WEBVTT - Darryl F. Zanuck "Four O'clock Girls" 0:00:00.080 --> 0:00:03.440 This show contains mature content and adult themes. It may 0:00:03.480 --> 0:00:13.720 not be suitable for young audiences. 0:00:14.120 --> 0:00:17.320 I'm in Cheviat Hills Park on Pico Boulevard in West LA. 0:00:17.720 --> 0:00:20.520 Across the street is the West Motor Gate into the 0:00:20.600 --> 0:00:24.520 twentieth century Fox Studios. There's a wall covered in posters 0:00:24.560 --> 0:00:28.960 promoting the studio's latest movies and television shows. Beyond the 0:00:29.040 --> 0:00:32.600 wall there are sound stages and production offices. One of 0:00:32.640 --> 0:00:35.800 these is Building eighty eight, the former office of the 0:00:35.800 --> 0:00:39.320 studio's founder in production chief, Daryl Zanak. 0:00:39.880 --> 0:00:42.200 He greenlighted dozens of films at. 0:00:42.120 --> 0:00:45.920 Fox, many won Oscars, and many more were box office hits, 0:00:46.360 --> 0:00:50.600 but he also had a dark side. He may have 0:00:50.800 --> 0:00:54.520 been the most frequent abuser the casting couch Hollywood has 0:00:54.560 --> 0:00:58.520 ever known. In today's episode of Variety Confidential, We'll use 0:00:58.600 --> 0:01:02.440 Varieties archives to unearthed all the terrible things that Darryl 0:01:02.520 --> 0:01:05.800 Zanik was accused of doing way back in the golden 0:01:05.880 --> 0:01:10.240 age of Hollywood. From Variety and iHeart Podcasts, I'm Tracy Patnan. 0:01:10.720 --> 0:01:13.800 This is the secret history of the casting couch. Today's 0:01:13.800 --> 0:01:19.040 episode four o'clock Girls with Me Today is Matt Donnelley, 0:01:19.160 --> 0:01:21.640 Variety Senior entertainment and media writer. 0:01:21.880 --> 0:01:24.240 Hi, Matty, thanks so much for having me. 0:01:24.400 --> 0:01:27.040 Well, it's great to have you here, and I'm excited 0:01:27.040 --> 0:01:30.160 to get your Hollywood perspective and insights. 0:01:30.280 --> 0:01:32.280 I think it's really important that we look back at, 0:01:32.360 --> 0:01:34.240 you know, sort of these moguls and a lot of 0:01:34.280 --> 0:01:36.560 their predation and behavior that has been so prevalent in 0:01:36.600 --> 0:01:38.560 the past couple of years. Especially, you know, we have 0:01:38.600 --> 0:01:41.640 Variety been very dedicated to covering me too, and it's 0:01:41.720 --> 0:01:44.520 ramifications for everyone. So I am excited to sort of 0:01:44.520 --> 0:01:46.679 look back and see where this all began. And thank 0:01:46.680 --> 0:01:48.560 you for making such wonderful use of our archives. 0:01:48.840 --> 0:01:51.520 Indeed, we need them. 0:01:51.920 --> 0:01:56.200 Let's go back in time to the twentieth century Fox Lot. 0:01:56.280 --> 0:02:00.240 On an afternoon in nineteen thirty eight, on the topp 0:02:00.240 --> 0:02:03.000 floor of the executive offices in Building eighty eight, a 0:02:03.080 --> 0:02:06.240 young woman, let's call her Mary Evans, sits in the 0:02:06.280 --> 0:02:10.000 waiting room outside the office of the studio chief. She's 0:02:10.040 --> 0:02:14.320 young and attractive, dark haired, with bright blue eyes, barely 0:02:14.360 --> 0:02:17.400 twenty years old. She only recently moved to Los Angeles, 0:02:17.480 --> 0:02:21.160 and her dream is to become a movie star. Unlike 0:02:21.360 --> 0:02:25.600 thousands of other wannabes, however, Mary has landed a contract 0:02:25.639 --> 0:02:29.799 with twentieth century Fox, just like Betty Grables, Sonya Hanny, 0:02:29.840 --> 0:02:32.640 and Shirley Temple. She's only a day player now, and 0:02:32.720 --> 0:02:36.080 she knows that her shot at stardom depends on what 0:02:36.240 --> 0:02:39.880 happens at this audition. Finally, the secretary gets the call 0:02:40.160 --> 0:02:43.280 and Mary may go in. The office is dimly lit, 0:02:43.520 --> 0:02:47.720 large and wood paneled. Every paintable surface is done in 0:02:47.840 --> 0:02:51.440 a shiny, dark green. The wall behind the desk is 0:02:51.480 --> 0:02:56.120 covered in trophies from safaris with zebra skins and antelope heads. 