All language subtitles for 1939.Secrets.of.Hollywoods.Golden.Year.S01E01.WEBRip.x264-ION10_English

[projector whirring]

[upbeat music]

narrator: 1939 was
Hollywood's most important
year.

- Hollywood in 1939 was
when the studios ran rampant.

- They were factories.

They were just humming.

- There was
"Gone with the Wind,"

"Stagecoach,"
"Wuthering Heights,"

and of course,
"The Wizard of Oz.'

1939 was the greatest year
in Hollywood history.

narrator: But beneath
the glitz and glamour

was a world of secrets,
from drugs--

- They were called pep pills.

- Some pills are stimulants.

- Gave you a little bit
of energy, cut your appetite.

They had no idea
what these would lead to.

- There's the pills
to go to bed at night.

There's the pills
to get up in the morning.

So there was a pill
for everything.

narrator:
To scandalous gossip.

- Today, they look like

the most happily-married
gay couple ever.

- Bette Davis doesn't like
Errol Flynn,

and she hits him--

really, really, hits him.

He says that he saw stars.

narrator: Join us as we go
behind the scenes

to reveal the true story

of Hollywood's 1930s
dream factory.

- In terms
of health and safety,

there could hardly have been

a more appalling film
than "Wizard of Oz."

There were explosions going
all over the place.

narrator: We'll reveal all
in the words of the stars

and those who knew them best.

- Both told me that when
they saw each other,

it was just
absolutely explosive.

- They were in each other's
arms between every take,

making love.

Larry was absolutely exhausted
by her demands.

She was a very demanding lady.

narrator: We'll uncover
Hollywood's best-kept
secrets.

- John Ford was
very difficult.

He could be very
tough on you.

Thinking back on it,
I was scared shitless.

- They would be
saying in Navajo,

"You know,
this movie really sucks.

John Ford is an asshole."

[laughs]

- There were toilets
for the white actors

and toilets
for the Black actors.

So segregation
lived on that set.

narrator: If you want to know
the truth about Hollywood,

you need to understand 1939.

- 1939 is everything
that Hollywood stood for,

both good and bad.

But it did produce gold.

The energy of it all,
just breathtaking.

♪ ♪

[projector whirring]

- [inaudible] marker.

Thank you.

- The first time that
I saw "The Wizard of Oz,"

we had a very, very
well-intended nanny

who had told us all day long,

your mom's going to be on TV.

And my mom was in New York,

and we started
to watch this film.

And I reacted to the movie
like every other child.

I was terrified
of the Wicked Witch.

The flying monkeys scared
the daylights out of me.

[dramatic music]

I became hysterical, crying,

and I found the movie
to be traumatic.

It's just really terrifying
for little kids.

♪ ♪

And in the middle of all
this, my mother called.

And she expected to hear
three chirpy voices,

and she heard crying.

[Dorothy screaming]

Then I got on the phone
with her,

and she said,
what's the matter?

And I said, the monkeys
took you to New York!

And I didn't understand
any of it.

And she said
to the nanny, she said,

they will never watch
that film again

without me being there,
and we didn't.

- What was it about the monkeys
that you found so terrifying?

- What was it for you
that you found terrifying

about the monkeys, okay?

They were terrifying!

Flying, winged monkeys?

Are you kidding me?

[upbeat music]

- 1939 was this peak,
this pinnacle,

of Hollywood achievement
in terms

of just sheer quality
of performance.

- It was an absolutely
extraordinary year

in terms of the number
of classic films that

were produced in
a 12-month period in Hollywood.

It was the peak of the greatest

iconic stars
of the silver screen.

You've got Clark Gable.
You've got Cary Grant.

You've got Bette Davis.
You've got John Wayne.

You've got Judy Garland.

If you name a classic star
of the studio system,

they were making these
great films in 1939.

♪ ♪

narrator:
By the start of 1939,

"The Wizard of Oz" was
already in production.

With a budget of $2.8
million, it was MGM Studio's

most ambitious
and expensive film,

and the pressure was on for
it to be a huge success.

♪ ♪

- Technicolor was coming
into its own,

and they were starting
to see that full-color movies,

instead of black and white,

were really big
at the box office.

They'd finally figured
out how to do it well.

And so they suddenly started to
make Technicolor extravaganzas

to bring the audiences in.

And of course, that
transition

from black and white
to Technicolor

is literally the story
of "The Wizard of Oz."

[sweeping orchestral music]

♪ ♪

- It introduces the viewer,
and Dorothy,

into the realm
of the marvelous,

and everything that
you see is a marvel.

This is an entirely
imagined universe,

with flying monkeys
and witches.

- Now fly! Fly!

[dramatic music]

- And trees that throw apples.

♪ ♪

- Ouch!

- What do you think
you're doing?

- It's a sort of compendium
of filmmaking skills

all in one big,
sensational extravaganza.

[upbeat music]

narrator: With such high
hopes for their new
production,

casting the perfect actress
to play Dorothy was
essential.

And MGM turned to one of
their up-and-coming starlets,

16-year-old Judy Garland.

♪ ♪

- Nobody at the time thought
that "The Wizard of Oz"

would be as legendary
a film as it has become.

They thought they were
just doing another movie.

They thought that they were
just telling another story.

narrator: But this wasn't
just another story,

and making the movie
would have

a lifelong impact on its
star.

Born Frances Ethel Gumm,
her name was changed

as soon as she entered
the studio system.

But it wasn't just her name
that needed fixing.

- Once Judy had gone
into the MGM system,

they decided that she
was a bit too chubby,

so she needed
to lose some weight.

The hair was the wrong color,
so that needed to be changed.

The cheeks weren't exactly
the right shape.

- They made her nose turn up
a little more.

They were like
a little round disk,

and they would put them
in the top of her nose,

just to make it go
a little bit more

of a little bit of a curve.

- She was treated
as if she was a sort of doll.

They did it to all of them,
but I mean,

I suppose Judy Garland
just got, perhaps,

a bit more notice afterwards

for the things that
they did do to her.

Unforgivable, really.

[pensive music]

♪ ♪

When she went into the studios,
they said to her,

oh, a bit fat.

No, I think you need
to lose a bit of weight.

Oh, that's right, we can put
some sort of corset on you.

That'll sort of
straighten you up a bit.

- She loved food.
She loved to eat.

And so once she started
to put on a few pounds,

the studio said,
you can't do that.

- There was a waitress
that was put on

to serve her every day,

and Judy would
enthusiastically say

exactly what she wanted,
and she got a bowl of soup.

And she said, well,
I didn't order soup.

