Sheet Music Cover for Three’s A Crowd, 1930
Listen to this episode on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
Karina will be presenting films featured on this season of You Must Remember This at theaters across the country in October and November! See where she'll be and get your tickets on our Fall Tour 2026 page.
Check out our new merch for "The Bisexuals" including hats, shirts, and an exclusive fragrance designed to evoke Libby Holman's signature perfume, "Jungle Gardenia."
While riding a crest of Broadway stardom – and in a serious romance with a woman – Libby is pursued by Zachary Smith Reynolds, the reckless, emotional teenage heir to the Camel tobacco fortune. Just months after their marriage, at the close of a drunken party, Reynolds is dead of a gunshot wound to the head. Was Libby responsible? Also: Tallulah Bankhead is brought to Hollywood to compete with bisexual icon Marlene Dietrich, while Libby, no stranger to blackface, wants to star in a film about Josephine Baker.
(00:00) Libby’s Heiress Girlfriend
(13:15) Libby’s Tobacco-Heir Boyfriend
(19:25) Tallulah Bankhead & the Gary Cooper Threesome
(37:16) Libby Tries to Play Josephine Baker in Movie
(43:56) A Yankee Jewess on the Plantation
(54:36) Who Shot Zachary Smith Reynolds?
SHOW NOTES:
Sources:
Dreams That Money Can Buy: The Tragic Life of Libby Holman by Jon Bradshaw
The Sewing Circle: Hollywood’s Greatest Secret—Female Stars Who Loved Other Women by Axel Madsen
Tallulah!: The Life and Times of a Leading Lady by Joel Lobenthal
Gary Cooper (Great Stars) by David Thompson
Gary Cooper: American Hero by Jeffrey Meyers
Montgomery Clift: A Biography by Patricia Bosworth
“The Not-So Lost Cause of Moses Ezekiel,” Lara Moehlman, Moment, September 21, 2018
“Travels with Cukor and Maggie Smith,” Wanda Hall, New York Daily News, December 3, 1972 (Reprinted in George Cukor: Interviews)
This episode contains archival audio sourced from the Libby Holman collection at Boston University, digitized by Paul Adams.
Some preliminary transcriptions of audio interviews were produced with aTrain. These transcripts were checked and corrected by Karina Longworth and Brendan Whalen. More information about aTrain can be found here.
Please note: as an Amazon Associate, Karina earns from qualifying purchases. #ad
Josephine Baker in Banana Skirt from the Folies Bergère production "Un Vent de Folie", 1927, Lucien Waléry
Music:
The music used in this episode, with the exception of the intro, was sourced from royalty-free music libraries and licensed music collections. The intro includes a clip from the film Casablanca.
Excerpts from the following songs were used throughout the episode:
Warmbody - Big Ten
Sourdough - Puck in the Barn
Kevin MacLeod - Clean Soul
Sourdough - Farro
Sourdough - Frontana
Chris Zabriskie - Cylinder Six
U.S. Army Blues - Main Stem
Musique Libre de Droit Club - Asian Relax (New Age)
The Viscount - Etude 8 Dimitri
Evan Viola - The Whirligig
Evan Viola - White Blues
Switching Yard - Janus Dear
Quantum Jazz - Passing Fields
Chris Zabriskie - I Need To Start Writing Things Down
Evan Viola - Exposition A
This episode was written, narrated, edited and produced by Karina Longworth.
Our editor this season is Evan Viola.
Research, production, and social media assistant: Brendan Whalen.
Special research assistance provided by Audrey Fox
You Must Remember This and “The Bisexuals” Logo design: Teddy Blanks.
Lobby Card for The Devil and the Deep starring Tallulah Bankhead and Gary Cooper, 1932, Paramount Pictures
