Pre-Vampira: Maila Nurmi Part 1

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Hello and welcome to Dead and Kind of Famous, where
we dig into the life stories ofdead folks who enjoyed a touch
or two of fame in their time.

Speaker 3 (00:27):
And now reside permanently in the Hollywood
Forever Cemetery.

Speaker 2 (00:31):
I'm Marissa Rivera and I know nothing, but I do
know how to use my air fryerFinally Good.

Speaker 3 (00:42):
We've had it for over a year and I have finally
mastered it you've been braggingabout how it works for
everything that whole time, so Ididn't realize that you didn't
know how to use it.
Be proud of me.

Speaker 2 (00:54):
I am proud, thank you I'm very proud.

Speaker 3 (00:56):
Um, I am courtney blomquist and I know way too
much.
You know about what we're goingto talk about, but I don't know
how to change a tire.

Speaker 2 (01:10):
I do you do I do.
I do know how to change a tire.
I've changed a tire too In thatthunderstorm in Florida was the
last time I changed a tire Dang.

Speaker 3 (01:22):
I feel like that makes you infinitely cooler than
me, and I'm just going to I'mnot going to catch up anytime
soon because I had a blowout onthe freeway and Jesse came to my
rescue because, luckily, I wasclose enough to home that he
could walk for like a half anhour, though, and yeah and came
and did.
This was a while ago, but yeah,and here, yeah, what?

(01:42):
Yeah and came and did.

Speaker 2 (01:43):
This was a while ago but yeah here.
Yeah, what the fuck, why didn'tyou call me?

Speaker 3 (01:51):
This was like it was not when we lived here.
This is what.

Speaker 2 (01:55):
I'm learning.
We don't communicate.
This is when.

Speaker 3 (01:58):
I lived in my old apartment.
It was like the freeway exit bythat.
Oh, okay, Okay okay, yeah.
We live together now, folks athome, yeah, yeah, yeah, we live
on the same property, on thesame property in different
houses.
Yes, so um yep, the best of bothworlds and our address is nope,
nevermind, okay.
So today's episode is anothermulti-part episode because the

(02:21):
subject is it's so good Ooh Her,it's a she again.
Her life story feels so trulyHollywood to me in that it is
steeped in struggle andstrangeness, but also had
dazzling moments and an evenmore dazzling cast of characters
.
Dazzling, you say Dazzling, Imean there's a lot of tragedy

(02:43):
and some, you know, it's gotlevels Okay of tragedy, and some
, you know it's got levels Okay,some highs and some super big
lows, but it's a dynamic story.
For that reason, kind of likethe sound in this episode, if I
keep pulling my face away fromthe microphone, anyway, but we
are talking about actress MylaNurmi, better known as Vampyra.

(03:03):
Have you heard of Vampyrabefore, Marissa?

Speaker 1 (03:06):
Yes, you have.

Speaker 3 (03:07):
Yes, okay.
What do you know about her?

Speaker 2 (03:11):
Wait, is this?
This is Mistress of the.
No, she's alive.

Speaker 3 (03:16):
No, she's alive.
That will come into play inthis story.
This is the original Mistressof the Night, if you will.

Speaker 2 (03:27):
I didn't know there was.

Speaker 3 (03:29):
A lot of people don't , and I Okay, so you know how.
On you watched the finale ofRuPaul's.

Speaker 1 (03:35):
Drag Race recently.

Speaker 3 (03:35):
Yes, when she got the Lifetime of Achievement Award,
of giving us life achievementaward or whatever it was Giving
us, life Giving us life,lifetime achievement award.
So I was like, because I'dalready been researching this, I
was kind of like, oh, becausethey said that, some things like
that, she was the undisputedqueen of Halloween and the

(03:57):
original, like you know, horrormovie host and it was all stolen
or borrowed.
Well, we'll get to it.
I'm not going to say thatnecessarily.

Speaker 2 (04:06):
We're jumping ahead, we're jumping ahead, we're
jumping ahead, okay.

Speaker 3 (04:07):
Okay, but I feel like when you say she was the first,
I mean we're talking about thefirst today, okay.

Speaker 2 (04:13):
That's what.
I'll say what a cool name.
Yes, first of all.

Speaker 3 (04:19):
Yes, so I'm going to show you her headstone right now
.

Speaker 2 (04:24):
So tell me what you see, oh, okay, okay.
So it's a pretty.
It's like simple, yet not.
It's small-ish.
It looks kind of small.
It's on the ground, it's not.
What's the difference betweenlike a tombstone and a one?

Speaker 3 (04:45):
that's like on the I think this is still like a
headstone is the ones that'supright Right.

Speaker 2 (04:51):
Okay, so it's on the ground.
It says Malia Nermy, 1922 to2008, hollywood legend.
And then there's a pictureetched in with a woman in a
slinky dress with like a reallycool train and what looks like

(05:13):
to be like a spider's webcurtain behind her and a really
like tall candelabra standingnext to her and underneath it
says Vampyra.

Speaker 3 (05:27):
Ooh yeah, you're right.
It is simple and it is small,but it's a good tombstone.

Speaker 2 (05:34):
That's a great tombstone.
It is.

Speaker 3 (05:37):
So okay.
So tell me, tell me.
I feel like I already told yousome things, but you tell me
obituary, Okay.
I forgot to withhold.

Speaker 2 (05:48):
Sorry.
Malia Nermi, mistress of theDark, the original vampire, was
born in 1922 in Jersey.
1922 in Jersey, in Jersey.

(06:10):
And always a dark, sinisterchild, she made up stories about
death and the afterlife and hada fascination with otherworldly
stories and characters andwould make up and play about

(06:35):
death and ghosts and spooky-ookystuff.
And so she started her journeyin New York, and when she found
that actually film would be muchbetter for her, she packed her
bags and moved across thecountry to Los Angeles, sunny,

(06:58):
sunny Los Angeles, though shenever enjoyed the sun, she only
went out at night, obviously.
So she only worked at night,which really, really inhibited
her job opportunities, which isperhaps why she is not
remembered as the one and onlyVampyra Lots of day for night

(07:21):
shoots.

Speaker 3 (07:21):
Yeah, alright, so tell me so, um, all right, so
you in some ways okay, like,yeah, she had some dark
interests when she was younger.
Also, she did go back and forthbetween los angeles and new
york, as and this is that's whattoday is going to be about a
lot but it started the otherdirection um she was born in

(07:44):
sunny la no, but she started her.
You know her adult career pathin la adult.

Speaker 2 (07:52):
Adult like triple x adult no, but sometimes adjacent
.

Speaker 3 (07:58):
Okay, so for the time yeah, so anyway, yeah.
So anyway, all right, let's getinto the real story of Milo
Nurmi.
First of all, her grave saysthat she was a Hollywood legend,
and she was.
She was actually a trailblazerin the world of dark humor and

(08:19):
the sexy goth aesthetic.

Speaker 2 (08:21):
Love that.
So if you yourself.
She's like a 1920s, likeflapper goth.

Speaker 3 (08:26):
No, because she, I mean we're talking like 40s,
because this is like she waslike as an adult.
Right as an adult.
She was a.

Speaker 2 (08:33):
She wasn't like a flapper goth child.

Speaker 1 (08:35):
A flapper goth baby.

Speaker 3 (08:39):
Like I mean, yeah, like the Addams Family baby with
the tiny mustache, actually,that's like so relevant, but
anyway, okay.
So yes, she was a trailblazerin the world of dark humor and
the sexy goth aesthetic.
So if you yourself are a sexygoth and you're listening, bow
down, bow down bitches.

(09:01):
This episode is basically aboutyour grandmother, so show some
respect, that's right Now.
Myla Nurmi was a televisionpioneer, the first TV horror
host, as I mentioned.
Ooh, she was daring and gotaway with making somewhat
obvious sexual innuendo in thedemure 1950s Nice, and she
blended sex and death into aspecial sauce.

(09:22):
And she's most widely known forbeing in what's been deemed as
the worst movie of all time.
I mean truly, it's been told.
It's been described and decidedas the worst movie of all time,
called plan nine from outerspace, by famed b movie director
ed wood oh, my gosh made evenmore famous, did you?

Speaker 2 (09:42):
watch that the movie course I need, we need to watch
it.
It's so good.

Speaker 3 (09:47):
Yeah, yes, good bad, no, it's just good.
Wait, the movie yeah, oh, yes,yes, yes, I thought you were
talking about, like Ed Wood, themovie.
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
Little tiny saucers flyingaround that are like just fake
little.
You know what I mean miniaturesand then, like you can obviously

(10:07):
see the string yes, yes, andthen, like the, the host, like
his monologue in the beginning,is just like like in the future,
beware of the things that youwill encounter in the future
like it's just really badlywritten, like half of it could
have been cut out easily it'sjust, I mean it's yeah, and then
there's a lot of stuff whereit's like we'll get into this

(10:29):
movie.
It's a lot.
But anyway, the main source Iused was a book called Glamour
Ghoul the Passions and Pain ofthe Real Vampyra, and this book
was actually written by Mila'sniece, sandra Niemi.
As her last living relative,sandra had access to Milo's
things and found lots ofjournals and writing which were
used a lot throughout the book.

(10:49):
So it's a goldmine of a sourceyeah, the source.
Yeah, I would say so.
Also, big nod to thedocumentary Vampyra and Me by
Ray Green.
As always, links to thesesources will be in our show
notes, and this will be thefirst in a trilogy of episodes
called I'm going to call themall pre-Vampyra, which is this
one, prime Vampyra and postVampyra.

Speaker 2 (11:11):
All right, welcome to pre-Vampyra.
This is pre-Vampyra Strap in.
Yes.

Speaker 3 (11:16):
Myla didn't become Vampyra until she was in her 30s
.
So, as you'll see from thisepisode, there was a lot leading
up to that that cannot beignored.
So digging in.
Myla Elizabeth Niemi was bornon December 11th 1922 in
Gloucester, Massachusetts.

Speaker 2 (11:33):
Gloucester.