And they said, well,
you know, it's soup today.

And then it was
soup again tomorrow,

and soup again the day after,

until eventually
she got the message.

- She was so happy

to be at MGM
when she first was signed

that she considered everyone
there to be helping her

and not hurting her.

But it did play on her
psyche.

[jaunty piano music]

♪ ♪

narrator: Just like Judy,

it was every
young person's dream

to make it in Hollywood.

But behind
the glamorous facade,

the movie studios
were really just

huge money-making factories.

- MGM put a movie
a week into theaters.

You think about the costume
designers and the sets.

They did 4,700 makeups an hour.

And the amount of people that
were on the payroll,

their telephone bill
was the same as New York City.

It was an incredible factory.

♪ ♪

[music winds down]

But if you got sick,
if you got a head cold,

if you--they didn't care.

As long as you
could make money,

they would do everything
in their power

for you to keep working.

- The studios owned
the actors completely.

The idea of anything
approximating

a free agency for an actor
was considered absurd.

You signed a contract.

If you did anything
to annoy the studio head,

you'd be put on suspension.

And if you tried
to leave you'd be sued,

because you had a contract.

I mean, you were utterly,
utterly under the control

of the great studio heads.

Narrator:
Over the past 20 years,

movie moguls like
the Warner Brothers,

Harry Cohn at Columbia,

and Darryl F. Zanuck
at 20th Century Fox,

had built Hollywood
out of nothing

into one of the most
profitable industries

in the United States.

♪ ♪

But one man dominated
like no other.

- Louis B. Mayer was
the most important

of the moguls
who ran the studios.

He ran MGM, and he was
everything that you despise

in a human being, in a way.

He was one of those
brutal sentimental people,

you know what I mean?

He could cry at will
and use that as

a sort of passive-aggressive
weapon against people.

He was a liar, a fantasist.

- Louis B. Mayer ran
the shop like an owner.

He was tough,
feared, and fierce,

and offended a lot of people.

- I can best give
a description of Louis--

Louis B. Mayer from the mouth

of someone who knew him well,

a very remarkable actress
called Luise Rainer,

who worked
for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

in the early days.

Of course, I couldn't
help asking her,

what about Louis B. Mayer?

What was he like?

She said, how can I put it?

He was the fucking Antichrist.
[laughs]

I thought, yes, that
absolutely goes with everything

I've ever heard
about Louis B. Mayer,

an absolute monster of a man.

♪ ♪

- I mean, Mayer was not
interested in the subtleties.

I mean, it was business.

And that could be very
frustrating to performers,

because their lives were
controlled and marketed

in a way that was constrictive.

- They owned you.

Everything was looked after,

but it went way beyond
the walls of the studio.

It went into your
personal life.

It went into where you
were seen, what you wore.

They dressed you.

They told you what to say.

They did your interviews.

- I don't think all the young
starlets understood the fact

that they were going
to have to get up

at 4:00 in the morning,
or be at the studio's

beck and call
seven days a week,

pretty much 24 hours a day.

dance, sing, stand,
sit, sleep, do whatever.

- Nobody knew how
to be a person.

There was never an
accounting lesson.

Nobody knew how
to balance a checkbook.

I mean, my mother didn't
know what a kitchen was.

Everything was done for them.

But when you're a kid
and you grow up like that,

and then all of a sudden you
go out into the real world,

the real world isn't like that.

narrator: But in 1939,
there was one star

who wasn't going
to be told what to do

by the studio bosses.

- You did not mess
with Bette Davis.

She was a woman
with total unwillingness

to be in any way pushed around

or bullied
by these big studio bosses.

- You charlatan!

- That was very real emotion
that she was bringing

to these parts,
and you can feel her

on the edge of a breakdown.

[soft dramatic piano music]

narrator:
Judy Garland was just one

of a handful of child stars

pushed through
the studio system in 1939,

but for many of them,
fame came at a real cost.

- The studio owned
not only my mother,

but owned my aunts
and owned my grandmother.

They wanted to make sure
that my mother showed up,

and that my mother
was always ready to work,

and that my mother
was always a star.

And that was what my
grandmother would do.

♪ ♪

- Judy Garland's mother was
the archetypal stage mother.

And I think that
once she realized

that Judy was going
to be the star,

she would have paid any
price.

- My grandmother would make
sure that when the studio

changed her call time
from 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 a.m.,

instead of saying,
I think that's too early

and she's worked a 12-hour day,

she'd say,
oh, she will be there.

- It didn't matter
what she had to do

to keep Judy going,

awake, working, singing,
dancing,

obeying orders,
whatever it was.

She wanted to bask
in the refracted glory

of this child,
and that's what she did.

She manipulated her.

And Judy Garland had
to give in,

because her life was one long
series of manipulations.

- I think that takes
a huge toll on a child,

especially when
you have a lot of people

saying how much we love you.

But they loved the star.

I don't know how many
loved the human being,

or if they cared.

narrator: It wasn't just
the young starlets

who were struggling.

Over at Warner Brothers,
one of the most

powerful actresses
in Hollywood was

about to take on her studio.

- Bette Davis had
a very oppressive contract

with the studio
that she worked for,

which was Warner Brothers.

Part of the reason
she couldn't cope with that

was because she was
incredibly ambitious.

Bette Davis wanted
to be a great actress,

and she had no intention
of being

forced into terrible films.

And when Warner tried to put
her through the sausage maker

and to say, well, you can
make this kind of movie,

and that kind of movie,
and that kind of movie,

and that kind of movie,
Bette Davis had had enough.

narrator: Bette Davis had
been under the control

of Warner Brothers
for seven long years,

but in 1939,
she was ready to fight back.

- She's battled
with the Warners.

She's fought for changes
to a contract and lost.

But actually, she's labeled
one of the top 10

box office stars in 1939.

So she's got concrete
proof that she can take

to her employers and say,
give me better roles.

I want stuff to get
my teeth into, here.

narrator: In 1939, Bette
Davis won her second Oscar

for the lead role
in "Jezebel."

- I'm very grateful
to members of the Academy

and members
of the Screen Actors Guild

for this award.

- You did not mess
with Bette Davis.

She was a woman
with absolute backbone,

total self-confidence,
total unwillingness

to be in any way
pushed around

or bullied by
these big studio bosses.

Bette Davis's
first film of 1939

is probably the best film
she made that year,

called "Dark Victory,"
a classic tearjerker.

- Michael, I just
can't die like this.

- She plays a 23-year-old woman
who is dying of a brain tumor.

- I'm going to die
in a few months, Michael.

