137: The Dark History of Gossip: Cancel Culture Started WAY Earlier Than You Think 52:58

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Gossip has played a very important role throughout history. It brings us together and makes us feel like we know our favorite celebrities or people in power, but it can also tear us apart. Gossip feels like just one of those things you just can't avoid. It's all around us, in the checkout counters, at grocery stores, online, and in person. But who paved the way for gossip to be what it is today? Well, this is the Dark History of Gossip.

Hi friends, I hope you're having a wonderful day today. My name is Bailey Sarian and I'd like to welcome you to my podcast, Dark History.

Here, we believe history does not have to be boring. It might be tragic. Sometimes it's happy. But either way, it's our dark history. Now, before we get into it, don't forget to like and subscribe. Why not? I come out with hot, juicy history goss every week. And let me know what you think down below in the comments section, because I love hearing from you. Now, let's get into today's story. Shall we?

Now, gossip has been around since the dawn of time. And the word gossip actually comes from the old English word, godsib. Now, God, meaning godparent, and sib, meaning sibling. So this word was used to refer to people who you had a close spiritual connection with, like literally through baptism. But as time goes on, this definition relaxes a little bit.

Essentially, gossip was for your BFFs, you know, your closest friends, especially back in the day when word of mouth was all there was. But as soon as people figured out how to write stuff down, gossip became available to a wider audience. Around 1500 BC in Mesopotamia, cuneiform, which is believed to be the oldest written language, was carved into these clay tablets.

It's like, great. So imagine like being the archeologist who discovers something like this, right? It's so old and you're so excited to translate it. And you're like, well, like this could be the answer to life. I mean, this could be like the next best thing for society. And then you go back and you translate it. And like, it literally was a story about the mayor of Mesopotamia having an affair with a married woman.

Gasparella. I know. I mean, that's literally what it was. A rumor about an affair carved into a tablet. It was wild. This just ramps up in ancient Egypt. I guess the Egyptians loved gossip as well. They used hieroglyphics. You know hieroglyphics. They're like carvings, little pictures, kind of like comic strips.

and they would use this to talk behind each other's backs. Well, researchers at the Rosha Krushen Egyptian Museum were translating these ancient carvings, and they discovered once again that what they were studying was like some juicy ass gossip.

This specific series of hieroglyphics was 5,000 years old, and it was about a king who had a special relationship with one of his army generals. I guess this king would quote unquote check on this army general in the middle of the night pretty often, and allegedly they were not discussing military strategy. The text went on to say that in this king's home, there were no wives, and the two were having a little fight

homosexual love affair. The Egyptians loved gossip so much that they literally carved it into stone. And you really have to care about something to do that. I mean, do you know how long it takes to carve something out of stone? I mean, that was some dedication to the Goss. I mean, for about as far back as writing has existed, we know that gossip has been very important to culture. Another one of my favorite pieces of ancient gossip was found in the temple of Queen Hatshep... Oh, f***.

Her name is Queen Hot Shep Suit. Great. Like I can't say it, but I'm trying my best. Hot Shep Suit. Okay. So in the temple of Queen Hot Shep Suit, there was another piece of ancient gossip that was found. Well, like I guess there was like this little rumor going around that the queen was sleeping with one of her advisors.

Hot. The drawings that archaeologists found basically showed the queen engaging in like pretty explicit sexual acts with a non-royal man. I know.

This rumor was never officially confirmed, but you know, the area where these drawings were found was in the servants area. And it's like if anyone knew who was sleeping with who, you think it would be like the servants. As time goes on and other cultures develop their own language, these kinds of stories are found everywhere, like all over the world on more tablets, scrolls, papyrus, and even on pyramid walls. In 1450, Johann Gutenberg

invented the printing press. Great. And this was like a game changer because before the printing press, you know, everything was written by hand plus paper and ink. They were hard to get. And if you were poor, knowing how to read was really not even a thing. But the printing press changed all of that. And this would be the beginning of the gossip column. Hey, Joan and Paul, how's your guys' website coming along? Oh.

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Gossip didn't really catch on in print until the 1800s. And just like in ancient Egypt, it seems like an affair really kickstarted the trend. In 1886, a newspaper printed a rumor that a woman named Lady Colin Campbell had run off with a man named Lord Blandford.