0:02:56.440 --> 0:03:01.000 She hears a toilet flush A few seconds later. F Xanik, 0:03:01.080 --> 0:03:03.880 the founder and head of production at twentieth century Fox, 0:03:03.960 --> 0:03:08.000 comes out. He's shorter than Mary imagined, about five foot six, 0:03:08.520 --> 0:03:11.280 trim and fit. In his mid thirties. He has a 0:03:11.400 --> 0:03:15.760 mustache and thinning salt and pepper hair. This cigar clamped 0:03:15.760 --> 0:03:20.440 in his jaw juts upward. Xanik smiles, but not in 0:03:20.480 --> 0:03:23.400 a friendly way. He meets her in front of the 0:03:23.480 --> 0:03:26.680 desk and looks her up and down, eyeing her figure 0:03:26.840 --> 0:03:31.320 like this wolf devouring its prey. Then he asks her 0:03:31.360 --> 0:03:35.640 to turn around. She makes a graceful spin. He says, 0:03:36.240 --> 0:03:40.760 so you want to be in pictures very much, She says, mm, 0:03:41.320 --> 0:03:43.400 so do a lot of other girls, you know, he says. 0:03:44.200 --> 0:03:46.840 He motions her to follow him. They go into a 0:03:46.960 --> 0:03:50.280 small room off a hallway behind his office. There's a 0:03:50.360 --> 0:03:53.000 day bed against the wall. He invites her to sit, 0:03:53.520 --> 0:03:57.800 closes the door and locks it. Do you have experience, 0:03:58.040 --> 0:04:01.080 he asks? She rattles off the roles she played in 0:04:01.120 --> 0:04:05.720 college and summer theater back East. While she's talking, he 0:04:05.760 --> 0:04:08.440 turns his back to her, fumbles with his front, and 0:04:08.480 --> 0:04:12.640 then turns around and faces her. Mary is shocked, but 0:04:12.760 --> 0:04:18.440 not surprised he has exposed himself. She's heard all about 0:04:18.560 --> 0:04:22.120 Darryl Zanik from other actresses, and she knows that her 0:04:22.200 --> 0:04:25.920 future at Fox is on the line, and she has 0:04:25.960 --> 0:04:29.160 a decision to make. Dozens of others have had to 0:04:29.200 --> 0:04:32.240 make the same choice, as dozens more will have to 0:04:32.320 --> 0:04:35.200 after she's gone. She can walk away from Xanak in 0:04:35.240 --> 0:04:39.280 the career she's dreamed of, or she can stay and 0:04:39.360 --> 0:04:40.839 give Zanik what he wants. 0:04:41.240 --> 0:04:43.160 Now, I've never heard about this Mary Evans, which I'm 0:04:43.200 --> 0:04:45.000 sure there are many, But tell me, did you say 0:04:45.080 --> 0:04:45.440 yes or no? 0:04:46.160 --> 0:04:47.600 Okay? Full disclosure. 0:04:48.160 --> 0:04:51.160 Mary Evans is a fictional version of dozens of women 0:04:51.200 --> 0:04:55.280 who were called into Daryl Zanik's office for auditions, and 0:04:55.320 --> 0:04:58.920 there's circumstantial evidence that many, maybe most, of these women 0:04:58.960 --> 0:05:02.480 complied and had sex with Darryl Zanik. He held these 0:05:02.520 --> 0:05:05.440 auditions so often that his colleagues came up with a 0:05:05.560 --> 0:05:08.640 name for the women he coerced. They called them four 0:05:08.680 --> 0:05:12.440 o'clock girls. Zanic himself is said to have called them 0:05:12.720 --> 0:05:13.839 studio whores. 0:05:14.279 --> 0:05:16.240 You know, sadly, this is the story we've heard so 0:05:16.320 --> 0:05:19.240 many times throughout Hollywood's history, and shockingly, even in our 0:05:19.279 --> 0:05:22.240 contemporary landscape, this has post me too. This is after 0:05:22.240 --> 0:05:25.000 the massive proliferation of social media, and somehow this behavior 0:05:25.040 --> 0:05:25.760 is still persistent. 0:05:25.960 --> 0:05:26.479 Believe me. 0:05:26.680 --> 0:05:28.800 I know, I've been doing a lot of research on 0:05:28.839 --> 0:05:31.440 these guys, and it's unbelievable what they got away with 0:05:31.600 --> 0:05:32.039 back then. 0:05:32.400 --> 0:05:34.160 How prevalent would you say this kind of behavior was 0:05:34.200 --> 0:05:35.280 among moguls of that era? 0:05:35.880 --> 0:05:37.960 It was very, very prevalent. 