December 13, 2023 • 29 mins
For much of the last century, a victim's sexual history was allowed as evidence at trial. It became legally admissible after a state Supreme Court ruling in 1931, which was the result of a high-powered and well-funded effort to protect one of Hollywood's biggest names.
In 1929, 17-year-old dancer Eunice Pringle alleged that early Hollywood mogul Alexander Pantages attacked her in an office of his Los Angeles theater. Moviegoers that day witnessed Pringle running into the street in a torn dress and screaming that she had been assaulted by “the beast.”
In today's episode, host Tracy Pattin and Variety's Matt Donnelly go back nearly 100 years in the Variety archives to tell the story of Alexander Pantages.
For a full list of citations and footnotes from this episode, please visit variety.com/h/variety-confidential.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This show contains mature content and adult themes. It may
not be suitable for young audiences.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
In twenty seventeen, Harvey Weinstein was outed as a serial
sexual abuser. Many brave women came forward and told their stories.
They exposed one of Hollywood's most powerful mobiles as a
vicious sexual predator who operated horrifically and seemingly without consequences.
But Weinstein was standing on the shoulders of monsters. For
(00:36):
so many years, those monsters remained unchecked in Hollywood, shielded
by the millions of dollars they made for their studios.
Sex for fame is not new. In fact, it's as
old as Hollywood itself. This is Variety Confidential, the secret
history of the casting couch. Today's episode is the Beast.
Alexander Pantages will go back nearly one hundred years ago
(00:59):
in the variety of archives to tell what one might
call the origin of Me Too, about an early Hollywood
mogul named Alexander Pantages. He loomed large over the entertainment
scene of the nineteen twenties and thirties in ways later
emulated by hit makers slash sexual predators such as Don Simpson,
Harvey Weinstein and so many others Pantages used his money
(01:22):
and power to behave horrifically. He successfully escaped justice thanks
to an attorney who set the pace for lawyers made
rich by clients who regularly abused vulnerable young men and
women who were drawn to Hollywood by its promise of
riches and fame. This season, we look at the secret
history of the casting couch. Episode one, The Beast from
(01:45):
Variety in iHeart Podcasts. I'm Tracy Patton. Sitting next to
me is Matt Donnelly, Variety's senior Entertainment and media writer. Hi, Matt, Hi,
Thanks so much for having me. It's great to have
you here. So today we're focused on what we're calling
character assassination. It's a frequently used tactic used against me
too accusers in Hollywood, also known as victim shaming. Harvey
(02:10):
Weinstein was an expert at this absolutely.
Speaker 3 (02:13):
I think that, you know, time will prove that this
is what Harvey really excelled at as opposed to making
in marketing films. And he also took it to such
an incredible extreme. You know, Harvey, as Ron and Pharaoh
deeply reported employed x maussade agents to stalk victims tap
phones and also really work the press to inspire as
much doubt as he could in his accusers.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
And of course Harvey Weinstein wasn't the only accused abuser
who used this tactic. Who were some of the others, Matt.
Speaker 3 (02:38):
I mean, this practice is sort of as old as
the town itself. But if you know, some of the
things that we've been looking at recently at Variety include
the incredibly distressing allegations against Sean Combs better known as
Diddy or puff Daddy, And even if you go back
a couple of years ago to the scandal at Warner
Brothers involving an actress named Charlotte Kirk that ensnared the
head of the studio, Kevin shu Jahara, and especially I
(03:00):
think in terms of that case, really dissecting a woman's
social media, how she positions herself in the world. It's
quite disturbing, but it's quite a frequent practice.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
Well, using the media to smear an accuser is not new.
A lot of people don't know this, but for much
of the last century, a victim's sexual history was allowed
as evidence a trial. It became legally admissible after a
state Supreme Court ruling in nineteen thirty one.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
It's actually stunning how many actresses and models have been
subject to this practice. And it's something that started one hundred.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
Years ago, Yes, and it was pioneered in the case
we're talking about today, which brings us back to Alexander Pantages.
The case before the court was the trial of a
Hollywood theatrical producer who was accused of statutory rape. His
accuser was a seventeen year old dancer who wore a
red dress to an audition, making her look older than
(03:52):
she was. The court ruled that her sexual history was
fair game at trial. That ruling negatively impacted women's lives nationwide.
This was the first case that made this well known,
and it happened right here in Hollywood. So here's what happened.
The California Supreme Court ruling in nineteen thirty one was
(04:13):
the result of a high powered, well funded effort to
protect one of Hollywood's biggest names. Had it failed, that
man would have spent the rest of his life in prison.
His name was Alexander Pantages. Before the Roaring twenties, he
had created a circuit of vaudeville theaters that numbered almost
one hundred. He booked vaudeville acts that played between film screenings,
(04:36):
a format Variety dubbed vaud film. The live acts included
family entertainment along with what Variety called cheap girl flash acts.
He was a very powerful guy. He was also famous
for something else, his romances. It became clear to Alexander
Pantages that movies would replace vaudeville sooner or later. Talkies
(04:57):
were in transition. His theaters catered to both. Alex had
money and he was decently handsome. The affairs came easily,
but they also got him into trouble. You could often
see alex with women in dark corners of speakeasies. His wife,
Lois was nowhere to be seen. One affair went public
after a bloody fight over a dancer. His arrest made
(05:20):
the front page of the Los Angeles Times, and it
was a woman, or actually a teenage girl, who led
to his ultimate undoing. On August ninth, nineteen twenty nine,
he was charged with assaulting a seventeen year old dancer
named Eunice Pringle. Eunice Pringle studied dance and took acting
(05:41):
classes in high school. She attended the University of southern
California for a year, but dropped out to pursue a
career as a dancer. In early nineteen twenty nine, she
met a Russian writer and actor named Nicholas Dunyeev. He
was dark, handsome, and forty five years old. It was
Dunieev who set up an audition with Pantages Vaudeville. Axe
(06:04):
earned between one hundred and two hundred dollars a week
that's about twenty five hundred dollars today. Despite her years
of preparation in weeks of rehearsal, the audition on May one,
nineteen twenty nine did not go well. Instead of moving
on to the next audition, Eunice and Nick persisted in
trying to get Alex to hire them, and this is
where things got strange. Over the spring and summer of
(06:27):
nineteen twenty nine, Unis tried to get in touch with
Alex Pantages at least twelve times that's once a week
for three months. Eventually, Alex offered Unice a one time
booking at his theater in Fresno. He also offered her
a gig and a review, but she said no. Finally,
he simply gave her the brush off, but she ignored it.