Lady Colin was a big deal at the time. She was a well-known aristocrat and she was also George Bernard Shaw's muse. I know, I was like, who the hell is George Bernard Shaw? Well, George was a famous Irish playwright. He actually wrote Pygmalion, which is what My Fair Lady was based on. I guess he was a big deal, whatever. But Lady Colin, she was a big trendsetter at the time.

And a newspaper once ran an article that said, quote, Lady Colin Campbell is the only woman in London who has her feet manicured. What an icon. She put pedicures on the map. Well, the rumor that Lady Campbell had run off with another man was never confirmed, but it did lead to her filing for divorce, which back then was a huge deal. I mean, it was rare for people to get a divorce, so this was shocking. And this is actually an important part of what makes gossip popular.

A reporter named Elaine Louie actually gave a TED talk about the sociology of gossip. She would say that gossip is more than convos about scandalous drama. She said, quote, It's a reflection of popular mores and ethics of the time.

Basically, in order for gossip to be interesting, someone has to be breaking a cultural rule. Like, you know, don't get divorced, don't sleep with your advisors, and don't cheat. And because of that, we learn a lot about what different cultures believe to be bad or good, based on what they were gossiping about. But when you think about it, isn't it kind of interesting that

Most gossip is about like cheating or sexual relations. Like if it's good, juicy gossip, it's probably breaking one of the 10 commandments. When you think about it, it checks out. Louis says, quote, you can't consume gossip without bias. And no one was more biased or judgy than the king of gossip. Someone who was once called the rudest man of the 20th century. On September 27th, 1839, a

A man named William Dalton Mann was born in Sandusky, Ohio. William was one of 13 children, so you know, he's looking for a way to stand out. Other than that, we don't know much about his early life, but according to historian Mark Caldwell, his origins were quote, "shadowy and humble." Like what does that even mean? I don't know. Shadowy?

What does that mean? I don't know, but okay. William studied engineering before going on to become a soldier. And then after killing it in the Battle of Gettysburg, he was promoted to the position of Colonel. I hate that Colonel is spelled the way it is because it's like, where does the R, it sounds like Colonel with an R, but it's like, oh, it doesn't make sense. I just had to put that out there. Thank you for listening.

During the war, William invented this machine that was basically a rig that could be used to carry around like a ton of military equipment. So he's like smart, right? He's invented shit. And he licensed it to the US Army and this made him a lot of money. So by the time the Civil War ended, William was Colonel William and he was the first

And he was rich, super rich. But by the time William was in his 40s, he spent most of his money and he put all of it, a lot of it into a business he started, which was called the Man Boudoir Car Company. And this company was making luxury sleeping cars for trains, which was like a really nice idea. But unfortunately, Man Boudoir, it just never really took off. I guess Colonel William was...

hemorrhaging money. He continued to like keep up appearances, but it was like costing him. You know, the great thing about being alive back then was that you could really be whoever you wanted to be. You know, you could completely make up who you were, how much money you had. And there was like really no way for anyone to fact check you. And if they did want to fact check you, like they had to try really, really hard.

What I'm getting at is that William Dalton Mann, he used this to his advantage. According to the Journal of American Studies, he became a quote, "confidence man," AKA a con man, and a schemer who had represented himself as a hotel keeper, entrepreneur of the oil industry, tax assessor, newspaper publisher, candidate for Congress, and millionaire inventor of luxury railway cars.

That was a lot. He did that allegedly. Basically he dabbled, he talked a big game and he just like dressed the part. But William was worried because he knew he wasn't going to last unless he struck gold and quickly. I've been using a certain SPF and it's been making me break out.

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In 1885, William got lucky. He and his brother, Eugene Mann, decided to take over a magazine called Town Topics. It was a, quote, society publication. It mainly reported on pop culture, specifically in New York. So when William and his brother took over Town Topics, the magazine was mostly about society events that were happening.

You know what I'm saying? Things like debutante balls, big parties that society's elite were throwing, who died, funerals, you know, weddings, you get it. You could also find fashion tips, new styles, up and coming ways to decorate your home and recipes for entertaining. But William Dalton Mann comes in and he's like, you know, what if this whole magazine was about gossip? Which is like kind of wild. He thought of this. I think he just wanted to talk shit.

