• 21:27
  Trisha Smith: Sort of.
• 21:28
  Leyla Zmeskal: Sort of. Before she was cast to the movie, Pharaoh was married to Frank Sinatra. I didn't know this, really. And he really wanted her to be in a movie with him.
• 21:41
  Leyla Zmeskal: Although she was flying back and forth from New York to LA trying to do both. Sinatra didn't think that was good enough. And he actually has his lawyer serve her divorce papers on the set of Rosemary's Baby. Yeah, talk about being a little diva.
• 21:58
  Trisha Smith: Right.
• 22:02
  Leyla Zmeskal: So what about Ira Levin? The guy who actually wrote the novel.
• 22:04
  Trisha Smith: Right.
• 22:06
  Leyla Zmeskal: After the film was released, his life slowly started to fall apart. It said, his wife left him the year the film was released.
• 22:15
  Trisha Smith: Wow, why?
• 22:17
  Leyla Zmeskal: I mean,
• 22:17
  Trisha Smith: It was so popular,
• 22:18
  Leyla Zmeskal: Yeah but he wouldn't let her read when he was writing the whole time that he was writing this book. So after it came out, she was probably like,
• 22:27
  Trisha Smith: What the hell.
• 22:28
  Leyla Zmeskal: What the fuck. He started receiving targeted strikes from the Catholic Church, even though he didn't believe in witches or Satanism.
• 22:34
  Leyla Zmeskal: He actually himself said that he was a Jewish atheist.
• 22:41
  Trisha Smith: Hmm.
• 22:42
  Leyla Zmeskal: Like what?
• 22:43
  Trisha Smith: Okay.
• 22:44
  Leyla Zmeskal: Okay.
• 22:45
  Trisha Smith: You do you man,
• 22:46
  Leyla Zmeskal: You do you. I mean you don't come across things like Jewish atheist, very often, Like what, what?
• 22:55
  Trisha Smith: Yeah, okay.
• 22:56
  Leyla Zmeskal: Okay. He would end his career as a recluse claiming to be terrified all the time as an adult. He said that when he was younger, he was never really scared of things.
• 23:07
  Leyla Zmeskal: But now as an adult, he is just constantly in a state of fear.
• 23:13
  Leyla Zmeskal: He did write another book, Son Of Rosemary, but it was poorly received as a sequel to his classic masterpiece, and it was kind of lackluster, he really didn't do anything after that.
• 23:24
  Leyla Zmeskal: He kind of dropped out of all those literary circles that he was a part of, even though he really wanted to be part of that. Very talented at 21. He had, you know, like a play or something. He was already kind of successful at 21. And then the movie, the book came out, the movie and he just kind of rode that until the end, where he wrote, Son of Rosemary, which was kind of like wah, wah. He was still collecting money from it, but he was just kind of like, didn't want to be associated. So I don't know what the hell happened. Like, everybody seems to be freaked out. Robert Evans said that the movie ruined his life. And so a lot of people claim that that just fucked them up.
• 24:06
  Trisha Smith: Right.
• 24:07
  Leyla Zmeskal: Curses. I don't know.
• 24:09
  Trisha Smith: I don't know. But when you told me you were looking into this movie. I also read a little bit about it and saw that it was filmed at the Dakota.
• 24:21
  Leyla Zmeskal: Oh, I know.
• 24:24
  Trisha Smith: And.
• 24:24
  Leyla Zmeskal: Which has got a creepy history itself.
• 24:26
  Trisha Smith: Right, that building is also supposed to be haunted and cursed.
• 24:32
  Leyla Zmeskal: Yes.
• 24:33
  Trisha Smith: And they actually think that the movie was cursed through the building.
• 24:39
  Trisha Smith: Yeah,
• 24:40
  Leyla Zmeskal: Right.
• 24:40
  Trisha Smith: Yeah. So I had to I had to read more about it because already big surprise. I had heard about the Dakota because of a book series that I know.
• 24:53
  Leyla Zmeskal: Really.
• 24:54
  Trisha Smith: So there's a book series about a FBI agent called Agent Pendergast, and the books are written by Douglas Preston and Lincoln child. They actually one of their books was actually made into a movie called, The Relic, back in the 90s.
• 25:11
  Leyla Zmeskal: Okay, I remember that movie.
• 25:13
  Trisha Smith: Yeah, I think they're on like book 17 with Agent Pendergast. But anyways, he has a mansion in New York.
