Latest / Who Did What Now With Katie Charlwood / 112. Tallulah Bankhead - Queer Icon

Transcript

112. Tallulah Bankhead - Queer Icon · Who Did What Now With Katie Charlwood

0:00
Speaker 1: You're listening to an Airwave media podcast. Hello delicious friends,
0:18
Speaker 1: and welcome to Who Did What Now? The history podcast
0:22
Speaker 1: that's not your history class with me your host Katie Charlewood,
0:27
Speaker 1: history harlot and writer of books. What. Yes, are any
0:33
Speaker 1: of us really that surprised? This is happening a wee bit?
0:36
Speaker 1: But are we excited? Yes, we're excited. Okay, so I'm
0:41
Speaker 1: going into like Sesame Street Voice, They're a wee bit.
0:44
Speaker 1: But yeah, the embargo was lifted. I can talk about
0:47
Speaker 1: it now. Its like one of many embargoes I have
0:51
Speaker 1: on me for this year. Wow, it's been. It's wild.
0:54
Speaker 1: It is wild because this I started because I was
0:59
Speaker 1: very angry. Eh my n used to write things when
1:01
Speaker 1: I was younger, but I was very angry about this
1:04
Speaker 1: book that I read about this amazing woman, and I
1:07
Speaker 1: was so mad at it. I was like, no, no,
1:12
Speaker 1: If you've been following my socials for you know, ever,
1:14
Speaker 1: then you might remember me ranting in the back garden,
1:18
Speaker 1: just like complaining about how awful awful this book was
1:23
Speaker 1: and how the tone and just the message of it
1:27
Speaker 1: was just absolute bollocks. And I was so mad. Anyway, Yes,
1:32
Speaker 1: I should tell you about my book. Yes, it is Whores,
1:36
Speaker 1: Harlots and Hussies, the Incredible Lives of the bad Women
1:42
Speaker 1: from History. We went to many changes to get that title,
1:46
Speaker 1: but I wanted harlots in there. I was like, Harlot's
1:51
Speaker 1: I saw the press release and like in the press release,
1:54
Speaker 1: I'd actually like said, and who doesn't love a good tart?
1:57
Speaker 1: But they removed it, and I was like, oh man,
2:00
Speaker 1: I am going to slip that in to as many
2:04
Speaker 1: interviews as I possibly can. So, yeah, that's happening. So
2:09
Speaker 1: information about the book I should probably get you. So
2:12
Speaker 1: it's going to be out a couple of years. No,
2:17
Speaker 1: it's going to be ready for pre order. It's ready
2:20
Speaker 1: for pre order sort of next year. I think it's
2:24
Speaker 1: early next year. Springtime next year is when the pre
2:26
Speaker 1: orders will open up for it. And that's just yeah,
2:30
Speaker 1: that's just just industry stuff really. And I've been asked
2:34
Speaker 1: like so many times, like will I be doing the
2:37
Speaker 1: audiobook for it? Delicious friends? Why would you ask such
2:43
Speaker 1: a question. Of course, of course I'm going to do
2:47
Speaker 1: the audiobook. You know, do you think I'm going to
2:49
Speaker 1: let people do that? When I have this voice and
2:51
Speaker 1: I can talk like this if I want to like
2:53
Speaker 1: I can do that. I can go soft and close
2:56
Speaker 1: to the microphone like a weird ASMR situation, or I
2:59
Speaker 1: can normally We'll see how that turns out. But no, yeah,
3:02
Speaker 1: this is this is my baby. It's not leaving, it's
3:05
Speaker 1: not leaving my lips like it's it's all for me.
3:09
Speaker 1: There also might be a few like really interesting things
3:11
Speaker 1: in the work. They're gonna be happening, and I'm gonna
3:13
Speaker 1: be doing more festivals and in some more bits around
3:17
Speaker 1: the country. I'm kind I'm kind of sticking to Ireland
3:20
Speaker 1: a lot for the rest of this year, just because
3:23
Speaker 1: the book and everything. There's so much happening. It's just
3:26
Speaker 1: taking up a lot of my time. That being said,
3:30
Speaker 1: so you know how M a dual citizen. Yeah, well
3:33
Speaker 1: I thought I mentioned this before, but I thought it'd
3:36
Speaker 1: be very, very funny because I got a message from
3:38
Speaker 1: like the British podcast towards going you want to apply,
3:41
Speaker 1: and I went, yeah, let's do it. So don't know,
3:45
Speaker 1: like if I'm in any category whatsoever, whom's to say,
3:49
Speaker 1: but I am eligible for the listener's choice and as
3:54
Speaker 1: as one would guess, you vote for it, and so
3:56
Speaker 1: I would greatly appreciate absolutely everybody finding every email they've
4:01
Speaker 1: ever used in their life and just voting because it's
4:04
Speaker 1: like one vote per email because you have to like
4:07
Speaker 1: prove that you're not doing multiple votes because you gotta
4:09
Speaker 1: like click it and you know, validate it or whatever.
4:13
Speaker 1: So it'd be amazing because I think it would be
4:15
Speaker 1: so funny because I spend so much time, like I've
4:18
Speaker 1: lived in Ireland most of my life, and I just
4:23
Speaker 1: think it'd be very very funny to win, to just
4:26
Speaker 1: show up in England and be like, hey, the Scottish
4:31
Speaker 1: and the Irish mass like wool, let's do it. Oh yeah,
4:34
Speaker 1: And I broke up with the Cardigan ill, so I'm
4:36
Speaker 1: single now, so that's the thing. Yeah. But I know
4:40
Speaker 1: what you're thinking, You're thinking about your gebbil Jab but
4:42
Speaker 1: in fact me, in fact you I will. But first
4:46
Speaker 1: we've got to get our source on. Our sources are
4:51
Speaker 1: t Lula My Autobiography by Talula Bankhead, Miss Tallula Bankhead
4:59
Speaker 1: by Lee Is Frankly, My Dear Gone with the Wind
5:05
Speaker 1: Revisited by Molly Haskell, Tulula The Life and Times of
5:11
Speaker 1: a Leading Lady by Joe Lobenthal, Queer's in History, The
5:16
Speaker 1: comprehensive Encyclopedia of historical Gays, Lesbians and Bisexuals by Ian
5:22
Speaker 1: McKellen and Keith Stern. And of course we have Flappers
5:29
Speaker 1: Six Women of a Dangerous Generation by Judith mackrel and
5:36
Speaker 1: Tulula Bankhead, a biobibliography by Jeffrey Carrier, And lest we forget,
5:44
Speaker 1: we still have Biography dot com, Smithsonian dot com and
5:51
Speaker 1: History dot com. Wonderful iosa in comfortably goat. Then let's begin.
6:01
Speaker 1: Did you really think I was going to go Pride
6:03
Speaker 1: without talking about a fabulous bisexual? How very dare you?
6:08
Speaker 1: But yes, we are talking about one. To the Bankhead.
