Libby Holman

Integrating Music and Queering Hollywood (The Bisexuals, Part 4) /  by Karina Longworth

Montgomery Clift in 1948, from Photoplay

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."

Montgomery Clift enters the chat as a teenage acting prodigy who immediately attracts 34 year-old Libby’s attention. Through her sometime-lover Nicholas Ray, Libby starts exploring Black folk music, launching a new singing career in collaboration with guitarist Josh White (“One Meatball”). Plus Libby’s old friend Clifton Webb becomes a late-in-life, closeted movie star, and Tallulah – effectively banished from Hollywood a decade earlier due to her refusal to be discreet about her sexuality – triumphantly returns to the screen thanks to Alfred Hitchcock.

(00:00) Libby and Monty “Under the Sheets”

(03:51) Appreciation or Cultural Appropriation?

(06:23) Nicholas Ray, Leadbelly, Josh White

(13:24) No White Person Has Ever Sung Them in Public

(22:02) Everybody is in Love With Monty

(28:44) Tallulah Bankhead in Movie Jail

(36:13) Lifeboat

(40:20) Clifton Webb’s Queer Success Story

(45:46) Libby Lashes Out at Older Women

(51:08) The Black Widow and Josh White

(58:45) Libby’s Only Movie

Publicity still for Lifeboat featuring John Hodiak and Tallulah Bankhead, 1944, 20th Century Fox

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 - Cymbal Platter

Elafonisos - The Grinding in the Cave

Switching Yard - Violet Jenna

Switching Yard - Feltham

Unheard Music Concepts - Cosmic Relevance

Musique Libre de Droit Club - Easy Listening in Jazz

Evan Viola - Serial

Musique Libre de Droit Club - Lullaby

Chris Zabriskie - I Need to Start Writing Things Down

Kevin MacLeod - Danse Morialta

Evan Viola - Exposition A (Ambient)


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.

Libby Holman’s estate, Treetops, as seen from Treetops State Park in Connecticut in 2013. Photo by Morrowlong

Starring Jean Harlow as Libby Holman (The Bisexuals, Part 3) /  by Karina Longworth

William Powell and Jean Harlow in Reckless (1935, MGM Pictures), one of several films loosely based on Libby Holman’s marriage to and indictment for the murder of Zachary Smith Reynolds.

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 the racist, antisemitic Southern authorities try to indict a pregnant Libby for the murder of her husband, the national media effectively puts her on trial. When Libby gives birth to a new Reynolds heir, the circus only grows bigger. Meanwhile, Hollywood gets to work dramatizing the case with the aid of stars such as Claudette Colbert, Jean Harlow and Libby’s friend Franchot Tone.

(00:00) A Pre-Code Anti-Heroine

(04:53) A “Peculiar Opinion” of Jews

(11:09) Libby Testifies

(17:23) Indicted by Jury, Convicted by Media

(29:09) Who Actually Killed Smith Reynolds?

(34:19) Pre-Code Movies Inspired by Libby’s Story

(42:50) A Career Tainted by Scandal

(52:38) Jean Harlow as Libby Holman

(01:02:02) An American Tragedy

(01:09:11) Lupe Velez, Libby’s Nemesis

Libby Holman with baby Topper, March, 1933

SHOW NOTES:  

Sources:

Libby by Milt Machlin

Dreams That Money Can Buy: The Tragic Life of Libby Holman by Jon Bradshaw

Libby Holman: Body and Soul by Hamilton Darby Perry

Lupe Velez: The Life and Career of Hollywood’s “Mexican Spitfire” by Michelle Vogel

Cole Porter by William McBrien

Sitting Pretty: The Life and Times of Clifton Webb by Clifton Webb and David L. Smith

“Murder Charged to Libby Holman,” The New York Times, August 5, 1932

“Reynolds Trial October 3 Expected by Defense,” The New York Times, August 21, 1932

“Can the South Give Libby a Fair Trial?” Lowell Limpus, Daily News, August 14, 1932