He did. That's what he wanted to do. And he does. Because he starts writing a column in the magazine he calls "Saunterings." "Saunter" means a leisurely stroll. So I feel like maybe he's choosing this name like he's strolling around town just eavesdropping, which I kind of love. When I think of this column, I think Carrie Bradshaw, like Sex and the City, a small little segment. But Saunterings actually took up half of the magazine.

And the magazine was like 24 pages total, so this column was 12 pages long. Everyone knew William wrote it, but he went under the pen name "The Saunterer."

which is very mysterious. And this made William a celebrity in his own right. And as the audience of Town Topics grew, so did William's ego. So the magazine covered some of the same topics as before, like parties and big events, but with, you know, tea. William started to collect intel from all kinds of people, like servants, spies, and...

and society insiders, and he would report on any and all rumors that they brought to him. Eventually this expanded to include anonymous tips as well, which usually came from like people who were harboring grudges and wanted to air out someone's dirty laundry. And this quickly became the section everyone cared about because it was so dang juicy. Now the thing was,

Gossip was viewed by society at this point as something that was like for women and not necessarily men. And like this actually goes way back to the days of witch hunts and burning women at the stake, which was one of the most extreme punishments for women who challenged the status quo and spread quote, "dangerous talk." In 1547, there was a proclamation issued in England that ruled against the quote, "gossip and babble of women."

Now this was allegedly to stop the spread of witchcraft, but good old William, he saw a smart way around this. He wanted Town Topics to reach a bigger audience, so he never promoted it as a gossip column. The full title of the magazine was Town Topics, a newspaper of society, fashion, drama, music, art, books, the club, racing, yachting, military, flowers, household, etc. Which is a very long title. I had

I don't know how they fit that on the front cover, but they did. These were like all things that appealed to an upper and middle class audience. So they never felt like they were reading, you know, a tabloid or smut. It was sophisticated. They were there for like the fashion advice. There is even another section on Wall Street. So men could feel better about maybe indulging in it.

It kind of reminds me of when people would say that they would read Playboy for the articles, you know? But like, I love, I do. I have an obsession with collecting old Playboys from the 60s specifically. So if you have any and you want to donate, I'm more than happy to take them. But the articles and the interviews are so good.

They're so good. There's this one Playboy I have, and there's an interview, a really great interview with Martin Luther King Jr. So good. And it's just such a great read. And then you literally flip it to the next page, and you're like, oh, titties. And it's just like, it's wild. Anyhow...

That's what Town Topics did, but without the titties, you know? So William was sandwiching like the gossip in between topics that signaled sophistication and intelligence, like investing in art. And yeah, you get it. Okay, great. The magazine claimed to be quote, "the newsiest, brightest, wittiest, wisest, cleverest, most original, and most entertaining paper ever published." My God.

I know. I didn't know newsiest was a word, but go off, King. I bet you William gave himself that review. William became a celebrity. People loved the guy. And he was in like the right place at the right time because he was everything that Americans at this period admired. He was a war hero. He was a self-made businessman and inventor. And like, what couldn't this guy do, you know? New Yorkers just love

loved Colonel William. In 1885, when William and his brother took over the paper, they were only 5,000 subscribers, which is a lot. But just six years later, that went up to 63,000. And Colonel William claimed that the number was actually 140,000, but he was known to be a bit of an exaggerator. So meet me halfway.

$100,000 or something? Great. Regardless, they had taken a low-level magazine and turned it into the, quote, most influential and widely read society gossip magazine in the country. He helped create the gossip magazine as we know it today. And William would write about anyone. Like, he did not care about stepping on anyone's toes. In 1904,

the Sontra launched a vicious attack on Alice Roosevelt. And Alice, she was a socialite, a writer, and of course, President Teddy Roosevelt's oldest child. Now, Alice was only 20 years old at the time, and she, I guess, was known to be a bit of a party animal. And the Sontra wrote, quote, from wearing costly lingerie to indulging in fancy dances for the edification of men, and then indulging freely in stimulant.

Okay, party, you know, whatever. But good for her. I know you might be wondering, what are you wondering? Let me think. I'm going to use my psychic abilities. You're like, Bailey, how is this guy publishing 12 pages of, you know, piping hot tea every week without getting sued? Well...