Late in the afternoon of August ninth, nineteen twenty nine,
(06:50):
Eunice Pringle went to see Alex for what would be
the last time. She wore a red crape dress with
a short red velvet jacket. She was shown up to
the second floor and the waiting area outside Alex's large
corner office. He was busy and invited her to watch
a movie in the theater downstairs while she waited. She
went down to the mezzanine, slipped in through the balcony entrance,
(07:12):
and found a seat in the theatre's top row. She
waded through the entire last half of Melody Lane, Universal
Studio's first movie musical. Alex eventually found her and escorted
her back to the mezzanine, up a short flight of stairs,
and into a utility room which was secluded from both
the theater below and the offices upstairs. After a few
(07:34):
minutes in the room alone with Alex, Eunice swung the
door open and started a scream. Men from Pantage's office
rushed downstairs to the mezzanine room. She pushed past them,
fled down the stairs, through the theater lobby and out
to Hill Street. She returned within minutes with a policeman
a traffic cop in tow. They went to the small room,
(07:54):
but Alex was gone. She knew where to find him.
She led the policeman upstairs to Alex's corner office. There
he is, she said, the beast, the brute. Don't let
him get away. Because she was under age, Eunice was
taken to juvenile hall. A female officer found bitemarks and
abrasions on her neck and upper torso. Afterward, a staff
(08:17):
doctor performed a thorough medical examination. Later, Eunice, accompanied by
her mother, gave her statement to detectives. Variety reported what
she said in a story titled A Very Nasty Mess.
Quoting here, she stated she had been promised work by
Alexander Pantagas for almost a year and had frequently visited
(08:37):
his office. She alleges Pantagus told her to wait for
him in the theater. Upon his return, she claims he
invited her into a small room and closed the door.
She told police Pantagus started edging toward her, and when
she protested, he suddenly struck her. Then, she said, she
started a scream. Pantagus put his hand over her mouth
(08:57):
and she fainted. She didn't remember what happened next. After
his arrest, Pantages was taken in handcuffs to the Central
Police station. He was interrogated for five hours. Alex told
the detectives that after declining to book unics, he offered
to help her find gigs in minor vaudeville houses up north.
According to Variety, he claimed he was framed. The girl
(09:22):
was the aggressor. She ripped her dress, dropped to the
floor and started a scream. He said it was an
extortion scheme. He could book her act and pay her handsomely,
or she'd accuse him of rape. The detectives didn't buy it.
They booked him on suspicion of statutory rape. Alex had
his mugshots and fingerprints taken. He spent hours in a
(09:44):
cell waiting for his lawyer to bail them out, but
no such luck. Alexander Pantages, theoter magnate and Hollywood power player,
spent the night in jail. While he was behind bars,
his life was turned upside down. News of his arrest
went out over the wire services. The scandal blew up
(10:04):
nationwide overnight. He was famously no friend of the press,
especially the trades. He despised their negative stories about his
business practices. Variety's nickname for him was synonymous with a
bad review. Pan.
Speaker 3 (10:19):
That's an incredible nickname.
Speaker 2 (10:21):
You know.
Speaker 3 (10:21):
It's my experience in doing these kinds of stories of
Variety that when anytime an accused mogul wants to call
his coverage negative, he should probably change his own actions for.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
Well. Meanwhile, with help from Nick Duniev's lawyer friend Theodore Gottstanker,
Unus sued Alex for five hundred thousand dollars about seven
and a half million dollars today. If he was found
guilty of statutory rape, he would probably die in jail.
Alex's trial began on October third, nineteen twenty nine, two
(10:52):
months after he was arrested. He was accompanied to court
by his daughter and two sons. The courtroom gallery was
filled to capacity, including in the front rows about a
dozen newspaper men. The press was out for blood, and
so was the prosecution. Before the proceedings got underway, the
prosecution petitioned the court to prevent testimony about Unice's sexual history.
(11:17):
After a lengthy debate, the judge ruled Unice's sexual experience
was inadmissible. It shouldn't have been a close call. The
charge was statutory rape. The prosecution needed to prove just
two things, one that Unice was under age and two
that Pantages had sexual contact with her. If both were true,
he was guilty. Her sexual history was irrelevant. It was
(11:41):
that simple, or it should have been. In District Attorney
breen Fitz's opening statement, he depicted Eunice Pringle as a
young and innocent girl. Alex Pantages, on the other hand,
was a millionaire theater owner old enough to be her father.
He had led her on by falsely promising he would
book her act. He then lured her to a secluded
(12:03):
room in his office building, where he quote attacked and
debauched her. The defense opened by claiming that Eunice had
ensnared Alex in an extortion scheme. The attorney zeroed in
on Nick Dunyev after dropping Yunis off at the Pantages
building on August ninth. Daniev had waited nearby at the
law offices of Theodore Gotstanker, the same mister Gottstanker who
(12:27):
filed the lawsuit against Pantages the next day. The lawsuit
was part of the scheme. The attorney said. Unus staged
the so called assault with Duniev as an accomplice. It
was an attempt to frame Pantages and force him to
pay them five hundred thousand dollars. In the afternoon, the
jury traveled six blocks south to the former Pantagous building.
(12:49):
It had been recently sold to Warner Brothers. They were
taken to the scene of the crime, the odd little
room off the mezzanine. The purpose of the tour was
to set the stage for us. Unus's testimony the next day.
She took the stand that morning dressed like a schoolgirl.
Because of the high profile of the case, Beeron Fitz,
the district attorney, questioned Unus himself. Fitz was a minor
(13:13):
political celebrity in California, a former lieutenant governor who liked
prosecuting the rich and famous. After preliminary questioning, Fitz asked
Unus to take the jury through what happened in the
mezzanine room on that August afternoon. We spoke of the
hot weather, she said, and then of my act. And
then I slipped off my little red coat. He took
(13:35):
off his coat after asking if I objected. We were
both seated, and he pulled his chair over and took
my hand. Then he slid his arm along the back
of my chair and along my shoulder. He said he
wished I would be his sweetheart. He went on and
on and said that he was crazy about me. He
told me that he hated his wife. He would give
(13:56):
me anything I wanted. I told him I was not interested,
and I wished he would please be a gentleman. In
American Zeus, author Tasso g. Lagos wrote about how Pantages
pulled her to him and rose to his feet. Eunus said,
trying to kiss her. She turned her head. He struck
her on the chin. She recoiled and tried to get away.
