1 00:00:00,160 --> 00:00:03,480 Speaker 1: This episode contains content that may be disturbing to some listeners. 2 00:00:03,840 --> 00:00:08,600 Speaker 1: Please check the show notes for more information. Disgrayland is 3 00:00:08,640 --> 00:00:23,439 Speaker 1: a production of Double Elvis. This is a story about 4 00:00:23,600 --> 00:00:26,720 Speaker 1: one of the most compelling musical artists in modern times. 5 00:00:27,640 --> 00:00:31,920 Speaker 1: It's also a story about an illicit underage romance, an abduction, 6 00:00:32,440 --> 00:00:37,200 Speaker 1: and an international manhunt, about sexual liberation, and a scandalous 7 00:00:37,240 --> 00:00:41,200 Speaker 1: story that is almost too scandalous to talk about. It's 8 00:00:41,200 --> 00:00:46,199 Speaker 1: a story about a starlet, sex appeal and psychopaths, and 9 00:00:46,240 --> 00:00:49,760 Speaker 1: it's also about an artist who doesn't fit into a box. 10 00:00:50,520 --> 00:00:56,440 Speaker 1: Lana del Rey a musician who makes great music, unlike 11 00:00:56,480 --> 00:00:58,240 Speaker 1: that music I've played for you at the top of 12 00:00:58,280 --> 00:01:02,880 Speaker 1: the show. That was great music. That was a preset 13 00:01:02,920 --> 00:01:08,679 Speaker 1: loot from my melotron called Yacht Funk MK two. I 14 00:01:08,760 --> 00:01:11,280 Speaker 1: played you that loop because I can't afford the rights 15 00:01:11,319 --> 00:01:16,720 Speaker 1: to We Found Love by Rihanna featuring Calvin Harris. And 16 00:01:16,760 --> 00:01:20,720 Speaker 1: why would I play you that specific slice of hopeless Cheese? 17 00:01:20,760 --> 00:01:24,720 Speaker 1: Could I afford it? Because that was the number one 18 00:01:24,800 --> 00:01:29,160 Speaker 1: song in America on January thirty first, twenty twelve, and 19 00:01:29,280 --> 00:01:31,840 Speaker 1: that was the day that Lana del Rey released her 20 00:01:31,959 --> 00:01:35,880 Speaker 1: debut studio album, An album that announced a new artist 21 00:01:35,920 --> 00:01:39,000 Speaker 1: who wasn't afraid to risk it, to create her own 22 00:01:39,080 --> 00:01:42,479 Speaker 1: playbook and do it her own way, not how anyone 23 00:01:42,560 --> 00:01:48,400 Speaker 1: else expected or told her to. On this episode Illicit Romance, 24 00:01:48,760 --> 00:01:55,080 Speaker 1: an International Manhunt, Starlet's Psychopaths, Three Dark Stories, and Lana 25 00:01:55,120 --> 00:02:34,160 Speaker 1: del Rey. I'm Jake Brennan in This Is Disgraceland. The 26 00:02:34,160 --> 00:02:38,520 Speaker 1: title of this episode is three Dark Stories Inspired by 27 00:02:38,919 --> 00:02:44,160 Speaker 1: Lama Delray because Lama's music and image are as evocative 28 00:02:44,280 --> 00:02:46,920 Speaker 1: and compelling as the myth that she's built around her. 29 00:02:48,000 --> 00:02:52,600 Speaker 1: While researching Lana Delray the Artist or Elizabeth Grant that's 30 00:02:52,880 --> 00:02:56,680 Speaker 1: Lama's birth name, the person, I naturally learned more about 31 00:02:56,800 --> 00:03:03,240 Speaker 1: what inspired her twentieth century Americana, classic noir, Melancholia, Romanticism, 32 00:03:03,760 --> 00:03:08,480 Speaker 1: and the enduring legacy of the American risk taker. Throughout 33 00:03:08,480 --> 00:03:13,200 Speaker 1: this discovery, I found myself continually prompted to explore the 34 00:03:13,240 --> 00:03:17,560 Speaker 1: stories of other fascinating women whose histories I may not 35 00:03:17,680 --> 00:03:20,480 Speaker 1: have otherwise been interested in were it not for Lona 36 00:03:20,520 --> 00:03:26,160 Speaker 1: Delray's powerful songs and visual imagery. These things inspired me 37 00:03:26,639 --> 00:03:31,760 Speaker 1: drove my curiosity in unearthed, three incredibly scandalous and true 38 00:03:31,800 --> 00:03:38,240 Speaker 1: stories about three incredibly scandalous and truly fascinating women Lana Turner, 39 00:03:38,640 --> 00:03:43,680 Speaker 1: Catherine the Great, and Megan's Stammers. Each of their stories 40 00:03:43,720 --> 00:03:46,760 Speaker 1: seemed to me to be ripped straight from the lyrics 41 00:03:46,800 --> 00:03:50,960 Speaker 1: of a Lonna Delray song. Now, this episode might have 42 00:03:51,000 --> 00:03:55,120 Speaker 1: been titled three Dark Stories that Inspired Lona Delray, because 43 00:03:55,200 --> 00:03:58,040 Speaker 1: given how well read and history minded Lona Delray is, 44 00:03:58,560 --> 00:04:01,160 Speaker 1: it's easy to see how the songwriter could have heard 45 00:04:01,160 --> 00:04:03,680 Speaker 1: these stories I'm about to tell you and been inspired 46 00:04:03,680 --> 00:04:06,800 Speaker 1: herself to weave them into her songs. But I can't 47 00:04:06,800 --> 00:04:10,000 Speaker 1: say that with any certainty because Lnna del Rey, like 48 00:04:10,160 --> 00:04:15,160 Speaker 1: all great artists, isn't particularly forthcoming regarding her lyrics. She 49 00:04:15,280 --> 00:04:19,120 Speaker 1: keeps it mysterious, which I appreciate because it allows us 50 00:04:19,160 --> 00:04:22,040 Speaker 1: to sit back and consider the artist, her music, and 51 00:04:22,120 --> 00:04:27,280 Speaker 1: her image more deeply. The mystery compels us to dream, 52 00:04:28,120 --> 00:04:31,120 Speaker 1: and let's be honest, Lana del Rey's music has a 53 00:04:31,120 --> 00:04:39,839 Speaker 1: certain dreamlike quality to it. On January thirty first, twenty twelve, 54 00:04:40,320 --> 00:04:43,880 Speaker 1: Lnna del Rey released her debut major label album, Born 55 00:04:43,960 --> 00:04:47,200 Speaker 1: to Die. As part of the recording of this album, 56 00:04:47,360 --> 00:04:51,640 Speaker 1: there is an unreleased track entitled Lolita, which is of 57 00:04:51,680 --> 00:04:55,240 Speaker 1: course a reference to the famous Vladimir Nabokov novel from 58 00:04:55,279 --> 00:04:58,560 Speaker 1: nineteen fifty five of the same name and the inspiration 59 00:04:58,680 --> 00:05:01,760 Speaker 1: behind the Stanley Kubrick fil adaptation, the one with the 60 00:05:01,960 --> 00:05:05,480 Speaker 1: iconic imagery of actress Sue Lyon in those cherry red 61 00:05:05,480 --> 00:05:09,120 Speaker 1: heart shaped sunglasses on the movie poster, the same heart 62 00:05:09,120 --> 00:05:14,000 Speaker 1: shaped sunglasses Lana Delray sang about on another unreleased song, 63 00:05:14,440 --> 00:05:18,640 Speaker 1: the demo every Man Gets His Wish, which contains the 64 00:05:18,760 --> 00:05:23,159 Speaker 1: lyrics he loves my heart shaped sunglasses, he loves the 65 00:05:23,240 --> 00:05:27,839 Speaker 1: shape my heart shaped ass is. The Lolita theme is 66 00:05:27,880 --> 00:05:31,080 Speaker 1: one that Lana has played with numerous times in numerous 67 00:05:31,080 --> 00:05:34,839 Speaker 1: songs and videos throughout her career. It's also the subject 68 00:05:34,920 --> 00:05:38,160 Speaker 1: of many think pieces and message board threads throughout Reddit. 