0:05:38.080 --> 0:05:40.840 I'm sure you know that the studios dominated the industry 0:05:40.839 --> 0:05:45.960 in those days. The Big five were MGM, Columbia, RKO, Fox, 0:05:46.040 --> 0:05:50.120 and Paramount, and of the five, four of their moguls 0:05:50.120 --> 0:05:53.280 have been accused of abuse Louis B. Mayor at MGM, 0:05:53.720 --> 0:05:57.600 Harry Kohane at Columbia, Howard to Use at RKO, and 0:05:57.920 --> 0:05:58.920 Xanik at Fox. 0:05:59.240 --> 0:06:01.280 I've heard many of the Mayor stories over the years. 0:06:01.320 --> 0:06:01.920 What's his deal? 0:06:02.600 --> 0:06:03.360 Well, Louis B. 0:06:03.520 --> 0:06:06.160 Mayor is probably the best known mogul of that era, 0:06:06.520 --> 0:06:09.839 maybe because his name is in the brand. MGM stands 0:06:09.880 --> 0:06:13.800 for Metro Goldwyn Mayor. I'm sure you know that by 0:06:13.880 --> 0:06:17.320 nineteen thirty seven he was the highest paid man in America, 0:06:17.520 --> 0:06:21.159 and he believed that the movie should represent a sanitized 0:06:21.279 --> 0:06:24.680 version of reality. He once said, no Mayor picture will 0:06:24.680 --> 0:06:28.240 have bedroom scenes, even where the couples are married. But 0:06:28.920 --> 0:06:31.440 there are conflicting accounts when it comes to his treatment 0:06:31.480 --> 0:06:34.960 of women. One friend of his said LB couldn't get 0:06:35.040 --> 0:06:38.320 laid in a whorehouse, and a producer at MGM said 0:06:38.400 --> 0:06:42.080 Mayor was like a bashful boy. It wasn't until after 0:06:42.120 --> 0:06:45.119 he was fifty that he realized sex could be fun. 0:06:45.920 --> 0:06:49.000 On the other hand, according to Get Happy the Life 0:06:49.040 --> 0:06:53.440 of Judy Garland by Gerald Clark, Mayor allegedly groped Judy 0:06:53.480 --> 0:06:56.279 Garland when she was a teenager and held meetings with 0:06:56.400 --> 0:06:57.800 her seated on his lap. 0:06:58.400 --> 0:06:59.760 And his hands on her chest. 0:07:00.240 --> 0:07:03.120 My god, that story just every time you hear it, it 0:07:03.040 --> 0:07:05.760 just still hits the same horrible abuse of her and 0:07:05.800 --> 0:07:08.080 so many other women. Well, tell me about Harry Cone 0:07:08.120 --> 0:07:08.880 at Columbia. 0:07:09.000 --> 0:07:12.640 By most accounts, Cone expected sex from women in exchange 0:07:12.640 --> 0:07:16.679 for movie roles. He even installed these secret passages into 0:07:16.760 --> 0:07:19.840 actresses dressing rooms to give him easier access to them. 0:07:20.280 --> 0:07:23.960 He also had this strange habit of opening a woman's 0:07:24.000 --> 0:07:26.600 mouth with a pencil before he had sex with her 0:07:26.680 --> 0:07:30.239 to inspect her teeth like he was sizing up a horse. 0:07:30.840 --> 0:07:33.880 And when Rita Hayworth, one of his biggest stars, refused 0:07:33.880 --> 0:07:36.559 to sleep with him, he had her stocked and even 0:07:36.680 --> 0:07:40.840 bugged her dressing room. She said Cone was a monster. 0:07:41.640 --> 0:07:46.000 He was also obsessively controlling. There's a famous story about 0:07:46.000 --> 0:07:49.520 his interference in a relationship between his blonde star Kim 0:07:49.600 --> 0:07:54.720 Novak and ratpacker Sammy Davis Junior. Cone ended the relationship 0:07:55.000 --> 0:07:58.320 by reportedly putting a mob hit on Davis. 0:07:58.880 --> 0:08:01.720 That sounds like an entire different podcast episode. By the way, 0:08:01.720 --> 0:08:04.360 do you know the mafia term for killing a celebrity, 0:08:04.560 --> 0:08:09.240 and that's called excellent cadaver? To Steph why I So 0:08:09.360 --> 0:08:11.800 let's move on to Howard Hughes, who was known as 0:08:11.800 --> 0:08:14.200 the richest man in America at that point. When did 0:08:14.200 --> 0:08:15.680 he get involved with Arkao So? 0:08:15.760 --> 0:08:18.920 Hughes bought RKO's studios in nineteen forty eight and then 0:08:19.000 --> 0:08:22.160 spent the next few years running it into the ground. 