(14:19):
He pulled her to the floor and pinned her down,
all the while whispering seductively. She begged him to let
her go. When he wouldn't, she tried to scream. He
clapped his hand on her mouth to stifle her. He
kissed her throat. The kisses turned to bites. Da Fits
asked Eunus to show where Pantages bit her. She touched
(14:43):
her left breast and then her left shoulder, but stopped
in mid gesture. She couldn't go on. She began to cry.
Unus composed herself. She'd fainted, she said. When she came to,
they were on the floor. His pants were on buttoned,
her dress was ripped. Eunice pushed him off and staggered
(15:04):
to her feet. She noticed a spot on her dress,
a dark, wet stain. She opened the door and started
to scream. In the afternoon, Unice was cross examined by
Pantaga's lead attorney, Jerry Geesler. The Pantagous trial was his
first big case, but he will become one of Hollywood's
(15:24):
most successful fixers. Decades before private investigator Anthony Pellicano went
to prison for helping top Hollywood attorney's fix problems, Geesler
practically invented the practice. Over the years, his client list
would include Marilyn Monroe, Lana Turner, Charlie Chaplin, Benjamin Bugsy,
(15:46):
siegeal Errol Flynn, and many others. But it was this case,
the Pantage's rape trial, that put him on the map.
Speaker 3 (15:54):
You know, the archetype of the Hollywood fixer is very
fascinating to me, and I think everyone at variety. It's
a certain set of skills, and God knows people like
Maril Monroe had problems that needed to be fixed. But
I'm very curious to see how he implemented his practices
and especially in terms of this case.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
Well true to form. Geesler focused the jury on Unus's clothing.
He asked the judge to make Unus change into the
red dress she wore on August ninth. The prosecution objected,
but the judge agreed to it. He called a recess
while she changed clothes. When she returned to the witness stand,
she was wearing the red dress, velvet jacket, and red pumps.
(16:35):
Geesler asked her to model her outfit for the jury.
After another heated debate, the judge allowed that too. Unus
stepped down and made a simple pass in front of
the jury box. Geesler asked her to remove the jacket.
She slipped it off, revealing the form fitting, sleeveless dress
that accentuated her cleavage. Geesler had made his point. Decades
(16:59):
of day faming and blaming the victims of sexual assault
essentially began here.
Speaker 3 (17:05):
It's so interesting, how you know someone like Gesler is
using the principles of show business to sway a jury right,
Like it's literally trotting someone out and doing this sort
of seduction in a way. But what I can't help
thinking of is what you mentioned earlier about what the
defense had said, is that the only two things that
mattered were was Unus underage and did he have sexual
contact with her? But here we are with this, like
(17:27):
you know, this ridiculous circus in the court.
Speaker 2 (17:29):
Room, Geesler questioned her about her training as an actor,
implying that her emotional breakdown earlier had been a performance.
He also challenged her on the mechanics of the attack.
How could Pantages hold your mouth shut with his right hand,
pin down both your arms, and then somehow remove your
underclothes and unfasten his pants. Why didn't you fight him off?
(17:53):
When it was over, Eunice left the stand shaken and unsteady.
The final prosecution witness was the forensic guy who'd analyzed
the stain on Unus's dress. His answer was unprintable in
those days, presumably it was semen. After he stepped down,
the prosecution rested as its first witness. The defense called
(18:14):
the defendant, Alex Pantages. He complained that Eunice's visits that
summer were annoying. When they sat down in the mezziting
room the day of the attack, he claimed she surprised
him by grabbing his tie and pulling him toward her.
He tried to get away. They struggled and ended up
on the floor. She screamed and started ripping her clothes.
(18:35):
He shoved her off, then claims that she ran off
down to the lobby. During the cross examination, Alex shut
down under the DA's unfriendly grilling. He answered questions with
a stubborn yes or no. On October twenty sixth, the
jury announced its verdict to a packed courtroom. Guilty as charged,
(18:56):
Alex was sentenced the next day to fifty years in
stea Quentin. He was in his fifties, so this was
a life sentence. Two days after the verdict, the stock
market crash, setting the stage for the Great Depression. The
crash prompted one of Variety's most famous headlines, Wall Street
Lays and Egg. Meanwhile, Jerry Giesler's team completed the appeal
(19:20):
of Alex's conviction. The brief was twelve hundred pages and
focused on the judge's banning testimony about Eunice Pringle's sexual history.
While the appeal was in the works, Pantages was held
in County Jail. Out of the Blue, Alex was granted
parole on one hundred thousand dollars bond, but trouble found
(19:41):
him again. On October thirtieth, on a business trip to
San Diego, a couple of his colleagues were partying at
the El Cortes Hotel. They also hired a couple of
girls from Hollywood to liven things up. Supposedly, these girls
were underage again. Four months later, on March tenth, in
nineteen thirty one, Alex and his wife Lois crossed the
(20:03):
border for a little r and r at the Agua
Caliente Hotel south of Tijuana. But then Alex's lawyer showed
up unexpectedly with some bad news. The San Diego District
Attorney planned to arrest Alex within twenty four hours. The
charge was contributing to the delinquency of a minor, along
with a related conspiracy charge. The accusers were the girls
(20:27):
he partied with in October. One of them, Lydia Nitto,
was sixteen years old. Alex admitted to the partying, but
said he didn't touch Lydia Nitto. Or anyone else. He
claimed he was being framed again in an attempt to
ruin his chances for a retrial. In the Pringle case,
the girls had been procured from a trafficking operation called
(20:49):
a lovemart. Its specialty was providing underage girls for wealthy men.
When the love Mart's supply of girls was low, police
said they kidnapped girls from orphanages. Because of this, the
press dubbed Alex's new scandal the love Mark Case. Alex's
life took another upswing a few weeks later, on April second,
(21:12):
nineteen thirty one, the California Supreme Court ruled in favor
of his appeal. The court agreed with Jerry Geesler that
Eunice's quote previous acts of unchastity should have been presented.