6:11
Speaker 1: If you were at my first Glasgow show, the one
6:13
Speaker 1: that was completely sold out, then you would have heard
6:17
Speaker 1: me talk about this, and I am yeah bringing it
6:18
Speaker 1: up again. So sorry, it probably won't be as funny
6:21
Speaker 1: because my cousin won't be there just heckling me. I've
6:27
Speaker 1: always said a live show, if you're gonna heckle me,
6:28
Speaker 1: at least have the decency to be funny. So, because
6:32
Speaker 1: I'm flying away to Copenhagen tomorrow, I know, I know
6:35
Speaker 1: you're like the countries. I know, right, I know, But
6:39
Speaker 1: because of that, I decided I didn't have time to
6:43
Speaker 1: do the episode on Lord Byron that I really wanted
6:46
Speaker 1: to do because it's very detailed and there's just so much,
6:49
Speaker 1: so much going on. Then I thought, hey, to Alula
6:53
Speaker 1: Bankhead is wonderful darling, and she's a fun bisexual. I mean,
6:58
Speaker 1: she's also awful, so fucking awful that I felt they
7:03
Speaker 1: need to share her with you, Like I love her.
7:07
Speaker 1: She's bad. So anyway, let me start at the beginning, which,
7:13
Speaker 1: as Julian Andrew says, is a very good place to start.
7:18
Speaker 1: So Tuloa's parents met in December eighteen ninety nine. Oh yeah,
7:21
Speaker 1: we start with a scandal. By the way it is.
7:25
Speaker 1: I mean, she comes into this world just like wow,
7:28
Speaker 1: it's it's a whole thing, right. So her parents meet
7:32
Speaker 1: in December eighteen ninety nine, and like this, meet cute
7:38
Speaker 1: missus Adelaide. Eugenia is out shopping when she crosses paths
7:42
Speaker 1: with a dashing young fellow, mister William Bankhead in Huntsville, Tennessee.
7:50
Speaker 1: It is love at first sight. Even though it is
7:53
Speaker 1: is some might say a wee bit inconvenient because Adelaide
7:57
Speaker 1: the reason she was out shopping is she was out
8:00
Speaker 1: buying her wedding dress and she and I don't know, gazes
8:06
Speaker 1: across the lace or whenever the tool the silk chiffon,
8:12
Speaker 1: and she says, this very handsome man, and she's like
8:16
Speaker 1: ding ding ding ding ding. So anyway, they get married
8:20
Speaker 1: in Memphis on January thirty first, nineteen hundred, so like
8:26
Speaker 1: a month later they meet and then get married like
8:29
Speaker 1: a month and a half later, like they are oh yeah,
8:32
Speaker 1: they are bad for each other, but they fall in
8:36
Speaker 1: love and they have two children in quick succession, Eugenia
8:41
Speaker 1: and Tallula. I fucking love these names, I really do so.
8:47
Speaker 1: Talula Brockman Bankhead was born on her parents' second wedding anniversary,
8:53
Speaker 1: thirty first of July nineteen oh two, and unfortunately Adelaide, Eugenia,
9:03
Speaker 1: her mother, contracts sepsis and passes away three weeks later,
9:11
Speaker 1: basically complications from childbirth. She ends up with sepsis, I
9:15
Speaker 1: mean again, the main cause of death for women, childbirth
9:20
Speaker 1: the second cause of death men. So as she's lying
9:27
Speaker 1: on her deathbed, she turns to her sister. Adelaide does
9:30
Speaker 1: and she goes take care of Eugenia. I'm not going
9:34
Speaker 1: to accent Tallula will always be able to take care
9:38
Speaker 1: of herself. Listen, I don't know a Tennessee accent, and
9:42
Speaker 1: I feel like I did. Okay, we're just gonna accept it,
9:45
Speaker 1: I think, okay. Good. So Tallula actually gets baptized next
9:53
Speaker 1: to her mother's coffin, which is weird. I what, that's creepy, right, right,
10:04
Speaker 1: I mean maybe it's a healthier sort of relation with death,
10:09
Speaker 1: kind of, I guess. So anyway, her family are very political,
10:16
Speaker 1: like her dad's in Congress. He's later the Speaker of
10:19
Speaker 1: the House, and like he is like doing very well
10:23
Speaker 1: up until you know, the early demise of the love
10:27
Speaker 1: of his life, his wife, and her death triggers a
10:31
Speaker 1: like depressive state which he numbed with alcohol. And so
10:39
Speaker 1: the care of the girls was left to their aunt,
10:43
Speaker 1: his sister in law, and the kid's grandmother. So the
10:49
Speaker 1: kids grew up they'rey bit different. Eugenia was slim, she's
10:52
Speaker 1: like traditionally pretty. She would have been sort of the
10:56
Speaker 1: epitome of a Southern bell, Like she was so cute
10:58
Speaker 1: and slim and perfect, and she would get praised in
11:04
Speaker 1: Tulula now to Lula wouldn't because growing up they referred
11:13
Speaker 1: to her as chunky and husky listen, I don't appreciate
11:22
Speaker 1: anybody commenting on a child's weight. I don't like to
11:24
Speaker 1: comment on anybody's way ever. I think it's like an
11:27
Speaker 1: awful thing to do. But like, do not ever call
11:31
Speaker 1: a child chunky, because I will punch you in the face.
11:36
Speaker 1: I will hit you, and i will put laxtives into
11:39
Speaker 1: your food. I'll find a way to do it. I
11:41
Speaker 1: will come for you, like I don't appreciate it. Oh,
11:45
Speaker 1: another thing they said called her was actually extremely homely,
11:49
Speaker 1: which is just another way of, you know, commenting on
11:52
Speaker 1: a child's weight. So and because you know, Eugenia, she's
12:00
Speaker 1: getting like praise, She's been told how beautiful she was
12:04
Speaker 1: and how wonderful she was. Ta Lula acts out as
12:07
Speaker 1: a child would. She has tantrums, She would cause scenes.
12:14
Speaker 1: She would be so dramatic. I don't know what that's like.
12:16
Speaker 1: I wouldn't be like that at all. So it got
12:22
Speaker 1: to the point where her tantrums were just like so
12:25
Speaker 1: just so big and loud and just just too much. Right.
12:32
Speaker 1: They would throw buckets of ice on her like the
12:36
Speaker 1: grown ups would, and her sister would hide in the
12:39
Speaker 1: cupboards like of the two girls being hiding in the closet.
12:44
Speaker 1: You wouldn't think it's Eugenia, not that Tla ever actually
12:47
Speaker 1: hid in the closet, like nope, she was out and
12:50
Speaker 1: about so growing up, it's not it's not great for her.
12:56
Speaker 1: And as a child she actually contracts kitis, which was
13:01
Speaker 1: left untreated, and this is what led to her husky voice.
13:06
Speaker 1: Like near enough, everyone you know can do a Tula
13:08
Speaker 1: Bankhead like impression, but like they probably don't know where
13:13
Speaker 1: it's from. More than two darling, this voice is the
13:16
Speaker 1: Tulula Bankhead voice. And this is how she got her
13:20
Speaker 1: voice because she had untraded bronchitis, which which is why
13:25
Speaker 1: I always sound really sexy whenever I've caught bronchilasues good
13:29
Speaker 1: to know it's not just me. So yeah, she ends
13:34
Speaker 1: up with this husky voice, and she grew up sort
13:37
Speaker 1: of causing a scene to get attention. At one point,
13:41
Speaker 1: she just goes to the circus and learns to cartwheel.