Speaker 3 (11:34):
Gloucester, god damn it.
Every time there's this word itwas in like the Barons episode
too, but for England and Ialways say it wrong yeah.
Gloucester, gloucester,gloucester, gloucester,
gloucester, gloucester,gloucester, gloucester.

Speaker 2 (11:47):
Gloucester Mass.
That's right, that's right.

Speaker 3 (11:49):
To parents Ani and Sophie Niemi.

Speaker 2 (11:54):
She had one older.
First of all, cool names, yeah.

Speaker 3 (11:56):
All around.
They're Finnish.
The family Actually Ani is themale version of um uh iris's
middle name, which is anali, soit's like very uh yeah means
luck and happiness.
And finish, um, she had oneolder brother, bobby, who was
just sorry, bobby, you don't getit.

Speaker 2 (12:17):
Yeah, you don't get a cool name.

Speaker 3 (12:18):
I feel like they're trying to americanize bobby.
They're like everybody's reallyfinished.
Um, let's just make you the onewho can achieve some.

Speaker 2 (12:27):
Yeah, you're the boy.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, give me the.

Speaker 3 (12:28):
American name.
We'll give you the Americanname.
American name.
Do well, son, pat on the back.
American dream, go get it.
Yeah, bootstraps, all that.
So he was just 17 months hersenior.
So, like Irish twins-ish, herparents were both 100% Finnish,
but her father was actually aFinnish immigrant, while her
mother had been born in America.
Okay, oddly enough, at thattime, even if you were married

(12:51):
in America, if a woman married aman who was not a citizen, she
would lose her Americancitizenship and obtain that of
her husband's homeland.
What?

Speaker 2 (13:02):
the fuck.
I know and I'm sure it didn'twork the other way.

Speaker 3 (13:06):
No, of course not.

Speaker 2 (13:07):
Oh, my fucking God.

Speaker 3 (13:11):
So, even though Sophie had never been to Finland
herself, she became a Finnishcitizen in America.
Oh my God, which is absurd,absurd.
When Milo was four, her fathertook a job as the editor of I
can't pronounce this, butPohantati, a Finnish language

(13:31):
newspaper.

Speaker 2 (13:32):
Let's spell it, let's spell it.
P-o-h-j-a-n space T-A-H-T-I.

Speaker 3 (13:39):
Yes.

Speaker 2 (13:39):
Okay.

Speaker 3 (13:41):
It's a Finnish language newspaper in Fitchburg
Massachusetts, so Finnishlanguage newspaper in Fitchburg
Massachusetts.
From that point on, he began a40 year career in journalism,
always from a distinctly Finnishperspective, and moved around

(14:02):
the country or even back toFinland at one point as work
opportunities for his uniqueniche popped up.
Cool, yeah.
Sometimes he took his familyand sometimes he waited as long
as he possibly could beforeinviting them to join him okay
and this neglect led his wife,sophie, to drink heavily.

Speaker 2 (14:12):
She is left alone with two children yeah.

Speaker 3 (14:15):
Small children yeah, could you not drink really?
right, um, this was pretty, andwhat else was there to do as a
non-american citizen, especiallyin some of the some of the
cities they were living in, likeit's just like, yeah, it's like
cold and like cold and dark,cold and dark, and and sometimes
his jobs paid well andsometimes they didn't, and you

(14:36):
know what are you going to do?
So this was pretty inconvenientfor Ani, as America was in the
throes of prohibition and he hadbecome an outspoken teetotaler
oh my god.
In fact, he had become soughtafter to give public speeches
about the evils of alcohol.
And his wife was an alcoholicand his wife was a full-blown

(14:57):
alcoholic.
Wow, if this wasn't enough of awedge, he had also changed his
last name back to the nonAmericanized version of it,
which was surge surgeon yummywe're gonna spell it again yeah
s y r j a with the two littledots on top of it or something
what it's called.

Speaker 2 (15:18):
I think so should we google that?

Speaker 3 (15:20):
no okay.
But you can Google it at home.
You can Google it at home.

Speaker 2 (15:27):
Where was this word?

Speaker 3 (15:29):
S-Y-R-J-A with an umlaut.

Speaker 2 (15:33):
We think we think N-I-E-M-I.
Yes, okay.

Speaker 3 (15:38):
So Sophie's alcoholism was a constant issue
in their marriage and he senther away to dry up on more than
one occasion.
Send her away, yeah, like toher brothers usually.

Speaker 1 (15:48):
Uh you deal with her?

Speaker 3 (15:50):
yeah, he was like also kind of religious.
So he was like, yeah, you'll,you're not gonna drink around
her, you'll be good influence,you know like get her out of my
hair.
So um, milo's childhood wasspent in various cities like
duluth, minnesota, ashdabula, oh, and finally Astoria, oregon,
where she often took in strayanimals and learned to sew the
clothes she couldn't afford tobuy.

Speaker 2 (16:11):
A creative queen.

Speaker 3 (16:12):
She what Always.

Speaker 2 (16:13):
Creative and scrappy right from the start.

Speaker 3 (16:15):
Right, and that's a through line.
For sure, she idolized the evilqueen from Snow White.

Speaker 2 (16:22):
And her dress on the tombstone kind of looks like
that.

Speaker 3 (16:26):
Yes, I feel like she was.

Speaker 2 (16:28):
Sans the collar.

Speaker 3 (16:29):
Yes, she was like that's who I'm going to be when
I grow up.
Yeah, and she also idolized acomic book character known as
the Dragon Lady, who appeared inthe comic strip Terry and the
Pirates.
Both of these characters werestrong, beautiful and undeniably
evil.

Speaker 2 (16:47):
Hilarious.

Speaker 3 (16:48):
Okay, hilarious.
Imagine like a four-year-oldjust being so obsessed.
I feel like this will be mydaughter, because she's going to
be growing up hearing aboutdead people and walking around
the Hollywood Forever Cemetery.

Speaker 2 (17:01):
Yeah, literally we have a date later to go with
Iris.
Yep, it's just a girl's trip toHollywood Forever.

Speaker 3 (17:08):
Yep, that's how this podcast was conceived, with her
in a stroller at HollywoodForever yes, just enjoying the
dead people with me.
So as an awkward kid and teen,she dreamed of being so bold and
divisive.
She had started to study dramain school and her artistic flair
was beginning to surface.

(17:29):
She tried to go to college atPacific University, thinking it
would foster her creativity.
It did not, and she ended upcutting classes in protest when
asked to dissect a frog.

Speaker 2 (17:39):
I also hated that part of school.

Speaker 3 (17:41):
Yes, me too, it was high school for me, but yes,
hated it.
It was disgusting, it smelledso bad.
Yes, me too.
It was high school for me, but,yes, hated it.
It was disgusting and the smell, it smelled so bad.
Oh my God, it was in my hairfor the rest of the day.

Speaker 2 (17:49):
Oh, yeah, you smelled and mine was marine biology, so
it was dead animal plusformaldehyde plus the sea.

Speaker 3 (18:01):
Gross.
Yeah, we had bowling after myclass too, so it was like which.
I mean, it was like thissegment of gym where we went to
the bowling alley on a bus.
I don't understand why they didthis.
Anyway, that's so cool.
I wish you would have bowling.
It sounds cool, but it was likeat the time when people could
smoke in bowling alleys and itsmelled like lemon pledge.
So I went from formaldehydehair to lemon pledge and

(18:23):
cigarette hair and there waslike no point in me taking a
shower.
You know, yeah, it wasdisgusting.
I just smelled like the stateof Indiana.
Anyway, this is like not thefirst time I've ragged on
Indiana, but I grew up there.
It's fine, I'm allowed.

Speaker 2 (18:40):
She suffered through it, I suffered through it.

Speaker 3 (18:41):
Let her speak her truth.
Let me speak my truth, okay.
So ultimately she dropped outof college and headed home to
Astoria, oregon, where sheworked at a fish cannery and
saved up for a move to LosAngeles, which sucks.
I mean it was disgusting andlike just hard work and gross.

Speaker 2 (19:02):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (19:03):
And she smelled like fish.
I mean talk about bad smells.

Speaker 2 (19:04):
Yeah, talk about bad, couldn't escape it.
Disgusting.
Not in college, not in life,nope, okay.

Speaker 3 (19:10):
So after work one day , myla heard a voice on the
radio.
Now, I'm sorry, I'm just goingto preface this because you're
about to dive into your voice.
This one is a back and forthbetween her and her mother.
Okay, this one is a back andforth between her and her mother
.
Okay, so after work, one day,myla heard the voice of Orson
Welles on the radio for the veryfirst time.

Speaker 2 (19:30):
Mama, mama, that man on the radio, that radio
announcer, is no ordinary radioannouncer.
Who is he?
He's a genius.

Speaker 3 (19:41):
Of course he's a genius.
That's Orson Welles.
He's a famous genius.
Everybody knows that.

Speaker 2 (19:48):
Well, someday I'm going to meet him and we'll be
friends.

Speaker 3 (19:54):
He is not your friend .
You are Myla Elizabeth Niemiand you work in a fish cannery
in Astoria, oregon, and don'tyou forget it, don't you talk
like that.
People will say you're crazy.
Wow, I mean, she's just reallyintense.
I feel like that's like such anintense response, but also
she's just like get your headout of the clouds.

(20:15):
I think she'd been used todragging her head Right.

Speaker 2 (20:18):
So she's like you.
You, you dropped out of college.
You move back home.
Yeah, smell.
Yeah, work at a fish cannery,goddammit.

Speaker 3 (20:26):
Maybe Sophie wasn't wrong and maybe people would
have talked and maybe shesounded crazy.
But in the end both Myla andSophie were wrong because Orson
Welles would become more than afriend to her, a lot more, but
not before.
Myla bounced across the countrya couple of times like a
pinball.

Speaker 2 (20:45):
Ooh way to sprinkle in some sexy foreshadowing.

Speaker 3 (20:48):
Thank you.
After Myla had saved up enoughmoney and gotten a little
temporary monthly financial helpfrom her father, she got on a
bus and headed to Los Angeles.
At age 18, she was ready toflee the stink of fish and
embrace the smell of freedom.