- "Dark Victory" showcases
Davis's willingness

to play really complex
characters who aren't

necessarily always glamorous.

They're really struggling,
and on the edge.

- Don't tempt me. Get going.

- The parts require her to
be on the edge of hysteria.

- Hurry home!

- But you can see
with this tense

and febrile presence
that she brings,

there wasn't a lot
of acting required.

That was very real emotion
that she was bringing

to these parts,
and you can feel her

on the edge of a breakdown.

- What?

- Another headache,
Miss Judith?

- No, not another headache.

[dramatic music]

Yes, a big headache.

And I want a bottle
of champagne for it.

- There is a very famous scene
where she realizes that she's--

that the moment has come,
and she just

has to walk up the staircase.

- I'm going up
to lie down, now.

- And nobody else can
walk up a staircase

like she's dying the way
that Bette Davis could.

[somber music]

♪ ♪

She gives a really, really
remarkable performance.

And to bring all
of that emotion out

just through
a walk up a staircase,

and it really is heartbreaking.

♪ ♪

[dramatic music]

narrator: Throughout 1939,
hints about Bette's own

mental breakdown were
being leaked

to the all-powerful
gossip columnists.

- These were the figures
who every day produced

these bitchy,
snide little columns

in which they could
make or break

the hopes and fears
of an up-and-coming star,

or indeed the career
of a long-established one.

They were pretty charmless

and grotesque figures,
actually.

They were mean.

- There is an invisible
contract between

the gossip columnists
and the studios,

in very similar style

to the kind of relationship
between celebrities

and newspapers nowadays.

- Get your morning paper!

- The first to make her name
was Louella Parsons.

Louella Parsons ruled
the roost.

The power she had
is hard for us

to reconstruct in our heads.

Occasionally,
if she took against someone

or thought that a new,
young talent was not

sufficiently respectful
of her, very often,

she would destroy them
in print,

absolutely destroy them,

and find out the worst things
she could say.

- You know, you're not
exactly young anymore.

- Now, what do you mean
by that?

- When you stand before
your mirror

and see new wrinkles, wrinkles
that weren't there yesterday,

don't you worry
just a little bit?

- When she's your champion,
she is really your champion.

She will really
go to bat for you.

But when she dislikes you,
she will come after you

in such an unrelenting way.

And indeed, we get the--

essentially the bullying
of stars

like Judy Garland
and Bette Davis.

They can do nothing right.

- Say, do you mind telling
me how old you really are?

- Yes.

[tense music]

♪ ♪

- Louella has this network
of spies

and, you know, investigators,

people gathering
information for her.

You know, makeup artists,
cab drivers, runners,

people who can just pass her on
little tidbits of information.

- So it was a bit
like living in East Germany

under the Stasi,

or in Stalinist Russia,
you know.

You make a light comment
about politics

or about a piece of gossip,
and for all you know,

a secretary who's eating
at the next table,

or a car park attendant,
is being paid

$20 a week by Louella Parsons
to dish the dirt.

And so suddenly, this little
remark you made at lunch

appears in the newspaper
the next day.

♪ ♪

- So by the time
it comes to 1939,

Louella is kind of resented
within the industry.

And the time is right, really,
for another columnist

to take her down a peg or two,
in the form of Hedda Hopper.

narrator: Coming up, there's
a new gossip queen in town.

- Hedda Hopper, who was
aggressive, clever, smart.

narrator:
And the dangers behind

one of Hollywood's
most iconic films.

- People have asked me,
did everybody have fun

making "The Wizard of Oz?"

Not really.

- In terms of health
and safety,

there could hardly have
been more appalling film

than "Wizard of Oz."

[upbeat musical sting]

- Hollywood, California, USA,

where 30,000 specialists

working in 272 separate
arts and crafts,

sciences and trades,
make the movies,

working as a team to put
their ideas into pictures.

[upbeat jazzy music]

♪ ♪

- 80 million people went
to the movies every week.

♪ ♪

- It was fairly cheap.

$0.25 admission
was the average,

but so many people went
in their millions every week

that it was just
a hugely profitable industry.

narrator: In 1939,
the studios made

a staggering $659 million
from 510 films.

- The idea of
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer was

to produce 52 class movies
a year,

one for each week,
that would go straight

into their own cinema chain.

It was a complete monopoly.

It's as if the publishers

owned all the bookshops.

- You've got to remember,
it was the '30s.

It was basically,
the money people in New York

told the studios,
we need this many movies

for this many theaters,

and we need them
by this time.

It was always,
always about the bottom line.

It was the factory.

It was always about money.

♪ ♪

narrator: By spring 1939,
production was in full swing

on "The Wizard of Oz,"

and MGM had cast a big
Broadway star, Bert Lahr,

in the role
of the Cowardly Lion.

♪ ♪

- My father had come out
to Hollywood to try and make

a career out there,
and found that his humor,

his stage humor,
was too large for the camera.

So it was very hard
for my father to find

a footing in Hollywood.

But as an animal,
and not a person,

all his largeness,
all his noise,

were not only acceptable,
but terrific.

- Put 'em up.
Put 'em up!

Which one of you first?

- All the business,
all the shtick,

all the--you know,

put 'em up, put 'em up,
what do you got--

all that came from vaudeville.

- I'll fight you both again,
if you want.

I'll fight you with one paw
tied behind my back.

- If you notice in the songs,

the tail has a life of its own.

- ♪ If I were king
of the forest ♪

- And part of the reason
for that is,

way, way, way up above
the set, on the walkways,

the tail was attached
to a fishing rod.

And there was a guy
up there whose job it was

to simply wag the tail
while Dad was singing.

- ♪ If I ♪

♪ If I were king ♪

narrator: The production
of "The Wizard of Oz"

was also under huge pressure.

They'd already gone
through five directors

and over 10 screenwriters.

And for the cast, the shoot
was becoming an ordeal.

- People have asked me,
did everybody have fun

making "The Wizard of Oz"?

Not really.

It was a tough, tough shoot.

- In terms
of health and safety,

there could hardly have been
a more

appalling film than
"Wizard of Oz."

There were explosions going
all over the place.

[Wicked Witch cackles]

- Margaret Hamilton
had a terrible accident

going up in the ball
of flame in Munchkinland.

They were rushing
before lunch.

Someone didn't pay attention,

and the trap door did not
open in time,

and she went up in a ball
of flame and was burned.

- Margaret Hamilton's
understudy was

on this exploding broomstick.

And of course,
as it exploded, it broke,

and she burned her hands
very badly.

And another hazard
was when they were

in the field of poppies.

All of a sudden you saw
this wonderful snow

falling all over them,
which was a great effect.