They became relevant, the justices said, because the prosecution made
her virginity an issue. The court ordered a retrial on
(21:35):
the Pringle charges. In a statement to the press, Geesler
predicted that the reversal would quote establish precedent and authority
not only in California but throughout the nation. He got
that right. The ruling would set back rape victims' rights
for decades. In early June nineteen thirty one, the pantageous
(21:56):
love Mark case went to trial in San Diego. Prosecution's
first witness was Lydia Nitto, Alex's accuser. She gave a
tearful account of an orgy at the El Cortes in October,
but under cross examination by Jerry Giesler, Geiesler produced an
affidavid proving that she was born in nineteen oh eight.
(22:18):
She was twenty two at the time of the lovemart orgy,
not sixteen. The judge dismissed the statutory rape charge, but
let stand the conspiracy to corrupt charge related to the
other girl. Testimony continued for two more weeks. The jury
deliberated for two days but then deadlocked. A retrial was scheduled,
but it never happened. Alex Pantages had dodged a second
(22:42):
life in prison verdict. The retrial in the Pringle case
began in the late fall. Because of the Supreme Court ruling,
the defense was free to flip the tables and put
Eunice on trial. They did it with the testimony of
new witnesses. The most important new witness was the physician
who examined Unis on August ninth, According to the La Times,
(23:05):
the doctor quote expressed disbelief in miss Pringle's account of
her life prior to this time. In other words, the
doctor found that Unice had been sexually active before the incident.
She was not a virgin. The jury deliberated for sixty
four hours. Their verdict reversed the previous jury not guilty. Later,
(23:30):
Uni spoke to reporters. The verdict shows the value the
state of California places on its girls, she said. It
shows me that a person who gave the best ten
years of her life fighting for justice is lost. It
convinces me that the state will not protect its women.
Speaker 3 (23:46):
I can't get over how profound that statement is and
how so relevant it is today and even sort of prophetic.
What an incredible woman who, unfortunately I deciphered through all this.
Speaker 2 (23:56):
After the second trial, Eunice Pringle settled her one point
five five million dollar lawsuits against pantages for three thousand dollars.
She changed her name and her career. She married well
and moved to La Jolla, an upscale seaside suburb of
San Diego. Known there as Tony Worthington. She lived out
her life in comfortable obscurity, She died in nineteen ninety
(24:19):
six at the age of eighty four. The scandal did
not bankrupt Alex Pantages. He had millions in the bank
and millions more from the sale of his theaters. He
announced plans to build new theaters in November nineteen thirty five,
but it was not to be. He died in his
sleep on February seventeenth, nineteen thirty six. He left a
(24:40):
lasting legacy. However, his last theater, the Hollywood Pantages, is
still in business and remains one of the premier theatrical
venues in the country. The Pantagous trials have a legacy too.
Jerry Geiesler's prediction came true. The California Supreme Court ruling
became a p nationwide. Defense attorneys used it to put
(25:03):
their client's accusers on trial. Over time, courts ruled that
certain behaviors could undercut a victim's accusation of rape. A
rapist might go free if his accuser was known to
dress provocatively, own condoms, or travel alone at night, or
even if she drank, smoked, or used drugs. Eventually, however,
(25:25):
there was a bright light. Congress passed the Violence Against
Women Act in nineteen ninety four. The Act included a
National Rape Shield Law, a provision that reversed the pantagious
Precedent ruling six decades earlier. Today, the Shield law remains
an important legal tool in the search for justice in
the era of Me Too. Given all this background, has
(25:49):
the Me Too movement had an effect on the tactic
of victim shaming and media smear campaigns.
Speaker 3 (25:55):
I think it's yes and no. I think one of
the most important things that we saw in sort of
that spectacular take down of Harvey and the larger Me
Too movement is that, you know, the general public are
much more savvy about these soda smear campaigns now. I
think it's much less plausible and effective when you know,
the average Joe knows exactly what this tactic is and
what it's designed to do. So that's one good thing.
(26:15):
So I'm thinking even the level of you know, when
you're going to jury selection, I don't think that the
average person would be so susceptible to a stunt like
as ridiculous as parading a young unit springle around in
a red dress.
Speaker 2 (26:27):
And yet the whole media piece of this, though, how
do you think that fits in the fact that what
Harvey did with his media machine, as they called.
Speaker 3 (26:36):
It, absolutely I think that by and large Harvey's biggest
contribution to the business was as a marketer. He really
knew how to sell films and using the press and
utilizing the press was a really important piece of that.
I think one of the most important parts of Me
Too is making journalists and larger media question how they
are complicit in certain things. So I would I would
hope that that's definitely changed as.
Speaker 2 (26:56):
Well, because it's interesting because he had that pr media
machine that Ronan Farrow had talked about in his article
and variety everyone has talked about. Yet in the end
it didn't work.
Speaker 3 (27:07):
Night Absolutely, it kind of backfired, especially after, you know,
especially toward the m when Hearty visually fighting for his life,
you know, strying to comprise a legal dream team, trying
to discredit each individual accuser from people as incredibly famous
like Gwyneth Paltrow and Angelina Jolie. There wasn't enough for
him to throw with a walt to convince even just
the most rudimentary of people observing the case that this
wasn't a desperate attempt to save his reputation.
Speaker 2 (27:29):
Regarding the unis Springle case. Do you have any final
thoughts about that after now hearing this whole story.
Speaker 3 (27:37):
I have, Well, first of all, I just have a
tremendous amount of respect for her, you know, I don't
think that a lot of people, especially ones who become
symbols of movements like these, have any intention of becoming that.
I think she wanted to be an actress and a performer,
and to find herself unwittingly at the center of an
unprecedented legal case after an assault like that. It's just
I have so much respect for her and her bravery.
(27:57):
But more than that, I do think that it's I
think a sadly necessary thing to sort of litigate, you
know what I mean. And seeing someone like Geesler, who's
also a really fascinating character too, it's always helpful to
see these tactics reverse engineered so we know how to
avoid them in our search for justice. It really shows
you that history is not the steady climb toward the
light right. There's lots of peaks and valleys in our
attempt for equity and fairness and nonviolence.
Speaker 2 (28:20):
Well, thank you Matt for all your comments and your
insights today.
Speaker 3 (28:25):
My pleasure. Thank you for telling me this incredible story
about Uni Springle.
Speaker 2 (28:30):
And thanks for joining us for Variety Confidentials, the Secret
history of the Casting Couch. This has been episode one
of the Beast for Variety and iHeart podcasts. I'm Tracy Patton.