Speaker 2 (21:05):
The smell of freedom, the smell of smog.

Speaker 3 (21:06):
Yeah right, well, she'd learn.
This was 1941.
And speaking of Orson Welles,that was the year that Citizen
Kane came out, which is known asthe greatest film of all time.
Such a polar opposites here.
Myla was living with herstraight-laced aunt and uncle in
the city, the same ones whofostered her mother when she

(21:27):
needed to dry up right over theyears, um, and that put her
father at ease but made mylaclaustrophobic.
It kind of put a wrench in thewhole freedom thing she was
going for.
So she odd jobbed it and,having been inspired by orson
welles, tried to find her wayinto radio.
But she unfortunatelyencountered several scumbags who
either assaulted her, like theagent she met with who got a

(21:50):
gouged eye from her for hislewdness.

Speaker 2 (21:52):
Good, good.

Speaker 3 (21:54):
Or tried to photograph her half naked, like
the man behind an ad looking fora good radio voice, because of
course, you need a naked phototo be a good radio voice Jesus.
So Myla was so frustrated thatshe wrote in her diary no more
show business for me.

Speaker 2 (22:10):
Everyone concerned is filthy in more ways than one.

Speaker 3 (22:15):
She was already over Los Angeles For now.
She saved up money for her nextmove, selling subscriptions to
Look magazine.
And then, without telling herparents, she hopped on a bus and
bounced over to New York withanother young woman who wanted
out named Gail.
Well, actually, she dropped aletter in a mailbox on her way
to the bus to let her parentsknow of her LA departure Just as

(22:37):
last minute as possible.
She and Gail were up to no goodbefore even making it to New
York.
That's right Hopping off thatbus to make a few extra bucks
for a couple of days in a circusin the Midwest.

Speaker 2 (22:49):
Oh my God.

Speaker 3 (22:50):
I know.

Speaker 2 (22:51):
They literally joined the circus.

Speaker 3 (22:52):
They literally joined the circus only for two days,
but that's like something Iwould have done, like where I'm
like I did it.
I did it for an hour.
I can say I did it.
They've met a carny on the buswho enticed them to do it and
they worked as the quote outsidegirls to lure men into the
stripper tent and adopted thenames Luscious Lola and
Delectable Dora to do so.

Speaker 2 (23:16):
That's going to be our nickname.
I love that.
I call Delectable Dora.

Speaker 3 (23:21):
OK, I feel it.
Well, yeah, marissa, well, notanymore, not anymore.
I just chopped off my hair,marissa.
Well, not anymore, not anymore.

Speaker 2 (23:25):
I just chopped off my hair.

Speaker 3 (23:26):
You chopped off your hair, but she definitely used to
look like Dora the Explorer.
Yeah, I had a Dora the Explorerhaircut.
Yeah, for sure.

Speaker 2 (23:31):
I mean, I made it look good Like if Dora fucked.

Speaker 3 (23:34):
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 (23:38):
If that child fucked I.

Speaker 1 (23:39):
I hope nobody at.

Speaker 2 (23:41):
Disney listens to this because I hope to get put
on that show at one.

Speaker 1 (23:45):
Oh yeah.

Speaker 2 (23:46):
So maybe cut this out .

Speaker 1 (23:49):
No.

Speaker 2 (23:49):
No, it stays.

Speaker 3 (23:50):
You have such high hopes for this show that Disney
is listening.
So most of the circus folk wereoff-putting, but Gail and Myla
liked the mermaid girl, who wasactually just a cute woman in a
rubber mermaid tail.

Speaker 2 (24:03):
She gave them good advice Never go to the outhouse
alone, always leave yoursuitcase open, don't ever screw
around with any of the men and,above all else, always carry
your money in your brassiere.

Speaker 3 (24:20):
Words to live by.
Mermaid Girl also mentionedthat wearing her rubber mermaid
tail made dieting unnecessary,and Myla would file this tidbit
away for later use.

Speaker 2 (24:30):
Okay just wear rubber and sweat it all out, I guess.

Speaker 3 (24:34):
Yep.
The girls got back on the busand made it to New York, but
they were scraping by in thatcity and couldn't hang on to a
job between the two of them Ofthis time, Myla writes.

Speaker 2 (24:45):
As money got tighter, gail and I decided that the
most sensible approach to lifewas to stay in bed all day and
conserve calories.

Speaker 3 (24:54):
Gail- was the first to go.

Speaker 2 (24:55):
Been there.

Speaker 3 (24:56):
Depression.
Yep, pretty much.
Gail was the first to go homewith her tail between her legs,
and then Myla followed suit byasking her father for money
again to move back to LosAngeles.
He gave her the money, but onlyunder the condition that she
live in a Finnish boarding housefor unwed women working as
domestics, called a Picatillo.

(25:17):
A Picatillo Again, we'll spell.
P-I-I-K-A-T-A-L-Oo yeah, it'sfunny that there's so much
Finnish culture like in thecountry at this time.
Do you know what I mean?
That like all these placesexist, because I feel like they
don't know.

Speaker 2 (25:32):
Finnish specifically, yeah, not even just like well,
I mean specific Finnish boardinghouse.

Speaker 3 (25:38):
I guess it would have to be.
It's like I want to say well,actually Finland isn't even part
of Scandinavia, but all thosecountries, even all the
Scandinavian countries, havedifferent languages.

Speaker 2 (25:45):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (25:46):
You know.
So it's like it would have tobe whatever language Interesting
Nordic countries, I guess, iswhat you categorize it, as it
was a respectable boarding house.
There was a curfew and Mylahated it.
Of course she referred to it asa dungeon, but at least she had
another shot at LA.
This time she found work at adepartment store on Hollywood

(26:06):
and Vine modeling hats Hollywoodand Vine Wow.
Yep.

Speaker 2 (26:11):
Just the epicenter of it all.

Speaker 3 (26:13):
Yep.
She also found a roommate andas soon as she was making her
own money she fled from theboarding house as fast as her
feet could carry her.
With Hollywood being steeped insupporting the war effort at
the time, the girls took tosidling up to men in uniform and
linking arms with them in orderto get into exclusive venues.

(26:33):
On one particular night wherethey had done this fate would
introduce Myla to her idol andmore than a friend, orson Welles
.

Speaker 2 (26:42):
My eyes, having at last accustomed to the dim
lighting, I heard this gloriousvoice.
I whirled around and there,seated near the back, was my one
true god, orson Welles.
Well, I paid no mind to mannersor protocol, and instead rushed
over and descended upon himlike a crazed peahen and

(27:05):
sputtered idiotically why yourorson welles was something
equally asinine.
His response, his exact words,were why?
Yes, indeed, I am.
And who might you be?
My winsome lass?
Winsome lass my winsome.

Speaker 3 (27:27):
I don't know.
I feel I picture him like, justlike it's sounding like an old
man all the time yeah, yeah, Ican't.
I can't do her voice, doing hisvoice no, no you get what you
get people okay no, no, no, butI'm just like it's it's yeah
winsome lass yep because hesounds, he says old man things
yeah, even then yeah he suredoes.
Myla showered him withcompliments like a crazed fan,

(27:47):
then got embarrassed, downed hercocktail in one gulp and walked
away.
But then Orson came to find her.

Speaker 2 (27:53):
Ooh no sooner had I set down my glass when I heard
that voice again.
This time it was attached toits owner on the right in my
peripheral vision.
Excuse me, miss, but my friendseemed to have abandoned me.
Would you care to join me?
It was he, orson Welles, had hewitnessed me swill my Manhattan

(28:15):
like a seasoned skid row bum.
Regardless, the master wasrequesting I join him for
conversation.
My feet did not come in contactwith the earth as I moved to his
corner booth.
Once ensconced with Mr Wells, Icomplimented him in a more
controlled way.
I told him how I dreamed of acareer in radio which began a

(28:38):
discussion on the subject.
All the while I sat entranced,simply mesmerized by the sound
of his golden voice and at thesame time being all a tingle at
the nearness of him.
He said he was currentlyplanning an outdoor extravaganza
, a spectacular show toentertain American men and women

(29:00):
in uniform and mission would befree to all servicemen and was
to be some sort of carnival ormagic show, magic being his true
passion, he said.
Of course, at the mere mentionof carnival, I immediately
revealed to him my briefexperience in the Strut and
Smile sideshow, which heretoforehad been something I swore

(29:23):
never to divulge to a livingsoul.

Speaker 3 (29:26):
Orson said he'd wanted her to perform in the
show and then walked her outsideto call her a cab.

Speaker 2 (29:32):
And then the both of us were standing at the curb and
Mr Wells put his arm across myshoulders, turns me toward him
and kissed me, not just somelittle cheek peck, but on the
lips and on Hollywood Boulevard,for all the world to see.
I thought I was either dreamingor perhaps dead and in heaven.

Speaker 3 (29:57):
Orson then followed her into the cab, saying how
else would I ever find you?
Then escorted Myla to her door.
Though Myla had never expectedto see Orson again, he sent a
bouquet of flowers to the frontdesk of her building, with a
note saying that a car wouldpick her up for dinner.
Oh my I know, suave, very suave.

(30:19):
After their dinner, orson askedif she wanted to come back to
his place to see his etchings inregards to the show he was
producing, which is like what aline.

Speaker 2 (30:28):
What a line, what a line.

Speaker 3 (30:31):
So such a line.
When Myla got to his place, itwas a modest bungalow in West
Hollywood, not the mansion she'dimagined.

Speaker 2 (30:39):
I was a virgin, pure as a driven snow.
But this man in front of me wasOrson Welles, the genius, this
god in the flesh.
I swooned, I nearly collapsed,I was breathless, I was in love.
The first time Orson saw mescantily clad in a boudoir, he

(30:59):
said magnificent carcass,magnificent carcass.

Speaker 3 (31:10):
Again, what a lie.
I mean what a lie.
I hate that line.
If someone said that to me I'dbe like what?

Speaker 2 (31:16):
What but for the Mistress of the Dark.
That's fair, yep.

Speaker 3 (31:21):
He had her pegged, he knew what to say.

