0:00

There's

0:02

a shot towards the end of the 1961

0:05

film The Misfit that shows Marilyn

0:07

Monroe, Montgomery Clift, and Clark

0:09

Gable all in a parked car.

0:13

And watching the movie, it hit me. Within

0:15

a few years, Monroe, Clift,

0:18

and Gable, all three actors

0:21

asleep in that car,

0:23

would be dead. I

0:26

just couldn't get that shot out of my mind.

0:30

And I realized that this needed

0:32

to be the next season of this podcast.

0:38

I'm Adam McKay, producer, director,

0:41

writer, and in the first season of our

0:43

show, Death at the Wing, we explored

0:45

the tragic deaths from the wild world

0:48

of 80s basketball, and

0:50

how those deaths helped us understand a

0:52

political and cultural moment

0:54

that changed America in a

0:56

big way.

0:58

Well, this season, we're going back

1:00

further to 1950s

1:02

Hollywood, the moment after World

1:04

War II when the country was riding

1:06

high, but also refusing

1:09

to confront many of its very serious

1:11

problems.

1:12

And the entertainment industry was at the

1:14

heart of a lot of this massive change.

1:17

The myth

1:19

of the 50s as this kind of fabulously

1:21

warm, welcoming, safe

1:24

place, it seemed to be all

1:26

pretty celebratory. I don't see much

1:28

criticism going on of anything.

1:31

It was a time of racial reckoning, a

1:33

space race, unions winning,

1:36

and the suburban dream being sold one

1:38

viewer at a time. Murder

1:41

and bigotry, atomic bombs,

1:43

and secret societies, a pivotal

1:46

point in the American experiment, when

1:48

the winners and losers of the next

1:50

half century were being decided

1:53

in real time.

1:55

Somebody turned around and said to me, oh,

1:58

you're on the blacklist. It happened

2:00

that quickly and that easily.

2:04

A lot of the strikers who were

2:06

protesting that day were rounded up and sent

2:09

to jails. Warner Brothers employees,

2:12

IATSI counter protesters, the police, the

2:14

studio police, all kind

2:16

of losing their heads in this melee.

2:19

The mob's going to stop at nothing, and

2:22

he was correct in that assessment.

2:27

Trailblazing actors who got railroaded

2:30

by racism. Stars who

2:32

lived fast and died young, and

2:34

writers and directors exploring new

2:36

political ideas. Iconic

2:38

figures like Hattie McDaniel, James

2:41

Dean, and Rod Serling. An

2:44

incredible moment in history, and

2:46

of course, being a massive,

2:48

wealthy narcissist, I believe

2:50

that Hollywood is the only thing that

2:52

matters, and can explain every

2:55

single thing that's ever happened.

2:57

So, here

2:59

we go. Death at the Wing

3:02

goes to Hollywood. Join us for

3:04

Death on the Lot.