13:45
Speaker 1: She recites literature, she sings and dances because she's hungry
13:49
Speaker 1: for attention. She's hungry for it, and she does everything
13:53
Speaker 1: to maintain it and to get it because she sees
13:56
Speaker 1: herself as not being anything, and her grand is like
14:03
Speaker 1: watching her do this, she's like trying to become this performer,
14:07
Speaker 1: and her grand's like, fuck this for Game of Soldiers
14:10
Speaker 1: and enrolls both the girls in a convent school. So
14:15
Speaker 1: the girls get shipped off to the Convent of the
14:17
Speaker 1: Sacred Heart in Manhattanville, which is I'm sure you've guessed,
14:21
Speaker 1: a Catholic institution, which is interesting because both of the
14:25
Speaker 1: girls are Methodists, and so this thin gus keeping around
14:31
Speaker 1: the nuns, non nuns, nuns. And when her dad ends
14:36
Speaker 1: up in Washington, the girls are enrolled in different schools,
14:39
Speaker 1: each time getting closer and closer to Washington. So during
14:43
Speaker 1: term time, during what the school year, they would be
14:46
Speaker 1: in like these different institutions, and then when it came
14:49
Speaker 1: to like summertime, they be back in Alabama. So growing
14:53
Speaker 1: up as well, Tallula was actually friends with they won
14:57
Speaker 1: and only Zelda Sea And you might be thinking, who
15:03
Speaker 1: is Zelda? Say that name sounds vaguely familiar. Well, she
15:07
Speaker 1: goes on to be a missus Zelda Fitzgerald, who deserves
15:13
Speaker 1: far more, far more credit than she's ever given. And
15:16
Speaker 1: we will be discussing her one day because I fucking
15:19
Speaker 1: love her. Okay, So when Telula is fifteen, her auntie.
15:26
Speaker 1: She convinces her to go on a diet and it works,
15:30
Speaker 1: and this ugly duckling becomes a swan and just as aggressive.
15:35
Speaker 1: They will beat you in the face. I don't care
15:38
Speaker 1: what anybody says. So she goes on a diet. She
15:43
Speaker 1: ends up getting the perfect figure of the era, and
15:47
Speaker 1: she is a pure Southern bell. Oh dear, oh dear,
15:52
Speaker 1: oh man, she is that gorgeous. So this is where
15:57
Speaker 1: her big break happens. So there's this magazine called Picture
16:01
Speaker 1: Play and it's like a weekly glossy and it has
16:04
Speaker 1: this contest for models, and so she sends in her picture.
16:08
Speaker 1: She's so excited. She's like, I'm gonna send him a
16:10
Speaker 1: picture because there's a competition when you get like a
16:13
Speaker 1: part in a movie. And she's like, yeah, it's gonna
16:15
Speaker 1: be great. I'm gonna do it. And she does this
16:19
Speaker 1: and she sends it away. But what Lula forgets to
16:22
Speaker 1: do is put any details about herself with the picture.
16:28
Speaker 1: Her name, her address, you know, an estate, nothing, nothing
16:34
Speaker 1: is there. So one day, you know, she's just flicking
16:38
Speaker 1: through the pages of Picture Play and there is her
16:41
Speaker 1: photo under which has the caption who is she? And
16:48
Speaker 1: so she wins a small parton in Like a play,
16:53
Speaker 1: and fifteen year old to Lula arrives in New York,
16:57
Speaker 1: chaperoned by her aunt. Of course, Aunt Louise is there
17:01
Speaker 1: to take care of her and make sure that everything
17:03
Speaker 1: is on the up and up. And so Tlula is
17:08
Speaker 1: not too impressed with this little walk on part she's
17:10
Speaker 1: got in this movie. She's like, eh, I feel like
17:13
Speaker 1: I should have more. So she isn't impressed with the
17:19
Speaker 1: role she got. However, she is very impressed with the
17:25
Speaker 1: Algonquin hotel, where the artistic elite have their abode. So
17:33
Speaker 1: Tolula gets right in the middle of the social circle
17:36
Speaker 1: and ends up being called the Algonquin round Table and
17:41
Speaker 1: her in these three other gals girls being pals, they
17:46
Speaker 1: were known as the four Riders of the Algonquin. What's
17:51
Speaker 1: interesting is like three or like all of them, I
17:55
Speaker 1: think are all of them are LGBT, Like they're either
17:58
Speaker 1: lesbian or bisexual and like convinced. Yeah, so you've got Estelle,
18:03
Speaker 1: Wye Word, blythe Daily, and Eva Lagalion and obviously Tallula.
18:11
Speaker 1: So out of the four riders, three of them are LGBT, Tallula,
18:15
Speaker 1: Evil Lagalion, and blythe Daily which is just you just
18:21
Speaker 1: love to see their presentation, don't you. So. So before
18:28
Speaker 1: she had actually traveled to New York City, her father
18:33
Speaker 1: had warned her against the evil vices of men and liquor,
18:38
Speaker 1: and Tulula later on equipped that he didn't say anything
18:44
Speaker 1: about women and cocaine. Now to Lula did abstain from
18:50
Speaker 1: booze to begin with, but she did take a lot
18:54
Speaker 1: of blow. She went on to say, go again is
19:00
Speaker 1: intabled forming I should know, I've been taking it for years.
19:05
Speaker 1: This is a really bad impersonation of the Lula Bankhead.
19:08
Speaker 1: But unless her ghost comes up to get me, I
19:11
Speaker 1: think you are fucking awful, darling, then it should be okay.
19:16
Speaker 1: So she's partying, she's racking up bills, and the owner
19:21
Speaker 1: of the Algonquinn is like, I can either run the
19:24
Speaker 1: hotel or manage to Lula bank Head, like both is
19:28
Speaker 1: not an option, Like this is just too much. So
19:33
Speaker 1: she's there. Her social life is off the chart, her
19:38
Speaker 1: career is less so. So in five years, she appears
19:43
Speaker 1: in plays in silent movies, but she doesn't really get
19:48
Speaker 1: picked for a lot of major parts because they'd say
19:54
Speaker 1: that she is not pretty enough for the screen, like
19:58
Speaker 1: that's fu bullshit. It's absolute bullshit, but that's what stupid
20:04
Speaker 1: men were saying. So another person who was staying at
20:07
Speaker 1: the Algonquinn was one John Barrymore, who was like Hollywood
20:12
Speaker 1: Royalty Drew Barrymore's grandfather, and he was also a bit
20:15
Speaker 1: of a dish apparently. So she had this like a
20:19
Speaker 1: major crush in him. And one day, like after one play,
20:23
Speaker 1: he invites her to his dressing room and she goes
20:27
Speaker 1: in and he flashes at her. He exposes himself and
20:32
Speaker 1: to Lula, being Ta Lula, who's still just a teenager
20:36
Speaker 1: at this point, she's what fifteen sixteen of this, she
20:40
Speaker 1: looks him up and down, she gets a good look,
20:43
Speaker 1: tilting her head and everything, and she rejects him, which
20:46
Speaker 1: just good for you. To Lula, She's like, Woomy, you prick,
20:51
Speaker 1: And I feel that too, Like if you want to
20:53
Speaker 1: be involved with me, fucking Woomy, I deserve it. Ta
20:57
Speaker 1: Lula deserves it at least for NX. I love her
21:01
Speaker 1: so much. So for five years she's in flop after flop,
21:08
Speaker 1: and an astrologer tells her that she must move to London.