Speaker 2 (31:22):
Yeah he knew, sex was nothing like I'd imagined.
I found it was more painfulthan pleasurable.
But here I was being groped andpenetrated by a man who nearly
suffocated me in the course ofhis lovemaking.
For a moment I panicked when Irealized I couldn't escape his
weight upon me.
In retrospect, orson was not agentle love and was possessed of

(31:46):
an urgency to complete the act.
But then I thought I was inlove and sex was simply a way to
prove my never-ending devotion.
Oh sweet, sweet summer child.

Speaker 3 (31:58):
Yes, sweet 18-year-old.

Speaker 2 (32:00):
Oh God, how old was Orson Welles at this point?
That's a good question questionI need to know that hold on
right now I think he was.

Speaker 3 (32:09):
I mean, this was like after well, when citizen kane
came out um hold on how old hewas.
So in 1940 he was 25.
So then he would have been like27 at this time.
Okay, okay, it's not like hewas like 45 or anything right

(32:33):
I'm.

Speaker 2 (32:33):
I was just in with that description.
I was just imagining just areally overweight middle age,
because it's like that's kind ofhow how I always picture him me
too yeah, so anyway.

Speaker 3 (32:44):
Yeah, he, he was the younger, he was his younger,
suave self.
Okay, kind of in his likepayday, actually, right In his
prime, in his prime, yes.
So this happened the same way afew times.
This is really great lovemaking, but soon the flowers stopped
coming and Myla, young and inlove, panicked.
She went back to the bungalowin west hollywood and knocked on

(33:07):
the door.
She was met by a man in abathrobe who was not orson.
He played dumb and acted likehe had no idea what she was
talking about.
He doesn't live here.
What do you mean?
Though myla didn't recognizehim at the time, it was a
popular actor named JosephCotton, and over the course of a
few days, myla realized thatOrson and Joseph shared the

(33:29):
bungalow for the purpose ofbetting paramours.

Speaker 2 (33:32):
Wow, imagine having just enough disposable income to
have like to buy.
Well, I guess you are sharingthe cost.

Speaker 3 (33:42):
I mean, I feel like cost of a hookup house.
Did you watch the Apartmentwith Me, another old movie?
That's like the plot of thatmovie, but it's like all the
businessmen take advantage ofthe underling businessman's
apartment because he's abachelor.

Speaker 2 (33:55):
I've read the script.
Yes.

Speaker 3 (33:57):
So it was like a popular thing, if you were going
to have an affair, you had tohave a place to go.

Speaker 2 (34:04):
At the time it was like a common problem and
everyone just like, had theirdays, had their nights, their
assigned nights.
Yes, yes To the apartment, yes,yes, yes, or the bungalow.

Speaker 3 (34:13):
So this is like for them.
Yeah, they would just havetheir assigned nights, I'm sure.
So.
As if this wasn't insultingenough, Orson had also rescinded
his offer to have Myla performin his show, saying it would be
maddeningly distracting for meto work so near to you, my love.
Yeah, it was just after thisrealization that Myla discovered

(34:34):
she was pregnant and sent anote to Orson saying that it was
a matter of life and death.
He never responded.
Myla writes.

Speaker 2 (34:43):
I was just a girl, a nameless, faceless girl that
he'd fucked.
Nothing more, nothing less.
At 20, my life was over.

Speaker 3 (34:56):
It was in listening to the radio, nauseated by her
pregnancy, that Myla learnedOrson was marrying Rita Hayworth
.
Yes, and so it was back to NewYork for Myla again, not because
she was thinking about hercareer at the moment, but
because her parents wereactually living there.
Her father's finishedjournalism career had landed him

(35:18):
in the city.
Myla told her parents she waspregnant and they banded
together to help her.
Neither of them, to hersurprise, asked questions or
judged her, which is big of them.

Speaker 2 (35:29):
That was nice.

Speaker 3 (35:30):
Yeah, they took her in at her father's place in New
York and he even gave up his ownbed for her to sleep in.
So you know, he's kind of amixed bag so far in the story,
her father, but like that's heseems to have shown up at the
right moment.

Speaker 2 (35:44):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (35:45):
Knowing that she could barely take care of
herself at the time, Mylaplanned to give the baby up for
adoption.

Speaker 2 (35:52):
On March 11th 1944, I spewed forth a son.
It was an excruciatinglypainful experience and one that
I vowed to never repeat.
I thrashed and cried out inagony, alone and afraid, save
for the doctor and a cruel nursewho kept tightening my
restraints each time I made asound.

(36:12):
She kept telling me to be quietand that it didn't hurt that
bad.
Later I learned she had nevergiven birth herself.
The child was born wailing andthey laid him on my stomach
while they cut the cord, whilehe was still wet from the trauma

(36:36):
of being thrust sounceremoniously into this world,
I was allowed a brief moment tosee my son into this world.
I was allowed a brief moment tosee my son.
He was bald and looked ever somuch like a plump and peeled
potato the most beautiful littlepotato in the world.
In that moment, my mother'sheart yearned to snatch him up
and run away, but then he wasgone and run away.
But then he was gone.

(36:57):
So sad.

Speaker 3 (36:58):
That's sad.
Her son was adopted by a richcouple from New Jersey In the
book Sandra Niemi oh.

Speaker 2 (37:05):
Jersey.
There we go, there's Jersey.
There it is.

Speaker 3 (37:09):
There it is In the book.
Sandra Niemi says what would hethink if he knew his father was
Orson Welles, the author, actorand producer of arguably the
greatest movie of all time, andthat his mother, myla Nurmi,
starred as Vampyra in the worstmovie of all time?
That's quite a birthright, wow,and indeed it is.

(37:29):
Indeed, I wonder if he's justlike a middle-of-the-road
mediocre man.
Maybe we'll find out later.
I don't know of the roadmediocre man.
Maybe we'll find out later.
Um, after recovering from thetraumatic birth, myla's father
helped her move to the lowereast side in new york where rent
was cheap, renewing her focusto break into the entertainment

(37:49):
industry, myla strategized a wayto be close to the rich and
famous with her day job so thatshe'd be noticed.
Pretty smart Yep.
She convinced a luxury hotel tohire her as a bellhop, even
though she was a woman.
She told management that mostof the boys were gone to war and
thought to herself that if shecould give birth she could
manage to lift a few suitcases.

(38:10):
Amen to that, yep.
Though she mostly worked nearthe residential elevator, there
was one day a week that she waspromoted to doorman, and this
gave her the greatest visibility.
There were actually write-upsabout her in the New York
World-Telegram and the Sun,calling her New York's first
bellhop B-E-L-L-E bellhop andfeaturing her picture Cute.

(38:30):
She also worked as a cigarettegirl before tiring of working as
a servant in wealthy circles.

Speaker 2 (38:41):
We all tire of that eventually.

Speaker 3 (38:42):
Yeah, old it does get old um, she wanted to get back
in touch with her creativity andwork for the common man.
So she went the oppositedirection and started working
for the hobo news, or, as shecalled it, the paper of the
great unwashed.
Okay, the hobos, in thisinstance, were remnants from the
Great Depression.

(39:07):
It was a place where a pot ofstew, the place she worked the
magazine.
It was a place where the pot ofstew was always available for
the hungry.
And Myla related to the hobosbecause her own life was
relatively transient, and hadbeen since she was a child.
But she started in her father'sfootsteps writing a column for
the Hobo News that had the hobosin stitches, and don't we all
want to have the hobos in?

Speaker 2 (39:27):
stitches.
Listen, everyone loves to beentertained.

Speaker 3 (39:30):
It's true, it's true.
So she helped sell the paperfor tips in bars as well, and
she created characters to do so,such as Darling Dietrich and
Countess Cuckoo.

Speaker 2 (39:41):
I would wait at the end of the bar with my stack of
newspapers till someone put on aselection from the jukebox.
Once music was playing, Idanced and passed out all the
papers and announced this isyour hobo news.
This is your hobo news.

Speaker 3 (39:59):
A few legitimate columnists took notice of her in
this way, namely Irving Hoffman, who became a great friend, and
he was an influential oldergentleman that she could trust
Not a creep.
Very nice, yes, exactly, and hewould be really helpful to her.
It was he who ended up tellingMyla about open auditions for an
upcoming Mae West show, and shewas chosen to play the

(40:22):
handmaiden to Mae West'scharacter.

Speaker 2 (40:25):
Wow, bravo, yes, booked and blessed.

Speaker 3 (40:28):
Yes, on Broadway.

Speaker 2 (40:30):
Booked and blessed on Broadway.
That's not an easy feat.
No, that's not an easy feat.

Speaker 3 (40:34):
No.
So this may have been more of aslight than a compliment that
she was hired for this show,because Mae West was known to
choose women who wouldn'tupstage her in the looks
department for her shows.
But an opportunity is anopportunity, that's right.
And that's how she landed herfirst Broadway show called
Catherine Was Great, and it wasdirected by a well-heeled

(40:55):
director, mike Todd.
In Catherine Was Great, mylawas delighted to be showcased
for a moment.
That required a big dramaticscream.
But unfortunately for Myla, maeWest had the moment cut.
As I said, she was known to notwant others pulling attention
from her in looks or theatricalability Dang.

(41:16):
So when the show opened thereviews weren't great, but at
least Myla was working.
She was billed at this time asMila Niemi, altering her first
name and not her last, theopposite of what she would do
later in her career.
And it would be later in hercareer as well that she'd have
plenty more chances for dramaticscreaming.

Speaker 2 (41:38):
So that's to come Okay.

Speaker 3 (41:40):
It was during this time that one of Myla's most
important friends would enterher life, who she met in a
strange and unexpected manner.
One of her castmates inCatherine Was Great started
complaining to her about a youngactor making his Broadway debut
down the way in Remember Mamaand told love sick story after
love sick story, revealing himto be a cad.

(42:01):
Myla couldn't take it anymore.
Her ears were sick of it andshe decided to take matters into
her own hands.
She got his address, went tohis apartment and told him off,
and that young actor was MarlonBrando.