Colonel William, he outsmarted the system. He described any given scandal or rumor without naming names. So he included just enough information about the people involved that if you were a reader, most likely you would be able to like guess who it was about. And this is known as a blind item. And I'm sure you're familiar with that term because a lot of gossip pages, like, you know, they still use that term today.

blind item. I'm like this worked. Town Topics was literally never sued for libel and the crazy thing is like William thought that all this trash talking he was doing was actually a public service. He once said quote, "There is no feature of my paper of which I am more proud. To save the sinner by rebuking the sin is an achievement over which the angels rejoice." Basically he's like I'm a god.

I am untouchable. Maybe he just sounds like a bitter, angry, lonely man, really. But whatever. You know, William believed that like he was having a positive influence on society because by reporting the people's quote unquote sins, they would learn their lesson. In reality, there was something like much darker going on. Something that not even William could defend.

The entire time while William was preaching that he was reforming society and teaching the people a lesson, Town Topics was actually being used as a front for blackmail. Oops. Yeah. Most of the gossip that William reported was about, you know, society's elite. So socialites, celebs, politicians, those people. But these stories wouldn't just go straight to print. Nay nay.

Instead, William would send a henchman out to like pay a little visit to the person in question. Let's just say that he gets a tip that a politician named Frank is paying for like feet pictures. So he would send a guy to Frank's house to say, we know you like feet. William knows you like feet.

and we're going to run a story in the sauntering set that says, a politician whose name rhymes with spank likes feet. Now, unless, of course, you were interested in buying some advertising space, maybe then we won't run the story. I don't know. So in other words, blackmail. Yeah, that's blackmail, my friends. Can't do that. As time went on, and William, the

the saunter, became more powerful, he didn't even have to send out his men to do house calls because people would come to him. It was said that, quote, "On the days before town topics went to press, worried members of society arranged meetings with Mann at his favorite place, Del Minico's, or in his office, where they could negotiate for discretion." The amounts Mann managed to extort from America's wealthiest men was staggering.

William K. Vanderbilt stopped the saunter from running a story about him for $25,000. Charles M. Schwab did the same for $10,000. And keep in mind, that was a lot of money back then. Like $10,000 back then was like $250,000 today. So like, these must have been some...

juicy stories, right? That's a lot of money. And there was one senator, his name was Russell Alger, and he actually gave William $100,000 in shares in his company to kill a story before it was published. So William was getting money, okay? A lot of it. And just a little reminder, like don't get any ideas here because blackmail is illegal, okay? Just reminding you because it's a lot of money involved.

So I know you're wondering, well,

What if like the person just refused to cooperate? What if they tried to rat on William? I can't emphasize this enough. You did not want to be on William's bad side. If you didn't cooperate, he would double down and print even worse rumors about you. And then he would become like a reoccurring character in his, his, his, blop, you know, that would suck. It would ruin your life. The funny thing was like, even if you did pay up and you gave William the blackmail money,

you were still in trouble. I mean, William was so fake and catty that he would still wanna take you down. So to show his quote unquote appreciation, William would print all of these flattering stories about you, knowing that this would obviously stand out to the readers, 'cause they'd be like, "What?

The saunterer is saying something nice? Like oh, this person must be hiding something. People started to put two and two together and it became common knowledge that if the saunterer had something kind to say about you, it was because you were paying him off. So shit, it was like a lose-lose really.

Which was honestly almost more embarrassing than just taking the heat and dealing with it. Because then everyone would wonder what the shameful secret was and like just how much they had paid to keep it in the dark. And the scheme would have kept going for like God knows how long if it wasn't for a brilliant writer named Emily Post.

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In 1905, William made a bad decision. Yes, he did. Bad choices that he would regret for the rest of his life. He tried to blackmail a man named Edwin Post. Now Edwin, he was a Wall Street stockbroker, like going through a rough time, financially and personally. He was having an affair with a Broadway actress, and apparently he was even supporting her financially by like paying for her apartment. Obviously, the saunterer, William, failed to make up for it.

found out about this and he blackmailed Edwin. He tells Edwin, like, unless you can come up with $500, the whole story is going to print and there isn't anything you can do about it. $500 might not sound like a lot, but again, this was...

