Shownotes Transcript
Wondery Plus subscribers can listen to Morbid early and ad-free. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. You're listening to a Morbid Network podcast. Hey weirdos, I'm Ash. And I'm Elena. I'm Spencer. And I'm Madison. And this is a Morbid slash Gossip Spritle crossover. 🎵
I love hearing you say it. Yeah, we've never heard it out loud. It's so exciting. Spencer and Madison are launching a new show, fellas, and you're hearing about it here first. Gossip's Bridal. I'm so excited. It's so good. I love it. So good. You guys are going to eat it.
Oh, yeah, we just got to listen to the first episode and I'm dying. I will listen to it sitting here and I really want to listen to it like in my car driving around because that's my best podcast listening. Oh, yeah. I need to give it the real royal treatment. Give it the old one too. Yeah, well, there's a lot of music and so I feel like it's like a fun one to drive to. No, it is. I love the soundscaping. Yeah, honestly, there's not enough podcasts in my humble opinion that have that like fun soundscaping aspect to it.
it because it brings you right back. Like these are like old timey fun. There's like ragtime music. It brings you back to old Hollywood. You have some like little sound effects. And I loved there was there's one part I won't give away too much, but there's one part where your voice kind of goes into like old radio voice. I love that part. And I love it so much. I got so excited when I heard it. It like fades out. It's so cool.
I feel like we really wanted to just give this more of a cinematic feel. I mean, Madison and I love old Hollywood so much. It's all just stuff we're so excited to talk about. The music and the soundscaping. For me, it feels like you're listening to a movie or TV show or something. Yeah, we definitely wanted it to feel that way. And I mean, Spencer has cult leader and then together we have obituary. And although this is
I feel like we still tie in a ton of things. We tie in a ton of obviously gossip, some crime. We're so excited about it. No, it's like the perfect meld of both of you because you're like quintessential old Hollywood babes. I love it. Yeah, it's true. That's the best compliment.
No, you really are. And this felt like a natural progression from cult leader obituary. Like this is, it just like works. Yeah. It makes sense. I feel like it's something that when we started toying around with the idea of it, we're like, oh, it makes sense. And the name also comes from the name of like a medieval torture device that was placed on like a bridal that was placed on women's heads for gossiping. And the first time we ever heard about those on obituary when we were covering them, we were laughing because we're like,
We would have fully ended up in that. We were just saying that. We would all be there. Like, damn, I'd be screwed. They'd be parading me around town. Well, they made a double one. Yeah. And so you'd have to be there like with your partner in crime. With your partner in gossip. And we fully would have been marched around town and made a fool of. And probably not learned our lesson. Oh, absolutely not. Just every week, every Friday, you guys are just like, hey, it's us again. Yeah.
out here in the town square maybe next time we've done it again I'll try again
So what did make you guys come up with the idea? Like, were you sitting around talking about Gossip Spritles? How did this happen? I think it was actually Hedda Hopper that we talked about first before even thinking of like, what are we going to call this? Hedda Hopper is who the first episode focuses on. And there's kind of tie-ins to her later in the first season. But we both had read her book and we both were just kind of obsessed with her because she was...
you know, this infamous gossip of such an important era to us. And she made cameos on I Love Lucy. So it's like we'd seen her around and I feel like, well, we didn't see her around in person. She died in the 60s. Not that old. You did. Your former self saw her around town. But we knew we wanted to do a show talking about
her and initially we were like can we just make a whole podcast about Hedda Hopper but then as we started looking into her story it naturally led us to talking about another famous gossip from that era and then we have eight gossips that we're talking about in this first season and they all kind of connect to each other somehow and it's kind of all sandwiched between Hedda Hopper and this other rival
of hers. Ooh, a rival. Hedda Hopper and Luella Parsons kind of go hand in hand. So we'll learn about Luella Parsons later on. There's so many feuds that Hedda had and so many people that she gossiped about. She's like the anchor to the whole thing.
thing and it all ties in. I love that it just kind of like naturally spindled out like with what because that's one of my favorite things is when you'll start a story and then you see like all these other little avenues that you want to go down. And sometimes you're like, I can't go down all of these in one story. Like I'm making this too complicated. And it's really smart that you guys were like, you know what? Why don't we can go down these avenues? Like, let's just make this another episode. And then it just kept spiraling. I love that. Yeah.