Speaker 2 (42:18):
He invited her inside where quote I had given more
than just a piece of my mind tothat young actor.

Speaker 3 (42:26):
They're kind of yeah he, he swooned her, he swooned
her.

Speaker 2 (42:34):
He sure did.

Speaker 3 (42:35):
Their kind of friendship with benefits of
sorts endured for decades in oneform or another, so this is not
the last that we'll be hearingof him.
Sheesh, but her tenure inCatherine was great would not
have the same kind of longevity.
Myla got on Mae's bad side andwas fired.
Myla claimed that the reasonfor this firing was because

(42:56):
she'd upstaged West and sheresented Mae West for the rest
of her life.
For that reason, this womanholds a grudge.

Speaker 2 (43:04):
Listen.
I mean, if someone gets mefired from a show, yeah, I'd
fucking.
Yeah, They'd be dead to me too.

Speaker 3 (43:13):
Yeah, that's fair.
I mean Would you yeah, yeah,Sure, yeah, I mean sure.
What are you?
Yeah, yeah, sure, yeah, I meanright, it's not like you'd have
great things to say about them,at the very least.
But as they say, oneopportunity leads to another,
and shortly after being bootedfrom, catherine Was Great Myla
was cast in Mike Todd's otherproduction called Spook Scandals
, which was essentially aglorified series of skits set in

(43:35):
a cemetery.

Speaker 2 (43:37):
Oh, here she comes.

Speaker 3 (43:38):
She's finding her niche.

Speaker 2 (43:40):
She's finding it Okay .

Speaker 3 (43:42):
And Myla played a dancing skeleton.
She made an impression as abumping, grinding, screaming
skeleton and she wore a skeletonbodysuit and was also able to
use her exaggerated scream thatMae West had vetoed from the
show yeah, exaggerated screamthat Mae West had vetoed.

Speaker 2 (43:59):
From the show yeah, all I can think about in
describing that is this song,that's all I can think about.
And then she's just like.
I'm just grabbing herDramatically screaming and she
made's just like, and then she'sjust grabbing her Dramatically
screaming.

Speaker 3 (44:20):
And she made such an impression.
She really did.
It's like hard to imagine howthis made such an impression,
but it did.
So the turnout for the show wasso bad.
opening night that itimmediately closed after just
one performance.
But her good friend andinfluential columnist was in the
crowd that night, irvingHoffman, oh, supportive friend.
And irving hoffman made a pointof panning the show in his

(44:43):
column, while still managing toshower his young friend with
adoration by saying mylon yemiis hollywood's answer to every
dream.
And this compliment would takemyla far, far back to to Los
Angeles, that is, oh my gosh.
Yes, that's right Again Timenumbers, that's exhausting, I
know, and Hoffman's column wasinfluential enough that it was

(45:06):
regularly scoured by movie headhonchos.
Oh, and his review of Mylaalone led her to be inundated
with movie offers out of nowhere.

Speaker 2 (45:15):
Wow, I know Just offers, straight offers of
nowhere, wow, I know.
Just offers.
Straight offers, straightoffers, jeez.

Speaker 3 (45:20):
So this included an offer from the famous director
Howard Hawks.
Hawks was the director of filmslike the Big Sleep, bringing Up
Baby and His Girl Friday, whichwere all huge movies in the 30s
and 40s, his Girl Friday.
yeah, yeah, like all the biglike fast-talking, right, fast
talking, yeah, important news.
And I was like this is my ownminute.
That was like, yeah, he wasalso the director who had

(45:42):
discovered Lauren Bacall andmade her a star Upon reading
Hoffman's column.
He had sent men in New York tosend photos of Myla and then,
immediately, just from seeingher photo, extended a contract
to her, without ever meeting her, which she accepted.

Speaker 2 (45:59):
Well, yeah, yeah, she'd be crazy not to Right.

Speaker 3 (46:04):
To the chagrin of her parents, myla headed back to LA
and on the long train ride westshe devised a plan to rebrand
herself, writing this in herjournal I am excited to be at
the end of this trip and againin Hollywood.

Speaker 2 (46:19):
I am here because my performance as a sexy skeleton
made an impression upon thefamous director, howard Hawks.
Ironic because my family closetis full of the unsexy variety
and if I can help it, none willever see the light of day.
So goodbye to you, mr Wells.
Coward, you are nothing likeyour public perceives you to be.

(46:43):
You are the unabashed saint ofdeceit.
I'd hate you if I didn't stilllove you, my forever closeted
skeleton.
But don't be afraid, you're notalone in there.
No one will ever know that myfamily moved from one town to

(47:03):
another like a band of raggedgypsies, or that my father was a
fanatical temperance man wholectured thousands against the
evils of alcohol while my motherstayed home to swell bootlegged
wine.
Now is my beginning.
Mayla Naomi from Gloucester,massachusetts, is dead and

(47:23):
resurrected as Mela Nurmi, nieceof Paavo Nurmi, the flying fin
of Olympic fame.
She will say she was born in alog cabin in the far reaches of
northern Finland, in an areaknown as Petsamo.
She was two and a brother threewhen they arrived in America

(47:44):
with their parents, and they alllived happily ever after.
Such a lovely story.
Wouldn't you agree To becontinued in the event of
stardom?
I love that she wrote that inher journal.
To be continued in the event ofstardom.
I love that she wrote that inher journal.
To be continued in the event ofstardom.
Yep.

Speaker 3 (48:04):
And so, looking through her obituaries, remnants
of this fictionalized storythat she just created still
persist as truth.
Not all of it, but the wholeher being born in Petsamo,
Finland, and emigrating toAmerica is all.
I was all in there and she wasthat none of that happened I
don't think she's ever been tofinland.
I don't think she had ever beenso but her father was from

(48:26):
there.

Speaker 2 (48:27):
But yeah, wrote her story yes, um.

Speaker 3 (48:30):
So a new woman by her own invention, myla nurmi, was
now back in la.
The third time's the charmright.
Her future seemed bright.
Without even meeting Myla Hawkshad already prepared a vehicle
for his new star and planned tohave her play the female lead in
a vampire-led saga calledDreadful Hollow, the story of an

(48:52):
evil Eastern European countesswho preyed upon young visitors
to her Victorian mansion.
That sounds like the role of alifetime.

Speaker 2 (48:57):
That sounds like exactly up her alley.
Eastern european countess whopreyed upon young visitors to
her victorian mansion.
That sounds like the role of alifetime.
That sounds like exactly up heralley yeah, like that sounds.
I mean honestly, yeah, it'sgood, it's great casting.
Yep, I hope it works out.
I mean we'll see, but so itsounds great.

Speaker 3 (49:13):
Yeah, I know I mean like you got a car.

Speaker 2 (49:16):
Wait what In LA had already prepared a vehicle.

Speaker 1 (49:20):
Oh, no, no, no, no, no oh.

Speaker 2 (49:24):
The vehicle is the movie.
Got it, got it, got it, got itgot it, oh man, and she got a
sweet car out of the deal.
Wow, oh yeah, no, just a movie.

Speaker 3 (49:34):
Just a movie, which is enough Sure yeah, just a
movie.

Speaker 2 (49:36):
Just a movie which is enough, sure.

Speaker 3 (49:37):
Yeah.
So when Milo walked into hisoffice for the first time, the
meeting went quite well.
But after having her makeupredone in a way, Milo wasn't
thrilled with and then receivingthe disgruntled comment from
Hawks that she quote, needed tohave her teeth fixed, her
confidence took a hit and shefelt rejected.

Speaker 2 (49:55):
Honestly such a Hollywood thing, the teeth thing
.
I mean everyone has veneers.
I know it's crazy, Everyone hasthe same chiclets teeth.
It is so weird.

Speaker 3 (50:10):
It is really weird.
It's uncanny valley over here.

Speaker 2 (50:12):
It really is, yeah.
So I feel like we've complainedabout this before.
We have, and by we?

Speaker 3 (50:19):
I mean me.
Well, yeah, no, we've discussed, we've discussed, but I think,
like she talks about it a littlebit more in the book, uh, where
, like she had never been to adentist, like her family was, um
, I mean, I don't know, I guessit's just like something they
did they weren't accustomed to,like I don't know if that was
like a finished thing orsomething, I'm not sure, but
like so she was, she never went.

(50:41):
I think there was like a littlebit of a yeah, like she just
didn't, she just got used tolike not smiling with her teeth,
right.
Anyway, her confidence took ahit and she felt rejected, a
feeling she did not ever take.

Speaker 2 (50:55):
Well, who does Nope A feeling she did not?

Speaker 3 (50:56):
ever take.
Well, who does Nope?
However, he also said let'ssend her around and see what
happens.
So the reality is that hewasn't giving up on her.
He just thought that there wasmore work to be done than he'd
originally anticipated.
But Myla heard humiliatingrejection and that's all she
heard.

Speaker 2 (51:14):
So, shockingly, she stormed into Hawk's office,
refused the seat he offered herand said you have someone make
me up to look like an unwashedharlot and turn me out into the
streets.
I am not a commodity to betraded or sold to the highest
bidder.

Speaker 3 (51:32):
Then she removed her film contract from her purse,
tossed it on his desk and saidKindly find a place for this in
one of your numerouswastebaskets.
And that right there is themoment, that explains why Myla
Nurmi did not end up having muchof a film career at all.

Speaker 2 (51:50):
Jesus she just shot herself in the fucking foot In
the teeth, maybe yeah.

Speaker 3 (51:57):
As Sandra Niemey explains in Glamour Ghoul, she
had yet to develop a strongsense of self and still believed
that anyone who would judge herusing anything but the blinding
glow of adoration was out toget her.
She's still young, she's reallyyoung, so like it sucks though.
So much because it's just likethat ability to like swallow the

(52:17):
bullshit was not there.

Speaker 2 (52:19):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (52:20):
Yeah, so, which means you end up having to swallow
more bullshit later yeah.
So Damn.
Though she had set fire to mostof the bridges that life had
offered her in the entertainmentindustry, myla still had a
resume with Broadway credits andwas able to find work in los
angeles as a chorus girl at theflorentine gardens on hollywood

(52:41):
boulevard.
And does that still exist?
I don't think so.
Let's look, yeah, um wait, it'sa historic venue in the heart
of hollywood still there stillthere.