69 00:05:38,279 --> 00:05:43,720 Speaker 1: In the Lana Verse, Nabokov's Lolita character is very much 70 00:05:43,920 --> 00:05:46,840 Speaker 1: the victim. She's a twelve year old girl who has 71 00:05:46,920 --> 00:05:50,679 Speaker 1: taken advantage of by an obsessed, out of work male teacher. 72 00:05:51,760 --> 00:05:55,080 Speaker 1: But the Lolita characters Lana del Rey depicts are knowing, 73 00:05:55,480 --> 00:06:00,240 Speaker 1: willing participants in the illicit romances they're entangled in. At 74 00:06:00,279 --> 00:06:04,520 Speaker 1: least in Lana's depictions, these young women are not without agency, 75 00:06:05,080 --> 00:06:08,239 Speaker 1: and yet another unreleased Lana del Rey song prom Song 76 00:06:08,360 --> 00:06:11,720 Speaker 1: Gone Wrong. The lyrics go I knew you loved me 77 00:06:11,880 --> 00:06:14,920 Speaker 1: by the way you looked in second period, I'd see 78 00:06:14,920 --> 00:06:18,200 Speaker 1: you in the halls like hello, Hello, up against the 79 00:06:18,240 --> 00:06:22,360 Speaker 1: wall like let's go, let's go. And then in another 80 00:06:22,440 --> 00:06:27,320 Speaker 1: song entitled Boarding School, Lana sings let's do drugs make 81 00:06:27,400 --> 00:06:35,240 Speaker 1: love with our teachers. Boarding School was Kent School in Connecticut, where, 82 00:06:35,360 --> 00:06:38,320 Speaker 1: if were to believe the myth, Lana del Rey was 83 00:06:38,360 --> 00:06:41,520 Speaker 1: sent to attend as a fourteen year old in part 84 00:06:41,600 --> 00:06:46,719 Speaker 1: to overcome her alcoholism and bad girl behavioral issues. Lana 85 00:06:46,800 --> 00:06:50,240 Speaker 1: graduated in two thousand and three. Of her time there, 86 00:06:50,640 --> 00:06:54,039 Speaker 1: she has spoken about an older man, a teacher who 87 00:06:54,080 --> 00:06:57,440 Speaker 1: had an outsized influence on her, a man by the 88 00:06:57,560 --> 00:07:01,440 Speaker 1: name of Jeane Campbell, whom Lana says was her only 89 00:07:01,480 --> 00:07:05,120 Speaker 1: friend in school a time when she was excessively lonely. 90 00:07:05,800 --> 00:07:09,720 Speaker 1: He was twenty two, she was fifteen. He'd drive her 91 00:07:09,760 --> 00:07:12,400 Speaker 1: around in his car and turned around to music. In 92 00:07:12,480 --> 00:07:17,679 Speaker 1: literature she'd never heard or heard of Tupac, Biggie Whitman, 93 00:07:18,200 --> 00:07:22,680 Speaker 1: and Nomokov. Lana has said about this teacher, quote, we 94 00:07:22,760 --> 00:07:29,280 Speaker 1: read Lolita and it changed my world. Unquote. Neither Lana 95 00:07:29,360 --> 00:07:33,560 Speaker 1: nor her teacher has confirmed or denied any inappropriate relationship. 96 00:07:34,080 --> 00:07:39,200 Speaker 1: But Lana's quotes don't exactly depict a helpless Lolita. They 97 00:07:39,240 --> 00:07:44,840 Speaker 1: describe a curious, literary minded young girl, perhaps dangerously infatuated, 98 00:07:45,560 --> 00:07:49,480 Speaker 1: much like another young girl, a fourteen year old student 99 00:07:49,600 --> 00:07:54,640 Speaker 1: from East Sussex, England, named Megan Stammers. And there's no 100 00:07:54,720 --> 00:07:57,160 Speaker 1: way for me to know whether Lana del Rey is 101 00:07:57,200 --> 00:08:01,120 Speaker 1: aware of the incredible story of Megan's Stammers, or if 102 00:08:01,160 --> 00:08:05,120 Speaker 1: Meghan's story inspired Lana in any way, or whether Megan 103 00:08:05,200 --> 00:08:09,080 Speaker 1: was inspired by Lana's Lolita fascination. But you can be 104 00:08:09,120 --> 00:08:15,480 Speaker 1: the judge. In twenty twelve, fourteen year old Meghan Stammers 105 00:08:15,680 --> 00:08:18,320 Speaker 1: was a normal sophomore at the Bishop Bell School in 106 00:08:18,360 --> 00:08:22,880 Speaker 1: Coastal England. She listened to music, kept up with her studies, 107 00:08:23,360 --> 00:08:27,840 Speaker 1: and exchanged crushes with boys her own age. Then she 108 00:08:27,920 --> 00:08:30,680 Speaker 1: got caught up in an obsessive and illicit romance with 109 00:08:30,720 --> 00:08:36,120 Speaker 1: her thirty year old math professor Jeremy Forrest. Jeremy was, 110 00:08:36,440 --> 00:08:40,440 Speaker 1: by fourteen year old girl standards, the cool professor. He 111 00:08:40,520 --> 00:08:43,800 Speaker 1: had a tattoo, he was in a nirvana. He fumbled 112 00:08:43,920 --> 00:08:47,240 Speaker 1: the chords of Heart Shaped Box on acoustic guitar, and 113 00:08:47,280 --> 00:08:49,760 Speaker 1: he even got up on stage locally for the occasional 114 00:08:49,800 --> 00:08:52,640 Speaker 1: gig where he mumbled what we can only assume he 115 00:08:52,720 --> 00:08:55,920 Speaker 1: believed to be witty lyrics for songs titled all My 116 00:08:56,040 --> 00:09:02,240 Speaker 1: Friends Are Astronauts and Arrows and Hearts. Meghan was smitten. 117 00:09:03,600 --> 00:09:07,480 Speaker 1: Jeremy showed her extra attention on a school trip. Meghan 118 00:09:07,520 --> 00:09:12,440 Speaker 1: couldn't believe that this older, mature, seemingly worldly man would 119 00:09:12,480 --> 00:09:17,280 Speaker 1: be interested in her. She was obsessed. She needed to 120 00:09:17,320 --> 00:09:20,840 Speaker 1: know everything about him. She followed him on Twitter, and 121 00:09:20,880 --> 00:09:25,040 Speaker 1: he followed her back, and soon through direct messages, they 122 00:09:25,040 --> 00:09:28,720 Speaker 1: had a separate line of communication outside of the classroom, 123 00:09:29,000 --> 00:09:31,080 Speaker 1: and it was through that separate and direct line of 124 00:09:31,120 --> 00:09:36,280 Speaker 1: communication that Meghan received an invitation from Jeremy to go 125 00:09:36,360 --> 00:09:41,040 Speaker 1: on a drive, and that drive led to deep conversations, 126 00:09:41,440 --> 00:09:43,160 Speaker 1: well as deep as a fourteen year old and a 127 00:09:43,160 --> 00:09:46,440 Speaker 1: thirty year old can get. I guess, but Meghan felt 128 00:09:46,600 --> 00:09:49,720 Speaker 1: seen not. To this point, Meghan had developed an eating 129 00:09:49,720 --> 00:09:53,840 Speaker 1: disorder and hadn't told anyone but Jeremy, and Jeremy apparently 130 00:09:53,920 --> 00:09:55,920 Speaker 1: knew just what to say to Meghan to make her 131 00:09:55,960 --> 00:10:00,520 Speaker 1: feel better about her situation. The drive he turned into 132 00:10:00,559 --> 00:10:03,960 Speaker 1: subsequent drives which turned into long walks by the ocean 