Yeah, we have the Hollywood gossips, but then we also have the investigative journalists who reported on crime.
Crime and corruption. There's something for everyone, I feel like. Oh, yeah. We've got asylums. We've got old Hollywood. We've got old actors being outed. We've got everything. We've got it all. Incredible. So there's going to be eight episodes this season. Do you guys have a personal favorite? Oh, I do. Can you tell us two or do you not want to reveal who's going to be on each episode? I have two. The second episode is about the first Hollywood beauty guru. And...
She was so controversial. I mean, from diets to just beauty regimens. She was awful, but also so fascinating, you know? And she was kind of like a mini gossip herself. Like she had stories about all of her clients. And then my second is probably the first crime investigator. I'm trying not to give too much away, but she was a crime investigator.
a crime investigator and Nellie? No, not Nellie Bly. Aggie Underwood. Oh, Aggie Underwood. Wait, shut up. I am literally doing a case right now and Aggie Underwood is part of it. Holy shit. We talk about her a little bit. We focus more on her coverage of the Black Dahlia case. Oh, yeah. Yeah, because she was the first. Yeah. Yeah.
And kind of, like, nicknamed her. Oh, wow. Oh, I can't wait for that episode. Oh, that's really cool. Nellie Bly is the one who American Horror Story kind of based Asylum off of her. Like, she went undercover into an insane asylum. Okay. Okay. Yeah. Yeah, kind of, like, blew the lid off of all of it. I think what's interesting, too, is in another episode, we're covering Walter Winchell. And it's really interesting to see the way that...
Mm-hmm.
I feel like we all know a lot of shit is just made up. A lot of times people are just talking out of their ass. And so it's kind of fun to look and gossip about the gossips versus gossiping about the stars. Right. Yeah, that's a good way to look at it. I love that. So Spencer, who's your favorite episode? Mine probably would be Nellie Bly. Yeah. Because of her investigative work and just because there's so much work that's been based on her afterwards. But my favorite favorite is probably Hedda Hopper. She was just the queen bee. The queen bee. Spencer and I...
went to Beverly Hills one day and we wanted to drive past their homes. Yeah, no, that's not weird. We wanted to see like where Hedda Hopper lived, where Luella Parsons lived. And we did. We weren't a nuisance. We just, you know, just drive by a little slow. Yeah. And we turned the corner from Hedda's house and the street that was right by it
was bridal street shut up oh shut up it had to be wait can we leave this in that's like that's yeah that's amazing yeah so we're big into the universe so like that is a sign absolutely yeah we took it as a sign for sure i love the whole show and i don't know if you got either of you watched did you watch hollywood the the show i think it was on netflix ryan murphy did it no i
It sounds up my alley, though. I know. I don't even know if I've heard of this. Yes. Cut that. Cut that. It doesn't make sense. Yes. Cut it. Not real. Didn't make sense. It's fucking 10 a.m., man. I'm not used to it. I just love it. Yes. Have you guys watched it? No, we haven't. I don't think so. Yes. All right. Very good. Very good.
That was amazing. You guys are so good. Perfect. Perfect. Love. Just ended on that. Yes. All right. Now going into the episode. Yes.
All right. So last question before we kind of wrap this up and give listeners a little taste of what they're going to see over on your feed. What surprised you guys most doing this? Like, was there anything that popped out to you that you were like, holy shit, I never realized that or anything like that? I'll say that history repeats itself. Yeah. Like I was like,
Oh, nothing's that different from going and picking up like People magazine or reading about gossip online. Nothing changes. No, that's so true. I'm excited to listen and like compare what was happening then to what's going on now. It's not anything different. It's all the same. It's all the same. It's just how we consume it changes. Like gossip is just a constant. Yeah. And we love it. Yeah. It'll always be here. Yeah.
What's that old saying that they say? I try. I get it wrong every single time I say it, but it's like, let's sit sideways and talk straight. Is that it? Ooh. Is that what it is? Hold on. I'm going to Google it. Sit sideways and talk straight? No, I think it's sit sideways and talk straight. It's sit crooked and talk straight.