Variety Confidential is produced by Sidney Kramer, John Ponder, and
Tracy Patton and written by Stephen Gatos. John Ponder and
Tracy Patton. Executive producers are Dea Lawrence and Stephen Gatos.
(28:52):
Additional research by Karen Nizogucci, recording engineer, editor and mixer
Charles Carroll
This show contains mature content and adult themes. It may
not be suitable for young audiences.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
In twenty seventeen, Harvey Weinstein was outed as a serial
sexual abuser. Many brave women came forward and told their stories.
They exposed one of Hollywood's most powerful mobiles as a
vicious sexual predator who operated horrifically and seemingly without consequences.
But Weinstein was standing on the shoulders of monsters. For
(00:36):
so many years, those monsters remained unchecked in Hollywood, shielded
by the millions of dollars they made for their studios.
Sex for fame is not new. In fact, it's as
old as Hollywood itself. This is Variety Confidential, the secret
history of the casting couch. Today's episode is the Beast.
Alexander Pantages will go back nearly one hundred years ago
(00:59):
in the variety of archives to tell what one might
call the origin of Me Too, about an early Hollywood
mogul named Alexander Pantages. He loomed large over the entertainment
scene of the nineteen twenties and thirties in ways later
emulated by hit makers slash sexual predators such as Don Simpson,
Harvey Weinstein and so many others Pantages used his money
(01:22):
and power to behave horrifically. He successfully escaped justice thanks
to an attorney who set the pace for lawyers made
rich by clients who regularly abused vulnerable young men and
women who were drawn to Hollywood by its promise of
riches and fame. This season, we look at the secret
history of the casting couch. Episode one, The Beast from
(01:45):
Variety in iHeart Podcasts. I'm Tracy Patton. Sitting next to
me is Matt Donnelly, Variety's senior Entertainment and media writer. Hi, Matt, Hi,
Thanks so much for having me. It's great to have
you here. So today we're focused on what we're calling
character assassination. It's a frequently used tactic used against me
too accusers in Hollywood, also known as victim shaming. Harvey
(02:10):
Weinstein was an expert at this absolutely.
Speaker 3 (02:13):
I think that, you know, time will prove that this
is what Harvey really excelled at as opposed to making
in marketing films. And he also took it to such
an incredible extreme. You know, Harvey, as Ron and Pharaoh
deeply reported employed x maussade agents to stalk victims tap
phones and also really work the press to inspire as
much doubt as he could in his accusers.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
And of course Harvey Weinstein wasn't the only accused abuser
who used this tactic. Who were some of the others, Matt.
Speaker 3 (02:38):
I mean, this practice is sort of as old as
the town itself. But if you know, some of the
things that we've been looking at recently at Variety include
the incredibly distressing allegations against Sean Combs better known as
Diddy or puff Daddy, And even if you go back
a couple of years ago to the scandal at Warner
Brothers involving an actress named Charlotte Kirk that ensnared the
head of the studio, Kevin shu Jahara, and especially I
(03:00):
think in terms of that case, really dissecting a woman's
social media, how she positions herself in the world. It's
quite disturbing, but it's quite a frequent practice.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
Well, using the media to smear an accuser is not new.
A lot of people don't know this, but for much
of the last century, a victim's sexual history was allowed
as evidence a trial. It became legally admissible after a
state Supreme Court ruling in nineteen thirty one.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
It's actually stunning how many actresses and models have been
subject to this practice. And it's something that started one hundred.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
Years ago, Yes, and it was pioneered in the case
we're talking about today, which brings us back to Alexander Pantages.
The case before the court was the trial of a
Hollywood theatrical producer who was accused of statutory rape. His
accuser was a seventeen year old dancer who wore a
red dress to an audition, making her look older than
(03:52):
she was. The court ruled that her sexual history was
fair game at trial. That ruling negatively impacted women's lives nationwide.
This was the first case that made this well known,
and it happened right here in Hollywood. So here's what happened.
The California Supreme Court ruling in nineteen thirty one was
(04:13):
the result of a high powered, well funded effort to
protect one of Hollywood's biggest names. Had it failed, that
man would have spent the rest of his life in prison.
His name was Alexander Pantages. Before the Roaring twenties, he
had created a circuit of vaudeville theaters that numbered almost
one hundred. He booked vaudeville acts that played between film screenings,
(04:36):
a format Variety dubbed vaud film. The live acts included
family entertainment along with what Variety called cheap girl flash acts.
He was a very powerful guy. He was also famous
for something else, his romances. It became clear to Alexander
Pantages that movies would replace vaudeville sooner or later. Talkies
(04:57):
were in transition. His theaters catered to both. Alex had
money and he was decently handsome. The affairs came easily,
but they also got him into trouble. You could often
see alex with women in dark corners of speakeasies. His wife,
Lois was nowhere to be seen. One affair went public
after a bloody fight over a dancer. His arrest made
(05:20):
the front page of the Los Angeles Times, and it
was a woman, or actually a teenage girl, who led
to his ultimate undoing. On August ninth, nineteen twenty nine,
he was charged with assaulting a seventeen year old dancer
named Eunice Pringle. Eunice Pringle studied dance and took acting
(05:41):
classes in high school. She attended the University of southern
California for a year, but dropped out to pursue a
career as a dancer. In early nineteen twenty nine, she
met a Russian writer and actor named Nicholas Dunyeev. He
was dark, handsome, and forty five years old. It was
Dunieev who set up an audition with Pantages Vaudeville. Axe
(06:04):
earned between one hundred and two hundred dollars a week
that's about twenty five hundred dollars today. Despite her years
of preparation in weeks of rehearsal, the audition on May one,
nineteen twenty nine did not go well. Instead of moving
on to the next audition, Eunice and Nick persisted in
trying to get Alex to hire them, and this is
where things got strange. Over the spring and summer of
(06:27):
nineteen twenty nine, Unis tried to get in touch with
Alex Pantages at least twelve times that's once a week
for three months. Eventually, Alex offered Unice a one time
booking at his theater in Fresno. He also offered her
a gig and a review, but she said no. Finally,
he simply gave her the brush off, but she ignored it.