133 00:10:03,960 --> 00:10:07,079 Speaker 1: in the seaside town where Meghan went to school, and 134 00:10:07,240 --> 00:10:11,079 Speaker 1: those walks eventually led to a first kiss just after 135 00:10:11,160 --> 00:10:18,320 Speaker 1: Megan's fifteenth birthday to her teacher, a man twice her age. 136 00:10:18,480 --> 00:10:22,280 Speaker 1: Jeremy somehow convinced his wife that it was okay for Meghan, 137 00:10:22,360 --> 00:10:25,079 Speaker 1: his student, to hang around the house to watch TV, 138 00:10:25,600 --> 00:10:29,679 Speaker 1: do her homework, and listen to music. Jeremy convinced Meghan 139 00:10:30,080 --> 00:10:32,120 Speaker 1: that he was on the outs with his wife and 140 00:10:32,120 --> 00:10:35,560 Speaker 1: that his marriage would soon be over. It was in 141 00:10:35,679 --> 00:10:39,000 Speaker 1: Jeremy and his wife's spare bedroom where the teacher first 142 00:10:39,040 --> 00:10:42,839 Speaker 1: had sex with the fifteen year old student. That act 143 00:10:43,320 --> 00:10:47,520 Speaker 1: in the subsequent times they had sex only increased Meghan's 144 00:10:47,520 --> 00:10:52,240 Speaker 1: obsession with her teacher. As she recounted the story, that 145 00:10:52,280 --> 00:10:55,080 Speaker 1: time in her life was a romantic blur of quote, 146 00:10:55,280 --> 00:10:59,319 Speaker 1: car rides, kisses and out of town cinema trips, unquote, 147 00:11:00,160 --> 00:11:05,000 Speaker 1: car rides, kisses, and cinema sounds like images from a 148 00:11:05,080 --> 00:11:09,440 Speaker 1: Lana del Rey video. Meghan described this point in her 149 00:11:09,480 --> 00:11:12,520 Speaker 1: relationship with Jeremy as the point at which their escape 150 00:11:12,559 --> 00:11:16,920 Speaker 1: fantasy took hold. They dreamed lovingly of a life outside 151 00:11:16,920 --> 00:11:18,920 Speaker 1: of the town where they lived and worked and where 152 00:11:18,920 --> 00:11:21,600 Speaker 1: everyone knew them, to a place where they could live 153 00:11:21,720 --> 00:11:26,439 Speaker 1: in love anonymously despite their age difference, and they settled 154 00:11:26,480 --> 00:11:32,040 Speaker 1: on France. Back in school, of course, the rumors started 155 00:11:32,080 --> 00:11:36,160 Speaker 1: to fly, and then the police took an interest. Then 156 00:11:36,240 --> 00:11:39,160 Speaker 1: they questioned Meghan and her mother, and then they questioned 157 00:11:39,240 --> 00:11:42,720 Speaker 1: Jeremy and his wife. The writing was on the wall. 158 00:11:43,320 --> 00:11:46,640 Speaker 1: The pieces started to click into place for Megan's friends 159 00:11:46,679 --> 00:11:50,680 Speaker 1: and family, and the same went for Jeremy's colleagues all 160 00:11:50,720 --> 00:11:53,720 Speaker 1: that time that the teacher was spending with that young girl. 161 00:11:54,640 --> 00:11:58,880 Speaker 1: Of course, how had they not seen it? Judgment would 162 00:11:58,920 --> 00:12:02,160 Speaker 1: be swift Meghan's point of view, the fact that she 163 00:12:02,400 --> 00:12:05,240 Speaker 1: loved Jeremy would have nothing to do with how authorities 164 00:12:05,320 --> 00:12:09,480 Speaker 1: treated the situation. Jeremy would go to jail, and Jeremy 165 00:12:09,480 --> 00:12:13,360 Speaker 1: couldn't have that. So Jeremy and Meghan went on the run, 166 00:12:15,280 --> 00:12:18,160 Speaker 1: like some modern day Bonnie and Clyde, inspired not by 167 00:12:18,200 --> 00:12:21,880 Speaker 1: bank vault riches but by the illicit romance of Navacos Lolita, 168 00:12:22,800 --> 00:12:26,040 Speaker 1: Meghan and Jeremy racing through the night away from that 169 00:12:26,200 --> 00:12:32,480 Speaker 1: dreary English town and off to France. The trajectory of 170 00:12:32,520 --> 00:12:35,320 Speaker 1: Meghan's young love life begins with her on an East 171 00:12:35,360 --> 00:12:38,760 Speaker 1: Sussex beach, like Lana del Rey in the music video 172 00:12:38,800 --> 00:12:42,320 Speaker 1: for her song West Coast, twirling on that beach with 173 00:12:42,400 --> 00:12:47,000 Speaker 1: an age appropriate crush, and then off into the dark, 174 00:12:47,640 --> 00:12:51,040 Speaker 1: fleeing in the passenger seat of an empiric older man's car, 175 00:12:51,600 --> 00:12:54,160 Speaker 1: like Lana del Rey in her Shades of Cool video, 176 00:12:54,559 --> 00:12:59,079 Speaker 1: Meghan being driven off toward an uncertain future, the romance 177 00:12:59,080 --> 00:13:04,720 Speaker 1: of it all compelling her. The missing schoolgirl and the 178 00:13:04,720 --> 00:13:07,880 Speaker 1: thirty year old teacher who abducted her, triggered an international 179 00:13:07,920 --> 00:13:12,040 Speaker 1: manhunt in September of twenty twelve. It took only seven 180 00:13:12,120 --> 00:13:14,760 Speaker 1: days for authorities to find Meghan and Jeremy in the 181 00:13:14,760 --> 00:13:18,280 Speaker 1: French city of Bordeaux. Their short lived life on the 182 00:13:18,360 --> 00:13:22,800 Speaker 1: run ended with Jeremy's arrest and Meghan's return to her parents. 183 00:13:23,440 --> 00:13:26,600 Speaker 1: Jeremy got five and a half years in prison, but 184 00:13:26,720 --> 00:13:31,400 Speaker 1: the sentencing didn't quell Meghan's romance. She wrote Jeremy multiple 185 00:13:31,480 --> 00:13:35,280 Speaker 1: love letters that were intercepted by prison authorities, and Megan 186 00:13:35,320 --> 00:13:38,600 Speaker 1: even attempted to visit Jeremy in jail, but she was denied. 187 00:13:39,600 --> 00:13:44,600 Speaker 1: Meghan blamed herself for Jeremy's incarceration, saying that she initiated 188 00:13:44,600 --> 00:13:49,560 Speaker 1: the relationship and suggested they run away together. It's funny 189 00:13:49,600 --> 00:13:54,520 Speaker 1: what inspiration will do. As young adults, we see ourselves 190 00:13:54,559 --> 00:13:56,640 Speaker 1: in the songs and in the books that we listen 191 00:13:56,720 --> 00:14:04,160 Speaker 1: to and read. It's fantasy escapism. Megan Stammers's obsession was 192 00:14:04,200 --> 00:14:09,319 Speaker 1: inspired and was definitely misplaced, regardless of where it came from, 193 00:14:09,960 --> 00:14:13,400 Speaker 1: be it Nirvana's heart shaped box or Lnna del Rey 194 00:14:13,520 --> 00:14:45,640 Speaker 1: and Lolita's heart shaped sunglasses. Lnna del Rey enters the 195 00:14:45,720 --> 00:14:49,920 Speaker 1: pool in slow motion in a retro one piece bathing suit. 196 00:14:52,240 --> 00:14:55,520 Speaker 1: It's a sexually charged moment in a music video filled 197 00:14:55,640 --> 00:14:59,920 Speaker 1: with sexually charged moments, Lama's video for her two thouh 198 00:15:00,320 --> 00:15:07,040 Speaker 1: twelve single Blue Jeans. There's her lover, tall, thin cut, 199 00:15:07,560 --> 00:15:11,400 Speaker 1: fully illustrated in the flesh, with tattoos everywhere over his 200 00:15:11,480 --> 00:15:15,960 Speaker 1: hands and face. He strips down to his underwear before 201 00:15:16,040 --> 00:15:20,320 Speaker 1: taking to the pool himself. His tattooed hand reaches for 202 00:15:20,440 --> 00:15:24,520 Speaker 1: Lana's neck, but then she takes his fingers into her mouth. 