21:13
Speaker 1: Swim if you have to, and so yeah, London is calling,
21:19
Speaker 1: and so she moves there. She sets her sight on
21:22
Speaker 1: the stage and also a baron that she knew from
21:27
Speaker 1: New York City. I can't help myself. So Lord Napier Allington,
21:33
Speaker 1: who is an absolute fuck boy. He is, he's the worst.
21:39
Speaker 1: He's sort of hot and cold and he's we'll get
21:44
Speaker 1: into him later, right, So she goes to this London
21:50
Speaker 1: theater where his producer has offered her a part, and
21:53
Speaker 1: he then retracts the offer. He's like, here's the role.
21:57
Speaker 1: Actually no, I'm not giving it to you. And so
22:01
Speaker 1: to Lula said she was coming to the theater anyway,
22:04
Speaker 1: but just just like, please don't do that. And so
22:07
Speaker 1: she arrives at this London theater where the rehearsal was,
22:11
Speaker 1: you know, happening, it's going on, and she's just like, bitches,
22:16
Speaker 1: I have arrived. And so they end up giving her
22:19
Speaker 1: the part and she becomes this massive success, like there's
22:26
Speaker 1: headlines in the papers going to Lula Blou. Meanwhile, she's
22:32
Speaker 1: having this torrid love affair with the baron, like are
22:36
Speaker 1: there any good barons? Are there? I think not? So
22:40
Speaker 1: they're meeting between shows, they're sneaking time together, like they're
22:44
Speaker 1: literally seeing each other between acts, right, and so it's
22:51
Speaker 1: it's kind of romantic, but but not actually because he
22:56
Speaker 1: was such a dick, Like she was in love with
22:59
Speaker 1: him because like the w that you fall in love
23:00
Speaker 1: as a teenager, like it's all encompassing. It is overwhelming
23:04
Speaker 1: and deep and fulfilling. And he's just a man. So anyway,
23:12
Speaker 1: she is conquering the West End and she's just doing
23:15
Speaker 1: so well in her career, and he would just disappear
23:20
Speaker 1: for weeks, months, et cetera, and not say a bloody word.
23:23
Speaker 1: He would just go and leave her alone. He would
23:27
Speaker 1: just bug her off, and Tolila is just trying to
23:31
Speaker 1: manage her own life, you know. But luckily she has
23:34
Speaker 1: this huge female fan base. Like the lesbians are out
23:37
Speaker 1: in force. There's a bisexual awakening happening for a lot
23:40
Speaker 1: of people, and they're they're not really aware of it,
23:43
Speaker 1: I don't think, but it's happening. So there's a bunch
23:47
Speaker 1: of women who go to her play like every night
23:51
Speaker 1: for the whole ten month run of the show. There's
23:53
Speaker 1: a group of girls up in the galley and they
23:56
Speaker 1: proclaim galley the gallery, and they like they're procli with
24:00
Speaker 1: her love for her. They would throw flowers, they would
24:02
Speaker 1: stop and scream when she appeared, like they were just like, ah,
24:07
Speaker 1: you know when they say how teenage girls reacted when
24:10
Speaker 1: the Beatles showed up right, and they act like it
24:13
Speaker 1: was this big cultural phenomenon. Like I read this about
24:18
Speaker 1: the girls who were like part of the Tulula baloo,
24:21
Speaker 1: like the big fan base, and I think maybe this
24:26
Speaker 1: seems like the start of it, because these women were
24:28
Speaker 1: just letting themselves live. So I actually think this this
24:33
Speaker 1: is more of Ta Lula than it is of the Beatles.
24:37
Speaker 1: I'm just putting it out there. So Talula appears in
24:43
Speaker 1: sixteen London plays, including the Pultzer Prize winner. They knew
24:49
Speaker 1: what they wanted, but it wasn't all sunshine and cocaine.
24:54
Speaker 1: When the playwright summerst Mon recast her last minute for
24:58
Speaker 1: his play Rain, she was absolutely devastated. She leaves the
25:03
Speaker 1: theater in tears and like one of the other actresses
25:06
Speaker 1: is so worried that she has to take her home.
25:08
Speaker 1: She's like, I'm getting you home, like girls are boting girls.
25:11
Speaker 1: I'm here for you. Okay. So I'm gonna just throw
25:14
Speaker 1: in a content warning here. We're gonna talk about attempted
25:17
Speaker 1: suicide and I'm gonna need you to skip forward like
25:21
Speaker 1: twenty seconds, okay, gool. She is so distraught that she
25:26
Speaker 1: downs twenty five aspirin pills. Determined to end her life.
25:31
Speaker 1: She writes a suicide note stating it ain't gonna rain
25:35
Speaker 1: no more, and she lies her head down to go
25:39
Speaker 1: to sleep. The next morning, she wakes up fresh as
25:45
Speaker 1: a daisy. She is awakened by the sound of the telephone.
25:51
Speaker 1: That's right, the telephones they would have, they would ring.
25:53
Speaker 1: If you're younger than I don't know thirty, telephones would
25:57
Speaker 1: ring and you would have to like answer them. They
25:58
Speaker 1: be attached to the wall, wild right, you can just
26:01
Speaker 1: carry in your pocket, madness. So the phone is ringing,
26:05
Speaker 1: and on the other end is none other than No Coward.
26:09
Speaker 1: He was kind of a big deal. He wanted her
26:13
Speaker 1: to be in his play. He wants her to play
26:16
Speaker 1: the lead role in Fallen Angels, and so she takes
26:20
Speaker 1: the job. So she's got this great job. She is
26:23
Speaker 1: loving it up in London. She is friends with all
26:26
Speaker 1: the cool people during the Roaring twenties, all of the
26:28
Speaker 1: bright young things like she is in this scene, and
26:33
Speaker 1: so she's at every party she has tons of admirers
26:37
Speaker 1: from both heads of the isles, one who leaves her
26:42
Speaker 1: a fleet of cars and she's so many marriage proposals.
26:49
Speaker 1: I love the fact that she gets like a fleet
26:52
Speaker 1: of cars because she has this Bentley that she h
26:56
Speaker 1: doors and she would love driving it around London. Unfortunately,
27:02
Speaker 1: she wasn't keen on learning directions or street names or
27:06
Speaker 1: like any roots really, so she would call taxis to
27:12
Speaker 1: drive in front of her so she would know where
27:14
Speaker 1: to go. So she would follow them from A to
27:16
Speaker 1: B like why why bother learning anything? You can just
27:20
Speaker 1: go here and there? Like sure, Like that's a trick
27:25
Speaker 1: because she wanted to drive, but she didn't want to
27:28
Speaker 1: learn how to get there. Ah, that's extra. I love
27:32
Speaker 1: it so much. So as the decade is coming to
27:35
Speaker 1: a close, Tallula is approaching thirty years old and she
27:39
Speaker 1: decides it's time to leave London. The baron was engaged
27:43
Speaker 1: to be married and she was done. She was like no,
27:46
Speaker 1: even though he was still like trying to keep up
27:49
Speaker 1: with her, and she was like you're getting married though,
27:52
Speaker 1: so nah. And so the thing is she decided to
27:58
Speaker 1: leave in London, but there are a rumors going around
28:02
Speaker 1: town saying that she was chased out of London and
28:06
Speaker 1: forced to flee the UK, which we weren't really sure
28:12
Speaker 1: about until a couple of years ago when certain MI
28:15
Speaker 1: five files were unsealed. So I five, that's right, the spies.
