A Must-Listen: The 'You Must Remember This' podcast

Aside from the usual idiosyncratic comedy fare, what tends to be most popular right now in the world of podcasting is either something in which big personalities discuss pop culture, or a serialised true-life audio narrative spread out over several episodes; see the wild success of Serial last year for an example of the latter. You Must Remember This, described by its creator as “a storytelling podcast about the secret and/or forgotten histories of Hollywood’s first century”, blends both these approaches.

The brainchild and passion project of Karina Longworth, an author and former film critic for the Village Voice and LA Weekly, the podcast is a hugely entertaining, heavily-researched work of creative nonfiction, in which the murky truth of Hollywood tales both sordid and sweet is delved into. Much of its strength lies in Longworth’s palpable sympathy for her subjects (see an early episode on how the film industry failed Kim Novak, for example), as she examines how Hollywood mythologises itself, and the toll that takes on the lives and dreams of individuals who get swept up in that process.

As the title suggests, there’s something to each of these stories worth remembering, and Longworth offers a compelling listen courtesy of her own narration, as well as contributions from guests playing figures at the heart of the tales (past guests have included other journalists, as well as actors Noah Segan and Nora Zehetner).

The latest themed series of You Must Remember This is titled Charles Manson’s Hollywood. As you might expect, it focuses on the Manson murders, and all of the different Hollywood stories surrounding them. Among other topics, there will be episodes on Sharon Tate and Roman Polanski, as well as one on Terry Melcher, the record producer Manson thought was going to make him a rock star (Melcher also happened to be the son of Doris Day, a symbol of the Hollywood old guard that the so-called ‘New Hollywood’ was about to destroy).

The first episode of the new series, made available on 26 May, covers an overview of what late 1960s Hollywood was like, setting the scene of what the culture around Manson was like, and then briefly going through the who, when and how of the various murder victims. Each successive episode is set to tell, more or less chronologically, the story of the murders and their aftermath by focusing on a different Hollywood connection to Manson, with the second set to first trace how Manson first formed his ‘family’.

It’s hard not to remember the horrors the Manson story has unleashed on the popular consciousness, but, as with every Hollywood history she’s tackled so far, Longworth will inevitably find a fresh new spin.

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