Back then, it's a lot of money because it would be over like $16,000 today. So it was a lot. And Edwin, I guess, just didn't have, he didn't have the money. So he goes home and confesses everything to his wife, Emily Post, you know, before the story goes to print. So Emily is an author and she's like super smart.

And she actually became famous for a book that she wrote on etiquette. But instead of trying to like hush up the story or going to her parents to get the blackmail money, Emily was like, fuck it. Let's take this guy down. She tells Edwin to get in touch with the district attorney to set up a sting operation. Ooh.

And it worked. On July 11th, 1905, William Dalton Mann's agent was arrested in Edwin's Wall Street office. Emily and Edwin, they ended up getting divorced. But, you know, at least it didn't like go to the public and she didn't have to like find out about the affair in town topics. Anyway, this takedown of the saunterer changed everything.

people were completely shocked. William went from being the source of the stories to becoming the story himself. Ugh, such a bummer. I mean, not really, but like...

for him, I'm sure he felt like shit. Ultimately, William was charged with perjury. Yeah. William went from respected society elite to evil villain basically overnight. All his blackmail and dirty dealings were finally being exposed. And during this time, saunterings started to take a nosedive. William died in 1920, but he really left behind a legacy. I mean, he completely changed the way newspapers and magazines reported gossip.

I mean, the funniest thing to me is that even though Town Topics was the most widely read magazine in its heyday, no one ever admitted to having a subscription.

Shame, shame, shame. So over the next decade, a lot is happening. Hollywood is established. Everyone starts to become obsessed with screen actors and movies. I mean, it's the Hollywood golden age. In the 1930s and 40s, gossip columns were actually used as powerful media tools. The big movie studios like Metro Golden Mare

They knew that gossip columns had the public in a chokehold. I mean, ever since William had gotten everyone hooked on town topics. So to create some buzz around a specific movie or an actor, these movie studios would plant juicy rumors with specific journalists to get people in those movie theater seats, seats, seats.

for the journalists this gossip machine was about selling newspapers and magazines like that was mainly it and this publicity machine exchange created an intense rivalry between two journalists Luella Parsons and Hedda Hopper. Luella she was born in 1881 but for like most of her life she would lie and say she was born in 1893. My girl okay but

But after high school, Luella went to work as a reporter for a local newspaper in Illinois, and she married a guy named John Parsons. After her divorce, she and her daughter Harriet moved to Chicago, where she first worked as a studio screenwriter and then as an early film columnist. One thing about Luella was that she was obsessed with Hollywood.

One day she has like a major light bulb moment and she goes to her boss at work and the editor and like pitches him an idea. She's like, when movie stars travel across the country from LA to New York or whatever, you know, they always have to stop in Chicago. So Luella's brilliant idea was to like go to the train station and when celebrities and stuff would like stop on their layover, she could interview them.

She's like, "I could do this shit, watch." She figured it would be like a win-win. It would give the celeb a little press and Luella could like put together a column about personal lives of the Hollywood stars. Like everyone would be as obsessed with it. Apparently her editor said like, "Who would be interested in reading about that?" But like Luella knew. She's like, "A lot of people would, okay?"

I mean, neither Cecilia Llewellyn proved him wrong. This column of hers was kind of like, it was like TMZ of her day. And with this column, she becomes the go-to source for all of the inside drama on like Hollywood's biggest stars. So within the next few years, she would become one of the most successful names in American journalism.

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Have you ever heard the phrase, a good lawyer knows the law, a great lawyer knows the judge?

Yeah, me neither. But Luella like basically kind of invented this because she knew that like if she was going to have a career in journalism, she needed to have friends in high places. And it didn't really get much higher at this time than William Randolph Hearst. Maybe you remember we did an episode about Mr. Hearst in our yellow journalism episode. And I kept talking about Hearst Castle. I just went again recently.

God, I love Hearst Castle. Anyways, William Hearst was essentially the most powerful person in newspaper publishing at this time. And his partner was Marion Davies, a Hollywood actress. So around this time, Luella starts to rant and rave about, you know, Miss Marion in her column. And she's just like gushing about her. And this set her apart from other entertainment journalists at the time because...