203 00:15:26,160 --> 00:15:28,280 Speaker 1: The couple acts as though they are all alone in 204 00:15:28,320 --> 00:15:33,840 Speaker 1: that pool, but they aren't. There's an alligator swimming below them. 205 00:15:34,840 --> 00:15:40,280 Speaker 1: Lana is unfazed. Great sex, like great art, is sometimes 206 00:15:40,320 --> 00:15:46,000 Speaker 1: a risk. As the video continues, Lana breaks from her 207 00:15:46,000 --> 00:15:50,680 Speaker 1: lover and swims with the alligator beneath the surface. She 208 00:15:50,840 --> 00:15:54,520 Speaker 1: writhes in her bathing suit, pressing her flesh against the 209 00:15:54,560 --> 00:16:00,320 Speaker 1: animal's long, jagged tail. The interpretation is that the violently looking, 210 00:16:00,360 --> 00:16:05,520 Speaker 1: illustrated man is enough. Only the savage man eating beast 211 00:16:06,000 --> 00:16:12,920 Speaker 1: can satiate Laanna del Rey is a myth building the 212 00:16:12,960 --> 00:16:17,560 Speaker 1: symbolism of the hinted bestiality. That power dynamic inspired me 213 00:16:17,600 --> 00:16:20,800 Speaker 1: to wonder what Lana del Rey's thoughts, if any, might 214 00:16:20,840 --> 00:16:24,080 Speaker 1: have been during the making of this video about one 215 00:16:24,080 --> 00:16:27,400 Speaker 1: of the most powerful women of all time, Catherine the Great, 216 00:16:27,920 --> 00:16:32,360 Speaker 1: in the mythology surrounding that particular royal sexual appetite and 217 00:16:32,440 --> 00:16:37,760 Speaker 1: one of the most scandalous rumors of all time. It 218 00:16:37,800 --> 00:16:41,480 Speaker 1: was July and it was hot, a rare early summer 219 00:16:41,520 --> 00:16:44,640 Speaker 1: heat wave in Saint Petersburg, the seat of the Russian 220 00:16:44,640 --> 00:16:49,000 Speaker 1: Empire in seventeen ninety six. The young man waited in 221 00:16:49,040 --> 00:16:52,960 Speaker 1: the apartment located inside the palace. He was unsure what 222 00:16:53,040 --> 00:16:55,800 Speaker 1: to do with himself in his new home. He was 223 00:16:55,840 --> 00:16:58,640 Speaker 1: even unsure about how long this would be his new home. 224 00:17:00,120 --> 00:17:02,720 Speaker 1: All he knew was that he could live here indefinitely, 225 00:17:03,120 --> 00:17:05,119 Speaker 1: and he could do whatever he wanted, so long as 226 00:17:05,119 --> 00:17:09,240 Speaker 1: he made himself available at all times sexually to the Empress, 227 00:17:09,440 --> 00:17:13,240 Speaker 1: who lived in the adjacent apartment. The young man had 228 00:17:13,280 --> 00:17:16,000 Speaker 1: not yet met the Empress, known as Catherine the Great. 229 00:17:16,400 --> 00:17:20,280 Speaker 1: He'd only met her Countess, an encounter he enjoyed very much. 230 00:17:20,560 --> 00:17:24,360 Speaker 1: Despite the Countess's age, she put the young man through 231 00:17:24,400 --> 00:17:27,920 Speaker 1: his sexual paces. It was thrilling being with an older 232 00:17:27,960 --> 00:17:30,240 Speaker 1: woman who knew exactly what she wanted and how to 233 00:17:30,280 --> 00:17:33,960 Speaker 1: get it. The countess wasn't as old as the Empress, 234 00:17:34,000 --> 00:17:38,879 Speaker 1: though the Empress was sixty seven. The countess's job was 235 00:17:38,920 --> 00:17:40,880 Speaker 1: to give the young man a trial run to see 236 00:17:40,920 --> 00:17:43,800 Speaker 1: if he was up to satisfying the Empress, and that 237 00:17:43,920 --> 00:17:49,000 Speaker 1: meant two things, size and stamina. The young man passed 238 00:17:49,040 --> 00:17:53,240 Speaker 1: his royal audition on both counts. So here sat this 239 00:17:53,400 --> 00:17:56,480 Speaker 1: virile young man in his new apartment, poundering the rumors 240 00:17:56,480 --> 00:17:59,159 Speaker 1: he'd heard about his new lover, the Empress of Russia, 241 00:17:59,280 --> 00:18:03,160 Speaker 1: whom he'd never met. The rumors that she was insatiable, 242 00:18:03,560 --> 00:18:06,000 Speaker 1: that she demanded sex up to seven times a day, 243 00:18:06,560 --> 00:18:09,399 Speaker 1: that the Empress, if it pleased her, would make a 244 00:18:09,440 --> 00:18:12,359 Speaker 1: cast of his elephantine penis and use that to satisfy 245 00:18:12,400 --> 00:18:15,560 Speaker 1: her on occasion as well, on those days when he 246 00:18:15,560 --> 00:18:18,120 Speaker 1: her young lover wasn't able to keep up with her. 247 00:18:19,880 --> 00:18:22,399 Speaker 1: What was true about the Empress and what was myth 248 00:18:22,920 --> 00:18:25,400 Speaker 1: wasn't all that hard for the young man to sort out. 249 00:18:27,200 --> 00:18:29,520 Speaker 1: Much of what Catherine the Great had accomplished in her 250 00:18:29,560 --> 00:18:33,520 Speaker 1: sixty seven years was already part of the modern historical record. 251 00:18:34,720 --> 00:18:38,040 Speaker 1: She married into the royal family and outsmarted, and some 252 00:18:38,119 --> 00:18:42,640 Speaker 1: say overthrew her dim witted, sexually inadequate and sadistic animal 253 00:18:42,680 --> 00:18:48,320 Speaker 1: torturing husband, Peter the Third. Peter couldn't perform sexually. Every 254 00:18:48,320 --> 00:18:52,600 Speaker 1: time he got hard, he experienced excruciating pain. He took 255 00:18:52,600 --> 00:18:57,240 Speaker 1: that pain out on helpless animals, dogs and cats, dismembering 256 00:18:57,280 --> 00:19:02,560 Speaker 1: them for fun, relishing the pain he inflicted. Catherine mercilessly 257 00:19:02,600 --> 00:19:05,560 Speaker 1: deposed him and set about to remake the Russian Empire 258 00:19:05,680 --> 00:19:10,639 Speaker 1: in her own image. She conquered new lands in the south. 259 00:19:10,680 --> 00:19:14,359 Speaker 1: She annexed Crimea and colonized large swaths of land for 260 00:19:14,400 --> 00:19:18,600 Speaker 1: strategic outposts to fend off the Ottomans. She partitioned Poland 261 00:19:18,600 --> 00:19:22,320 Speaker 1: and moved as far east as Alaska. She modernized much 262 00:19:22,320 --> 00:19:26,119 Speaker 1: of Russia in lockstep with Western European progress. She was 263 00:19:26,119 --> 00:19:29,840 Speaker 1: an early advocate of the smallpox vaccine, which saved countless lives. 