Let's be straight up about it. I like that. I feel like that's the vibe of your show. Let's sit crooked and talk straight. I love it. All right. Well, we're going to plug a little bit of the first episode. We're going to give you guys like the first 15 minutes to listen to. And then you have to go on over to Spencer and Madison's feed on Twitter.
Gossip Spritle and listen to the rest. Just so everyone knows, it's like a horse bridle. So it's B-R-I-D-L-E. You guys are killing it. You have other exciting things going on. Like you wrote a friggin' book. We did. We wrote a book that comes out August 20th. Yes. It's big and hot. It's the Big Hot Book of Death. Yeah, I guess we should say the name. Obituary. The Big Hot Book of Death. Yes.
And we are so excited for that. We have our little book tour. And then we're doing a fall tour as well for Obituary Live. And I'm excited because we actually get to see you guys because we're coming to Boston on October 25th. Yes. So excited. That's going to be so much fun. And then we'll also be in New York September 14th, Chicago September 21st, and Seattle October 4th. But I feel like it's going to be a really good time. Yes. We want to get back on the road. It's a little...
It's a little mini tour. Yeah. Now that we've gossiped, we're like, put us back on stage. We got more shit to talk. And I'm telling you guys, the live shows are so much fun. Oh, my God. The one that we went to in Somerville was like one of the most fun nights I've ever had. It's hilarious. Those tickets. Get your tickets, everybody. You never know what you're going to see. Yes. Obituarypodcast.com. All things can be found there.
do it. All exciting things and the most exciting thing can be found over at Gossip Sprite, B-R-I-D-L-E. Hell yeah. Without further ado, here's some of the episode. Listen. Music Music Music Music Music
Thank you.
I'm Spencer Henry. And I'm Madison Reyes. You're probably wondering, why would we choose a name like Gossip Spritle? Well, a Gossip Spritle was a torture device that dates back to the 1500s, which was used to punish a gossiper. This device was primarily used on women.
often at the request of their husbands. If a woman or the occasional man was caught gossiping or talking shit, she was made to wear an iron cage around her head with a built-in horse bridle that would go into her mouth and pinch or pierce her tongue. She would be paraded around town wearing it while on a leash, sometimes with bells on to attract attention, humiliated, and probably the subject of so much more gossip.
and hopefully learned her lesson. Yeah, that she needs to leave her dumbass husband. In all seriousness, gossiping is our favorite pastime, and the thought of being so severely punished for it makes us sick, so we thought it would be appropriate to dive into the lives and legacies of some of the most polarizing and iconic gossipers who would have surely found a bridle in their mouths. Welcome to Gossip Spridle.
"It was always Hollywood do or die. I've done and I've died there too. No matter what you say about the town, and anything you say probably is true, there's never been another like it." A million dreams are fulfilled every day and a million hopes shattered. But if you have guts enough to stick it out and even a modicum of ability, you'll wear down Hollywood's resistance. And Hollywood's resistance she wore down.
We're starting the show off with one incredible gossip girl who took the golden age of Hollywood by the balls and made it her bitch. From love affairs to bad taste, wardrobe malfunctions to politics, religion, and even murder, nothing was off limits in her widely read newspaper columns, which captivated an impressive 35 million readers at its peak.
Both men and women equally feared and revered the wrath of her typewriter. Meanwhile, her Beverly Hills home overflowed with tokens of their affection. Gifts piled from floor to ceiling. Mostly hats, but more on those later. She was adored by few, despised by many, and had the time of her life through it all. While we have a few choice words for her...
There's no denying she became an icon in her own right. So let's dive into the juicy gossip about Miss Hedda the Hat Hopper.