Speaker 2 (52:55):
Looks like a strip mall.

Speaker 3 (52:56):
Mm-hmm Must have been more impressive at the time.

Speaker 2 (52:59):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (53:00):
Anyway.
So she got a job as a chorusgirl at the Florentine Gardens
on Hollywood Boulevard, and indoing this she managed to stand
out from the other beautifulwomen dancing beside her.

Speaker 2 (53:12):
In Mila's words, I had to devise a way to stand out
from the pack, all thesebeautiful women.
How was I to leave my mark,distinguish myself from the
others?
So when I danced, I wouldfrequently single out someone in
the audience and engaged in aspiritual fuck with said

(53:34):
stranger.

Speaker 3 (53:35):
It was during this dance.

Speaker 2 (53:37):
That's a good tip, hot tip.
Yeah, yeah, it was during this.
That's a good tip, hot tip.

Speaker 3 (53:40):
Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 (53:40):
Hot tip.

Speaker 3 (53:41):
Yeah, just engage in a spiritual fuck with a stranger
.

Speaker 2 (53:45):
It's just a spiritual fuck.

Speaker 1 (53:46):
Just a spiritual fuck yeah.

Speaker 2 (53:48):
Like, let him feel special.

Speaker 3 (53:51):
That works from a low job to a high job in a stage
environment.
It was during this stint in herlife that Orson Welles ended up
finding his way to her dressingroom door.
As it turns out, Irving Hoffmanhad heard about the disastrous
end of Mila's contract withHawks and had taken to reaching
out to other celebrity pals ofhis in Hollywood to advocate for

(54:11):
her.
I mean, like, what a good guythat's so nice.
That's so nice, that is so niceBecause it's like especially
being an older person helpingher.
You'd think he'd be like whatwere you thinking?
You know, but yeah.
So this included Wells on hislist of friends, especially
because Hoffman thought Mylamight have a future in radio.

(54:31):
But when Wells found her, hewas only interested in
fulfilling his own needs, notoffering myla career
opportunities.
So even though he was marriedto rita hayworth and they had an
infant daughter, myla steppedin as his on and off again
mistress, and she decided not totell him about the baby she'd
given up for adoption, about.

(54:53):
I think she just didn't.
She says like in the book, shedidn't really see the point,
like I mean yeah.
Yeah, it's like done.
So, it's done.
It's not like and she was, shewas letting him back into her
life.
I mean like Right, it's justkind of like look you know from
the outside and maybe like cuthim out of your life.

Speaker 1 (55:13):
Yeah, maybe he's a piece of shit.

Speaker 3 (55:14):
Maybe don't talk to me, but again she was young and
dumb.

Speaker 1 (55:20):
Quote unquote in love .

Speaker 3 (55:21):
I would say it's an Achilles heel of hers.
That becomes a through line too, that she's just like with men
she lets them get in the way,yeah.

Speaker 2 (55:34):
It's a problem for a lot of people.

Speaker 3 (55:35):
Yes, it's a common problem.
It's a problem for a lot ofpeople.
Yes, it's common problem.
Um so, after a year of thisarrangement of her being, this
on and off again mistress.
Myla ended up accompanying wellsto new york, where they had a
vicious argument that endedtheir relationship.
It is unknown what the argumentwas about maybe it was about
the baby, I don't, maybe butwhat we do know is that Myla

(55:57):
ended up on her parents'doorstep in New York Betraying
her trust.
Sophie had told her husbandthat the father of Myla's child
had been Orson Wells.

Speaker 2 (56:06):
Who's Sophie?

Speaker 3 (56:07):
Her mother.
Okay, so when?
I'm sorry.
So when she said she'd come toNew York on a visit with an
orson, ani put two and twotogether.
He thought of his daughter as awild horse and wanted to just
set her free and wash his handsof her.
But her mother still believedthat she could be coddled into

(56:30):
domesticity and maybe find adecent, nice husband.
So Sophie decided to accompanyher daughter back to Los Angeles
so she could do the coddlingshe spoke of, and Ani agreed to
pay their bills for another sixmonths, and that's it.

Speaker 2 (56:46):
Six months and that's it.

Speaker 3 (56:47):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (56:47):
That's all you get.

Speaker 3 (56:48):
Myla continued working as a chorus girl, this
time at a club called EarlCarol's, and Sophie pampered her
and doted on her, doing herlaundry in the kitchen sink and
keeping it neat and pressed, andat the end of the six months
that Ani had agreed to, he madecontact in the form of divorce
papers he was done he was done.

(57:09):
Oh, with the logic of the drunkthat she was, sophie blamed
Orson Welles for her divorcefrom her husband and.
And an Orson Welles-shaped chipsat firmly on her shoulder.

Speaker 2 (57:21):
Gosh, the whole family just fucking hates, hates
this man, hates this man.

Speaker 3 (57:26):
Well, Myla would hate him if she wasn't so in love
with him so in love.
Yeah, not that Ani was off thehook either.
Myla and Sophie both hated himafter that, and they never saw
him again.

Speaker 2 (57:38):
Wow.

Speaker 3 (57:39):
Yeah, so this was a rift.
After the divorce, sophie wentto work as a chambermaid in the
Knickerbocker Hotel.
She wasn't getting money fromher husband anymore.
She had to go to work, and itwas there that Orson, the bane
of her existence, decided tobook a room.

Speaker 2 (57:57):
God damn it, Orson Welles.

Speaker 3 (58:00):
He keeps showing up?
She sure does.
She knocked on his door as themaid and when she heard his
voice say I didn't order roomservice, she burst in and said
I'm Mayla's mother, the goddamngrandmother of your son.
Which is incredible.
Wells, of course, ordered herto leave, but she came back with

(58:22):
a valid threat, saying thatgossip columnist Hedda Hopper
would absolutely devour ascandal like the one he'd gotten
himself wrapped up in.
Wells acquiesced and offeredher $200.
Sophie snatched it from him andsaid Genius, my ass.

Speaker 2 (58:39):
You're nothing but a common shitheel.

Speaker 3 (58:46):
I love her.
I don't care if she's a drunk,I love her.
She's so good, she's myfavorite.
This, by the way, is analtercation that Milo was never
aware of, but it is one thatSophie had shared with her niece
, the author of this book.
Oh shit, I know.
So she just did that, took the200 bucks and, like, probably
bought herself more alcohol.

Speaker 2 (59:06):
That's exactly what she did.
She forgot it happened.
Yeah, until like a fever dreamlater in her life.
Until Sophie was making thisbook and she was like actually,
yeah.
I remember.
I remember snatching 200 bucksfrom Orson Welles after laying
into him.

Speaker 3 (59:25):
Oh, so good.
So Mila moved on to anotherperformance job at Ken Murray's
burlesque variety show at the ElCapitan Theater.

Speaker 2 (59:33):
Still in existence today.

Speaker 3 (59:35):
Yeah, some of these we should do a little tour.
This is where she would meether next serious relationship,
dean Dink Reisner imagine yourname being Dean, but preferring
the nickname of.
Dink that guy was a real dink.
So Dink that guy was a realdink, so it works for this guy.

(01:00:03):
It applies to him, I feel, asan insult.
I mean he had been dink, hadbeen a child actor in his youth
known as Dinky Dean, jesusChrist, I know Even performing
with Charlie Chaplin at onepoint in time on the film the
Pilgrim.
In any case, the moniker Dinkstuck with him into his

(01:00:23):
adulthood and great.

Speaker 2 (01:00:27):
I guess, I want to say poor guy, but I want to see
if he deserves it.
So let's continue.

Speaker 3 (01:00:32):
Yeah, at the time Mila met Dink.
He had just finished making afilm that he directed and wrote
called Bird and Coup.
It is about a town of parakeetsI shit you not Who've been
invaded by an evil crow calledthe Black Menace, and the film
was performed entirely bytrained birds on the smallest

(01:00:52):
set in history, and this filmactually won an honorary Oscar,
which is like I don't understandhow that is even possible, like
, and of course I looked thismovie up.
I feel like we'll have to likedo an offshoot kind of like
patreon thing about this orsomething like, because I did

(01:01:14):
look it up and it's absurd, butit's just like a full tangent.

Speaker 2 (01:01:19):
So Is it like a full length movie?
Yes, it's not like a short film, I mean, it's like a full
feature length movie.

Speaker 3 (01:01:26):
Yeah, because I didn't watch the whole thing.
I watched enough of it tounderstand.
Like it has a part in thebeginning where it has like the
bird trainers, like being likeand this is like See, this is
whatever Introducing you to thisactor, and like look at him,
crawl on my hand and like youknow what I mean, like a little
behind the scenes moment, andthen they, it's just like a
voiceover, with these birdswalking around this like tiny
set.

(01:01:46):
Oh my God, it just it's not.
There's not really a plot.
Like I'm not impressed.
I'm impressed by the birds.

Speaker 2 (01:01:55):
Right.

Speaker 3 (01:02:00):
Cr.
I'm impressed by the birds.
Right crows are so smart, yes,but if he wrote this script, I
am not impressed that thewriting is the least yes, the
least impressive part of thisentire thing.

Speaker 2 (01:02:06):
So anyway, at the time I got made and got an
honorary oscar.
I can't, I mean right, what thefuck are we doing?
It was that just goes to showyou make the thing no, this was
a different time.

Speaker 3 (01:02:21):
They're like this is revolutionary.
Look at these birds.
Oh my god, what a genius foreven thinking of this.

Speaker 1 (01:02:28):
Stupid, stupid stupid idea, but no one else had
thought that, thought of it,that's true, and he got an
honorary oscar so do you have anhonorary?

Speaker 2 (01:02:36):
no, I don't and I never made I never attempted to
make a bird film.

Speaker 3 (01:02:42):
I never did that.
No, everyone's wondering whatto do with the parakeets that
have been let loose in LosAngeles from like what did you
say?
Like a pet store or something?
Oh no, those are parrots.
Parrots, sorry, parrots.