A lot of people, they didn't think Marion was like a good actress. Yeah. One critic actually said, quote, Miss Davies has two dramatic expressions, joy and indigestion. LOL.

But Luella like kissed Marion's ass until Marion noticed her and like they became friends. Eventually this friendship like would get Luella invited over to Hearst Castle. It's like a score. She's like, fuck yeah, I'm in. And in 1923, William Hearst sends Luella a personal offer to come write for his newspaper, the New York American. He gives her the title of motion picture editor with a salary of $250 a week and

Today that would be like 4,600 a week. That's a lot. What he's essentially doing is guaranteeing that Luella will keep praising his girlfriend in like every movie she's in. And Luella is like jazzed because she loves Hollywood and now she was in. She was in.

So it's kind of like a win-win. Luella gave good reviews to other actresses as well. Like one of her favorites, besides Marion, was a woman named Hedda Hopper. Hedda was born in 1885 and was the daughter of a Quaker butcher from Pennsylvania. Quaker butcher sounds fake, right? It's real. Quaker butcher? It's so random. But good for her.

She loved the theater and then I guess ran away to Broadway in 1908 and when she was there she became known as like the best pair of legs on Broadway which is so lame like she has talent too but okay just her legs. So this got the attention of a man named DeWolf Hopper and he was a famous Harvard educated actor. He was 27 years older than Hedda and had been married four different times.

But in 1913, Hedda became his fifth wife. Fifth time's a charm. They have a son, I guess, and then a few years later, DeWolf, he gets a job offer from a film company in Los Angeles, and the family moves to Hollywood, and Hedda starts to get some small roles in the movies. And this is when Luella first notices Hedda, and the two become kind of friendly. So Hedda's career starts to take off,

And by 1920, she's making like $1,000 a week, which is a lot. And it's great for her. But I guess it's bad for her marriage because she's married to like an egomaniac, psychotic, insanely jealous loser. DeWolf starts like having an affair. And I mean, are you surprised? Ma'am, he was married four times. Like you think the fifth, you think you're it? Sorry. Sorry.

Anyways, he has an affair. Bleep, blop, bloop. They get a divorce. So because of all this like drama, Hedda's divorce ends up, you know, showing up in Luella's column. But I guess it's fine because like at this point they were friends. And Luella is kind of like rooting for Hedda. She's like, Hedda, the world needs to know like how big of a dog this DeWolf is. And he was. Fuck that guy.

According to like Dorothy Manners, who took over Luella's column after her death, said, quote, they liked each other a lot. If anything happened on a set, if a star and a leading man were having an affair, Hedda would give Luella a call. I mean, Luella had spies everywhere by this time. And according to Vanity Fair, quote, her informants could be found in studio corridors, hairdressers, salons, and lawyers and doctors offices. She sometimes learned of Starlet's pregnancies before they did.

Luella did not give a fuck about feelings when she thought like she was onto something. According to the same article, quote, "When she received a tip that Clark Gable and his second wife, Rhea, were about to divorce, Luella kidnapped Ms. Gable, whom she held hostage at her North Maple Drive home until she was sure the story was speeding across the wire ahead of any other service," end quote.

I know I was thinking about this. I read this and I was like, okay, first of all, I have some follow-up questions. Did she know she was kidnapped? The wife. Was she aware she was kidnapped or did like Luella present it as like a girl's weekend? We're just going to hang out. Like no phones or anything. It's wild. Just the two of us.

I don't know. But she did that, okay? Anyway, with Luella and Hedda Hopper, it was kind of like, you know, you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours. That was their friendship. Until it wasn't. One night, Hedda was at like a dinner party and she was like talking about, you know, some Hollywood drama, whatever. And her friend Eleanor, who works for the Washington Herald, goes like, you know, why don't you write that?

Like your drama is so good. Why don't you write it and like share it, whatever. And apparently Hedda goes like, "Write? I can't even spell."