Hedda Hopper, born Elda Fury, entered this world kicking and screaming on May 2, 1882, though she later claimed June 2 as her birthday, but we'll circle back to that soon. On the day she was born, her hometown of Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania, was besieged by a fierce storm, yet young Elda's cries outdid even the loudest claps of thunder.
on a farm in a bustling German Quaker/Pennsylvania Dutch household, she was one of many children vying for attention. Her parents, Margaret and David Furey, a farmer and a grocer, raised a lively brood of children, including sisters Dora and Margaret, and brothers Frank, Sherman, Cameron, and Edgar. Not to mention a grandfather she couldn't stand and an
uncle she absolutely adored, quite the full house. At the tender age of three, her family traded farm life for a meat market in Altoona, Pennsylvania. It was there, amid the butcher blocks and meat hooks, that she learned not just about the anatomy of animals, but about the anatomy of fear itself. Hedda would later say this early exposure to the butcher's life left her fearless, a trait that would serve her well in the cutthroat world of Hollywood.
Hedda was quite the little hustler from the get-go. In her memoir, From Under My Hat, she recounted a story from her childhood saying, Once upon a time, there was a six-toed cousin, mine. When I first laid eyes on him, I knew I was destined for show business. The neighborhood kids were too poor to fork over pennies, so I charged them five pins, or was it pennies, we might never know, just for a peek at his unusual toes.
Back then, as Elda Fury, I was already in the business of spectacle. Little Elda from Altoona always dreamed big, yearning for a life far grander than her humble beginnings. In fact, she loved dreaming of fame so much her favorite day of the week was Sunday. Not because it was a day of prayer, but rather for the juicy gossip in the Sunday papers. By eighth grade, life's circumstances forced her to drop out and dedicate herself full-time to the family business.
While dishwashing became her unexpected specialty, life as a butcher's daughter was not her heart's desire, and her dreams of the silver screen never stopped. Though she lacked many childhood luxuries and lived in the shadow of her brothers, she did have one treasured possession, a horse named Old Fanny, which she only ever rode bareback.
But our clever Elda was always hustling. She was quietly running her own little racket, skimming from the meat market's till to fund her stunts. Her big splurge? A side saddle from Sears, of course. She wanted something fancy and elegant that would surely turn heads.
However, the horse's fate took an unfortunate turn when her father sent old Fanny to the glue factory. In her book, Hedda recounts a particularly daring escapade involving her older sister Dora and Dora's boyfriend, a dashing doctor and war hero. Hedda was smitten, not so much with him as with the idea of escaping the daily grind of the meat market.
she concocted a plan to snag his attention by any means necessary. One of her tactics? Pretending to sleepwalk into the parlor while he was visiting, wearing a cute nightgown just to steal a glimpse of him. Despite getting caught and reprimanded, she didn't give up. Her schemes escalated to dramatics. One day, in a wild bid for attention, she grabbed a gun, stormed into her parents' bedroom, and pulled the trigger.
thinking that an injury would surely force a heroic rescue from her sister's hot boyfriend. Luckily, the gun wasn't loaded, and no real harm was done except to her pride. Neither the doctor's attention nor his affection was captured that day, and soon after, he vanished from town, leaving both sisters behind. No one ever heard from him again.
Hedda's fascination with men and medicine didn't end there. She later dated a dentist during her teens, but that romance fizzled fast.
She promptly broke things off after seeing him in a bathing suit. He was just too skinny and hairy for her liking. In 1898, when Hedda's father left to try his luck in the Klondike Gold Rush, she was furious at being left behind. Desperate to break free herself, she instead stepped up and faced the reality of needing to support her mother and siblings. Feisty little Elda Fury devised a plan to become the family's breadwinner.
Within a year, she transformed herself into a badass bill collector. It turned out, her father had been overly lenient with borrowers, leaving a trail of unpaid debts owed to him. Armed with nothing but her audacity, she confronted every debtor, channeling what she imagined an actress would do. Her strategy? A charming smile paired with an undercurrent of steely intimidation.
escalating to absolute hysterics if necessary. It was a performance that paid off, literally. She managed to collect enough to sustain her family for an entire year, all while still a teenager. Hedda was nothing if not fearless. When Hedda, still Elda at the time, was just 17, she decided she'd had enough of her provincial life and was ready for the big city lights.