• 25:21
  Trisha Smith: And he also has an apartment in the Dakota building. So they always describe it as sounds so cool. So of course, I'm like,
• 25:29
  Leyla Zmeskal: I have to know more.
• 25:32
  Trisha Smith: On top of that, the only other thing I really knew about the building was that was where John Lennon was killed.
• 25:38
  Leyla Zmeskal: Yeah,
• 25:38
  Trisha Smith: So.
• 25:39
  Leyla Zmeskal: Coincidence.
• 25:40
  Trisha Smith: You're right.
• 25:40
  Trisha Smith: Right. So a little bit of history. This building is considered the most famous apartment building in New York City. Okay, so it was commissioned to be built in 1880 by Edward Clark, a lawyer who co founded the Singer Sewing Machine Company.
• 25:59
  Leyla Zmeskal: Oh,
• 26:00
  Trisha Smith: Right. I know.
• 26:01
  Leyla Zmeskal: Okay.
• 26:02
  Trisha Smith: And it was designed by Henry Janeway Hardenberg, who would also go on to design, The Plaza and the Waldorf Astoria.
• 26:11
  Leyla Zmeskal: Oh,
• 26:11
  Trisha Smith: Yeah, he's fancy.
• 26:11
  Trisha Smith: When it finally opened in 1884, it was fully rented out from the start. It was named the Dakota as a joke because it was so far northwest in the city. It was claimed it might as well be in North Dakota.
• 26:29
  Leyla Zmeskal: Oh,
• 26:30
  Trisha Smith: I guess it's you know, harder to get around back then.
• 26:33
  Leyla Zmeskal: I would imagine, now it's its prime real estate, now.
• 26:37
  Trisha Smith: I think they said 76 and Central Park or something like that. Like they said, it's like the place.
• 26:43
  Leyla Zmeskal: Yeah,
• 26:43
  Trisha Smith: The distance didn't deter wealthy families.
• 26:47
  Trisha Smith: And they rented to residents, including the Steinways
• 26:53
  Leyla Zmeskal: Oh, the Steinways,
• 26:55
  Trisha Smith: Of piano, you know the piano family.
• 26:57
  Leyla Zmeskal: Yes, the Steinways.
• 26:59
  Trisha Smith: And that type of clientele kept it filled for the first 45 years. Nowadays, the application process to acquire an apartment is rigorous and daunting and can take years to submit all the proper forms and information. And even all of that doesn't guarantee they'll accept you. Some famous applicants that were turned away include Cher, Billy Joel, and Madonna.
• 27:26
  Leyla Zmeskal: No,
• 27:27
  Trisha Smith: Right, but some of the more well known residents included Rosemary Clooney, Bono, and of course, John Lennon and Yoko Ono, who still lives there to this day.
• 27:37
  Leyla Zmeskal: Yoko still lives there.
• 27:39
  Trisha Smith: Yeah.
• 27:39
  Leyla Zmeskal: Wow.
• 27:40
  Trisha Smith: So reports of hauntings in the building started at the beginning, like during construction. During construction, several painters claimed to encounter a small girl with long blond hair, playing with a ball in the hallways. There are still reported sightings of the same ghost today, mostly in the main foyer. Judy Holiday owned an apartment in the building, and when she passed away in 1965, workers during repairs reported seeing a young man with a child's face wearing a buster brown suit. That was their,
• 28:15
  Leyla Zmeskal: Buster brown.
• 28:16
  Trisha Smith: Yeah, it was that was famous I guess in the 1890s and when he was around, there was a strange musty odor that accompanied his apparition. This same ghost was reported to have been seen during filming of Rosemary's Baby.
• 28:33
  Leyla Zmeskal: No!
• 28:34
  Trisha Smith: Yeah,
• 28:35
  Leyla Zmeskal: Creepy.
• 28:37
  Trisha Smith: The Weinsteins lived on the third floor and they reported rugs and chairs moving on their own. And of course, the basement supposedly has the most activity, of course,
• 28:47
  Leyla Zmeskal: Of course, it's a basement. You can't have a basement and not have activity.
• 28:52
  Trisha Smith: Right. An older gentleman has been seen by the boilers and he may or may not be the malicious spirit that likes to throw things at people when they're down there.
• 29:02
  Leyla Zmeskal: Oh,
• 29:03
  Trisha Smith: Right.