28:24
Speaker 1: They were investigating her for her relationships with several pupils
28:29
Speaker 1: at Eaton. So Eating is like this really fancy school
28:35
Speaker 1: for boys. They'd go there when they're in their like
28:37
Speaker 1: late teens, and so a bunch of these boys apparently
28:42
Speaker 1: spent a lot of private time with Tallula. Now we
28:45
Speaker 1: don't know what age she was when they were there,
28:49
Speaker 1: or the age of those boys, but either way, it's
28:52
Speaker 1: cd as fuck.
28:53
Speaker 2: But also imagine being chased out of the country by
28:57
Speaker 2: m I five, Like that's again, I love her, but
29:02
Speaker 2: she's all like she's so bad, oh, which means this
29:07
Speaker 2: is the.
29:07
Speaker 1: Perfect time to just put together a a we word
29:12
Speaker 1: from our sponsors. So I'll see you after the break
29:19
Speaker 1: and we're back. And so's Tulula because it is the
29:23
Speaker 1: golden age of Hollywood and Paramount Pictures is calling. So
29:29
Speaker 1: she goes to La rents a home in Hollywood and
29:32
Speaker 1: begins hosting these lavish parties and they are wild, like
29:39
Speaker 1: full on, roaring, exciting, very few boundaries, and her film's
29:48
Speaker 1: her career not as impressive as our parties, to be honest,
29:52
Speaker 1: middling to fair to begin with. And her Hollywood career,
29:56
Speaker 1: I mean it's fine, it's okay. She ends up going
30:01
Speaker 1: into movies or one because she likes to work, because
30:04
Speaker 1: she enjoys it, and because it pays her bills. But
30:07
Speaker 1: also there was one movie where like she did it,
30:11
Speaker 1: and she gets interviewed by one of the magazines because
30:14
Speaker 1: Tula does not give a fuck. She is a honey badger.
30:17
Speaker 1: Toula Bankhead is the honey badger of people. So so yeah,
30:22
Speaker 1: she gets asked why she did this movie and she goes, Darlings,
30:27
Speaker 1: the main reason I accepted the part was to fuck
30:31
Speaker 1: that divine Gary Cooper. And she said this in an interview,
30:35
Speaker 1: like this is the time where you weren't supposed to
30:38
Speaker 1: talk like this. So yeah, well she's hobnobbing in Hollywood.
30:42
Speaker 1: She meets Joan Crawford, who is very new on the scene,
30:46
Speaker 1: and she's like such a little engine, right, and she
30:50
Speaker 1: says to her, darling, your divine I've had an avair
30:55
Speaker 1: with your husband. You will be next and Joan Crawford
31:01
Speaker 1: is like, oh, I'm so sorry, miss Bankhead, but I
31:05
Speaker 1: like men, and I do think it's the funniest thing.
31:07
Speaker 1: It's like, oh no, no, no badge for me. Oh no,
31:11
Speaker 1: I'm strictly Dickley. Sorry. I just love that that she
31:15
Speaker 1: just panicked. I can understand that it would be like
31:18
Speaker 1: an intimidating and quite terrifying sort of situation. So one
31:27
Speaker 1: of these days, Joan Crawford, she's invited to one of
31:29
Speaker 1: Tulula's like infamous parties, and so she arrives and she's
31:36
Speaker 1: in this beautiful dress. It is dusted with gold glitter,
31:39
Speaker 1: and everyone is falling over her talking about how beautifully
31:43
Speaker 1: shares and fably she has and everyone and has like
31:45
Speaker 1: all eyes on Joan Crawford, and Taulula, as we know,
31:50
Speaker 1: doesn't like it when other people get attention. And so
31:53
Speaker 1: she disappears mid party and reappears on her balcony, absolutely stark,
32:00
Speaker 1: completely in the nep with only gold glitter adorning her
32:06
Speaker 1: pubic hair. And she stands there, glass in hand and
32:11
Speaker 1: she goes, guess who just went down on me, which,
32:17
Speaker 1: frankly I think is how the origin of the jazzline
32:19
Speaker 1: came about. Don't at me. That's just how I feel.
32:24
Speaker 1: So Tulula found movies themselves actually pretty boring. She preferred
32:29
Speaker 1: to be on the stage. She hated the whole movie
32:31
Speaker 1: making process, but she liked the fame that went with
32:33
Speaker 1: it and the money. It's quite nice. So she does
32:39
Speaker 1: find movies boring, which is lucky because she ends up
32:43
Speaker 1: on an industry blacklist. So she has this interview which
32:49
Speaker 1: is published. So she has his interview and she goes,
32:54
Speaker 1: I'm serious about love. I haven't had enough for six
32:58
Speaker 1: months too. The matter with me is I want a man.
33:03
Speaker 1: Six months is a long while I want a man
33:10
Speaker 1: like She is openly saying she wants to shag, and
33:13
Speaker 1: that's just like a big no no during this time period.
33:17
Speaker 1: So there's this thing called the Hayes Code, and Tulula's
33:25
Speaker 1: bankhead's name is at the very top of the list
33:30
Speaker 1: on the Hayes Commission. It's the very top of the
33:32
Speaker 1: list in the Doom Book. That's what it's named the
33:35
Speaker 1: Doom Book. And in the dim Book there are one
33:39
Speaker 1: hundred and fifty actresses who are considered unsuitable for the public.
33:45
Speaker 1: And this is presented to all the major studios. So
33:51
Speaker 1: Hayes is like so on board, Like Hayes Code's really
33:54
Speaker 1: interesting actually because it's a period of time where women
33:57
Speaker 1: couldn't be objectified in film. Like if there was a
34:01
Speaker 1: couple in a bedroom, like one of them had to
34:03
Speaker 1: have like one leg on the floor all times, so
34:06
Speaker 1: you could have like one knee on the bed, but
34:09
Speaker 1: like your leg had to be on the floor like
34:10
Speaker 1: a flamingo. Like it was such a thing, and they
34:14
Speaker 1: had all these like rules, so women would actually get
34:16
Speaker 1: really good parts, So like Jane Tierney, Catherine Hepburn, Maladetrich,
34:23
Speaker 1: like they would get these really really good juicy rolls,
34:26
Speaker 1: and a lot of people because of Hayes in his
34:30
Speaker 1: fucking down book, they would end up they would end
34:33
Speaker 1: up on this list. So Tulula Toulula Bankhead is top
34:38
Speaker 1: of this list, and like right next to her name
34:43
Speaker 1: is written verbal moral turptitude, which basically means depravity. She's depraved.
34:52
Speaker 1: She's like, ooh, a sex fiend, you know what I mean.
34:56
Speaker 1: So in retaliation to this to be like listed from
35:00
Speaker 1: the major studios, t Lula publicly calls Hayz a little prick.