0:08:22.600 --> 0:08:25.560 He was known for praying on underage girls. One of 0:08:25.600 --> 0:08:30.040 them was sixteen year old Ida Lupino. She survived, however, 0:08:30.120 --> 0:08:31.960 and went on to have a big career as an 0:08:32.040 --> 0:08:35.560 A list actress and one of the few women directors 0:08:35.640 --> 0:08:39.839 in the nineteen fifties and sixties. When Ava Gardner refused 0:08:39.840 --> 0:08:43.200 to marry him, Hughes hired detectives to stalk her. She 0:08:43.400 --> 0:08:46.679 finally put a stop to it by knocking him unconscious 0:08:46.720 --> 0:08:51.280 with an ashtray. He was obsessed with collecting young actresses. 0:08:51.480 --> 0:08:55.000 He'd sign them to these long term contracts, but he 0:08:55.120 --> 0:08:59.400 never gave them work. Instead, he'd stashed them in mansions 0:08:59.440 --> 0:09:02.640 and luxury apartments under the control of handlers. 0:09:02.920 --> 0:09:05.520 You know, it really makes me reconsider the title of 0:09:05.559 --> 0:09:08.160 that Warren Baty movie he spent twenty years making about Hughes, 0:09:08.200 --> 0:09:12.079 called Rules Don't Apply. Well, he sounds like a fantastic gentleman. 0:09:12.200 --> 0:09:14.199 So let's go back to Xanik. 0:09:14.760 --> 0:09:18.240 Yes, Xanik, and here's a little of his backstory. He 0:09:18.320 --> 0:09:21.080 was born in Wahoo, Nebraska in nineteen oh two, but 0:09:21.200 --> 0:09:23.160 moved to la with his mother when he was eight. 0:09:23.600 --> 0:09:27.360 In nineteen seventeen, when he was fifteen, he lied about 0:09:27.360 --> 0:09:30.280 his age and enlisted in the Army. He served in 0:09:30.320 --> 0:09:33.200 France during World War One. After the war, when he 0:09:33.240 --> 0:09:35.920 was seventeen, he moved to New York to become a writer, 0:09:36.640 --> 0:09:39.680 but he had little success and eventually moved back to 0:09:39.760 --> 0:09:43.480 Los Angeles. After working a series of odd jobs, he 0:09:43.559 --> 0:09:46.200 sold a story to the Fox Film Company for five 0:09:46.280 --> 0:09:50.280 hundred dollars that's about eighty five hundred dollars today. In 0:09:50.400 --> 0:09:54.600 January nineteen twenty four, Xanik married Virginia Fox, an actress 0:09:54.600 --> 0:09:58.079 who had success in silent films. The Xanix would have 0:09:58.160 --> 0:10:01.920 three children, two daughters, Darylynn and Susan, and his son Richard, 0:10:02.120 --> 0:10:06.720 who would become a successful movie producer himself. He produced Jaws, 0:10:06.880 --> 0:10:10.679 Driving Miss Daisy, and Cocoon, among many other films, and 0:10:10.840 --> 0:10:13.880 later that year Zanik was hired to produce Warner Brothers 0:10:14.000 --> 0:10:18.079 popular Rin Tin Tin movies. Their star was a German 0:10:18.200 --> 0:10:21.200 shepherd who in real life had been rescued by an 0:10:21.200 --> 0:10:25.520 American soldier on a World War One battlefield. The movies 0:10:25.559 --> 0:10:29.200 were hugely profitable, and the series put Xanik on the 0:10:29.280 --> 0:10:32.600 map in Hollywood, and three years later he was promoted 0:10:32.600 --> 0:10:35.800 to head of production at Warner's. His salary went up 0:10:35.840 --> 0:10:38.560 from one hundred and twenty five dollars a week to 0:10:38.880 --> 0:10:42.920 five thousand a week, which would be about ninety thousand 0:10:43.000 --> 0:10:46.400 dollars per week today. In nineteen twenty eight, he was 0:10:46.440 --> 0:10:50.200 the supervising producer on The Jazz Singer, the first full 0:10:50.280 --> 0:10:54.640 length film recorded with sound. It had music singing and 0:10:54.720 --> 0:10:59.400 the famous line you ain't heard nothing yet. But Warner 0:10:59.440 --> 0:11:03.599 Brothers was tightly controlled by its owners, the four Warner Brothers. 