Late in the afternoon of August ninth, nineteen twenty nine,
(06:50):
Eunice Pringle went to see Alex for what would be
the last time. She wore a red crape dress with
a short red velvet jacket. She was shown up to
the second floor and the waiting area outside Alex's large
corner office. He was busy and invited her to watch
a movie in the theater downstairs while she waited. She
went down to the mezzanine, slipped in through the balcony entrance,
(07:12):
and found a seat in the theatre's top row. She
waded through the entire last half of Melody Lane, Universal
Studio's first movie musical. Alex eventually found her and escorted
her back to the mezzanine, up a short flight of stairs,
and into a utility room which was secluded from both
the theater below and the offices upstairs. After a few
(07:34):
minutes in the room alone with Alex, Eunice swung the
door open and started a scream. Men from Pantage's office
rushed downstairs to the mezzanine room. She pushed past them,
fled down the stairs, through the theater lobby and out
to Hill Street. She returned within minutes with a policeman
a traffic cop in tow. They went to the small room,
(07:54):
but Alex was gone. She knew where to find him.
She led the policeman upstairs to Alex's corner office. There
he is, she said, the beast, the brute. Don't let
him get away. Because she was under age, Eunice was
taken to juvenile hall. A female officer found bitemarks and
abrasions on her neck and upper torso. Afterward, a staff
(08:17):
doctor performed a thorough medical examination. Later, Eunice, accompanied by
her mother, gave her statement to detectives. Variety reported what
she said in a story titled A Very Nasty Mess.
Quoting here, she stated she had been promised work by
Alexander Pantagas for almost a year and had frequently visited
(08:37):
his office. She alleges Pantagus told her to wait for
him in the theater. Upon his return, she claims he
invited her into a small room and closed the door.
She told police Pantagus started edging toward her, and when
she protested, he suddenly struck her. Then, she said, she
started a scream. Pantagus put his hand over her mouth
(08:57):
and she fainted. She didn't remember what happened next. After
his arrest, Pantages was taken in handcuffs to the Central
Police station. He was interrogated for five hours. Alex told
the detectives that after declining to book unics, he offered
to help her find gigs in minor vaudeville houses up north.
According to Variety, he claimed he was framed. The girl
(09:22):
was the aggressor. She ripped her dress, dropped to the
floor and started a scream. He said it was an
extortion scheme. He could book her act and pay her handsomely,
or she'd accuse him of rape. The detectives didn't buy it.
They booked him on suspicion of statutory rape. Alex had
his mugshots and fingerprints taken. He spent hours in a
(09:44):
cell waiting for his lawyer to bail them out, but
no such luck. Alexander Pantages, theoter magnate and Hollywood power player,
spent the night in jail. While he was behind bars,
his life was turned upside down. News of his arrest
went out over the wire services. The scandal blew up
(10:04):
nationwide overnight. He was famously no friend of the press,
especially the trades. He despised their negative stories about his
business practices. Variety's nickname for him was synonymous with a
bad review. Pan.
Speaker 3 (10:19):
That's an incredible nickname.
Speaker 2 (10:21):
You know.
Speaker 3 (10:21):
It's my experience in doing these kinds of stories of
Variety that when anytime an accused mogul wants to call
his coverage negative, he should probably change his own actions for.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
Well. Meanwhile, with help from Nick Duniev's lawyer friend Theodore Gottstanker,
Unus sued Alex for five hundred thousand dollars about seven
and a half million dollars today. If he was found
guilty of statutory rape, he would probably die in jail.
Alex's trial began on October third, nineteen twenty nine, two
(10:52):
months after he was arrested. He was accompanied to court
by his daughter and two sons. The courtroom gallery was
filled to capacity, including in the front rows about a
dozen newspaper men. The press was out for blood, and
so was the prosecution. Before the proceedings got underway, the
prosecution petitioned the court to prevent testimony about Unice's sexual history.
(11:17):
After a lengthy debate, the judge ruled Unice's sexual experience
was inadmissible. It shouldn't have been a close call. The
charge was statutory rape. The prosecution needed to prove just
two things, one that Unice was under age and two
that Pantages had sexual contact with her. If both were true,
he was guilty. Her sexual history was irrelevant. It was
(11:41):
that simple, or it should have been. In District Attorney
breen Fitz's opening statement, he depicted Eunice Pringle as a
young and innocent girl. Alex Pantages, on the other hand,
was a millionaire theater owner old enough to be her father.
He had led her on by falsely promising he would
book her act. He then lured her to a secluded
(12:03):
room in his office building, where he quote attacked and
debauched her. The defense opened by claiming that Eunice had
ensnared Alex in an extortion scheme. The attorney zeroed in
on Nick Dunyev after dropping Yunis off at the Pantages
building on August ninth. Daniev had waited nearby at the
law offices of Theodore Gotstanker, the same mister Gottstanker who
(12:27):
filed the lawsuit against Pantages the next day. The lawsuit
was part of the scheme. The attorney said. Unus staged
the so called assault with Duniev as an accomplice. It
was an attempt to frame Pantages and force him to
pay them five hundred thousand dollars. In the afternoon, the
jury traveled six blocks south to the former Pantagous building.
(12:49):
It had been recently sold to Warner Brothers. They were
taken to the scene of the crime, the odd little
room off the mezzanine. The purpose of the tour was
to set the stage for us. Unus's testimony the next day.
She took the stand that morning dressed like a schoolgirl.
Because of the high profile of the case, Beeron Fitz,
the district attorney, questioned Unus himself. Fitz was a minor
(13:13):
political celebrity in California, a former lieutenant governor who liked
prosecuting the rich and famous. After preliminary questioning, Fitz asked
Unus to take the jury through what happened in the
mezzanine room on that August afternoon. We spoke of the
hot weather, she said, and then of my act. And
then I slipped off my little red coat. He took
(13:35):
off his coat after asking if I objected. We were
both seated, and he pulled his chair over and took
my hand. Then he slid his arm along the back
of my chair and along my shoulder. He said he
wished I would be his sweetheart. He went on and
on and said that he was crazy about me. He
told me that he hated his wife. He would give
(13:56):
me anything I wanted. I told him I was not interested,
and I wished he would please be a gentleman. In
American Zeus, author Tasso g. Lagos wrote about how Pantages
pulled her to him and rose to his feet. Eunus said,
trying to kiss her. She turned her head. He struck
her on the chin. She recoiled and tried to get away.