35:08
Speaker 1: So she ends up back on Broadway for six years
35:11
Speaker 1: and she's struggling with like average plays and bad reviews,
35:16
Speaker 1: and at thirty one she just starts feeling ill and
35:20
Speaker 1: she ends up being rushed to hospital and loads of
35:24
Speaker 1: people are convinced she's pregnant. They're like, obviously she's up
35:27
Speaker 1: the duff, right, I mean, we know to Lula, she
35:30
Speaker 1: gets about and it turns out she was not pregnant.
35:35
Speaker 1: She had untreated gonorrhea and it was so bad that
35:39
Speaker 1: she had to have a full hysterectomy. And this operation
35:45
Speaker 1: lasted five hours and by the end she only weighed
35:50
Speaker 1: five stone, like she was a shell of women by
35:53
Speaker 1: the time she left. But like as she's like out
35:57
Speaker 1: of surgery and she's dealing with the doctors, like before
36:00
Speaker 1: she leaves, like she says to them, don't think this
36:06
Speaker 1: has todd me a listen, maybe it should, ta Lula,
36:10
Speaker 1: Maybe don't have unprotected sex with people who have a
36:14
Speaker 1: shady sexual history. Perhaps she might want to add condoms
36:18
Speaker 1: onto your shopping list. It's just an idea. So she
36:24
Speaker 1: ends up having an affair with Rex Whistler, who's an artist,
36:28
Speaker 1: and he loses his virginity to her at twenty nine.
36:32
Speaker 1: Because it's back in the day, sometimes men would wait longer.
36:35
Speaker 1: They weren't all just running into brothels Allah Bidgerton. So
36:40
Speaker 1: there's a story where she's a hotel and her friend
36:42
Speaker 1: was supposed to meet her at this hotel and the
36:45
Speaker 1: maid tells her, oh, she's in the bath with mister Whistler,
36:51
Speaker 1: and upon hearing her friend, Ta Lula shouts, there, I'm
36:56
Speaker 1: just trying to show Rex I'm definitely a blonde. So
37:03
Speaker 1: I love this. It's like there's this thing as well,
37:05
Speaker 1: like she's so like very protective of like other LGBT
37:08
Speaker 1: like people in the in the scene. So there's this
37:11
Speaker 1: thing with Rock Hudson, right, and there's this whole issue
37:15
Speaker 1: is like she gets asked like if Rock Hudson's gay
37:17
Speaker 1: because they're doing like a play together or whatever, and
37:20
Speaker 1: she responds with I don't know, I'm not fucking him,
37:24
Speaker 1: which is just fabulous because she was like, no, I'm
37:27
Speaker 1: not telling you that you absolute our souls. She just
37:31
Speaker 1: she has no shame. You cannot shame the shameless, and
37:34
Speaker 1: I love that about her so much. So anyway, she's
37:39
Speaker 1: in this you know play Antony and Cleopatra, you know,
37:43
Speaker 1: the one, and she meets John Emery who she then
37:48
Speaker 1: marries in nineteen thirty seven, they get hitched. She said
37:53
Speaker 1: he resembled John Barmore if you knew where to look.
37:59
Speaker 1: She's still a bit his penis, Okay, she's saying that
38:02
Speaker 1: he had a great penis, like the penis she saw
38:05
Speaker 1: on John Barrymore all those years ago. Like so like
38:11
Speaker 1: to the point with it. During our parties, he'd be
38:15
Speaker 1: asleep or at least in bed, and she would bring
38:18
Speaker 1: people through, like guests into the bedroom, fling back the
38:22
Speaker 1: covers and say, did you ever see a brick as
38:27
Speaker 1: big as that before? Like can you imagine? Like I'm
38:32
Speaker 1: sure he was like super into it to begin with,
38:35
Speaker 1: he was like, wow, this is amazing. My wife really
38:38
Speaker 1: loves my cock. She's showing it to people. But then
38:41
Speaker 1: after like you start getting sleep deprivation from being woken up,
38:44
Speaker 1: and he's like, please please stop showing people my massive
38:48
Speaker 1: nob like it's it's it's a lot, I need rest time,
38:51
Speaker 1: thank you, Like yeah, probably really impressed and begin with,
38:55
Speaker 1: and afterwards he was like please stop. So yeah, it
38:59
Speaker 1: gets the point where like she she says that, but
39:04
Speaker 1: at one point she says, well, darling, the Lippon might
39:09
Speaker 1: be have admirable proportions, but the shot is indescribably weak. Yeah,
39:18
Speaker 1: it's not the size, may it's how you use it,
39:21
Speaker 1: I think, is what that means. So kids to the
39:25
Speaker 1: point where Emory just has enough, partially because of you know,
39:31
Speaker 1: the constant sleep deprivation, but also because she's having a
39:35
Speaker 1: fails all over the shop and he wants to like
39:38
Speaker 1: divorce and remarry and it's a whole thing. Meanwhile, she
39:43
Speaker 1: is part of what is known as the Sewing Circle,
39:46
Speaker 1: and this has like Malina Dietrich, bally Holiday Credit Carbo
39:50
Speaker 1: and like she would go to holiday shows nightly by
39:56
Speaker 1: the way, accompany her on tours. And when bally ho
40:00
Speaker 1: all Day is arrested for like opium tulula Bankhead writes
40:06
Speaker 1: a letter to the head of the FBI and like
40:10
Speaker 1: and it gets d it in court and everything, because
40:12
Speaker 1: she like stands by her. So they're like really really close,
40:15
Speaker 1: like really close, like very close, like girls being pals
40:18
Speaker 1: like best takes like best things, like roommates, Like who
40:20
Speaker 1: knows how they could be just really good gal pals,
40:23
Speaker 1: you know, like super close, super tight mm hm. And
40:27
Speaker 1: then something happens and they basically never speak of each
40:31
Speaker 1: other again, like they are just in it and then
40:37
Speaker 1: like smoke gone. Now. I know you might be thinking
40:40
Speaker 1: that Tulula is spending like every day just like deciding
40:43
Speaker 1: between like a fish supper or a sausage supper, which
40:46
Speaker 1: is the ultimate dilemma, but she's actually doing other things.
40:50
Speaker 1: She is politically active. She is a full on supporter
40:54
Speaker 1: of the civil rights movement. Like remember, her dad is
40:58
Speaker 1: like this massive politician, and so she gets him to
41:02
Speaker 1: pull strings to get the family of a Jewish director
41:06
Speaker 1: she knows out of Europe. Can we guess why? I'm
41:10
Speaker 1: sure we can guess why. Hey, anyone saying the revival
41:13
Speaker 1: of Cabaret? But yeah, Tulula is so politically active. She's
41:19
Speaker 1: so involved that she becomes the first white woman to
41:23
Speaker 1: appear on the cover of Ebody magazine, and she appears
41:28
Speaker 1: with her good friend Louis Armstrong. So in nineteen thirty nine,
41:35
Speaker 1: she has her Broadway comeback in Little Foxes. And when
41:39
Speaker 1: she's doing this performance, like this is this is like
41:41
Speaker 1: her big comeback, and she gets a phone call from
41:44
Speaker 1: her uncle saying her father was ill. But Tula's like,
41:47
Speaker 1: you know, the show must go on, and so she
41:49
Speaker 1: decides that she's gonna like finish her show, jump on
41:52
Speaker 1: the express train, like still in her costume, and she's
41:54
Speaker 1: just going to go straight there. So she's on the
41:58
Speaker 1: express train, it gets into the station and she steps off,
42:03
Speaker 1: and as she steps off, she is straight away hit
42:05
Speaker 1: with the news that her father is dead. And it
42:08
Speaker 1: wasn't long after this she was also informed that the baron,
42:13
Speaker 1: the love of her life, had passed away too, and
42:16
Speaker 1: this really hit her hard or so because she wasn't
42:19
Speaker 1: drinking at the time. See, when she heard reports of
42:23
Speaker 1: Nazis what was happening in Europe, she vows not to
42:27
Speaker 1: drink again until the British take Dunkirk, and she is
42:34
Speaker 1: true to her word. So she doesn't drink any alcohol
42:39
Speaker 1: during the war, Like she doesn't touch a drop. She
42:43
Speaker 1: is sober for years. That being said, in nineteen forty five,
42:51
Speaker 1: when you know the British take Dunkirk, she is back
42:56
Speaker 1: to her two bottles of bourbon a day, and so
43:01
Speaker 1: like she's drinking again, and she's going on tour and
43:04
Speaker 1: she's throwing her parties, and she's throwing this one party
43:08
Speaker 1: right where it is just so wild that the police
43:12
Speaker 1: end up getting called and they arrive at the door
43:15
Speaker 1: and she swings it open and there she is absolutely naked,
43:20
Speaker 1: and so they try and they try and arrest her.