• 29:03
  Leyla Zmeskal: Okay, oldie.
• 29:06
  Trisha Smith: John Lennon claimed to have seen both the little girl and the man with child's face as well as the ghost of a crying lady. In December of 1980. Lennon was killed outside the Dakota when he was shot four times in the back and shoulder by Mark David Chapman, and it's now his ghost that is the most famous in the building. People have claimed to see him both inside and outside where he was killed. And even his wife Yoko claimed to have seen him sitting at his piano in their apartment. According to her, he turned her and said, Don't be afraid. I am still with you.
• 29:43
  Leyla Zmeskal: Oh, that makes it awkward if she ever wants to bring someone else.
• 29:46
  Trisha Smith: You know, I don't think she ever has. At least you know from what I could find out.
• 29:53
  Leyla Zmeskal: No, no, no, you can't come over here.
• 29:55
  Trisha Smith: My husband's still round.
• 29:58
  Leyla Zmeskal: I'll meet you somewhere else.
• 29:59
  Trisha Smith: But now that's the haunted part. The cursed part comes into play due to the deaths of people associated with the building, which I you know, it's kind of reaching.
• 30:13
  Leyla Zmeskal: Yeah,
• 30:13
  Trisha Smith: But after hearing what you said they kind of tied together.
• 30:17
  Leyla Zmeskal: Really?
• 30:18
  Trisha Smith: So. Besides all the stuff that happened with Rosemary's Baby, and with John Lennon, Marilyn Monroe did a photo shoot inside the building six years before she died. It was inside Judi holidays apartment, who also died there at the age of 43, from cancer.
• 30:37
  Leyla Zmeskal: Oh,
• 30:38
  Trisha Smith: So two young deaths.
• 30:40
  Leyla Zmeskal: Right.
• 30:41
  Trisha Smith: Associated.
• 30:42
  Leyla Zmeskal: Thank you for saying 43 is young.
• 30:43
  Trisha Smith: Yeah, well un-natural too. Judy Garland also lived in the building and died young, even though she was in the UK when she passed away from drug overdose.
• 30:55
  Leyla Zmeskal: Okay.
• 30:57
  Trisha Smith: The very first resident Peter Tchaikovsky, was able to move in early before all the other residents while the building was still under construction, but he also died in 1883.
• 31:11
  Leyla Zmeskal: Oh,
• 31:12
  Trisha Smith: The official death was cholera. But some say it was suicide.
• 31:17
  Leyla Zmeskal: Well, that's quite cholera from suicide,
• 31:19
  Trisha Smith: Right. Somebody is covering up something.
• 31:22
  Leyla Zmeskal: Yeah.
• 31:22
  Trisha Smith: So even the owner,
• 31:24
  Leyla Zmeskal: If it was cholera, though, wouldn't they like quarantine the building,
• 31:28
  Trisha Smith: But no one lived there yet.
• 31:29
  Leyla Zmeskal: Yeah, but I would imagine cholera,
• 31:32
  Trisha Smith: Right. Nobody lived there it was just him.
• 31:34
  Leyla Zmeskal: Alright.
• 31:35
  Trisha Smith: So even the owner of the building, Edward Clark, died in 1882, before construction was even completed.
• 31:43
  Trisha Smith: So he was 70. I mean, you know, but but they say he was the first victim of the curse, and that he was a spiritualist that often hosted seances during construction, and some paranormal researchers feel he may have drawn activity to the building.
• 32:04
  Leyla Zmeskal: Well, if he didn't know what he was doing, he very well could have.
• 32:08
  Trisha Smith: Exactly. And he would have been the first one.
• 32:11
  Leyla Zmeskal: Wow.
• 32:12
  Trisha Smith: So then from there, it just all went downhill.
• 32:16
  Leyla Zmeskal: Wow. I wonder why some of the people got turned away like Cher.
• 32:20
  Trisha Smith: I don't know.
• 32:22
  Leyla Zmeskal: Why was she denied? Madonna, I can see that.
• 32:26
  Trisha Smith: Right. I mean, it clearly didn't matter how much money you had.
• 32:31
  Leyla Zmeskal: No.
• 32:32
  Trisha Smith: And they also said like Antonio Banderas and Melanie Griffith when they were married, they were turned away.
• 32:37
  Trisha Smith: I mean, there was a slew of people
• 32:39
  Leyla Zmeskal: Wow.