264 00:19:30,480 --> 00:19:33,480 Speaker 1: She was a patron of the arts, a correspondent and 265 00:19:33,520 --> 00:19:36,439 Speaker 1: a confidant of Voltaire, one of the great writers and 266 00:19:36,480 --> 00:19:40,560 Speaker 1: thinkers of the day. And Catherine the Great acquired and 267 00:19:40,600 --> 00:19:44,399 Speaker 1: wielded this great power while tearing through an extensive line 268 00:19:44,440 --> 00:19:49,119 Speaker 1: of lovers, beautiful and sometimes powerful men whom she betted, 269 00:19:49,160 --> 00:19:52,920 Speaker 1: not only for sexual conquest, but sometimes for strategic purposes 270 00:19:52,960 --> 00:19:57,160 Speaker 1: as well, generals and nobles who helped quell palace coups 271 00:19:57,160 --> 00:20:01,960 Speaker 1: and put down regional uprisings. The older Catherine got the 272 00:20:02,040 --> 00:20:05,400 Speaker 1: younger her lover's gut. As a young man waiting dutifully 273 00:20:05,400 --> 00:20:10,120 Speaker 1: in his new apartment, well knew she was insatiable. Youthful 274 00:20:10,200 --> 00:20:13,640 Speaker 1: vigor was necessary to satisfy the aging Empress, and her 275 00:20:14,000 --> 00:20:19,880 Speaker 1: satisfaction didn't go unrewarded. Many upon being discarded after fulfilling 276 00:20:19,880 --> 00:20:24,800 Speaker 1: their duties, were rewarded handsomely for their efforts, but always materially, 277 00:20:25,560 --> 00:20:30,760 Speaker 1: never with any real power. Cash servants, homes, but never 278 00:20:30,800 --> 00:20:35,760 Speaker 1: with anything that would diminish Catherine's reign in any way. 279 00:20:36,760 --> 00:20:39,240 Speaker 1: From where the young man sat, it was tough to 280 00:20:39,320 --> 00:20:43,840 Speaker 1: judge the sexual rumors surrounding Catherine. They called her a deviant, 281 00:20:43,880 --> 00:20:46,960 Speaker 1: but really was any of her behavior worse than what 282 00:20:47,040 --> 00:20:49,720 Speaker 1: was whispered about the men who'd reigned previously here in 283 00:20:49,800 --> 00:20:54,639 Speaker 1: Russia or elsewhere. The Ottoman emperor Ibrahim the Mad was 284 00:20:54,640 --> 00:20:56,520 Speaker 1: said to have had a harem of two hundred and 285 00:20:56,600 --> 00:20:59,439 Speaker 1: eighty women on a whim. One day, he decided he 286 00:20:59,520 --> 00:21:02,800 Speaker 1: was bored, so he had them all executed. Then he 287 00:21:02,800 --> 00:21:07,080 Speaker 1: took their skin and sewed them into sacks. Rome's emperor 288 00:21:07,119 --> 00:21:10,320 Speaker 1: Caligila was said to have been infatuated with all three 289 00:21:10,320 --> 00:21:13,600 Speaker 1: of his sisters, each of whom he slept with and 290 00:21:13,760 --> 00:21:19,440 Speaker 1: King Herod. That story was possibly the most disturbing as 291 00:21:19,440 --> 00:21:22,920 Speaker 1: it goes. He was supposedly driven so mad with jealousy 292 00:21:23,000 --> 00:21:26,080 Speaker 1: by his wife Miriam, that he had her killed, then 293 00:21:26,560 --> 00:21:29,800 Speaker 1: preserved her dead body in honey, and proceeded to have 294 00:21:29,880 --> 00:21:34,040 Speaker 1: sex with it for seven more years after his wife died. 295 00:21:35,119 --> 00:21:37,880 Speaker 1: So what if Katherine the Great made her armed guards 296 00:21:37,880 --> 00:21:40,680 Speaker 1: erecked and paraded them past her for an expensive thrill? 297 00:21:41,400 --> 00:21:43,879 Speaker 1: So what if she had replications of her favorite past 298 00:21:43,920 --> 00:21:47,639 Speaker 1: lover's cocks carved into her wood furniture. So what if 299 00:21:47,640 --> 00:21:50,439 Speaker 1: the Empress found herself dissatisfied with all of her lovers 300 00:21:50,440 --> 00:21:53,760 Speaker 1: after a lifetime of sex on demand numerous times per day, 301 00:21:54,040 --> 00:21:57,920 Speaker 1: every day. And so what if Catherine the Great eventually 302 00:21:58,040 --> 00:22:02,919 Speaker 1: turned away from men for satisfaction in favor of a horse. 303 00:22:06,320 --> 00:22:09,359 Speaker 1: The sixty seven year old Empress lay there on the bed, 304 00:22:09,840 --> 00:22:13,399 Speaker 1: fully exhilarated. The bed had been brought down from one 305 00:22:13,440 --> 00:22:16,639 Speaker 1: of the royal apartments into the barn adjacent to the stables, 306 00:22:17,400 --> 00:22:20,760 Speaker 1: and the horse, suspended above her on straps, was being 307 00:22:20,840 --> 00:22:24,679 Speaker 1: carefully lowered by a group of muscular royal guards. The 308 00:22:24,760 --> 00:22:30,240 Speaker 1: horse's member was larger. I can't do it. I won't 309 00:22:30,280 --> 00:22:32,280 Speaker 1: do it. As much as I want to do it, 310 00:22:32,600 --> 00:22:34,119 Speaker 1: I'm not going to do it. I'm not going to 311 00:22:34,200 --> 00:22:37,239 Speaker 1: dramatize the death of Catherine the Great crushed by the 312 00:22:37,240 --> 00:22:41,479 Speaker 1: horse she was attempting to copulate with. But that is 313 00:22:41,600 --> 00:22:45,720 Speaker 1: the story, or rather the myth, that this sixty seven 314 00:22:45,800 --> 00:22:48,040 Speaker 1: year old woman, one of the most powerful women in 315 00:22:48,040 --> 00:22:50,600 Speaker 1: the world has ever known, died in one of the 316 00:22:50,640 --> 00:22:54,920 Speaker 1: most scandalous ways possible. I don't believe it. It's too 317 00:22:55,040 --> 00:22:59,280 Speaker 1: lurid and honestly, too out of character. Catherine the Great 318 00:22:59,440 --> 00:23:03,080 Speaker 1: may have been satiable, but unlike King Herod Caligula and 319 00:23:03,200 --> 00:23:09,360 Speaker 1: Emperor Ibrahim the Mad, Catherine wasn't deranged. Her actions indicate 320 00:23:09,480 --> 00:23:12,719 Speaker 1: quite the opposite. She may have been ruthless at times, 321 00:23:13,240 --> 00:23:18,000 Speaker 1: but she was measured, thoughtful, and strategic, all qualities that 322 00:23:18,240 --> 00:23:22,640 Speaker 1: contravene derangement. Catherine the Great was not just a powerful 323 00:23:22,680 --> 00:23:25,199 Speaker 1: woman in an age when powerful women were few and 324 00:23:25,240 --> 00:23:29,840 Speaker 1: far between. She was a beacon of independence, standing tall 325 00:23:29,960 --> 00:23:34,399 Speaker 1: and strong in a world designed to suppress women beyond 326 00:23:34,440 --> 00:23:38,879 Speaker 1: her power. She was truly independent and sexually liberated, a 327 00:23:38,960 --> 00:23:43,560 Speaker 1: testament to her strength and resilience. Katherine the Great died 328 00:23:44,080 --> 00:23:48,080 Speaker 1: of a stroke, likely on her toilet, but that story 329 00:23:48,400 --> 00:23:52,119 Speaker 1: wasn't scandalous enough. The rumors of her shocking demise, what 330 00:23:52,200 --> 00:23:55,120 Speaker 1: the horrse, and of her so called sexual deviancy are, 331 00:23:55,280 --> 00:23:58,840 Speaker 1: in my opinion, nothing more than a historical smear campaign 332 00:23:58,920 --> 00:24:02,040 Speaker 1: by jealous and petty men from that era aimed at 333 00:24:02,040 --> 00:24:05,480 Speaker 1: discrediting one of the most accomplished women of all time. 334 00:24:07,040 --> 00:24:10,280 Speaker 1: Catherine the Great's rain should not be fodder for discrediting myths. 