In her memoir, she quips, "I left home to escape the heritage of being a butcher's daughter. It seems ironic that I was to spend the rest of my life dealing in ham." With a suitcase and $250 pinched from the meat market's till, she boarded a train bound for New York City. Once there, she sought out her Uncle Sam, who offered her a temporary home. It was her first bold leap into a new life.
one step closer to the dazzling world of showbiz she'd always dreamed of. Though today she's most known as Hollywood's premier purveyor of gossip, Hedda Hopper first graced the spotlight on the Broadway stage. Her passion for theater began at the Carter Conservatory of Music in Pittsburgh.
well before she made her escape to New York. Upon arriving in the Big Apple, she joined the chorus line on Broadway. Hedda herself admitted that, though undeniably loud, she was neither a gifted singer nor a skilled dancer. The legendary Florence Ziegfeld of the Ziegfeld Follies
famously dubbed her a clumsy cow during an audition yet through sheer determination relentless practice and the undeniable appeal of her great legs she managed to carve out a place for herself in the world of theater a couple of years into her career she snagged a role as an understudy in a theater company where she ended up getting far more than she initially bargained for
It was here Hedda met the towering William de Wolfe Hopper, an accomplished actor, singer, producer, and vaudeville star, during her early years on stage. She affectionately referred to him as "Wolfie" and was smitten by his charisma. She wrote about him, saying,
To me, DeWolf was something special, something new under the sun. I had been on the stage only a few years when I joined his company. His massive size, his voice, his storytelling gift. Wolfie was a 6'3 riot.
From the moment I saw him, he fascinated me. Known for his robust voice and infectious humor, DeWolf captured the hearts of many. His vivacity was later captured in his 1927 autobiography, fittingly titled Once a Clown, Always a Clown. Wolfie was considerably older than Hedda,
around 55 to her 18 when they first met. Despite the massive age difference, which was even greater than that between her and her own father, they fell deeply in love. After her final performance in The Quaker Girl in 1931, Hedda made a bold move. She went to a jewelry store, bought herself a ring for $23, and secretly married Wolfie that very night in his hotel room.
Wolfie, a man of, let's say, transient tastes, never owned a home. He preferred the luxury of hotels instead, choosing to spend his money on cars rather than houses. Affectionately known as the husband of the country due to his numerous marriages, he eventually married Hedda, who was still known as Elda at the time, making her his fifth wife.
After marrying Wolfie, she made a decisive break from her past. She no longer wanted to be known as "Elda Hopper." Why? Because Wolfie's previous four wives all had similar-sounding, two-syllable names ending in "a."
His first marriage was to Ella, his second cousin. They married more out of convenience than romance. Both were actors determined not to let romantic partners interfere with the trajectory of their careers. So they married each other.
His second wife, Ida, was a member of his acting company and the mother of his son, Jack. The third, Edna, was not just his co-star but also a savvy financial manager. His fourth wife, Nella, embodied the quintessential prima donna vibe, adding yet another layer of drama to his personal life.
Elda decided it was time for a change, but it was more than just a change of a name. It was a declaration of her individuality. And so, Elda transformed into Hedda, setting herself apart from his past wives, and more importantly, stepping into a new identity that would soon become legendary in Hollywood. And
And why did she choose Hedda? Well, performing in "The Quaker Girl" was a pivotal chapter in Hedda's life because it brought her to a friendship with her co-star, Theda Bara, a massive spiritualist. Theda's influence led Hedda into the world of spiritualism. And although Hedda was initially enthusiastic about diving into these spiritual teachings, she started experiencing eerie phenomena like mysterious tapping on her walls,
which quickly made her realize spiritualist life was not for her. But she must have still been vibing with it at this point because, like any normal person would, she consulted with a numerologist named Mrs. Cochran to help her through her transformation. For a mere $10, Mrs. Cochran proposed the name Hedda, promising it would bring a positive change.
Despite still ending in an A and having two syllables, Hedda resonated with her. It felt right. She claimed that adopting this new name was like finding her true self. And it worked. She blossomed into a more assertive, confident, and joyful person. Hedda even revamped her birthday from May 2nd, 1885 to June 2nd, 1890, embracing a completely new persona, new name, and age. Iconic.
With her new identity, Hedda told her parents back in Altoona about her marriage to Wolfie. Their response was less than enthusiastic. They issued this statement to the press. If you like Morbid, you can listen early and ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. Prime members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. Before you go, tell us about yourself by filling out a short survey at wondery.com slash survey.