Speaker 2 (01:02:55):
So yes, the green parrots in.
Pasadena.

Speaker 3 (01:02:58):
Well, maybe someone should make a film with them.

Speaker 1 (01:03:04):
Put those bitches to work.
It works for Dinky.

Speaker 3 (01:03:06):
Dean, get another Oscar.
Yeah, anyway, jesus, at thispoint Milo is 26.
Oh God, she's only 26.
Yeah, so she fell super hardfor Dink, which is a hilarious
sentence, yeah.
She's like oh my God, the birdfilm.
No-transcript.

(01:03:43):
Maybe not like being analcoholic, but A self-saboteur.
A self-saboteur, yes, buteither way.
Myla dove in head first.
She worked as a hat check girlat that point to support them
both, so Dink could focus onwriting.

Speaker 2 (01:03:56):
Oh my God, I know just completely sacrificed
herself Jesus.

Speaker 3 (01:04:00):
They moved in together and called themselves
Mr and Mrs, but they neveractually married.
That's one smart thing she didprobably, yeah, but she still
talks about him like that he washer husband.
She always said he was herhusband.

Speaker 2 (01:04:11):
Interesting.

Speaker 3 (01:04:12):
So smitten as Myla was.
It's undeniable that there wasa lot of drinking and fighting
early on in this relationship.
But it had its sweet parts too,and fighting early on in this
relationship.
But it had its sweet parts too.
They were both animal loversand rescued animals throughout
the neighborhood, just as Mylahad done in her childhood, and
in fact the neighbors called herSister St Francis, Savior of

(01:04:33):
Animals.

Speaker 2 (01:04:34):
That's sweet.

Speaker 3 (01:04:35):
It is cute.

Speaker 2 (01:04:35):
That is very sweet.

Speaker 3 (01:04:37):
So Dink had an ex-girlfriend who was a bikini
model Forging ahead, namedBarbara Freaking, which is oh.

Speaker 2 (01:04:50):
An even better name than Dink yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:04:53):
Barbara Freaking.
I wish that Dink could marryBarbara Freaking and take her
last name.
So his name would be DinkFreaking, freaking, anyway.
So his name would be DinkFreaking.
Dink Freaking, anyway, becauseit's really just, it's
F-R-E-A-K-I-N-G, it's exactlyhow I'm saying it.
Yeah, so when they werewatching a movie, him and Milo

(01:05:14):
were watching a movie in thetheater and a local swimsuit ad
came on.
There was Barbara, and Miloheard Dink drool out her pet
name, freako.
Her pet name was freako likelet's spell it f-r-e-a-k-o.

(01:05:38):
Freak with an o, yep, um, I'msorry it's freak, oh, it's freak
.
With an O on the end.
Yeah, freak, oh no.
And that's where her, that'swhere Mila's ambition to be a
pinup girl came from, Entirelyout of jealousy.

Speaker 2 (01:05:58):
Jealousy and competition.

Speaker 3 (01:05:59):
Yes, all the drinking and late night eating of the
honeymoon phase of theirrelationship would have to stop,
as Myla said.

Speaker 2 (01:06:06):
The imaginary battle lines were drawn.
I would become the model shecould never be.
Dink would see that he had thebest.
I would become his.

Speaker 3 (01:06:16):
Madonna.
So Myla went on a fad diet ofsorts, with one unique addition
to help her achieve anexaggerated hourglass.
She learned that the mainingredient in steak tenderizer
was papaya powder and thoughtthat if it could work on meat,
it might also work on livingflesh.

Speaker 2 (01:06:37):
Oh my, actually, this is sound.
I could see this, I could seethis, I could see this.
It's not that crazy.
I mean it is crazy, but I mean,I mean, I mean it's crazy to do
it.
Right, but it's the science.
The science is there.

Speaker 3 (01:06:56):
Well, this is why, like, I find it OK.
So when people eat like I,first of all I don't eat like
I'm a pescatarian.
Right now, I don't eat, andhaven't eaten lunch meat in a
long time, and I always tellpeople it's like if you eat meat
or not, your choice, of course,but like lunch, meat has
nitrates in it, which is like ameat preservative, which is like

(01:07:18):
a meat preservative and you'reputting it in your body to like,
which, like it's like you'remade of meat too.
You know, so you're just puttinglike something that would
preserve your own stomach intoyour stomach, which is
absolutely disgusting.
Sorry, tangent, but like justyes, the science makes sense in
many different directions.

Speaker 2 (01:07:38):
The papaya science is there.

Speaker 3 (01:07:39):
Yes, so anyway.
So she mixed the papaya powderwith cold cream and slathered it
around her waistline andsecured rubber inner tubes
around her middle.
She had remembered what themermaid girl had said about her
rubber fin from her briefcarnival stint.
So that's how she went about it, and she slept like that, all
greased and wrapped in rubber.
All of this effort led to herlosing 30 pounds and several

(01:08:04):
inches off of her waist.

Speaker 2 (01:08:06):
Dang yeah, dang yeah.
Should we call this the dinkdiet?
Yeah, the dink diet.

Speaker 3 (01:08:14):
The dink freaking diet, the freaking dink diet,
the freaking dink diet 30 poundsyeah.
That's a lot, I know.
Years before, she hadapproached a pin-up photographer
in the hopes of modeling, buthe'd said that she carried too
much weight and didn't haveenough shape.
Now, however, she did so.

(01:08:34):
She was even a bikini model ina film called beauty on the
beach which was norma jean'sfirst film as well.
So of the film Myla said.

Speaker 2 (01:08:46):
It was not made for general release but for the
mail-order trade.
You know the home masturbationmarket.
You could say it was made forprivate release.
That's funny, myla, that'sfunny Myla, that's funny I feel
like the voice I chose for heris way too upper crust, but it's

(01:09:09):
too late.
Now you can.

Speaker 3 (01:09:12):
Let's no, I feel like Okay, so let's just like you
come into this not knowinganything.

Speaker 2 (01:09:18):
I don't know a.
Thing.

Speaker 3 (01:09:20):
No.

Speaker 2 (01:09:20):
I just like general time.
Sure, you're in the talkies.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:09:25):
I think I think she's .
I mean like she had, like hervampire voice is.
I've seen her do an interviewas a 70 year old and it's like
and then her vampire voice islike different, but like I.
So I feel like, yeah, she's theactual one.

Speaker 2 (01:09:42):
She becomes vampire.
It's going to be another voice,bitches.
Voice is like different, butlike, so I feel like, yeah,
she's theatrical.
Once she becomes Vampyra, it'sgonna be another voice, bitches
you just wait yeah, like she'snot.
She's still finding much likeme at this point in the story.

Speaker 3 (01:09:54):
She's still finding her voice.
Yes, no, but I do.
Yeah, she's.
She is not like much.
Christopher Jones didn't have asouthern accent, mila Nermy
didn't have a Southern accent,but that's OK.
Like she's performative and shewas reinventing herself all the
time and you should just usethat.

Speaker 2 (01:10:12):
Reinvent yourself as much as you want, I'm just going
to do a different voice for herevery time.

Speaker 3 (01:10:18):
Do it.
She wanted to reinvent herselfall the time.
She would erase whatever peopleknew about her and start over.

Speaker 2 (01:10:22):
I love it.
I love it, I love it.

Speaker 3 (01:10:24):
Mila went on to win a major contest called Rave
Discovery and ended up on thecover of Glamorous Models in
1950.

Speaker 2 (01:10:30):
A cover girl, that's right.

Speaker 3 (01:10:37):
She then did another cover for Night and Day,
america's picture magazine ofentertainment, and a seven-page
spread in a 1953 issue of ArtPhotography.
She also did calendar work, butnever nude calendar work.

Speaker 2 (01:10:47):
Never nude.
Yes, she's a pinup girl Nevernude.

Speaker 3 (01:10:51):
Never nude Like Tobias.

Speaker 2 (01:10:54):
Dinky.

Speaker 3 (01:10:54):
Yep.
So she managed to turn herdesire to turn on her husband
into a little modeling career.
But after Dink, quit drinkingdrinking with mayla's help, of
course good job, dinky boy hestarted writing a lot more and
ignoring her a lot more as well.
he like chose his work over herpretty much at this point.
So myla formed another plan tocapture his attention.

(01:11:17):
She ordered a bunch of fetishgear from a fetish magazine
Corsets, whips, chains and thelike for herself and then got a
pair of prison PJs for Dink tospice things up in the bedroom.
Hilarious, Myla, I love the wayyour brain works.

Speaker 2 (01:11:33):
I am into it.
Get it girl.

Speaker 3 (01:11:37):
Sexy and in control.
The feeling of donningdominatrix garb made Myla feel
like the person she was alwaysmeant to be, A hybrid of her
idols the dragon lady and theevil queen, that's right, yes,
in control and sexy Right.
But still, dink wasn't home veryoften anymore and Myla assumed
he'd gotten himself a side piece.

(01:11:58):
Whether that was true or not,his career had taken off and he
was definitely busy with work.
So she wandered over toSchwab's pharmacy most nights
and sat On such a walk she raninto Marlon Brando and they
began a friendship of sorts thatMyla insisted remained platonic
.
So it was like they had theirfirst meeting.
There was a pause and then theyjust they didn't exchange

(01:12:21):
numbers at that time.
They just ran into each other inthe street again, which is like
also kind of crazy.
Yeah, um, at this point, brandohad just filmed streetcar named
desire, so his star was aboutto explode.
Dink's absence allowed myla alot of free time for outings
with brando, and it was only amatter of time before they
hooked up in the back seat ofhis car like teenagers.

(01:12:42):
So at this point let's justkeep count.
She slept with orson wells andmarlon marlon brando.
Yeah, I mean 26, 27, yeah yeah,and also like they're both huge
names and she's a nobody right Imean Right.

Speaker 2 (01:13:01):
I mean, it's easy to sleep with men.
I'm going to say it.

Speaker 3 (01:13:06):
I'm going to say it it's easy to sleep with men, but
like when, like the hugest star, like just to be a nobody and
randomly, without trying, meettwo of the hugest stars of that
time.