But unfortunately,
it wasn't snow.

narrator:
It was crushed gypsum,

which is extremely dangerous
when inhaled.

- That set was always
over 108 degrees.

Bert Lahr, bless his heart,

in that lion outfit,
was miserable.

- Their day began
At 4:00 in the morning,

and they would get
to the studio.

It was three hours
to get into the makeup.

And in Dad's case,

the costume
was incredibly heavy.

He had to wear shoulder pads,
you know.

So it was like suiting up for
a football game or something.

- Buddy Ebsen was
the original Tin Man,

and he inhaled the aluminum
in the makeup and almost died.

- He ended up in hospital,
I think on a respirator,

and eventually had
to be replaced in the film

by Jack Haley.

They used a modified makeup
on him,

but nevertheless
still dangerous.

Went into his eye.

He got a terrible
eye infection.

So nobody was safe.

[upbeat jazz music]

narrator:
As production rolled on,

the star of the film was
growing more

and more exhausted
by the studio's demands.

- The studio publicity machine
went into overdrive.

- Mickey Rooney
and Judy Garland

gave a luncheon party
to 150 of their fans.

- So you have these
improbable little clips

that came out all the time
of them on the newsreel.

- Sweet 16.

Screen star Judy Garland
cuts her birthday cake

at a party given by film
chief Louis B. Mayer,

and attended
by Hollywood's younger set,

including irrepressible
Mickey Rooney.

- "Wizard of Oz" was
going to be one

of the biggest-budget
movies that

had been made up to that
time.

So they needed desperately
to promote Judy Garland.

So you get parties
around a pool,

or anything
to promote the studio.

- Get on your mark,
get set, go!

- Going to a fair
and getting ice cream,

and all that sort of thing.

- Gee, Mickey.

We don't know how lucky
we are and how much

we have to be thankful for,
with our health

and our happiness.

- But it was constant.

So if she wasn't filming
"The Wizard of Oz,"

she was out doing these
improbable publicity stunts.

- And Mickey is delighted,

because little Judy Garland
is winning.

narrator: But it wasn't
just Judy Garland.

Every actress in Hollywood
was

being controlled
by the studios.

- I'm afraid that's out,
Judy.

[dramatic music]

- When you signed a contract

with
a classic Hollywood studio,

and you were a woman,
one of the things

that the studio did to you
was a makeover.

And most actors were
willing to go along with it.

Bette Davis was not
one of the ones

who was willing
to play along with that.

- It's just a slow process
of...

getting to look on the screen,
what you really thought

you looked like in life,
you know.

Because I thought
I was fairly attractive

till I got to Hollywood,
but I didn't for very long.

- She's an incredibly
attractive woman.

And he's an incredibly
engaging woman,

but she's not
your classic beauty,

which is what Hollywood
cinema is about.

- And for instance,
they would say,

who wants to get her
at the end of the picture?

[laughter]

And this does--

[laughs] True!

And this really does
catastrophic things

to your ego.

♪ ♪

narrator:
By the time Bette started

her next film, "Juarez,"

her relationship
with Warner Brothers

had reached breaking point.

- By "Juarez," Davis
is absolutely at the end

of her tether with the studio.

She suffered
a marriage breakup.

She's having quite an
emotional breakdown as well.

She ends up with pleurisy
and is incredibly ill,

is told by the studio
to still come in

and do her job.

- "Juarez" doesn't
really stand up

to the test of time as a film,

but there is one reason still
to watch it,

which is Bette Davis's
performance in it.

- Answer me, sire!

- Particularly
a very famous scene

at the end, where the character
has a nervous breakdown.

- In the hands
of your ministers!

- The sense
that Bette Davis was

on the edge of a nervous
breakdown in "Juarez"

was reflecting the reality,
because she was.

- Answer me, sire!

- She did actually have
a breakdown during filming.

She simply wasn't able
to carry on.

- You charlatan!

- She's clearly very, very,
poorly, very, very, unhappy.

And you can't help but think
that she's channeling

that into that performance.

- You will not dare
let him die.

I will denounce you
in every corner of Europe

for what you will be--
a murderer!

A murderer!

- To be asked to be playing
overwrought parts,

one after the other,
is a great emotional demand.

And all of her roles from 1939

are of women who,
in their different ways,

are kind of teetering
on the edge of hysteria.

And she had to keep
playing that,

over and over and over again.

narrator: In 1939,
Hollywood was still

very much a man's world.

- Watch out, you two!

Boy, that was close.

narrator: While actresses
were struggling,

successful stars
like Cary Grant

were able to break away
from the studios.

♪ ♪

- Now, why didn't we
think of this before?

- Cary Grant was
one of the few stars

who left the studio system,

insofar as he went independent.

Cary Grant said, no,
I don't like

what Paramount's doing
with my career.

I think I can do better
on my own.

And everyone thought
he was crazy,

because you know,
it just wasn't done.

narrator:
By going independent,

Cary Grant became the
highest-paid Hollywood actor

in 1939.

- He chooses much better films
for himself

than Paramount ever did,
and these were all

critically acclaimed
box-office hits.

- Some of the great
screen idols

of the classic
Hollywood period

appear on screen fully-formed

in their star persona.

Cary Grant took
some time to evolve.

Throughout the 1930s,
Cary Grant was trying on

lots of different parts.

And it's only in 1939 that

that persona starts
to solidify.

- Initially, nobody knew
what to do with Cary Grant.

And so they said, he's going
to be a tough guy,

just like Clark Gable.

And they tried to cast him
in those roles,

and it took him a while
to find his feet as a character

who is not macho at all,
really,

but seems to subvert
machismo.

- Susan, will you
come out of there

and help me find some clothes,
or must I come in and get you?

- Oh, David, you wouldn't.

- Oh, yes, I would!

Oh, well, maybe I wouldn't.

- In 1939, he made
"Only Angels Have Wings."

There's just so much
more vulnerability

to the Cary Grant persona.

- You're crazy.
- Am I?

Try to move it.

You've joined
the rest of us cripples.

- Cary Grant always
insisted on ad-libbing

and adding his own bits
to the script

and fleshing out
his characters.

- One night when I was lost
in a fog,

a night something like this,
radio beam was out

and I was glad
to get my feet on the ground.

What do you think
the welcome-home speech was?

She was hoping I'd crashed.

- When Jean Arthur is
hopelessly in love with him,

he starts talking to her
about his baby pictures.

That's his way of coming
on to her and saying,

would you like to come upstairs
and see my baby pictures?

- Would you, uh, like
to go over to my room?