• 32:40
  Trisha Smith: So it's,
• 32:42
  Leyla Zmeskal: It doesn't matter who you are. I wonder if it's because their lifestyle?
• 32:45
  Trisha Smith: I don't know if it's lifestyle. Maybe they look into their income? Like do you have residual income? Are you going to constantly be able to afford to live here?
• 32:55
  Leyla Zmeskal: I don't know.
• 32:56
  Trisha Smith: If you remodel in the building anything you take off. Like take down that's original to the building has to be stored. You can't get rid of it.
• 33:04
  Leyla Zmeskal: Oh,
• 33:05
  Trisha Smith: Isn't that creepy?
• 33:06
  Leyla Zmeskal: Creepy.
• 33:07
  Trisha Smith: I know. There's like a. I don't know.
• 33:09
  Leyla Zmeskal: It's like a cult building.
• 33:10
  Trisha Smith: It is. It is no two apartments are the same.
• 33:15
  Trisha Smith: Every apartment in the building is different.
• 33:17
  Leyla Zmeskal: Wow.
• 33:18
  Trisha Smith: So yeah, it's just it's just an odd building, but so exclusive that people want to be there.
• 33:24
  Leyla Zmeskal: So I can also understand how Levin wanted to use that building because it does kind of invoke that witch kind,
• 33:35
  Trisha Smith: Mystery.
• 33:36
  Leyla Zmeskal: You know, residents. creepy vibe. I read somewhere that Evans did say that he felt very creeped out at the Dakota,
• 33:48
  Trisha Smith: Right.
• 33:48
  Leyla Zmeskal: When they were filming.
• 33:49
  Trisha Smith: Well, because they were seeing some kid in a buster brown outfit. smelled musty.
• 33:55
  Leyla Zmeskal: Ew, musty.
• 33:58
  Trisha Smith: I don't even know what that means. Was he like moldy?
• 34:01
  Leyla Zmeskal: Musty, like my like when I think musty I think, moth balls.
• 34:04
  Trisha Smith: Yeah, I don't know.
• 34:05
  Leyla Zmeskal: Like musty, dank.
• 34:05
  Leyla Zmeskal: You smell, I think that's a nicer word for the dank. Your basement smells musty.
• 34:24
  Trisha Smith: Yeah, maybe.
• 34:25
  Leyla Zmeskal: Instead of, damn your basement smells dank.
• 34:31
  Trisha Smith: Thank God, we don't have basements here.
• 34:34
  Leyla Zmeskal: Not too much in Florida. It's kind of a rarity if you have a basement in Florida kind of like fireplaces.
• 34:43
  Trisha Smith: I have two.
• 34:43
  Leyla Zmeskal: Well, I mean, my old house. My old house had a fireplace.
• 34:49
  Trisha Smith: But yeah. So the building is is odd and I think it makes you wonder like those are famous people that were associated with the Dakota that things happen to them?
• 35:01
  Leyla Zmeskal: Right.
• 35:02
  Trisha Smith: So what about the people that aren't famous? Like, what? What's been happening to all those people? You know what I mean?
• 35:08
  Leyla Zmeskal: Yeah,
• 35:09
  Trisha Smith: It's funny that you mentioned Sharon Tate, because I was looking into another movie The strangers.
• 35:16
  Trisha Smith: Have you seen that with Liv Tyler?
• 35:18
  Leyla Zmeskal: No, yes, I haven't seen it yet. But I, Yeah, it's just you are home,
• 35:21
  Trisha Smith: You know what I'm talking about, and it's about this couple that go to this remote house for the night, and some stranger walks up to their door and knocks on the door and, you know, keeps knocking and they open it. And they at first they ask, you know, for so and so and nobody's here, but then it keeps happening all night.
• 35:40
  Trisha Smith: And they're these three hooded people stalking them. And they break in and bad things happen.
• 35:49
  Trisha Smith: And she's, you know, at the end, she's like, why are you doing this and their response i, because you were home. Yea, there is no rhyme or reason o it.
• 35:58
  Trisha Smith: Right, and the person who wrote the script for this movie said he based it because that's kind of what happened with the Manson murders. They didn't think anybody was going to be there.
• 36:11
  Trisha Smith: But they were so they're like, Okay, well, you know,
• 36:16
  Leyla Zmeskal: You were there.