(14:19):
He pulled her to the floor and pinned her down,
all the while whispering seductively. She begged him to let
her go. When he wouldn't, she tried to scream. He
clapped his hand on her mouth to stifle her. He
kissed her throat. The kisses turned to bites. Da Fits
asked Eunus to show where Pantages bit her. She touched
(14:43):
her left breast and then her left shoulder, but stopped
in mid gesture. She couldn't go on. She began to cry.
Unus composed herself. She'd fainted, she said. When she came to,
they were on the floor. His pants were on buttoned,
her dress was ripped. Eunice pushed him off and staggered
(15:04):
to her feet. She noticed a spot on her dress,
a dark, wet stain. She opened the door and started
to scream. In the afternoon, Unice was cross examined by
Pantaga's lead attorney, Jerry Geesler. The Pantagous trial was his
first big case, but he will become one of Hollywood's
(15:24):
most successful fixers. Decades before private investigator Anthony Pellicano went
to prison for helping top Hollywood attorney's fix problems, Geesler
practically invented the practice. Over the years, his client list
would include Marilyn Monroe, Lana Turner, Charlie Chaplin, Benjamin Bugsy,
(15:46):
siegeal Errol Flynn, and many others. But it was this case,
the Pantage's rape trial, that put him on the map.
Speaker 3 (15:54):
You know, the archetype of the Hollywood fixer is very
fascinating to me, and I think everyone at variety. It's
a certain set of skills, and God knows people like
Maril Monroe had problems that needed to be fixed. But
I'm very curious to see how he implemented his practices
and especially in terms of this case.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
Well true to form. Geesler focused the jury on Unus's clothing.
He asked the judge to make Unus change into the
red dress she wore on August ninth. The prosecution objected,
but the judge agreed to it. He called a recess
while she changed clothes. When she returned to the witness stand,
she was wearing the red dress, velvet jacket, and red pumps.
(16:35):
Geesler asked her to model her outfit for the jury.
After another heated debate, the judge allowed that too. Unus
stepped down and made a simple pass in front of
the jury box. Geesler asked her to remove the jacket.
She slipped it off, revealing the form fitting, sleeveless dress
that accentuated her cleavage. Geesler had made his point. Decades
(16:59):
of day faming and blaming the victims of sexual assault
essentially began here.
Speaker 3 (17:05):
It's so interesting, how you know someone like Gesler is
using the principles of show business to sway a jury right,
Like it's literally trotting someone out and doing this sort
of seduction in a way. But what I can't help
thinking of is what you mentioned earlier about what the
defense had said, is that the only two things that
mattered were was Unus underage and did he have sexual
contact with her? But here we are with this, like
(17:27):
you know, this ridiculous circus in the court.
Speaker 2 (17:29):
Room, Geesler questioned her about her training as an actor,
implying that her emotional breakdown earlier had been a performance.
He also challenged her on the mechanics of the attack.
How could Pantages hold your mouth shut with his right hand,
pin down both your arms, and then somehow remove your
underclothes and unfasten his pants. Why didn't you fight him off?
(17:53):
When it was over, Eunice left the stand shaken and unsteady.
The final prosecution witness was the forensic guy who'd analyzed
the stain on Unus's dress. His answer was unprintable in
those days, presumably it was semen. After he stepped down,
the prosecution rested as its first witness. The defense called
(18:14):
the defendant, Alex Pantages. He complained that Eunice's visits that
summer were annoying. When they sat down in the mezziting
room the day of the attack, he claimed she surprised
him by grabbing his tie and pulling him toward her.
He tried to get away. They struggled and ended up
on the floor. She screamed and started ripping her clothes.
(18:35):
He shoved her off, then claims that she ran off
down to the lobby. During the cross examination, Alex shut
down under the DA's unfriendly grilling. He answered questions with
a stubborn yes or no. On October twenty sixth, the
jury announced its verdict to a packed courtroom. Guilty as charged,
(18:56):
Alex was sentenced the next day to fifty years in
stea Quentin. He was in his fifties, so this was
a life sentence. Two days after the verdict, the stock
market crash, setting the stage for the Great Depression. The
crash prompted one of Variety's most famous headlines, Wall Street
Lays and Egg. Meanwhile, Jerry Giesler's team completed the appeal
(19:20):
of Alex's conviction. The brief was twelve hundred pages and
focused on the judge's banning testimony about Eunice Pringle's sexual history.
While the appeal was in the works, Pantages was held
in County Jail. Out of the Blue, Alex was granted
parole on one hundred thousand dollars bond, but trouble found
(19:41):
him again. On October thirtieth, on a business trip to
San Diego, a couple of his colleagues were partying at
the El Cortes Hotel. They also hired a couple of
girls from Hollywood to liven things up. Supposedly, these girls
were underage again. Four months later, on March tenth, in
nineteen thirty one, Alex and his wife Lois crossed the
(20:03):
border for a little r and r at the Agua
Caliente Hotel south of Tijuana. But then Alex's lawyer showed
up unexpectedly with some bad news. The San Diego District
Attorney planned to arrest Alex within twenty four hours. The
charge was contributing to the delinquency of a minor, along
with a related conspiracy charge. The accusers were the girls
(20:27):
he partied with in October. One of them, Lydia Nitto,
was sixteen years old. Alex admitted to the partying, but
said he didn't touch Lydia Nitto. Or anyone else. He
claimed he was being framed again in an attempt to
ruin his chances for a retrial. In the Pringle case,
the girls had been procured from a trafficking operation called
(20:49):
a lovemart. Its specialty was providing underage girls for wealthy men.
When the love Mart's supply of girls was low, police
said they kidnapped girls from orphanages. Because of this, the
press dubbed Alex's new scandal the love Mark Case. Alex's
life took another upswing a few weeks later, on April second,
(21:12):
nineteen thirty one, the California Supreme Court ruled in favor
of his appeal. The court agreed with Jerry Geesler that
Eunice's quote previous acts of unchastity should have been presented.
They became relevant, the justices said, because the prosecution made
her virginity an issue. The court ordered a retrial on
(21:35):
the Pringle charges. In a statement to the press, Geesler
predicted that the reversal would quote establish precedent and authority
not only in California but throughout the nation. He got
that right. The ruling would set back rape victims' rights
for decades. In early June nineteen thirty one, the pantageous
(21:56):
love Mark case went to trial in San Diego. Prosecution's
first witness was Lydia Nitto, Alex's accuser. She gave a
tearful account of an orgy at the El Cortes in October,
but under cross examination by Jerry Giesler, Geiesler produced an
affidavid proving that she was born in nineteen oh eight.