Got some letters from home,

pictures of my father
and mother.

- You can't quite imagine
John Wayne doing that.

- Any pictures of you
when you were a baby?

- I don't remember.

Want to go and look?

- So Cary Grant
just had something else

going on that blurred
the boundaries of gender a bit.

narrator: But for stars like
Cary Grant,

going independent came
at a high price.

They no longer had
a studio to protect them

from gossip columnists...

like Louella Parsons.

- By the time it comes
to 1939,

Louella is growing in power
to such a degree

that she actually
was able to have

a premiere rescheduled
because it got in the way

of her daughter's wedding.

You know, such was
the level of respect

that the studios had for her.

- There was a kind
of karma waiting for her,

in that Hollywood began
to get annoyed with her.

And an article in
"The Saturday Evening Post"

attacked Louella Parsons,
absolutely went for her.

I mean, you had character
assassination of a kind

that you would not
put up with now.

I mean, her fatness,
her sentimentality,

her alcoholism.

- It is cruel,

and it just basically
takes Parsons down.

The article claimed
that Louella

constantly wore
a facial expression

of "blank bewilderment."

She's described as being
"20 minutes late mentally."

The article claimed
that she was

the most
"consistently inaccurate"

journalist that ever lived.

And she was absolutely,
understandably,

devastated by it.

- At the same time, of course,

someone would come
to topple her

from the citadel that
she occupied.

And forward came Hedda
Hopper.

She was aggressive,
clever, smart.

- Hedda Hopper was
a failed actress.

She'd been an actress
right up into the 1930s,

and in fact, she used to be an
informant for Louella Parsons.

So Hedda Hopper would ring
Louella Parsons from sets,

from the studio, and tell her
what was going on.

But then, as Hedda Hopper's
acting career failed,

she became
the gossip columnist.

- There's a narrative that
develops

amongst the Hollywood
community

that essentially says,
she had her chance,

she blew it,
she wasn't very good.

Now she's bitter,
and she's taking it out on us.

- Hedda was always
the nastier one.

Louella tended
to just gush a lot.

Hedda was homophobic,
very right-wing.

She was against
any kind of immigration

or communist activity.

- In 1939, Hedda Hopper
appears as herself

in the George Cukor film,
"The Women."

- Oh, hello, girls!

My, but you look lovely.

Got any dirt for the column?

- Oh, not a thing, sweet.
Not a thing.

- No?
Get me my coat, Sadie.

I might just as well shove off.

I've never seen
such a clean joint.

- She plays a waspish,
bitchy version

of Hedda Hopper,
which is probably

the real version there was.

- Something's going to pop!
- Good and dirty?

- Go out there
and dig up Buck Winston.

Ask him what famous society
matron is crazy about him.

- Oh, boy! Dirt!

- MGM are giving her
that little tidbit

just to keep her on side.

And that really
appeals to her ego.

- Hedda Hopper
went for Louella.

She basically decided
to push her off,

like a game
of king of the castle.

[bright harp music]

narrator: Coming up,
the gossip columnists

set their sights
on Cary Grant.

- Gossip starts to circulate
amongst the general public

that address his homosexuality.

- Today, they look like

most happily-married
gay couple ever.

[soft dramatic music]

narrator: In the first
six months of 1939,

Hollywood had released
an astonishing 256 films.

But the biggest, most
important release of the year

was nearing completion.

And at its heart
was one of the most

famous songs in movie
history.

- The most amazing thing
about watching

my mother's performance
of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow"

is the simplicity.

- ♪ Somewhere over
the rainbow ♪

- She sang the song like

it was her first time
singing it.

You didn't realize there were
take after take after take.

- "Over the Rainbow" certainly
wasn't an iconic moment.

It wasn't done in color.

It wasn't done
in a way that you

would actually expect
it to become the legend

that it did later on.

- ♪ Somewhere over
the rainbow ♪

- Louis B. Mayer
actually took it out.

He didn't think it
was that great a song,

and he took it out.

- They didn't think
a, quote, "MGM star"

should sing in a barnyard.

- ♪ Clouds are far behind me ♪

- They were told it
slowed the movie down.

- There was a bit of
an argument about it.

And reluctantly, eventually,
it did go back in.

But in fact, that film
might well have come out

without "Rainbow" in it,

and history might not have
been what it is.

- ♪ Somewhere over
the rainbow ♪

- It's no accident
that "Wizard of Oz"

is the totemic film
for gay people,

and--and we use the phrase
"a friend of Dorothy"

to describe a gay person,
as a euphemism.

It shows this
black and white world

of misery and poverty

and unhappiness
and disconnection

and loneliness
in which Judy Garland lives.

And she dreams of somewhere
over the rainbow.

And that's what
every gay person

growing up in some grim
English town thought of.

There's this world of color
and light and warmth

and friendship and acceptance
over the rainbow.

And every little bluebird
can fly over the rainbow.

Why, oh why, can't I?

- ♪ Little bluebirds fly ♪

- Why am I trapped in my
dull, dreadful life?

I want to be over
the rainbow with Dorothy.

I want to follow
the yellow brick road.

- ♪ Why can't I? ♪

narrator: "Over the Rainbow"
may have offered gay
audiences

a glimpse of hope and escape,
but in 1939,

the daily reality
was very different.

- There wasn't anywhere
in the United States

where you could be
openly gay and be safe.

It was not only illegal,
but it was widely scorned

and often met with violence.

So for a star to be outed would
have been an outrage, really.

It's no exaggeration to say
it would have been an outrage.

- So there are a number
of gay stars

in 1939, then,
who are essentially

bullied into
straight relationships

by their studios,
in a desperate bid

to sort of keep up appearances,

and would be entered
into what were sometimes

known as lavender marriages.

One example of these
lavender marriages

occurred in 1939,

between two enormous stars,
Robert Taylor,

who was an MGM star,
and Barbara Stanwyck,

both understood
to be a homosexual.

And there are stories
around the studio

concocting this marriage.

- A lot of young gay people
who came to Hollywood

thought they were going
to be blackmailed,

or that their agent was
going to fire them

because the agent
had found out.

And believe me,

the people who ran
the publicity machines

behind the studios,

they were not
going to allow anybody

even to think of coming out.

The idea was just simply--

it just was not conceivable.

- What you see in this period
is a number of gay people

in Hollywood producing
films that might be

about heterosexual romance,
but actually there

are these lovely
little moments,

these little Easter eggs,
these little treats

for gay audiences,

like the moments
in "Queen Christina" where

Greta Garbo's character
greets her maid

by kissing her on the mouth.

♪ ♪

Garbo is a really interesting
example as a star.