335 00:24:11,000 --> 00:24:15,400 Speaker 1: The Empress's illustrious rain should instead inspire freethinking women everywhere, 336 00:24:15,800 --> 00:24:18,520 Speaker 1: as I believe it did. Lana del Rey, a woman 337 00:24:18,560 --> 00:24:21,520 Speaker 1: who has been hell bent on making her own miss since, 338 00:24:21,560 --> 00:24:24,679 Speaker 1: bursting on the scene with a borrowed name from another 339 00:24:24,760 --> 00:24:29,199 Speaker 1: powerful woman, a woman with ties to another incredible story, 340 00:24:29,920 --> 00:24:36,560 Speaker 1: this one also very scandalous, but this time very true. 341 00:24:38,520 --> 00:24:47,840 Speaker 1: We'll be right back after this. We're were were. Lana 342 00:24:47,880 --> 00:24:52,439 Speaker 1: Turner was so hot that men literally walked into walls 343 00:24:52,480 --> 00:24:56,240 Speaker 1: when they saw her walking down Hollywood Boulevard. They drove 344 00:24:56,400 --> 00:24:59,040 Speaker 1: off of the boulevard and crashed their cars into walls, 345 00:24:59,560 --> 00:25:03,119 Speaker 1: and they flocked to movie theaters in droves to gawk 346 00:25:03,160 --> 00:25:06,800 Speaker 1: at the curvy blonde starlet and imagine themselves alone with her, 347 00:25:06,840 --> 00:25:10,760 Speaker 1: if for only a few seconds. This was due to 348 00:25:10,880 --> 00:25:15,920 Speaker 1: Lana Turner's natural beauty and how director Mervyn Leroy chose 349 00:25:15,960 --> 00:25:19,040 Speaker 1: to capture her with his camera in her first appearance 350 00:25:19,080 --> 00:25:22,720 Speaker 1: on screen in his nineteen thirty seven film They Won't Forget. 351 00:25:23,680 --> 00:25:27,320 Speaker 1: The director filmed the actress very deliberately in a way 352 00:25:27,320 --> 00:25:31,160 Speaker 1: that accentuated her body, which seems so obvious these days 353 00:25:31,160 --> 00:25:34,080 Speaker 1: that it's not even worth mentioning, but in nineteen thirty 354 00:25:34,080 --> 00:25:40,240 Speaker 1: seven it was revolutionary. Sidney Sweeney, Margot, Robbie Scarlett, Johanson, 355 00:25:40,359 --> 00:25:42,879 Speaker 1: Kim Kardashian, hell, even Lana del Ray. Pick your modern 356 00:25:42,920 --> 00:25:45,600 Speaker 1: day a list sex symbol, and believe me, when it 357 00:25:45,640 --> 00:25:48,520 Speaker 1: comes to their impact, none of them have their grip 358 00:25:48,560 --> 00:25:51,360 Speaker 1: on the collective male libido like Lana Turner did back 359 00:25:51,359 --> 00:25:55,160 Speaker 1: in the forties and fifties. And this is the woman 360 00:25:55,240 --> 00:25:59,840 Speaker 1: Lana del Rey chose to take her stage name from. 361 00:26:00,040 --> 00:26:03,119 Speaker 1: When choosing a stage name, Lana del Rey had a vision, 362 00:26:03,920 --> 00:26:06,720 Speaker 1: she said, she quote wanted a name she could shape 363 00:26:06,760 --> 00:26:10,200 Speaker 1: the music towards. Del Rey is taken from the name 364 00:26:10,240 --> 00:26:13,879 Speaker 1: of a car. Two cars, actually, but that's not important. 365 00:26:14,800 --> 00:26:19,640 Speaker 1: The point is that Delray sounds American and Lana sounds 366 00:26:19,880 --> 00:26:25,840 Speaker 1: well hot. Lana Turner's hotness was a magnet for a 367 00:26:25,920 --> 00:26:30,040 Speaker 1: long line of suitors, Tarzan's Lex Barker, one of the 368 00:26:30,040 --> 00:26:32,560 Speaker 1: most famous men of the era who ended up being 369 00:26:32,640 --> 00:26:37,879 Speaker 1: Lana's second husband, Howard Hughes, Frank Sinatra allegedly a married 370 00:26:37,960 --> 00:26:44,720 Speaker 1: Clark Gable, and most infamously, the gangster Johnny Stompanado. Johnny 371 00:26:44,720 --> 00:26:48,200 Speaker 1: Stompinado was a killer, a killer who worked for La 372 00:26:48,320 --> 00:26:52,080 Speaker 1: crime boss Mickey Cohen. If you've seen the Academy Award 373 00:26:52,119 --> 00:26:56,280 Speaker 1: winning film La Confidential, you'll see Johnny Stompinado depicted on 374 00:26:56,359 --> 00:27:00,280 Speaker 1: screen getting his ball squeezed literally by Russell Crow's Bud 375 00:27:00,280 --> 00:27:04,240 Speaker 1: White character. Johnny is seated across from a woman playing 376 00:27:04,280 --> 00:27:07,920 Speaker 1: none other than Lana Turner. Johnny was a bad guy, 377 00:27:08,440 --> 00:27:11,959 Speaker 1: and not just on the street. At home, behind closed doors, 378 00:27:12,240 --> 00:27:15,640 Speaker 1: he beat on his beautiful girlfriend. Lana had a hard 379 00:27:15,720 --> 00:27:18,760 Speaker 1: time finding her way out of the relationship, so in 380 00:27:18,840 --> 00:27:21,760 Speaker 1: nineteen fifty seven, she took an acting gig all the 381 00:27:21,760 --> 00:27:24,840 Speaker 1: way over in London, starring opposite a handsome young actor 382 00:27:25,200 --> 00:27:28,920 Speaker 1: named Sean Connery. It's long been rumored that the two 383 00:27:29,000 --> 00:27:31,879 Speaker 1: quickly became involved romantically on the set of that film. 384 00:27:32,040 --> 00:27:36,920 Speaker 1: Another Time, Another Place, And those rumors started way back 385 00:27:36,960 --> 00:27:40,560 Speaker 1: in nineteen fifty seven, and Johnny Stompinado heard them all 386 00:27:40,600 --> 00:27:44,280 Speaker 1: the way across the pond back in Hollywood. Incensed, he 387 00:27:44,359 --> 00:27:47,399 Speaker 1: grabbed his gun and boarded a flight for London. He 388 00:27:47,560 --> 00:27:50,719 Speaker 1: arrived on set, pulled out his gun and went straight 389 00:27:50,760 --> 00:27:55,160 Speaker 1: for Sean Connery. Stompinado was a hard man, but Connery 390 00:27:55,240 --> 00:27:58,240 Speaker 1: was a different type of tough. He'd grown up fighting 391 00:27:58,240 --> 00:28:01,560 Speaker 1: off violent street gangs in Edinburgh. He was a truck driver, 392 00:28:01,840 --> 00:28:05,879 Speaker 1: a lifeguard, a boxing instructor, a bodybuilder, a gym instructor 393 00:28:05,920 --> 00:28:08,600 Speaker 1: in the British Army, and a tattooed fighter in the 394 00:28:08,680 --> 00:28:12,800 Speaker 1: Royal Navy. Skinny Hollywood hoods with greasy pompadors and tiny 395 00:28:12,800 --> 00:28:19,199 Speaker 1: pistols did not intimidate Sean Connery. Sean Connery was in 396 00:28:19,200 --> 00:28:22,000 Speaker 1: the