0:11:03.760 --> 0:11:06.760 Xanik was ambitious, and it became clear that the Warners 0:11:06.760 --> 0:11:09.560 would never make him a partner. He resigned in nineteen 0:11:09.600 --> 0:11:12.840 thirty three and went into business with Joseph Skank, one 0:11:12.880 --> 0:11:17.199 of the most powerful moguls in early Hollywood. Together they 0:11:17.280 --> 0:11:20.800 founded the Twentieth Century Company Film Studio. As part of 0:11:20.840 --> 0:11:24.920 the deal, Zanik took home a huge paycheck. Variety reported 0:11:24.960 --> 0:11:28.160 on April twenty fifth nineteen thirty three that he'd quote 0:11:28.600 --> 0:11:32.600 knocked off one hundred thousand dollars bonus about two point 0:11:32.720 --> 0:11:37.000 three million dollars today. Zanik went right to work. He 0:11:37.080 --> 0:11:41.560 produced eighteen movies for twentieth Century Films in just eighteen months. 0:11:42.000 --> 0:11:45.280 All but one of them was a success. Two years later, 0:11:45.400 --> 0:11:49.120 Xanik and Skank merged Twentieth Century with the Fox Film Corporation. 0:11:49.800 --> 0:11:53.600 The Fox Company was formed in nineteen fifteen by William Fox. 0:11:53.640 --> 0:11:56.760 It was successful for many years, but by the mid 0:11:56.920 --> 0:12:00.800 nineteen thirties it was struggling. In Variety Dies report on 0:12:00.840 --> 0:12:03.960 the merger on May twenty ninth, nineteen thirty five, it 0:12:04.080 --> 0:12:06.840 noted that Skank would serve as chairman of the board 0:12:07.080 --> 0:12:10.720 and Xanik would oversee production as vice president. Fox had 0:12:10.760 --> 0:12:16.360 something that twentieth century desperately needed, infrastructure. It owned a 0:12:16.400 --> 0:12:20.120 three hundred acre studio on Pico Avenue where the Fox 0:12:20.200 --> 0:12:21.800 Lot is still located today. 0:12:22.000 --> 0:12:24.000 So by the times on it gets to the Fox Lot, 0:12:24.040 --> 0:12:26.959 was he already sort of notorious for this casting house behavior. 0:12:27.679 --> 0:12:31.000 Well, what we know is he was having extramarital affairs, 0:12:31.120 --> 0:12:34.800 but they were hookups, nothing long term or serious. And 0:12:35.080 --> 0:12:37.960 we also know that his wife, Virginia, was aware of them. 0:12:38.000 --> 0:12:41.679 Early on in nineteen twenty six, on a trip to Europe, 0:12:41.800 --> 0:12:44.320 she heard him on the street below their hotel room 0:12:44.360 --> 0:12:47.920 talking with a woman, so she grabbed a flower pot, 0:12:48.320 --> 0:12:51.120 threw it off the balcony and hit him in the head. 0:12:51.520 --> 0:12:53.400 There should be a statue for her on that lot, 0:12:53.640 --> 0:12:56.160 I think so. 0:12:56.360 --> 0:12:59.480 Virginia eventually accepted that Daryl had women on the side 0:13:00.080 --> 0:13:03.760 and invited a few of his famous lovers and their husbands, 0:13:03.800 --> 0:13:06.520 believe it or not, for weekends at the Xanik's estate 0:13:06.559 --> 0:13:07.440 in Palm Springs. 0:13:07.679 --> 0:13:10.200 Talking about four o'clock girls. In general, this level of 0:13:10.240 --> 0:13:12.480 abuse is just so hard to fathom, but perhaps not 0:13:12.559 --> 0:13:15.400 in our current landscape. How solid is all the reporting 0:13:15.400 --> 0:13:15.719 from this. 0:13:15.720 --> 0:13:20.200 Era, Well, there is definitely some myth making going on here, 0:13:20.400 --> 0:13:23.320 and most of what we have is anecdotal, and like 0:13:23.400 --> 0:13:26.080 it always is with these kinds of stories from Hollywood, 0:13:26.160 --> 0:13:29.520 they may have been embellished over the years. For example, 0:13:29.679 --> 0:13:33.000 Milton Spurling was a source with firsthand knowledge about what 0:13:33.040 --> 0:13:36.400 went on. He worked closely with Xanik for years and 0:13:36.440 --> 0:13:39.199 here's what he said. Every day, at four o'clock in 0:13:39.240 --> 0:13:41.840 the afternoon, some girl on the lot would visit Zank 0:13:41.880 --> 0:13:44.280 in his office. The doors would be locked after she 0:13:44.360 --> 0:13:47.480 went in, no calls were taken, and for the next 0:13:47.640 --> 0:13:52.760 half hour nothing happened. Headquarters shut down. Around the office, 0:13:52.840 --> 0:13:55.840 work came to a halt for this sex siesta. But 0:13:56.000 --> 0:13:59.280 later Spurling backtracked on that a bit. He said it 0:13:59.400 --> 0:14:03.520 wasn't real every day, but it happened often enough. A 0:14:03.559 --> 0:14:06.960 producer at Fox claimed that Xanik had given every actress 0:14:07.080 --> 0:14:11.680 under contract at Fox of four o'clock audition treatment. That's 0:14:11.720 --> 0:14:15.440 an exaggeration. We know of a few who rejected him 0:14:15.480 --> 0:14:18.240 and then went on to have successful careers, But the 0:14:18.280 --> 0:14:22.000 thing is those careers usually happened at a different studio. 