Cass Elliot didn’t die eating a ham sandwich. But the lasting power of that urban legend speaks to a far darker story. Elliot possessed one of the most influential voices of the 1960s. However, while her big break with The Mamas and The Papas and meteoric career changed the LA music scene forever, it also entrapped Elliot in a cycle of fat-shaming, sending her spiraling into catastrophic weight-loss regimens. In this episode, we’ll talk about the music industry’s complicated relationship with weight, how crash dieting likely led to the untimely death of this music legend, and the true legacy of Elliot in pop culture.
This episode was written and performed by Lexi Pandell, a writer from Oakland, California. Her work has been published by The Atlantic, the New York Times, WIRED, The New Republic, Condé Nast Traveler, GQ, Playboy and many others.
36: Star Wars Episode X: Errol Flynn
35: Star Wars Episode IX: Olivia de Havilland and John Huston, with Special Guest Rian Johnson
34: Star Wars Episode VIII: How Norma Jeane Became Marilyn Monroe
33: Star Wars Episode VII: Lena Horne
32: Star Wars Episode VI: Marlene Dietrich
31: Star Wars Episode V: Rita Hayworth and Orson Welles
30: Star Wars Episode IV: Gene Tierney (Or: The Many Loves of Howard Hughes, Chapter 5)
29: Star Wars Episode III: Hedy Lamarr
28: Star Wars Episode II: Carole Lombard and Clark Gable
27: Star Wars Episode I: Bette Davis and the Hollywood Canteen
26: Tales of Celebrity Drunkenness, 2014
25: The Short Lives of Bruce and Brandon Lee
24: Mia Farrow in the 1960s, Part Two: Mia & Dory
23: Mia Farrow in the 1960s, Part One: Mia & Frank
22: Audrey Hepburn: Sex, Style, and Sabrina
21: The Birth of Barbra Streisand’s A Star is Born
20: LIZ <3 MONTY
19: Raquel Welch, From Pin-up to Pariah
18: The Many Loves of Howard Hughes, Chapter 4: Jane Russell
17: Theda Bara, Hollywood’s First Sex Symbol
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