She was rumored
to be bisexual.

And it's really interesting
the way in which

that sort of filters
through into her roles.

Equally as well,
you have Marlene Dietrich,

rumored to be bisexual,

cross-dressing,
appearing in "Morocco"

in top hat and tails,

seeing one particular woman
in the audience,

and gives her this kiss.

So essentially, the directors
and these actors, then,

are saying, you know,
to their gay audiences,

you're not alone.

We know you.
We see you.

We acknowledge you.
This is for you.

They were the moments where
they felt that they were
seen.

And they meant so much
because they were so very
precious.

- I suppose
the biggest star about whom

there have been rumors
of a gay secret life, um--

none bigger than Cary Grant.

- Where's Sergeant Cutter?

- Here.

- Take your hands off that man.

♪ ♪

- He might have been bisexual.

I doubt that he was gay,
but I think what's

really interesting
about him is that he brought

some element of gender fluidity
into Hollywood.

- Everything's going
to be all right.

Yes, everything's going to be--

what do you want?

- Who are you?
- Who are you?

- In "Bringing Up Baby,"
he's wearing

a frilly negligee
at this point,

and someone asks him
why he's wearing it.

- Why are you wearing
these clothes?

- Because I just went gay
all of a sudden!

- Now, that got
past the censors

because they didn't
know what gay meant.

Gay at that point meant
funny and elegant.

- Who are you?

- I don't know.
I'm not quite myself today.

- Well, you look perfectly
idiotic in those clothes.

- Cary Grant knew
what gay meant.

Cary Grant had been
moving around

in show business circles
and in gay circles

for the previous 10 years,
at least.

It was a kind of telegraphing
to the audience that

would recognize it, that he--

he knew the secret meaning
of the word gay.

- In the 1930s, he shared
a house with Randolph Scott,

who was a Western actor.

And they did some posing
for photographers in which

they were wearing aprons
and doing housework,

and showing that
they basically lived together.

- Paramount thought this
was a good way

of showing them off,

getting them
in their bathing suits,

showing off
a Hollywood lifestyle.

I think today they
look very different.

Today, they look like they're

the most happily-married
gay couple ever.

narrator: Whatever the truth
behind the rumors,

Cary Grant's personal life
became fair game

for the gossip columnists.

♪ ♪

- Off the back of this
"Modern Screen" photo shoot,

gossip starts to circulate
about his homosexuality.

- In 1939,
Hedda Hopper regularly

planted little
poisonous bits of gossip

about him in her columns.

♪ ♪

Hedda Hopper reported that
whenever he's around

Noel Coward,
Cary goes a little pixie-ish,

and he did a lot
of his rehearsals

with Noel horizontally.

This is all but
coming out and saying

they're having a love affair.

Now, I don't think they were
having a love affair,

but I think she knew
that he was

vulnerable in that respect.

narrator: Where columnists
like Hedda Hopper

traded in suggestion
and innuendo,

in the underground press,

rumors about Cary Grant's
sexuality were

much more explicit.

- So what I've got here,
then, is a really

interesting little artifact.

And it really tells us
something about the gossip

around Cary Grant.

So essentially,
it's a pornographic comic.

It's got a slightly
homophobic tinge to it.

The story itself is called,
"Who's a Fairy?"

And I'm just going
to open up the first page,

which is not pornographic.

And you can see it's just
a picture here of Cary Grant,

but he's being mocked here
by a young woman.

And she says, "Cary is a fairy.

Cary is a dirty pansy."

Because of things
like gossip columns,

certain elements
of the public, at least,

were aware of this gossip,
and were picking up on that,

and writing what
is essentially fan fiction.

[dramatic music]

narrator: Fresh from smearing
Cary Grant,

Hedda Hopper had someone else
in her sights--

rival columnist
Louella Parsons.

By summer 1939,
Hedda Hopper had become

a force to be reckoned with.

- So this rivalry between
Louella and Hedda

really evolves into something
really quite spectacular.

- Hedda Hopper came in
and managed to do something

which to non-newspaper people
seems like a minor thing,

a scoop--in other words,

where you get a story
before somebody else does.

And if you are scooped
by someone else,

you're beaten by them.

And it destroys
your reputation.

And there was
a Hollywood producer

called Jimmy Roosevelt,
who was the son of FDR,

the great
Franklin Delano Roosevelt,

the President
of the United States.

And there was a rumor
that he might

be splitting up with his wife.

And one evening,
Hedda Hopper doorstepped him.

She just banged
on his door and brutally

asked him whether or not
he was going to get divorced.

And he admitted that he was.

So she ran to
the newspaper offices,

and like some terrible
movie cliche shouted,

hold the presses!

And she typed up her story
and got the scoop over Louella.

♪ ♪

- Read all about it.
Get your paper here.

- This really cuts deep
with Parsons.

She's really,
really hurt by this.

And this is a real thing
for Hopper

to hold over Parsons, as well,

and really sort of gloat about,
quite frankly.

[upbeat jazz music]

- To us, that doesn't seem
like such a big deal.

But it basically marked
the end of Louella's power

and the beginning of Hedda's.

narrator: After the scoop,

the battle between
Hedda and Louella

became headline news.

- These two women will never
talk to one another again.

They're refusing to go near
one another at parties.

The constant backbiting
just becomes all-consuming.

- Louella Parsons, confidant
of the motion picture colony,

arrives with Scott Brady.

Hedda Hopper tells
you all about it.

- The satisfying thing about
the story of Louella and Hedda

is they saved their
most mean viciousness

for each other.

They loathed each other.

♪ ♪

narrator:
The studio's manipulation

of one of their
biggest new stars

would leave her
with a lifelong dependency.

- They were called pep pills.

Gave you a little bit
of energy, cut your appetite.

They had no idea
what these would lead to.

- There was the pills
to go to bed at night.

There's the pills
to get up in the morning.

There's the pills
to make you happy if you're

beginning to feel a bit down.

There was a pill
for everything.

[upbeat musical sting]

[up-tempo piano music]

narrator: By the time
Bette Davis moved on

to her fourth film of 1939,

she was exhausted.

She'd been working
punishingly long hours
without a break

for the best part of a year,

and it was beginning
to show on screen.

- The next film
that Davis makes

is "The Private Lives
of Elizabeth and Essex,"

and it's a very
fiery performance.

[glass shattering]

- So, you brazen wench,
you defy me!

- The performance
is really remarkable,

because she was always
willing

to make herself ugly
for a part.

Very uncharacteristically

for big female movie stars
of the day,

she was willing
to sacrifice her vanity.