0:14:22.880 --> 0:14:24.480 So who are some of the women that had to 0:14:24.480 --> 0:14:27.160 suffer this abuse from Xenak that we would know? Well. 0:14:27.200 --> 0:14:31.119 Some of the big stars included Barbara Stanwick, Judy Holiday, 0:14:31.520 --> 0:14:36.320 Betty Grable, Marilyn Monroe, Carol Landis, and Joan Collins. 0:14:36.640 --> 0:14:39.080 I love Barbara Stanwick. She's got so many great films 0:14:39.120 --> 0:14:42.160 like The Lady Eve, Double Indemnity, Meet John Doe. 0:14:42.080 --> 0:14:45.080 Yes, and she said Xanik chased her around his office 0:14:45.120 --> 0:14:48.640 and attempted to rape her. Barbara Stanwick was one of 0:14:48.680 --> 0:14:51.280 the few big stars in the Golden Age who never 0:14:51.440 --> 0:14:54.840 signed a long term studio contract. She worked for Fox 0:14:54.880 --> 0:14:57.880 a few times, including once in nineteen thirty eight, and 0:14:58.080 --> 0:15:00.320 it is possible this incident occurred then. 0:15:00.960 --> 0:15:03.560 So what about Judy Holiday? She was usually typecast as 0:15:03.560 --> 0:15:04.600 the ditzy blonde. 0:15:05.160 --> 0:15:08.040 Yes she was, and the irony there was that she 0:15:08.120 --> 0:15:10.080 had an IQ of one hundred and seventy two, which 0:15:10.160 --> 0:15:14.160 qualified her as a genius. Her encounter with xanik was 0:15:14.200 --> 0:15:16.400 in nineteen forty three, when she was a twenty two 0:15:16.480 --> 0:15:19.480 year old day player at Fox. Her agent put her 0:15:19.480 --> 0:15:22.440 on Xanic's schedule for one of his four o'clock auditions. 0:15:23.080 --> 0:15:27.040 The agent also advised her to wear falsees in her bra. 0:15:27.320 --> 0:15:30.320 And when you say falses, you mean like these pads 0:15:30.320 --> 0:15:32.000 that go in your bra. I've got it a lot 0:15:32.000 --> 0:15:34.040 of stylis entergey. It would call those chicken cutlets. 0:15:34.120 --> 0:15:36.560 Oh, I love the visual. Yes. 0:15:37.480 --> 0:15:40.800 At the meeting, xanik On zipped his pants, grabbed her 0:15:40.840 --> 0:15:45.000 breasts and said, you belong to me. Judy pushed his 0:15:45.080 --> 0:15:48.360 hands away, pulled out the falsies and threw them at him. 0:15:48.840 --> 0:15:52.240 These belong to you, She reportedly said. 0:15:52.760 --> 0:15:53.600 I don't. 0:15:54.240 --> 0:15:57.760 Assuming this is true, it may explain why Judy Holliday's 0:15:57.840 --> 0:16:00.000 hit movies were all made at other studios. 0:16:00.600 --> 0:16:02.600 So Betty Grabel, A lot of people might know that 0:16:02.680 --> 0:16:04.120 name but don't know much about her career. 0:16:04.520 --> 0:16:07.520 Yeah, Betty Grabel is best remembered today as the World 0:16:07.600 --> 0:16:10.760 War Two pinup queen. There was a famous poster of 0:16:10.800 --> 0:16:13.160 her in a swimsuit and heels with her back to 0:16:13.200 --> 0:16:16.320 the camera, looking over her shoulder at the camera and smiling. 0:16:16.800 --> 0:16:20.640 It was very popular with American soldiers serving overseas during 0:16:20.640 --> 0:16:23.960 the war. Both before and after the war, Betty Grabil 0:16:24.080 --> 0:16:27.000 was one of the biggest stars at Fox, but her 0:16:27.120 --> 0:16:30.200 value to the company didn't stop Zanik from inviting her 0:16:30.200 --> 0:16:34.040 into his office hideaway. After locking the door, he turned 0:16:34.240 --> 0:16:39.320 and exposed himself. Grabil reportedly said, that's beautiful. You can 0:16:39.320 --> 0:16:42.400 put it away now. She got up and left the room. 0:16:42.920 --> 0:16:45.520 And then we have Hollywood's perhaps most famous and perpetual 0:16:45.640 --> 0:16:48.360 victim of sexual abuse and harassment, Marilyn Monroe. 