• 36:16
  Trisha Smith: You were there, and so he between some break ins and during his childhood in his neighborhood, and then the Manson murders. That's how that movie came about. And then you mentioned it again. So I'm like,
• 36:28
  Leyla Zmeskal: Wow,
• 36:28
  Trisha Smith: So weird, the way everything is interconnected.
• 36:31
  Leyla Zmeskal: It really is. And when I do the story, I'm going to do that story. Next, because it's this one's fresh. So I'm going to be like, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, remember I just did.
• 36:41
  Trisha Smith: Right.
• 36:42
  Leyla Zmeskal: Let me just tell you about this. It's there is a lot of weird stuff that's associated with that other house. And it's strange.
• 36:50
  Trisha Smith: Yeah, yeah.
• 36:51
  Leyla Zmeskal: Yeah. And I found like, she had said something about the house. And it makes me It brings me back to how she was very interested in the occult and I'm like, Oh, well, okay. I can cut that's not too far of a stretch then.
• 37:04
  Trisha Smith: Right. Right.
• 37:04
  Leyla Zmeskal: I'm not gonna tell you. Stay tuned.
• 37:09
  Trisha Smith: Well, that was good. I love that, so much was connected.
• 37:14
  Leyla Zmeskal: Yes.
• 37:15
  Trisha Smith: Between the movie and you know, the building and then all these people. I mean, you know, honestly, those people that were turned away, they should be thanking their lucky stars right now.
• 37:25
  Leyla Zmeskal: They should be.
• 37:25
  Trisha Smith: They could be cursed.
• 37:26
  Leyla Zmeskal: Maybe they weren't part of their witchy club. I don't mean witchy sorry Bri. They're creepy club. I'm gonna call it a creepy club. The creepy Hollywood club.
• 37:39
  Trisha Smith: Yeah, I think there's more than,
• 37:42
  Leyla Zmeskal: CHC, creepy Hollywood club, CHC.
• 37:47
  Trisha Smith: Yeah, I'm sure there's a bunch.
• 37:49
  Leyla Zmeskal: I'm sure. I mean, you hear a lot of conspiracy theories about how Hollywood, Is got a lot of weird connected shit, most of
• 37:56
  Trisha Smith: Right.
• 38:02
  Trisha Smith: the time I don't pay attention to that because, fuck you and your Hollywood shit.
• 38:06
  Trisha Smith: Unless is haunted and cursed, and then we got to know all the things.
• 38:09
  Leyla Zmeskal: Then. Yeah, yeah.
• 38:09
  Leyla Zmeskal: But otherwise, you know, but I could see how people can travel down that conspiracy theory path,
• 38:16
  Trisha Smith: Right, absolutely.
• 38:18
  Leyla Zmeskal: Yeah.
• 38:19
  Trisha Smith: All right. Well, then I'm going to be waiting for your next story, for sure.
• 38:24
  Leyla Zmeskal: It should be a good one. It's going to be a long one. So it's taking me a little while to kind of like,
• 38:28
  Trisha Smith: Hey, you know,
• 38:29
  Leyla Zmeskal: Formulate,
• 38:29
  Trisha Smith: Gotta get all the facts.
• 38:30
  Leyla Zmeskal: I want to let you guys know all of the facts.
• 38:33
  Trisha Smith: I like it.
• 38:33
  Leyla Zmeskal: You know, I felt like I kind of gypped you a little bit on this one, but it's just a mini, just a mini. If you want to know more details about Rosemary's Baby,
• 38:43
  Trisha Smith: Use the Googles,
• 38:44
  Leyla Zmeskal: Use the Googles or the Dakota use the Google's but watch the original, I really want to watch again.
• 38:52
  Trisha Smith: Let's get a drink and go do that.
• 38:54
  Leyla Zmeskal: I love that idea.
• 38:55
  Trisha Smith: All right.
• 38:56
  Leyla Zmeskal: Until next time,
• 38:57
  Trisha Smith: Cheers.
• 38:58
  Leyla Zmeskal: Cheers.
• 38:58
  Leyla Zmeskal: Hey, like what you hear.
• 39:00
  Diane Black: Check us out on Instagram
• 39:02
  Trisha Smith: Or send us a message at Boozy Banter With Friends.com
• 39:05
  Leyla Zmeskal: Thanks for listening.
• 39:06
  Trisha Smith: Until next time,
• 39:07
  Diane Black: Late-a.