She sacrificed
her very real beauty.

[dramatic music]

The behind-the-scenes
wrangles that Bette Davis

got into with Jack Warner over
the movie that was eventually

titled "The Private Lives
of Elizabeth and Essex,"

is really typical
of the kinds of battles

that she would fight.

♪ ♪

The working title for the film
was "The Knight and the Lady,"

and Bette Davis was furious.

- Cecil, this is intolerable!

- Because it meant
she was getting

upstaged by the knight.

She wasn't a lady,
she was the queen.

She was Queen Elizabeth,
and by God,

that was going to be
in the title.

And she had no intention
in particular of letting

her co-star, Errol Flynn,
who she did not like,

get top billing over her.

And so she and Jack
Warner have this series

of memos that go
back and forth,

where she puts up
such a fight.

And at one point
in this fight to the death,

she wrote him saying,
in all caps,

"I have been trying
for some weeks

"to get an answer
from you concerning

"the title of my next picture.

"I have found out today
you are not changing it.

"I therefore feel justified
in requesting first billing,

"which would automatically
change the title,

"as the present title
is obviously one

"to give the man
first billing.

"I feel so justified in this
from every standpoint

"that you force me to refuse
to make the picture

unless the billing is mine."

She wore Jack Warner down,

which was very hard to do.

Jack Warner was just
as stubborn as she was,

but that was one of
the fights that she won.

- It's a problematic film
right from the start.

There is bickering between
the two lead stars,

between Davis and Errol Flynn.

narrator: Errol Flynn was
the matinee idol of 1939.

The star of epic
swashbuckling films

like "Captain Blood."

- Ready, Hagthorpe?

[dramatic music]

Fire!

narrator:
But he had a reputation

for hard drinking
and womanizing.

- Bette Davis doesn't like
Errol Flynn

for a range of reasons.

She's a serious actress,
and she's worked

a long time at her craft.

Flynn is new to the scene.

He's only been in Hollywood
for a couple of years.

And he's a chancer.

He'd hit it big straight away
with "Captain Blood,"

playing this amazing
pirate role,

lots of amazing stunts
as well,

which he would do his own.

But because of his success
in "Captain Blood,"

it turns out he's actually
being paid more than her,

which really irks her.

- Do I mean nothing to you?

♪ ♪

- Nothing.

- And this comes to a head
in a particular scene.

- Lord Essex!
- Where Davis has

to slap his character,
essentially.

And so they go in for a take,
and she hits him,

really, really hits him.

And by all accounts,
he says that he saw stars.

He was worried she was going
to have broken his jaw.

Because she's got loads
of heavy costume jewelry

on her hand, and she really,
really slaps him.

Just to make matters worse,
then,

in terms of Flynn clearly
not understanding

who Davis was
and how she might react,

Flynn is asked
by the director,

Michael Curtiz,
to do something spontaneous

to demonstrate his affection
for Davis's character.

Being the ultimate
gentleman that he is,

Errol Flynn essentially pats
Bette Davis's bum.

This really shocked
Bette Davis.

This is not the way that you
treat a dame of the cinema,

and she never spoke
to him again.

She avoided him at parties.

She was really,
really angry with him.

It really soured
the atmosphere.

[up-tempo piano music]

narrator:
While Hollywood was making

a fortune in 1939,

the people who were
paying to see their films

were still recovering
from the Great Depression

and the Dust Bowl.

But the movies offered them
a way to escape the turmoil

of their daily lives.

- Hollywood offers
escape, freedom

away from something
grim and ghastly,

which is your own
ordinary life.

So there was a sense
that Hollywood always offered

a portal out of the everyday
and the dreadful,

and showed
the shining possibilities.

And there were all kinds
of genres

for all kinds of people.

There were Westerns,
there were children's movies,

there were musicals,
reaching their apex

with "The Wizard of Oz".

- It's a twister!
It's a twister!

- In "The Wizard of Oz",
part of the thrill of the
film

is for the audience
to see effects that

had never been seen before.

- Dorothy!

- How do you create
the illusion of a tornado?

- Dorothy!

- To think that was all done
with a muslin stocking

and chicken wire

and a crane to spin it
is amazing.

They do conjure the illusion
of real imminent chaos.

- The tornado at
the beginning in Kansas

must have reminded everybody

of what had gone on with those
awful black dust clouds

that had smothered the Midwest.

[tense music]

♪ ♪

- In the mid-1930s,

America suffered
an immense drought

in the middle of the country
that actually spread across

most of the center
of the United States,

and it became known
as the Dust Bowl.

♪ ♪

There was black snow
of dust that

blew across the United
States.

Children died in them.

They smothered animals.

The drought was intense,
and of course,

the economic consequences
of that

were absolutely catastrophic.

- Dorothy!

- The particular look
and feel of the cyclone

that they created
for "The Wizard of Oz"

strongly evokes the Dust Bowl.

The way that it's
got all of this detritus

swimming around in it.

[dramatic music]

- It goes from the
black and white of a tornado

and the imminence
of total destruction...

into Technicolor.

You go into a dream.

The very color itself
is a wonder.

- I have a feeling we're
not in Kansas anymore.

- And so fear and courage,
that's what "Wizard of Oz"

is acting out,
is how do you find courage?

How do you go on?

- We must be over the rainbow.

♪ ♪

- It's a film that asks
how you survive crisis.

How do you survive depression?

How do you survive famine?

And the answer is
go to a Technicolor movie.

[pensive music]

narrator:
Whilst the film was set

to lift the mood of millions,

production on
"The Wizard of Oz"

was taking a huge toll
on its star.

- My mother had
a responsibility

in keeping the jobs
of a lot of people.

And when you're a kid,
that's hard.

She was exhausted.
She was tired.

She always wanted to know
what a vacation was like,

and she never got one.

The makeup artist,
Charlie Schram, said,

did you ever know how
we got around

the child labor laws?

And I said, no,

but you're going to tell us.

And he said, we would go
to your grandmother's house

At 4:30 in the morning,

and your grandmother
would wake her up,

and we would do
all of her makeup,

and we would put her
in the car At 5:30,

and we would drive
through the gates of MGM

so she was camera-ready
at 6:00 a.m.

♪ ♪

If you're woken up every single
solitary day of your life

At 4:30 in the morning,
it becomes your normal.

That's all she knew.

[applause]

Whenever there was a weekend
and the studio was closed,

she was learning new songs.

She was learning new things
for the next movie coming up.

They never got a break.

- It gets to the point
where it's a treadmill.

So you can't wake up
in the morning.

You can't go to sleep
at night.