0:16:48.560 --> 0:16:52.080 Yes, Marilyn was the next big star to come along 0:16:52.120 --> 0:16:55.600 at Fox after Betty Grable. In nineteen forty six, when 0:16:55.600 --> 0:16:58.600 she was still Norma Jean Mortensen, she was given a 0:16:58.600 --> 0:17:02.160 screen test at the studio. Everyone involved thought the test 0:17:02.280 --> 0:17:06.760 was exceptional. One executive said it gave him a cold chill, 0:17:07.160 --> 0:17:09.720 but when Darryl Xenik saw the test a few days later, 0:17:10.000 --> 0:17:13.640 he got no chills. He signed her anyway on July 0:17:13.760 --> 0:17:17.239 twenty third, nineteen forty six. When her contract was up. 0:17:17.240 --> 0:17:21.080 A year later, it was not renewed. No reason was given, 0:17:21.160 --> 0:17:23.639 and people who'd worked with Marylyn that year thought she 0:17:23.880 --> 0:17:28.200 was great. There have been dozens of biographies about Marilyn Monroe. 0:17:28.359 --> 0:17:31.560 She even wrote an autobiography herself, but it's still not 0:17:31.760 --> 0:17:36.040 clear why Xenik dropped her. Then eight years later, Marilyn 0:17:36.240 --> 0:17:40.080 said something to British actress Joan Collins that was interesting. 0:17:40.760 --> 0:17:43.240 Collins was twenty one years old and had a promising 0:17:43.280 --> 0:17:47.720 career in movies. Marilyn gave her advice about working in Hollywood, 0:17:48.560 --> 0:17:51.720 especially watch out for Xanax. She said, if he doesn't 0:17:51.760 --> 0:17:55.520 get what he wants, honey, he'll drop your contract. Was 0:17:55.600 --> 0:17:59.600 Marilyn speaking from first hand experience. Did Zanik drop her 0:17:59.600 --> 0:18:02.560 a nineteen teen forty seven because she had rejected him 0:18:02.640 --> 0:18:07.000 during a private audition. Well we'll never know that, but 0:18:07.119 --> 0:18:10.560 what we do know is Xanik would stall or even 0:18:10.680 --> 0:18:14.320 up end careers of actresses who told him no. That's 0:18:14.400 --> 0:18:16.720 apparently what happened with Carol Landis. 0:18:17.080 --> 0:18:19.360 I'm not as familiar with her. Tell me about Carol Well. 0:18:19.440 --> 0:18:22.480 Carol Landis was a talented and voluptuous actress who was 0:18:22.560 --> 0:18:25.560 known for her comedic chops. By the time Xanik signed 0:18:25.560 --> 0:18:28.560 her in nineteen forty, she had already been under contract 0:18:28.600 --> 0:18:32.080 at Warner Brothers and other studios. Her early movies tended 0:18:32.119 --> 0:18:35.120 to be be pictures, so the contract with Fox gave 0:18:35.160 --> 0:18:39.359 her the opportunity to really up her game. After she 0:18:39.520 --> 0:18:43.080 and Xanik had sex, a rare thing happened. Instead of 0:18:43.080 --> 0:18:45.879 his usual one time deal, it got to be a 0:18:45.920 --> 0:18:50.280 regular thing. But when she ended the affair, Xank reportedly 0:18:50.359 --> 0:18:54.680 became furious. Her contract was not renewed in nineteen forty six, 0:18:55.640 --> 0:18:58.240 and in a tragic note, two years later, after a 0:18:58.280 --> 0:19:02.280 failed romance with married act to Rex Harrison, Carol Landis 0:19:02.320 --> 0:19:03.440 committed suicide. 0:19:04.000 --> 0:19:07.000 That's so sad. What about Joan Collins? Did she steer 0:19:07.000 --> 0:19:08.639 clear of Xenic after Maryland's warning? 0:19:08.840 --> 0:19:11.800 Well? She wrote recently that she tried to avoid them 0:19:11.840 --> 0:19:14.560 at the studio and A few days later, she said, 0:19:15.040 --> 0:19:18.639 Darryl Zanik pounced on me and trapped me against a wall, 0:19:18.920 --> 0:19:22.480 breathing cigar fumes. He hissed, you haven't had anyone until 0:19:22.520 --> 0:19:25.160 you had me. Honey, I'm the biggest and the best, 0:19:25.240 --> 0:19:28.120 and I can go all night. I was so shocked, 0:19:28.160 --> 0:19:31.240 I couldn't think of anything to say. I managed to 0:19:31.280 --> 0:19:33.480 wriggle free and ran back to the set. 0:19:34.080 --> 