(22:18):
She was twenty two at the time of the lovemart orgy,
not sixteen. The judge dismissed the statutory rape charge, but
let stand the conspiracy to corrupt charge related to the
other girl. Testimony continued for two more weeks. The jury
deliberated for two days but then deadlocked. A retrial was scheduled,
but it never happened. Alex Pantages had dodged a second
(22:42):
life in prison verdict. The retrial in the Pringle case
began in the late fall. Because of the Supreme Court ruling,
the defense was free to flip the tables and put
Eunice on trial. They did it with the testimony of
new witnesses. The most important new witness was the physician
who examined Unis on August ninth, According to the La Times,
(23:05):
the doctor quote expressed disbelief in miss Pringle's account of
her life prior to this time. In other words, the
doctor found that Unice had been sexually active before the incident.
She was not a virgin. The jury deliberated for sixty
four hours. Their verdict reversed the previous jury not guilty. Later,
(23:30):
Uni spoke to reporters. The verdict shows the value the
state of California places on its girls, she said. It
shows me that a person who gave the best ten
years of her life fighting for justice is lost. It
convinces me that the state will not protect its women.
Speaker 3 (23:46):
I can't get over how profound that statement is and
how so relevant it is today and even sort of prophetic.
What an incredible woman who, unfortunately I deciphered through all this.
Speaker 2 (23:56):
After the second trial, Eunice Pringle settled her one point
five five million dollar lawsuits against pantages for three thousand dollars.
She changed her name and her career. She married well
and moved to La Jolla, an upscale seaside suburb of
San Diego. Known there as Tony Worthington. She lived out
her life in comfortable obscurity, She died in nineteen ninety
(24:19):
six at the age of eighty four. The scandal did
not bankrupt Alex Pantages. He had millions in the bank
and millions more from the sale of his theaters. He
announced plans to build new theaters in November nineteen thirty five,
but it was not to be. He died in his
sleep on February seventeenth, nineteen thirty six. He left a
(24:40):
lasting legacy. However, his last theater, the Hollywood Pantages, is
still in business and remains one of the premier theatrical
venues in the country. The Pantagous trials have a legacy too.
Jerry Geiesler's prediction came true. The California Supreme Court ruling
became a p nationwide. Defense attorneys used it to put
(25:03):
their client's accusers on trial. Over time, courts ruled that
certain behaviors could undercut a victim's accusation of rape. A
rapist might go free if his accuser was known to
dress provocatively, own condoms, or travel alone at night, or
even if she drank, smoked, or used drugs. Eventually, however,
(25:25):
there was a bright light. Congress passed the Violence Against
Women Act in nineteen ninety four. The Act included a
National Rape Shield Law, a provision that reversed the pantagious
Precedent ruling six decades earlier. Today, the Shield law remains
an important legal tool in the search for justice in
the era of Me Too. Given all this background, has
(25:49):
the Me Too movement had an effect on the tactic
of victim shaming and media smear campaigns.
Speaker 3 (25:55):
I think it's yes and no. I think one of
the most important things that we saw in sort of
that spectacular take down of Harvey and the larger Me
Too movement is that, you know, the general public are
much more savvy about these soda smear campaigns now. I
think it's much less plausible and effective when you know,
the average Joe knows exactly what this tactic is and
what it's designed to do. So that's one good thing.
(26:15):
So I'm thinking even the level of you know, when
you're going to jury selection, I don't think that the
average person would be so susceptible to a stunt like
as ridiculous as parading a young unit springle around in
a red dress.
Speaker 2 (26:27):
And yet the whole media piece of this, though, how
do you think that fits in the fact that what
Harvey did with his media machine, as they called.
Speaker 3 (26:36):
It, absolutely I think that by and large Harvey's biggest
contribution to the business was as a marketer. He really
knew how to sell films and using the press and
utilizing the press was a really important piece of that.
I think one of the most important parts of Me
Too is making journalists and larger media question how they
are complicit in certain things. So I would I would
hope that that's definitely changed as.
Speaker 2 (26:56):
Well, because it's interesting because he had that pr media
machine that Ronan Farrow had talked about in his article
and variety everyone has talked about. Yet in the end
it didn't work.
Speaker 3 (27:07):
Night Absolutely, it kind of backfired, especially after, you know,
especially toward the m when Hearty visually fighting for his life,
you know, strying to comprise a legal dream team, trying
to discredit each individual accuser from people as incredibly famous
like Gwyneth Paltrow and Angelina Jolie. There wasn't enough for
him to throw with a walt to convince even just
the most rudimentary of people observing the case that this
wasn't a desperate attempt to save his reputation.
Speaker 2 (27:29):
Regarding the unis Springle case. Do you have any final
thoughts about that after now hearing this whole story.
Speaker 3 (27:37):
I have, Well, first of all, I just have a
tremendous amount of respect for her, you know, I don't
think that a lot of people, especially ones who become
symbols of movements like these, have any intention of becoming that.
I think she wanted to be an actress and a performer,
and to find herself unwittingly at the center of an
unprecedented legal case after an assault like that. It's just
I have so much respect for her and her bravery.
(27:57):
But more than that, I do think that it's I
think a sadly necessary thing to sort of litigate, you
know what I mean. And seeing someone like Geesler, who's
also a really fascinating character too, it's always helpful to
see these tactics reverse engineered so we know how to
avoid them in our search for justice. It really shows
you that history is not the steady climb toward the
light right. There's lots of peaks and valleys in our
attempt for equity and fairness and nonviolence.
Speaker 2 (28:20):
Well, thank you Matt for all your comments and your
insights today.
Speaker 3 (28:25):
My pleasure. Thank you for telling me this incredible story
about Uni Springle.
Speaker 2 (28:30):
And thanks for joining us for Variety Confidentials, the Secret
history of the Casting Couch. This has been episode one
of the Beast for Variety and iHeart podcasts. I'm Tracy Patton.
Variety Confidential is produced by Sidney Kramer, John Ponder, and
Tracy Patton and written by Stephen Gatos. John Ponder and
Tracy Patton. Executive producers are Dea Lawrence and Stephen Gatos.
(28:52):
Additional research by Karen Nizogucci, recording engineer, editor and mixer
Charles Carroll
Host
Tracy Pattin
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