“Libby Wants Jury Trial to Clear Name,” Washington Herald, October 20, 1932

“Reynolds Child Weighs 3 1/2 Pounds,” Associated Press, January 11, 1933

“Libby Holman Comes Back to Stage Tonight,” Chicago Tribune, June 16, 1934

“Libby Holman to Leave Hedgerow,” Delaware County Times, September 18, 1934

“On Broadway,” Ed Sullivan, Daily News, November 21, 1934

“Walter Winchell on Broadway,” Walter Winchell, Syndicated, September 11, 1934

“Music Show Scores in Forrest Opening,” Philadelphia Inquirer, November 7, 1934

“The First Five-Star Show in History,” Walter Winchell, Daily News, December 3, 1934

“Torch Singer in Triumphal Stage Return,” Noel Thornton, Associated Press, December 11, 1934

“Libby Holman’s New Musical,” Andrew R. Kelley, Times Herald, November 8, 1934

“Father Charges Dope in Reynolds’ Divorce,” The Times, March 8, 1935

“Libby’s Shelterer Seeks Divorce,” Visalia Times-Delta, March 8, 1935

“Sally Rand in ‘Rain’; Libby Holman’s ‘Gypsy’,” Daily News, August 27, 1935

“Footlights Fame Libby Holman’s New Goal,” George Ross, The Pittsburgh Press, November 24, 1935

Please note: as an Amazon Associate, Karina earns from qualifying purchases. #ad

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:

Quantum Jazz - Passing Fields

Kevin MacLeod - Blue Feather

Greenfire - Department Heads

Evan Viola - Serial

Chris Zabriskie - Land on the Golden Gate

Kevin MacLeod - Tikopia

Evan Viola - Sojourn

The Sweet Hots - Bangolet

Kevin MacLeod - Faster Does It

Warmbody - Cymbal Platter

Musique Libre de Droit Club - Easy Listening for Relaxing Moments

Switching Yard - Bucket Flats

Vermouth - Gin Boheme

Kevin MacLeod - Clean Soul


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.

Barbara Stanwyck in The Miracle Woman (1931) wearing a sheer dress that may have inspired press accounts of Libby Holman’s inquest outfit.

A Yankee Jewess in the Deep South (The Bisexuals, Part 2) /  by Karina Longworth

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:

Libby by Milt Machlin

Tallulah by Brendan Gill

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

Odd Girls and Twilight Lovers: A History of Lesbian Life in the Twentieth Century by Lillian Faderman

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

“Obituary: Beatrice Lille, Comedienne and Lovable Eccentric, 94,” Albin Krebs, The New York Times, January 21, 1989

“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

Broadway Blackface & Harlem Sex Tourism (The Bisexuals, Part 1) /  by Karina Longworth

Libby Holman, 1928

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."

Libby Holman, a Jewish girl from Cincinnati, arrives in Manhattan in 1925 and begins to make a name for herself as a torch singer, trading on her racially-ambiguous skin tone and deep voice at a time when white hipsters think the height of cool can be found in Harlem. Libby and friends like Tallulah Bankhead sojourned uptown not just to listen to Black music, but also to explore their bisexuality. Through mutual co-star Clifton Webb, Libby meets Jeanne Eagels – one of the greatest actresses of her generation, and a high-profile casualty of Roaring 20s debauchery.

(00:00) Torch Singer, Accused Murderess, Bisexual

(09:05) A Confederate Jew

(17:53) Sex Appeal to Burn

(25:59) “Coon Shouting” and Libby’s Racial Ambiguity

(41:32) Blackface on Broadway with “Moanin’ Low”

(49:10) Sex Tourism in Harlem

(58:28) Jeanne Eagels

Poster for Man, Woman and Sin, a 1927 film starring John Gilbert and Jeanne Eagels

Tallulah Bankhead in a 1925 UK production titled The Green Hat

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:

Evan Viola - Exposition A

Sourdough - Frontana

Sourdough - Lerma Rojo

Sourdough - Farro

Switching Yard - Feltham

Warmbody - Big Ten

Sourdough - The Extension

Aeronaut - Floating Whist

Switching Yard - Godfry Road

Evan Viola - Theme Alt A

Chris Zabriskie - Undercover Vampire Policeman

Evan Viola - Exposition A (Ambient)


Sheet music cover for “I’ve Made a Habit of You” from The Little Show

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.

Actress Jeanne Eagels in 1923