And Eleanor was like, "Girl, just have someone dictate it for you. The world needs to know all the drama you know." And thanks to this woman, Eleanor, by 1935, Hedda now had her own gossip column. At first, Luella was like, "Oh my God, yeah, cute. You know when you're really good at something and then your friend is like, 'I'm gonna do that too,' and then they're really good at it and you're like, 'But that's my thing. I'm the one who eats Play-Doh. You can't eat Play-Doh.'"

anyone can relate to Blaine. Okay no at first Luella is like oh my god cute like that's such a cute idea but then like Hedda is getting more and more popular and Luella was like you know that's my thing you know there can't be two of us. I'm the gossip writer. So apparently at an MGM dinner party they were both invited to Luella walked in saw that Hedda was there she turned on her heel and she left in a huff.

According to Dorothy, quote, Luella never really dreamed at first that Hedda could ever become serious competition, but then neither did Hedda. Whoops. So in 1950, Luella, she outdid herself. She gets the scoop that this big Hollywood actress, her name was Ingrid, well, Ingrid was pregnant with like a love child.

Apparently this actress was recently divorced and had been living in Italy with like the director of a movie she was making, allegedly. Now somehow Luella confirms that this actress was pregnant. And then before you know it, boof, it's front page news. It was everywhere. Literally like front page, baby due in three months in Rome. It was like front page of the Los Angeles Examiner. And it was kind of like,

take that Hedda. You know, like I got the scoop before you did. And they outed this poor woman. I don't even know if she knew she was pregnant, but like that's fucked up. Either way, before you know it, it's like Hedda versus Luella and

and now they're all beefing. And their feud wasn't just like professional either, it was pretty personal. Hedda and Lwila, they weren't afraid to like use their rival columns to settle scores and to take down anyone who dared to cross them. Except for some reason, Katherine Hepburn,

For some reason, I don't know, they had some sort of unspoken rule that they would never say anything about Katharine Hepburn. I think people just like really love the bitch, you know? I mean, I'm not calling her a bitch, but like people were obsessed with her. People still are obsessed with her. Maybe they just wanted to be friends with her, really. So it was kind of like high school drama.

I mean it is like high school drama but with like million dollar movie deals and scandalous affairs thrown into the mix. The movie studios back then had a moral turpitude clause in all of the actor contracts and basically what this meant was that if an actor was caught misbehaving their contract could be automatically cancelled. Essentially fired like without any notice. This was because like the studios they didn't want their bad behavior to be seen

as a reflection like on them or their films. And these moral turpitude clauses were also used as a weapon. If there was ever a problem with like an actor, the studios would simply put Hedda or Luella on the case and then have them dig up some dirt, maybe have it printed. They would publish it and then they would have a license to fire the performer. It just sounds like it would cost them a lot of money though. So it's like, why would they even want to do that?

Even though both Hedda and Luella were basically being used as pawns by these big studios, they were too preoccupied with their feud to even really care. Luella had no problem throwing her own friends under the bus, you know, just to report the scoop before anyone else. I guess one night Luella was hanging out with one of her close friends, and this close friend was an actress, and the actress was telling her about her marital problems. Like, oh, I think we're gonna get a divorce. Things are just not working out.

So of course as a friend, I guess they thought like Luella is just gonna like, you know, keep this to herself. But of course she didn't. Literally the next day, like Luella runs the story about like maybe a divorce coming up with this famous actress. And for good reason, like her friend was pissed. She had assumed like,

It was off the record, but for Luella, nothing was off the record. Apparently Hedda didn't take it as seriously. She saw the rivalry as kind of funny and leaned into it a bit. Hedda even once said, quote,

Hedda Hopper is a ham trying to be a reporter. End quote. I personally love ham. It's so good, huh? Man, I'm hungry. I'm so hungry right now. So, ham.

So they were like frenemies. They were constantly trying to one up each other while secretly respecting each other's hustle, I guess. And you know, they never really wanted to make amends. Ultimately, Luella and Hedda, they both knew that in Hollywood, feuds, they were good for business. The Hollywood studio system started to lose power as agents and executives took over.

Times were changing. Luetta and Hedda eventually published books, memoirs, and started working in the world of TV before they would retire. But to this day, no gossip columnist have the same power as they did. In their heyday of the Hollywood golden era, there was apparently a line outside of their homes, like during the holidays, to deliver presents, which I don't know, you know, that's cool.