middle of filming a scene with Lana Turner and 397 00:28:22,040 --> 00:28:26,160 Speaker 1: they were embracing on a couch. Johnny Stompanado walked right 398 00:28:26,200 --> 00:28:28,920 Speaker 1: into the chute with his gun drawn straight at Connery, 399 00:28:29,160 --> 00:28:31,840 Speaker 1: telling him to get his hands off his girl. Connery 400 00:28:31,920 --> 00:28:34,879 Speaker 1: quickly grabbed Stompanado's wrist and twisted it hard until he 401 00:28:34,960 --> 00:28:37,639 Speaker 1: dropped his gun. He walllled him with a right hook 402 00:28:37,800 --> 00:28:40,440 Speaker 1: and escorted him off the set and into the custody 403 00:28:40,480 --> 00:28:44,400 Speaker 1: of Scotland Yard, which wasted no time in deporting Johnny 404 00:28:44,400 --> 00:28:50,320 Speaker 1: Stompinado back to Los Angeles. When Lana returned home, the 405 00:28:50,400 --> 00:28:54,560 Speaker 1: real fighting began. As her relationship with the gangster progressed, 406 00:28:54,880 --> 00:28:59,120 Speaker 1: so too did the volatility and violence. It was too 407 00:28:59,160 --> 00:29:02,000 Speaker 1: much to handle for Slanna's fourteen year old daughter, Cheryl, 408 00:29:02,120 --> 00:29:06,240 Speaker 1: who lived with her. The fighting was endless, and Cheryl 409 00:29:06,640 --> 00:29:09,520 Speaker 1: heard it all. When the beating ceased to have the 410 00:29:09,520 --> 00:29:13,080 Speaker 1: effect he was looking for, Johnny would resort to threats. 411 00:29:13,760 --> 00:29:16,040 Speaker 1: He told Lana he would cut her face to ribbons 412 00:29:16,040 --> 00:29:18,480 Speaker 1: with a knife if she didn't do what she was told, 413 00:29:19,280 --> 00:29:22,800 Speaker 1: the point being he'd disfigure her so badly she'd never 414 00:29:22,880 --> 00:29:27,680 Speaker 1: work in Hollywood again. Lana fought back, and Johnny took 415 00:29:27,680 --> 00:29:30,880 Speaker 1: a razor blade to her cheek and held it there. Still, 416 00:29:31,280 --> 00:29:35,760 Speaker 1: Lona was obstinate. Cheryl heard everything. She was living in 417 00:29:35,840 --> 00:29:40,680 Speaker 1: constant fear. When Lona left her second husband, Tarzan's Lex Barker, 418 00:29:41,200 --> 00:29:43,480 Speaker 1: Cheryl had been relieved by her mother's choice of the 419 00:29:43,520 --> 00:29:47,840 Speaker 1: gangster Johnny Stompinado. Anything would be better than Lex, who 420 00:29:47,880 --> 00:29:53,040 Speaker 1: repeatedly raped Cheryl as a young girl, But Stompinado's presence 421 00:29:53,120 --> 00:29:57,440 Speaker 1: proved to be its own type of hell. Fear, ever present, violence, 422 00:29:57,840 --> 00:30:02,720 Speaker 1: the constant threat of an anvil over her head. Johnny 423 00:30:02,720 --> 00:30:06,640 Speaker 1: Stompinado was a twenty four to seven problem. When he 424 00:30:06,720 --> 00:30:09,840 Speaker 1: wasn't beating on Cheryl's mother, he was threatening to slice 425 00:30:09,840 --> 00:30:13,440 Speaker 1: her to pieces, and when Stompinada wasn't threatening Lana Turner. 426 00:30:13,880 --> 00:30:19,040 Speaker 1: He was threatening Cheryl. Lana wouldn't listen, Lana wouldn't respond 427 00:30:19,040 --> 00:30:22,920 Speaker 1: to the beatings. Lana wouldn't respond to the threats. Then 428 00:30:22,960 --> 00:30:25,920 Speaker 1: Stompanada would threaten to cut up Lana's daughter as well. 429 00:30:27,800 --> 00:30:31,280 Speaker 1: Cheryl couldn't believe what she was hearing behind closed doors. 430 00:30:32,640 --> 00:30:34,440 Speaker 1: I'll cut you so bad that no one will be 431 00:30:34,480 --> 00:30:37,440 Speaker 1: able to tell it to you anymore. You'll never work again, 432 00:30:38,400 --> 00:30:45,000 Speaker 1: your daughter's next. It was unhinged, depraved, horrifying to the 433 00:30:45,040 --> 00:30:48,040 Speaker 1: young girl who crept up to the door that separated 434 00:30:48,080 --> 00:30:50,520 Speaker 1: her from the war going on on the other side 435 00:30:50,840 --> 00:30:53,920 Speaker 1: between her mother, the movie star, and her mother's boyfriend, 436 00:30:53,960 --> 00:30:59,280 Speaker 1: the gangster. Cheryl gripped tighter the knife she'd grabbed as 437 00:30:59,320 --> 00:31:02,600 Speaker 1: she passed through the kitchen. It was just for protection, 438 00:31:02,760 --> 00:31:07,480 Speaker 1: she thought, a last resort. As the screaming raged on 439 00:31:07,520 --> 00:31:10,440 Speaker 1: the other side of the door. Cheryl stood there, helpless, 440 00:31:10,480 --> 00:31:14,320 Speaker 1: squeezing the knife. She couldn't open the door, She couldn't 441 00:31:14,320 --> 00:31:19,240 Speaker 1: help her mother. She was paralyzed. But then the door 442 00:31:19,360 --> 00:31:22,560 Speaker 1: burst open and Cheryl's mom, Lana, burst through it and 443 00:31:22,640 --> 00:31:26,720 Speaker 1: passed by her. Her psychopathic boyfriend Johnny Stompinado lunged after 444 00:31:26,800 --> 00:31:30,560 Speaker 1: Lana and into the outstretched knife wielding hand of fourteen 445 00:31:30,640 --> 00:31:34,840 Speaker 1: year old Cheryl Turner. The knife pierced the gangster's stomach, 446 00:31:35,240 --> 00:31:39,760 Speaker 1: blood spilled out, drenching his silk shirt. His eyes went wide. 447 00:31:40,160 --> 00:31:43,920 Speaker 1: Cheryl's mouth fell open with a near silent gasp, and 448 00:31:44,040 --> 00:31:48,120 Speaker 1: behind her Lana Turner screamed as her lover, Johnny Stompinado, 449 00:31:48,880 --> 00:32:19,479 Speaker 1: fell dead to the floor. Immature, shallow, messy, the worst 450 00:32:19,520 --> 00:32:23,680 Speaker 1: concert experience of my life, a bad mashup of John 451 00:32:23,720 --> 00:32:28,680 Speaker 1: Mellencamp and Kesha. All these criticisms and more have been 452 00:32:28,760 --> 00:32:33,080 Speaker 1: hurled at Lona del Rey. Pitchfork called her debut major 453 00:32:33,160 --> 00:32:37,360 Speaker 1: label album Born to Die quote the album equivalent of 454 00:32:37,400 --> 00:32:43,200 Speaker 1: a fake orgasm. Actress and musician Juliette Lewis, after watching 455 00:32:43,280 --> 00:32:48,600 Speaker 1: Lonna del Rey's infamous debut Saturday Night Live performance, tweeted out, wow, 456 00:32:49,120 --> 00:32:52,440 Speaker 1: watching this quote singer on SNL is like watching a 457 00:32:52,440 --> 00:32:55,120 Speaker 1: twelve year old in their bedroom when they're pretending to 458 00:32:55,120 --> 00:33:02,320 Speaker 1: sing and perform hashtag Sign of our Times ouch. Some 459 00:33:02,480 --> 00:33:06,080 Speaker 1: of this criticism was warranted, namely the bad reviews of 460 00:33:06,160 --> 00:33:11,800 Speaker 1: Lana's SNL performance, but most of it is ridiculous. All 461 00:33:11,960 --> 00:33:15,360 Speaker 1: art is subjective, but not all art needs to fit 462 00:33:15,520 --> 00:33:18,520 Speaker 1: neatly into a box, which is what our critics want 463 00:33:18,600 --> 00:33:22,280 Speaker 1: for our pop stars. But when Lana del Rey first 464 00:33:22,280 --> 00:33:25,640 Speaker 1: burst into the mainstream with Born to Die, there was 465 00:33:25,760 --> 00:33:29,640 Speaker 1: no obvious box. In fact, to the extent that there 466 00:33:29,680 --> 00:33:32,680 Speaker 1: was a figurative box, it wasn't one that many critics 467 00:33:32,760 --> 00:33:36,880 Speaker 1: wanted to touch. Lana del Rey was a dream you never 468 00:33:36,960 --> 00:33:40,120 Speaker 1: knew you wanted to have, a Tumbler account come to 469 00:33:40,200 --> 00:33:43,360 Speaker 1: life in the form of a pop star, a boardwalk 470 00:33:43,480 --> 00:33:47,440 Speaker 1: bad girl, a Catholic school slut, a lolito with ap 471 00:33:47,600 --> 00:33:51,160 Speaker 1: English smarts who swam with alligators and walked over beats 472 00:33:51,200 --> 00:33:55,560 Speaker 1: in Nancy Sinatra's boots. Lana del Rey is the best 473 00:33:55,720 --> 00:33:59,080 Speaker 1: kind of an artist, the kind who takes chances, the 474 00:33:59,200 --> 00:34:02,719 Speaker 1: kind who isn't a afraid to risk it. More importantly, 475 00:34:03,080 --> 00:34:06,800 Speaker 1: she's unafraid to risk it in public, in front of us. 476 00:34:07,480 --> 00:34:13,239 Speaker 1: For us failure falling down creatively. It's an unfortunate but 477 00:34:13,440 --> 00:34:18,160 Speaker 1: inevitable outcome for this type of artist. Yes, it is, 478 00:34:18,280 --> 00:34:22,640 Speaker 1: as NPR said of Lana, messy, but an artist shouldn't 479 00:34:22,640 --> 00:34:25,920 Speaker 1: be criticized for being messy. Quite the opposite. The best 480 00:34:25,960 --> 00:34:28,880 Speaker 1: examples of that include Bob Dylan, Kirk, Kobaine, I Prince, 481 00:34:29,320 --> 00:34:31,799 Speaker 1: I could go on and on. I believe that for 482 00:34:31,880 --> 00:34:35,760 Speaker 1: all their pro feminism, the future is female trendy claims 483 00:34:35,760 --> 00:34:39,440 Speaker 1: of girl power the mainstream press, at least when it 484 00:34:39,440 --> 00:34:42,200 Speaker 1: comes to Lana del Rey, an artist playing with a 485 00:34:42,280 --> 00:34:45,480 Speaker 1: nostalgic vision of America that the coastal elite media these 486 00:34:45,520 --> 00:34:49,440 Speaker 1: days sees is reductive. The media's criticism of this female 487 00:34:49,560 --> 00:34:55,400 Speaker 1: artist is well hypocritical and kind of misogynistic. It strikes 488 00:34:55,440 --> 00:34:58,560 Speaker 1: me as weird that a twenty first century female artist 489 00:34:58,680 --> 00:35:01,360 Speaker 1: with such a strong point of view and such obvious 490 00:35:01,400 --> 00:35:05,320 Speaker 1: mass appeal would be so viciously criticized by a media 491 00:35:05,360 --> 00:35:09,160 Speaker 1: that typically champions strong women. But Lana del Rey doesn't 492 00:35:09,160 --> 00:35:12,920 Speaker 1: fit into anyone's box. Lona del Rey doesn't fit anyone 493 00:35:12,920 --> 00:35:15,359 Speaker 1: else's vision of what a female pop singer should be. 494 00:35:17,000 --> 00:35:19,560 Speaker 1: Lana del Rey has always had her own vision of 495 00:35:19,600 --> 00:35:24,320 Speaker 1: who Lnna del Rey is. She creates from her own playbook, 496 00:35:24,960 --> 00:35:28,000 Speaker 1: and that type of creator, that type of artist, has 497 00:35:28,040 --> 00:35:32,799 Speaker 1: always been hard for simple minded critics to understand. Nabokovs 498 00:35:32,960 --> 00:35:36,239 Speaker 1: Lolita was panned. Shipments of the book were seized upon 499 00:35:36,360 --> 00:35:39,600 Speaker 1: entering the United Kingdom. In France, critics called the book 500 00:35:39,920 --> 00:35:44,319 Speaker 1: sheer unrestrained pornography. Yet the novel has lived on as 501 00:35:44,360 --> 00:35:46,920 Speaker 1: one of the most enduring and consequential works of fiction 502 00:35:47,080 --> 00:35:50,239 Speaker 1: ever written. We are still talking about it and referencing 503 00:35:50,280 --> 00:35:54,040 Speaker 1: it and arguing about it to this day. Catherine the 504 00:35:54,080 --> 00:35:57,600 Speaker 1: Great was such an effective female leader that her legacy 505 00:35:57,680 --> 00:36:01,920 Speaker 1: was subjected to a century's long smearcase campaign, and Lana 506 00:36:01,960 --> 00:36:06,160 Speaker 1: Turner her star power, her sexuality, the men in her 507 00:36:06,200 --> 00:36:09,160 Speaker 1: life simply could not handle it, to the point where 508 00:36:09,200 --> 00:36:12,200 Speaker 1: she was almost murdered, to the point where her fourteen 509 00:36:12,280 --> 00:36:14,520 Speaker 1: year old daughter had to kill a man for the 510 00:36:14,560 --> 00:36:18,640 Speaker 1: two women to survive. Whether these stories that I just 511 00:36:18,719 --> 00:36:21,440 Speaker 1: told you were inspired by Lana del Rey or whether 512 00:36:21,480 --> 00:36:26,359 Speaker 1: they inspired Lona Delray herself, the powerful female subjects at 513 00:36:26,360 --> 00:36:29,520 Speaker 1: the center of them all share a common element with 514 00:36:29,600 --> 00:36:35,240 Speaker 1: Lonna del Rey. They broke the mold. Criticizing an artist 515 00:36:35,320 --> 00:36:42,520 Speaker 1: for doing so would be a disgrace. I'm Jake Brennan 516 00:36:43,520 --> 00:36:58,360 Speaker 1: and this is Disgraceland. Thanks for listening to this week's 517 00:36:58,400 --> 00:37:01,520 Speaker 1: episode on Lana del Rey, one of a kind artist who, 518 00:37:01,560 --> 00:37:04,080 Speaker 1: as you can hear, from this episode was unfairly in 519 00:37:04,120 --> 00:37:07,040 Speaker 1: my estimation, treated by the press. This week's question of 520 00:37:07,040 --> 00:37:08,120 Speaker 1: the week to you guys. 521 00:37:07,960 --> 00:37:12,000 Speaker 2: Is which entertainers, artists, rockstars, actors, athletes do you think 522 00:37:12,080 --> 00:37:14,880 Speaker 2: have been unfairly treated by the media by the critics 523 00:37:14,920 --> 00:37:18,120 Speaker 2: and why does the media seem to judge some entertainers 524 00:37:18,160 --> 00:37:21,360 Speaker 2: differently than others, particularly female entertainers. 525 00:37:21,680 --> 00:37:23,640 Speaker 1: Six one seven nine oh six six six three eight. 526 00:37:23,680 --> 00:37:25,319 Speaker 1: Lead me a voicemail, send me a text and let 527 00:37:25,320 --> 00:37:27,960 Speaker 1: me know. You can also reach me at disgracelampod as 528 00:37:27,960 --> 00:37:30,680 Speaker 1: well on Instagram, X and Facebook. 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