43:24
Speaker 1: So I love that, like, we're gonna arrest you for
43:27
Speaker 1: indecent exposure inside this building that you're in, and she's
43:32
Speaker 1: like okay, and she punches the officer in the face.
43:36
Speaker 1: So here's the thing. If I'm having that kind of party,
43:38
Speaker 1: I'm smothering myself and olive oil because I'm gonna be
43:41
Speaker 1: like catch my piggy, piggy and just rotten, you know.
43:45
Speaker 1: So But yeah, after a tour, she gets another job
43:50
Speaker 1: offer with one mister Alfred Hitchcock, who's also an arsehol,
43:56
Speaker 1: but he does make good movies. So she gets a
43:59
Speaker 1: part in Lifeboat. And there's this issue with there's a
44:03
Speaker 1: reporter on set because here's this thing about Tulula. She
44:07
Speaker 1: wasn't a big fan of undergarments, Like she didn't like Nichols.
44:11
Speaker 1: They went her thing, and this reporter is watching her
44:16
Speaker 1: and he's like, oh, oh no, and he reports to
44:20
Speaker 1: Alfred Hitchcock like she's not wearing any underwear. I can
44:23
Speaker 1: see her muff Like she would even like there was
44:27
Speaker 1: this ladder they would have to climb up, and she
44:29
Speaker 1: would go first, because she thought it was funny that
44:32
Speaker 1: people would have to look at her, you know, her geeze,
44:36
Speaker 1: which is one of the reasons why why to Lula
44:40
Speaker 1: is a dick, right, because if she was a man
44:44
Speaker 1: and she had just got her goalies flipping all over
44:46
Speaker 1: the place, we would all be really fucking mad about it.
44:49
Speaker 1: And like this way, it's kind of like in the
44:52
Speaker 1: time period, it would have been like kind of funny
44:55
Speaker 1: and so subverting and all that kind of stuff. But
44:58
Speaker 1: also people don't can sent to that that's not cool.
45:03
Speaker 1: Don't be flipping your flaps at people. Okay, don't do it.
45:08
Speaker 1: It's it's wrong. Consent is key, lads, Consent is key.
45:14
Speaker 1: So it gets to the point where this gets like
45:17
Speaker 1: brought up to Alverred Hitchcock and he's just like, I
45:22
Speaker 1: don't know if this is a matter for costume, make up, hairdressing,
45:28
Speaker 1: or props, and so nothing is done about it. So
45:36
Speaker 1: so for her performance in Lifeboat, she wins the New
45:40
Speaker 1: York Film Critics Circle Award, and she has the best
45:44
Speaker 1: response to winning anything ever. And I'm totally gonna do
45:47
Speaker 1: this if I ever win an award because I love
45:50
Speaker 1: it so much. She goes up. She gets her award
45:53
Speaker 1: and goes, Darlings, I was wonderful and then walks off
45:58
Speaker 1: like that's that's perfection, Like that is what I want
46:02
Speaker 1: to do. I want to be like I'm great. Bye,
46:05
Speaker 1: Oh my goodness, I did not talk about Gone with
46:07
Speaker 1: the Wind. Okay. So she does this screen test for
46:09
Speaker 1: Gone with the Wind. So she applies for it, and
46:12
Speaker 1: everyone's like she's amazing, the acting is perfect, she's wonderful,
46:16
Speaker 1: but it's in Technicolor. Things are moving into Technicolor, and
46:20
Speaker 1: they basically say she isn't pretty enough for Technicolor. And
46:25
Speaker 1: so that's how because the age they have to start
46:28
Speaker 1: like really young, Scarlett O'Hara has to go really young
46:31
Speaker 1: and they get much older. And that's how Vivian Lee
46:34
Speaker 1: gets cast because Tula bank kid they thought would be
46:38
Speaker 1: amazing for the role, but just they didn't think she
46:41
Speaker 1: was pretty enough for the cameras. Like anyway, it's still
46:48
Speaker 1: a good movie. But she does the screen test for
46:53
Speaker 1: The Glass menagere, which is what reminded me of this,
46:56
Speaker 1: and so she is this faded southern bell. It's like
47:01
Speaker 1: the perfect role for her because it's sort of the
47:03
Speaker 1: epitome of where she's at and the director calls it
47:10
Speaker 1: the greatest performance he'd ever seen. But the studio head,
47:14
Speaker 1: Jack Warner, yes, all of the Warner brothers. There is
47:19
Speaker 1: no sister Dot. Maybe there is a sister Dot, but
47:23
Speaker 1: the Warner brothers are definitely. Anyway, he refuses because of
47:27
Speaker 1: her drinking and also because he's a dick, and they
47:32
Speaker 1: apparently it was the most amazing performance and we could
47:34
Speaker 1: have had the most amazing just sort of acting from
47:40
Speaker 1: this woman, and Jack Warner stopped that from happening. Fuck you,
47:45
Speaker 1: Jack Warner. I'm glad you're burning in hell. So anyway,
47:50
Speaker 1: back to Tulula's personal life ish in nineteen fifty, her
47:55
Speaker 1: secretary was stealing from her and she takes her to court.
47:59
Speaker 1: Now and the secretary's lawyers, they lie like lawyers do.