You know, I mean, if you didn't deliver a present, you might end up in the paper. I mean, really, it was just showing that these people, like, feared these women. But at the end of the day, Hedda and Luella, they weren't just gossip columnists. I mean, they were power players in an industry built on image and illusion. Their words could really make or break careers. And they did. Between them and Colonel William, they really shaped the course of gossip history.

Yeah, I mean love them or hate them, you can't deny that they kept the people entertained. Yeah. According to gossip columnist Liz Smith, quote, "LA is now a town with no gossip column. No one wants to let these demons loose again." End quote. It's not, it's kind of crazy. Like there's no official gossip column in a LA newspaper. It's like, should we, I don't want to open that door. It's like, should we petition for a comeback? No, I don't really think so.

I think we're okay without gossip, but plus it's like today's social media, that's the gossip column. You know, everyone is like gossiping on social media, period. So it's like, I don't even think we need a Colonel William or a Luella to report it. Just go on TikTok and it's just like, did you hear that someone said that?

I mean what do you guys think? Is gossip better or worse you know today with social media? Sometimes it's like it seems like it's better because at least like celebrities and

people high up or whatever, they have their own platforms. So it's like you can kind of control the narrative a little bit more. You aren't just like sitting around powerless because of like what the saunter said about you and then like you can't do anything about it. Like people just believe it to be true and that's it point blank period. I mean, you can like nowadays you can go on Instagram live, TikTok live or something and be like, you know, this is what really happened. I didn't punch her in the face. I lightly slapped.

Set the record straight. But then again, I mean, sometimes like we learned in ancient Egypt, the gossip lasts longer than anything else. So good luck to you out there, folks. Back when we were talking about William Mann, I mentioned that he covered a bunch of events, including debutante balls.

And this is like one of those things I've heard of, but I didn't really know about it. Like I didn't know much about it. What is it? Like I know that they happen a lot in the American South, but that was really as far as I knew. I always thought that like debutante balls were essentially kind of like a formal dance like prom. But no, turns out they are much more than that.

In fact, debutante balls go back centuries. They have a dark, twisted origin story, and they gave birth to the American prom as we know it today. Come back next week for the dark history of debutante balls and prom. It's kind of fun. It's really interesting. You're going to learn a lot.

I learned a lot. Well, friends, thank you for hanging out with me today. You can join me over on my YouTube where you can actually watch these episodes on Thursday. Yeah, after the podcast airs, you can watch. And while you're there, you can also catch my murder mystery and makeup. And like, don't forget to subscribe because I'm here for you weekly with new content. I'd love to hear your guys' reactions to today's story. Let me know. What do you think about gossip? Isn't it interesting? It's kind of like we're gossiping now, huh?

Make sure to leave a comment below so I can see what you guys are saying and your comment might even be featured in a future episode. Yeah. Now let's read a couple of comments you guys left me. I like this part. It's always fun. Mama Madiwa. Sorry, Mama, if I got that wrong. But she left a comment on our Challenger episode saying, quote, end quote.

I love that. I mean, yes, it's darker, but you're learning something too. You know, like we're learning. We're learning a lot. So it's not that bad. Yeah, you know, I listen to darker things to relax. I'm sorry. We're very alike. I appreciate you for watching. Alicia Fulcher 733 left us an episode suggestion saying Plum Island. Can you do a dark history on this subject?

Alicia, I thought that this was going to be a happy topic because the word "plum" I was thinking like cute like Animal Crossing? No. Of course not. I was wrong. I should have learned my lesson with Lavender Scare. I guess it seems like an island about disease research or something? Like I'm intrigued. Plum Island. I'm gonna be looking into it. Probably stay up all night and blame you for not getting sleep tonight.

But thank you for the recommendation and I will look into it. Thank you. I love you for watching and engaging. Keep on commenting because maybe you will be featured. And hey, if you don't know, Dark History is an Audioboom original. A special thank you to our expert, Dr. Kathy Feely. And I'm your host, Bailey Sarian. I hope you have a good rest of your day. You make good choices, please. I'll be talking to you next week. Bye.

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I'm Stanzi Potenza. And I'm Brad Padre. Launching June 13th is our new podcast, Late to the Party. In this post-ironic chat show, we'll show you a window into our world of crazy post-ironic thoughts. An unlikely friendship founded on a shared love for riffs, ranting, and getting absolutely wrecked.

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