So they say, well,
that's all right.

That's fine. We've got some
pills for that.

So there's the pills
to go to bed at night.

There's the pills
to get up in the morning.

There's the pills
to keep you going

in the middle of the day.

There's the pills
to make you happy

if you're beginning
to feel a bit down.

So there was a pill
for everything.

- Some pills,
called amphetamines,

are stimulants,

because they make the brain
work faster.

- They were called
pep pills, okay?

Gave you a little bit
of energy,

cut your appetite.

Nobody saw any harm in it.

Airline pilots were
taking them.

Everybody around America
was taking "pep pills."

They had no idea
about addiction.

They had no idea what
these would lead to.

- They should be used only
in special medical
situations.

♪ ♪

- Long-term, they didn't care.

Long-term didn't come
into their thinking.

The only thing that
came into their thinking

was what you were
going to do in the film

that you were doing now.

They didn't care what
Judy Garland was going

to be like when she was 30.

They only cared what she was
going to be like at the end

of that particular film.

narrator: The treatment
Judy experienced

was evident in interviews
she gave in later life.

- Are you beginning
to question the reason

for all this foofaraw
after all these--

- You mean show biz?

- Show biz, yeah.

- The biz?
- The biz.

- I think it's hideous.

[laughter]

[applause]

[somber music]

♪ ♪

- I've never blamed the
studio

for what eventually happened
to my mother,

because every single
solitary person at MGM

was doing the same thing.

♪ ♪

You would never do that
to a child today,

but this was the 1930s,
and doctors were doing it.

And they didn't see the harm.

They did it out of ignorance.

They did it out
of financial gain.

- In later life,
when I met her...

you were witnessing the product
of a lifetime of the type

of treatment that she'd had.

She'd lost her sparkle.

The life had gone out of her.

When you stood
and looked at her

in an unguarded moment,

it was a kind of shell
that you were looking at.

There wasn't
the same enthusiasm.

There wasn't the same zest
for life that there had been.

And that, I thought,
was incredibly sad.

♪ ♪

- We have learned
throughout the years

about the world of addiction.

None of that was
available to my mother,

and I think to myself,

what would it have been like

if she was born
a little bit later?

And then I think, you can't
live in the land of what if.

You have to live in the land
of what happened.

♪ ♪

narrator: Coming up...

- Bette Davis had had enough,

and she told Jack Warner
in no uncertain terms,

you can fire me.

I'm still walking away.

[dramatic music]

narrator: For the seven years

Bette Davis was
under contract,

Warner Brothers had
exploited and exhausted her.

After finishing her final
film of 1939,

she'd had enough.

- Bette Davis's ongoing
battle with Warner Brothers

came to a head at the beginning
of September 1939.

Ironically enough,
she actually declared war

on Warner Brothers the day
that World War II broke out.

Bette Davis had had enough,

and she told Jack Warner
in no uncertain terms.

She sent him an ultimatum,
in fact.

I've actually got a copy
of Bette Davis's letter,

and she said, "Dear JL,

"For the first
time in my life,

"I don't care whether I ever
make another picture or not.

"I am that overworked.

My contract is ridiculous."

She had just made four films
in a 12-month period,

and she said,
"I simply can't make any more.

I'm exhausted
and I can't do any more.

And "I am even willing to stand
the gaff of unemployment.

"Would appreciate your not
communicating with me.

"It upsets me very much.

"Also, arguing
with me is no use,

nor do I want to come
back until it is settled."

She basically said,
you can fire me.

I'm still walking away.

It's really kind of
an extraordinary letter,

because it does pull
together this almost

four-year battle that she had
been fighting with Warner.

And it shifted the balance
of power between them.

It meant that Warner finally
was beginning to actually

respect Bette Davis,

and she knew
that she had won a battle

of wills with him,
a very important one,

and then they were on more
equal footing going forward.

narrator:
When Bette Davis looks back

at her experience
with Warner Brothers,

you can see how important
that battle had been to her.

- I haven't any idea
how I had the guts

to do that whole thing.

I have no idea.

But when you're young,
and wanting to get somewhere,

that's a terrific incentive.

- Bette Davis was
one of a handful

of stars who took on

the Hollywood studio system
and won.

Only a very few of them
were able to do that.

Bette Davis was one,
Cary Grant was another.

Judy Garland, of course,
was destroyed

by the same studio system.

narrator: After 10 months
in production,

"The Wizard of Oz"
was finally released

on the 25th of August, 1939,

and Judy Garland was
catapulted into stardom.

- The astonishing thing about
"The Wizard of Oz"

is that in amongst
all this Technicolor

and wonderful effects
and shots

and all of that
sort of thing--

- It's beautiful, isn't it?

- The one thing that
shines through everything

is the talent of Judy Garland.

- There's no place like home.

- The honesty of that moment
at the end of the film,

where she says,
"There's no place like home."

- There's no place like home.

- Everyone can identify
with that line.

And it's Dorothy understanding
that all she wanted to do,

in the whole film,
was come home.

- But just the same,
all I kept saying to everybody

was, I want to go home.

And they sent me home.

- Maybe it was a reflection
of how she genuinely felt.

Maybe that was part of
the real Judy coming through,

where all you want
is the simple things.

You want to go home.

You want to see your family.

And it may not have
all the glitter

that you've just had,

but it is the life
that you want.

The happiness that you seek,
the true life that you want.

- ♪ Somewhere
over the rainbow ♪

- I mean, anyone who
has lost a parent,

they know that it is
incredibly difficult.

But she's with me every day.

But when you are reminded
every single solitary day

that everyone else has got her
as a part of their family,

and their history,

and what certain films
mean to them,

you become at peace with it.

And you realize that she
meant the world to so many
people.

- ♪ Why, oh why ♪

♪ Can't I? ♪

♪ ♪

[applause]

[upbeat music]

narrator: In the next
episode, we reveal

an illicit love affair
between two

of Hollywood's greatest
stars.

- Larry and Vivien had
to keep their affair a secret,

because if it had got out,

it would have been
an absolute scandal.

narrator:
An uncomfortable truth

about the Golden Age's
most successful film.

- "Gone with the Wind"
is a race problem.

It's bullshit.

- There were toilets
for the white actors,

and toilets
for the Black actors.

So segregation
lived on that set.

narrator: And the inside
scoop on one

of Tinseltown's
toughest characters.

- John Ford was
very difficult.

He could be very tough on
you.

Thinking back on it,
I was scared shitless.

- Many of the men
in my family are cantankerous.

Many of the men
in my family have short fuses.

Many of the men
in my family are assholes.

♪ ♪