48:04
Speaker 1: They absolutely bullshit it up. And they are accusing her
48:09
Speaker 1: of performing special favors for jobs that she's like doing
48:13
Speaker 1: all this illicit activity. I mean, she's doing illicit stuff,
48:18
Speaker 1: but for fun. She's not doing it, you know, to
48:22
Speaker 1: get up in the workplace. So they're just like spreading
48:26
Speaker 1: like libel. It's like false accusations, whereas they could have
48:29
Speaker 1: just told the truth about it and it would have
48:31
Speaker 1: been probably just as damaging, but they decided to go overboard,
48:35
Speaker 1: and even though none of it was true, the damage
48:38
Speaker 1: is done and in order to just like screw with
48:43
Speaker 1: people again, ta Lula ends up agreeing to do a
48:47
Speaker 1: tell all book and people were shocked, and so her
48:51
Speaker 1: mythols just sort of grows, like people are just astounded
48:55
Speaker 1: by just the to Lula Bankhead and everyone who was
49:01
Speaker 1: like around at the time they had these stories. Everybody
49:04
Speaker 1: had a Tula Bankhead story and they were always like
49:07
Speaker 1: bigger and better than the last. Like there was one
49:10
Speaker 1: guy she was seeing, and what would happen is they
49:15
Speaker 1: would be like at a party, like at someone else's
49:17
Speaker 1: dinner party, and they would disappear and literally go shag
49:21
Speaker 1: in like the cloakroom where the coats there, and it
49:24
Speaker 1: would just be the just because she could, like she
49:27
Speaker 1: would go off with people. And it's like she wasn't
49:30
Speaker 1: really that interested in sex itself. It was more the
49:33
Speaker 1: lead up and the chase and everything else that went
49:35
Speaker 1: with it. But yet it all kind of led up
49:38
Speaker 1: to that. So at one point is she's getting older.
49:41
Speaker 1: Tulula ends up on an episode of I Love Lucy
49:44
Speaker 1: and Tulula hates rehearsing. She's not a big fan of it,
49:47
Speaker 1: and she would show up late to rehearsals. She would
49:50
Speaker 1: show up drunk. And it got to the point where
49:53
Speaker 1: Lucy obol in Deisi they didn't think the show was
49:58
Speaker 1: going to go ahead because they were like, how going
50:00
Speaker 1: to do this because she's just she's not showing up,
50:02
Speaker 1: she's not doing it her lines. It's all shocking. But
50:06
Speaker 1: when they filmed it live on the night, she was
50:09
Speaker 1: not perfect. She was surprisingly sober. And it's like, there's
50:13
Speaker 1: this bit where Lucille Ball is doing this impression with
50:17
Speaker 1: like of Tulola Bankhead, and like Tulula goes it's like,
50:23
Speaker 1: you do a really bad impression of me, and she
50:25
Speaker 1: goes sady you. Because at this point she kind of
50:29
Speaker 1: becomes a caricature of herself, and that was the part
50:32
Speaker 1: that she was playing. And as she gets older, she's
50:36
Speaker 1: getting sort of frailer, and she's struggling a bit in
50:39
Speaker 1: her later years, and she ends up having this group
50:44
Speaker 1: of gay men called her caddies, and you know, they
50:48
Speaker 1: would have like a cook and a chauffeur and a
50:51
Speaker 1: script reader, and she would just have these sort of
50:57
Speaker 1: men look after her and they were supposed to gay men,
51:01
Speaker 1: and she would have them care for her. And so
51:05
Speaker 1: she ends up performing in Fanatic, which I think it's
51:10
Speaker 1: very much a caricature of who she'd become as opposed
51:12
Speaker 1: to the cour original acting, which is how I put it.
51:16
Speaker 1: Who was it the character? I think it's Blanche in
51:19
Speaker 1: a street car named Desire, like it's based onto the Bankhead,
51:24
Speaker 1: and this character in Fanatic is based on Blanche. So
51:27
Speaker 1: like Tlua should be like really good at it, but
51:30
Speaker 1: it's so affected that it's just not really a great performance.
51:37
Speaker 1: Like because she performed so much on stage, there were
51:41
Speaker 1: so few like like performances we can watch, and is
51:46
Speaker 1: such a shame, because I would love to see I
51:48
Speaker 1: would love to see that test screening. I would love
51:52
Speaker 1: to see things like that, but they're just gone. And
51:56
Speaker 1: this is why I do like the digitization of certain products,
52:00
Speaker 1: actually film, because film is flammable, like it's it's dangerous
52:05
Speaker 1: and in it erodes, and it would just be good
52:08
Speaker 1: to be able to look back and look at these
52:10
Speaker 1: old movies and shows and just you know, I just
52:13
Speaker 1: I love it like I like old things clearly because
52:16
Speaker 1: I like history. So by the mid sixties, Tallula is
52:23
Speaker 1: diagnosed with emphysema, which is no surprise because she had
52:27
Speaker 1: bronchiris as a kid. She suffered from pneumonia all her
52:30
Speaker 1: life and eventually it just catches up to her. And
52:36
Speaker 1: in the winter of nineteen sixty eight, like she is
52:41
Speaker 1: completely dependent on bourbon and painkillers like she is. She
52:47
Speaker 1: is popping the full week with the pills like she's
52:49
Speaker 1: got it all out. And on the twelfth of December
52:53
Speaker 1: nineteen sixty eight, Tallula Brockman Bankhead passes away in sating
52:59
Speaker 1: like hospital of plural double pneumonia. Her last coherent words
53:07
Speaker 1: were okay bourbon before slipping away, and two days later
53:18
Speaker 1: she is buried in Saint Paul's Episcopal Church in Maryland,
53:24
Speaker 1: and so ends our story of Tallula Bankhead, the honey
53:28
Speaker 1: Badger of humans. If you liked my retelling of this,
53:32
Speaker 1: I'm sorry if it was rushed in a little bit
53:34
Speaker 1: of pain, but I hope you liked it. I love
53:38
Speaker 1: talking about her, and there's so much more, like I
53:41
Speaker 1: could talk about her four days. I love her so much,
53:48
Speaker 1: I do. I love her so much. She's amazing. I'm
53:50
Speaker 1: a big fan of bisexual women in Hollywood. Golden Age
53:54
Speaker 1: of Hollywood don't know if you notice that it's come
53:56
Speaker 1: up once or twice. But I love her so much
53:59
Speaker 1: because she's just yeah, you know what I mean. So
54:03
Speaker 1: don't forget. You can follow me on the socials. I'm
54:06
Speaker 1: on all of them. I need to be more active
54:08
Speaker 1: on my Facebook actually, but I'm setting up a sort
54:14
Speaker 1: of newsletter on the website so that I'm gonna like
54:17
Speaker 1: post like once a month, just like what's happening with
54:22
Speaker 1: the book, what's happening with this? Just keeping on top
54:26
Speaker 1: of things, fun stuff that's happening, you know, just keeping
54:28
Speaker 1: everybody like up. You know, I'm flying away to Copenhagen
54:33
Speaker 1: in the morning. No, I'm not packed. I'm so behind.
54:37
Speaker 1: I'm usually like a really good packer, I've packed like
54:39
Speaker 1: way in advance, but I'm just so behind this week.
54:42
Speaker 1: But yes, that's where we are at. And so follow
54:46
Speaker 1: me on the socials. DM me. I do answer, but
54:50
Speaker 1: like make sure you DM me on hood and what
54:52
Speaker 1: Now if you contact me through the history Harlott, I
54:57
Speaker 1: can't read my messages for some reason, so like I can't,
55:00
Speaker 1: I can't do that. So but on who and What
55:03
Speaker 1: Now I can answer messages, which is why I talk
55:05
Speaker 1: on there anyway, thank you for listening. Delicious friends. I'm
55:11
Speaker 1: going to go have a shower and pack my bag
55:13
Speaker 1: and try and be organized, and I chat to you
55:17
Speaker 1: next time. Adios Auavola of Weeda. Then my friends, Bye
55:22
Speaker 1: bye