0:19:37.680 Now, obviously there's no human resources department to report this too. Now, 0:19:37.680 --> 0:19:40.439 but aren't we aware of other prominent Hollywood journalists were 0:19:40.480 --> 0:19:41.720 aware of what Zenic was up to. 0:19:42.359 --> 0:19:44.680 Well, there's very little evidence one way or the other, 0:19:44.840 --> 0:19:49.280 with one notable exception. W. R. Wilkinson the Third has 0:19:49.320 --> 0:19:52.280 written a couple of books about his father, Billy Wilkerson, 0:19:52.720 --> 0:19:55.800 the founder and publisher of The Hollywood Reporter. In his 0:19:55.840 --> 0:20:00.439 book Hollywood Godfather, Wilkerson wrote that his father knew about 0:20:00.560 --> 0:20:04.280 Xanik's four o'clock auditions, and he also knew about Harry 0:20:04.320 --> 0:20:08.600 Cone's casting couch abuse at Columbia Pictures. Xank and Billy 0:20:08.680 --> 0:20:12.919 Wilkerson were friends, and Wilkerson kept quiet about what he knew. 0:20:13.280 --> 0:20:16.120 So we've talked about Xeni's early in quite toxic life. 0:20:16.160 --> 0:20:17.239 How did he fare later on? 0:20:18.359 --> 0:20:20.760 Well? During World War Two, he served as colonel in 0:20:20.840 --> 0:20:23.560 the US Signal Corps. His job was to produce training 0:20:23.560 --> 0:20:27.480 films and documentaries. He was deployed to Africa in nineteen 0:20:27.560 --> 0:20:30.480 forty two to film The Invasion, which was one of 0:20:30.520 --> 0:20:34.640 America's first big operations in the war. Later, he received 0:20:34.680 --> 0:20:37.879 a legion of Merit for his war services. When he 0:20:37.920 --> 0:20:40.760 returned to work at Fox, he had some housekeeping to do. 0:20:41.320 --> 0:20:44.879 His office had been taken over by another producer. His 0:20:45.040 --> 0:20:48.880 four o'clock hideaway had been turned into a file room. 0:20:49.440 --> 0:20:54.080 Xanik had everything painted green again. The Safari trophies came back, 0:20:54.320 --> 0:20:57.520 the filing cabinets were out, and a new day bed 0:20:57.720 --> 0:21:01.800 was in The four o'clock auditions were soon back in business. 0:21:02.280 --> 0:21:04.280 My god, how long did this actually go on? And 0:21:04.280 --> 0:21:05.520 when did it eventually stop? 0:21:05.800 --> 0:21:06.080 Well? 0:21:06.160 --> 0:21:09.280 They stopped at Fox in nineteen fifty six, when Zanik 0:21:09.400 --> 0:21:12.679 left the company and became an independent producer. In nineteen 0:21:12.720 --> 0:21:16.159 fifty seven, he produced The Sun Also Rises, which was 0:21:16.200 --> 0:21:19.879 one of Errol Flynn's last films. He also produced The 0:21:19.960 --> 0:21:23.320 Longest Day, starring John Wayne in nineteen sixty two. It 0:21:23.440 --> 0:21:27.159 was a critical and box office hit, But then he 0:21:27.240 --> 0:21:29.720 began to lose his footing. He put a lot of 0:21:29.760 --> 0:21:33.440 effort into turning his girlfriends into movie stars. Never worked 0:21:33.440 --> 0:21:37.520 out the careers of these women, Juliet Greco, Belladarvi and 0:21:37.840 --> 0:21:41.159 Riina Demisch failed one after another. 0:21:41.480 --> 0:21:43.040 And was his wife still okay with all this? 0:21:43.800 --> 0:21:47.080 Apparently not. It was around this time that Darryl and 0:21:47.160 --> 0:21:51.200 Virginia separated. She'd been patient for way too long. The 0:21:51.320 --> 0:21:54.040 Xanax never divorced, but they lived apart for the next 0:21:54.080 --> 0:21:57.920 twenty years. Xanik returned to Fox in nineteen sixty two 0:21:57.960 --> 0:22:01.040 and served as president. He was there when the studio 0:22:01.160 --> 0:22:07.200 released Cleopatra, one of the most expensive bombs Hollywood ever produced. 0:22:07.400 --> 0:22:09.960 So Xanik turned sixty in nineteen sixty two after this 0:22:10.119 --> 0:22:12.720 tremendous failure. Is he thinking about retirement? 0:22:13.600 --> 0:22:17.080 Not at all? In fact, he started working remotely. He 0:22:17.160 --> 0:22:20.399 moved to Paris in nineteen sixty five. He met a 0:22:20.440 --> 0:22:23.440