Speaker 2 (01:13:17):
Yeah, and fucking them.
Well, I again.
These are fucking horny dudes.

Speaker 1 (01:13:23):
And they saw an easy mark.
She was also very, she was veryattractive.
Yeah, she was hot, she was hot.

Speaker 2 (01:13:30):
So yeah, Again, it's easy.
It's easy to fuck a guy whenyou're a hot lady.
It's easy to fuck a straightguy.

Speaker 3 (01:13:40):
It's true, it's true, it's true.

Speaker 2 (01:13:43):
And you're a hot lady .
I don't know, this might becontroversial.

Speaker 3 (01:13:46):
No, but you know what it's like when you have nothing
else going on.
You have to have something tofeel good about.
And if I had nothing else goingon and I like fucked two of the
most major stars I'd like.

Speaker 1 (01:13:57):
I'd be like yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:13:57):
I fucked them?
Yeah, I would.
I would be like, yeah, I gotsomething special.
Yeah, maybe she did, she hadmagic pussy.

Speaker 2 (01:14:05):
Maybe she did.

Speaker 3 (01:14:08):
Who knows?
You don't need it, though it'strue.

Speaker 2 (01:14:10):
You really don't.

Speaker 3 (01:14:11):
So yeah, she ended up in the backseat of his car with
him.
Of course was bound to happen.
Milo thought Dink was messingaround, so she messed around too
, but still, they were friendsfirst and foremost.
And though their friendship hadits pauses, they stayed in each
other's lives pretty muchforever.

Speaker 2 (01:14:27):
That's pretty cool.

Speaker 3 (01:14:28):
Yeah, now Myla talks a lot about the hangout culture
of Hollywood at that time, andit was really another era that's
unrecognizable to us today,because it was time where actors
of note were known to regularlyfrequent diners and soda
counters as if they were theiroffice and networking spot.

Speaker 1 (01:14:46):
The mainstay the.

Speaker 3 (01:14:47):
Starbucks yeah.
But like it was, like it waslike where you were like the
Soho house, yeah, kind of likethe Soho house, but it would
just be like anybody could walkinto these places Right, there
was nobody, which is like it'sjust another time.

Speaker 2 (01:15:00):
That reminds me of like like British West End
culture.

Speaker 3 (01:15:03):
Really.

Speaker 2 (01:15:03):
Yeah, of like, just like these famous British actors
just doing a play and thencoming down to the pub.
It is very theater and hangingout.

Speaker 3 (01:15:12):
It is very theater.
I mean like yeah.
Because that's like New Yorkculture and Chicago and
everything.

Speaker 2 (01:15:17):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:15:17):
Like, you go to just a normal place.
You don't go somewhereexclusive.

Speaker 2 (01:15:19):
Yeah.
If you're like, in the theaterat least so I feel like, yeah,
it was a little bit that's true.

Speaker 3 (01:15:27):
That's a good parallel.

Speaker 2 (01:15:28):
It was a more theater culture kind of thing, the
hollywood at the time also.
People are just walking around.
I know, right, no one walkshere.

Speaker 3 (01:15:33):
I know to just run into a major star on the street
is like, that's what I'm saying,like I, but I guess again
another time.
So, um, the mainstay for a longtime in this dinner.

Speaker 2 (01:15:43):
Although I have run into quite a like.
I ran into Tom Hanks Like I wasgoing into a grocery store.
He was coming out of a grocerystore.
Yeah, I mean, I guess that'shuge.
I also ran into.
Oh my gosh, what's her name?
She plays Maybe on oh, yeah,yeah, yeah.
Aaliyah Shawkat.

(01:16:04):
Aaliyah Shawkat.
I ran into Aaliyah Shawkat.
I was in the worst fuckingtraffic in West Hollywood and I
was turning one way and she wasturning the other and we were
kind of just like stuck onopposite corners and we were
both just like fuck this, I hatefucking traffic.
We would both look at eachother and I was like, oh my God.

(01:16:26):
And she was like and this isall mimed, of course, because
I'm in my car and she's in hersbut I was like, oh, it's you.
And she's like yeah, it's me.
And I was like you're fuckinggreat, Just like you gave her
two thumbs up and a millennialheart.
Oh, you're great.
And then she's like oh, thankyou.

Speaker 1 (01:16:47):
Wow.

Speaker 2 (01:16:48):
Thank you.

Speaker 1 (01:16:49):
She gave me a millennial heart.

Speaker 2 (01:16:50):
And then the traffic moved and we were both just like
, oh, finally, ok, bye.

Speaker 3 (01:16:58):
That's great.
I mean, when I first moved hereI kept seeing Randy Jackson
everywhere.

Speaker 2 (01:17:06):
It's a no for me, dog .

Speaker 1 (01:17:07):
Yeah, yeah, exactly, and I felt like it was.

Speaker 3 (01:17:10):
Like he just says he says dog exactly as much as he
does on the show.
It's not a put on, it's like Iwould just hear snippets of this
conversation.
And dog every other one, that'sso funny.

Speaker 2 (01:17:20):
So yeah, that was my big first celebrity sighting you
know what, in both instancesboth Tom Hanks and Aaliyah
Shawkat both had just likeregular cars, like I think Tom
Hanks had like a Toyota Priusand Aaliyah had like an old
sedan.

Speaker 3 (01:17:39):
I mean honestly, though, why do you want a nice
car anymore if you're gonna parkit on the street because, truly
, someone's gonna fucking robyou, like?

Speaker 2 (01:17:46):
I'm just saying like someone will run into, even if
your car isn't that nice, it'sjust new.

Speaker 3 (01:17:52):
Someone could try to rob you.
So, like I, yeah, like don'tyou know, yeah, you don't drive
a lamborghini down the streetand park it.
Like just don't be an idiot,honestly, like it's the car's
already a waste of money, comeon, come on.
So okay, um, all right.
So the mainstay for a long timein this hangout culture was
schwab's pharmacy, which I'vealready mentioned where does

(01:18:14):
that still exist?

Speaker 2 (01:18:15):
no, okay, I don't think, so hold on there's an old
like soda shop pharmacy inPasadena.

Speaker 3 (01:18:22):
Yes.

Speaker 2 (01:18:22):
That's what I'm picturing, yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:18:27):
I think that that's like you're picturing the right
kind of thing.
No, it doesn't exist anymore,but so, anyway, that was where
respected mainstream actors likeShelley Winters, who we've
talked about before.

Speaker 2 (01:18:37):
Shelley Winters.

Speaker 3 (01:18:39):
Lloyd Bridges and Humphrey Bogart could be found
debriefing between jobs.
But when a new joint opened upnext to Schwab's called Googies,
all the Hollywood offbeats andnonconformers moved in and set
up shop.
This cohort included Myla,Dennis Hopper and James Dean.
Myla hadn't met Dean at thispoint in the story, but she

(01:18:59):
would.

Speaker 2 (01:19:03):
So more on that in part two.

Speaker 3 (01:19:05):
Yes, for Myla it was where she felt most at home and
where she found her people.
So, with her relationship withDink on the Rocks, she found
herself in a booth at Googie'smore often than not, and as she
sat in that booth she startedthinking about her next move.
She was approaching 30 andaging out of the pin-up chorus
girl hustle that had served asher career thus far.
It wasn't what she dreamed ofanyway, and it was time to move

(01:19:28):
on with television.
Having just entered the livingrooms of america, mayla saw an
opportunity to make her mark.
Mayla had been inspired by thecomic strip charles adams was
making for the New Yorker calledHomebodies.
That's like what the Adamsfamily is based on.
It was called Homebodies andit's the family that would later

(01:19:50):
solidify into the Adams family.
It featured a weird familydoing everyday things beneath a
layer of dark humor.
For example, one Charles Adamscomic strip features the family
preparing to pour hot oil on agroup of Christmas carolers.
It was very edgy stuff for thetimes and it was exactly up

(01:20:10):
Myla's alley In her wildestdreams.
Myla wanted to bring thisconcept to television, and that
was not something that hadhappened yet, though of course
it would later.
One of Myla's friends, rudyGern rick gurn rike.
I'm not sure if I'm saying thatright, but we'll spell it
g-e-r-n-r-e-i-c-h it'sg-e-r-n-r-e-i-c-h.

(01:20:32):
Yeah, yeah, did I say that youdid?
You're right, my I the n eraseditself when.

Speaker 1 (01:20:40):
I read it.

Speaker 3 (01:20:41):
Anyway.
So he was becoming a success asa fashion designer, and let her
know about the Ball Karib,which was a costume ball that
truly allowed those who wantedto be noticed to be seen with
important eyes.

Speaker 2 (01:20:56):
Oh.
So Myla decided to go as aversion of the matriarch of the
Homebodies comics, so it wasjust like a costume, like an
upscale costume party slash.

Speaker 3 (01:21:08):
It's kind of see and be seen, Right yeah, Event.
So she went as the matriarch ofthe Homebodies comics who
wasn't yet Morticia and sinceher dad of a boyfriend, Dink,
refused to go because he quotewasn't interested in a bunch of
queens prancing around in fulldrag.

Speaker 2 (01:21:27):
Not an ally, yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:21:28):
This is where we are like yes, dink, you deserve your
stupid name.

Speaker 2 (01:21:32):
Your stupid, stupid dinky, dinky name.
Yeah, I hate you we all do so.

Speaker 3 (01:21:38):
Myla ended up taking a local coffee shop employee as
her date who had Scottish kiltattire to wear, so at least he
had some form of a costume thatwas like her criteria.
Do you have something?

Speaker 2 (01:21:50):
to wear All right great.

Speaker 3 (01:21:52):
Her date didn't matter, because Milo was the one
who was going to steal the showanyway.
That's right, milo meticulouslycrafted her costume, patterning
it on newspaper and handstitching it together.
I don't know if you rememberthat, but earlier.

Speaker 2 (01:22:04):
That's right.
She knows how to sew her ownshit.

Speaker 3 (01:22:06):
Yes, the ball was at one of the clubs Mila once
danced at, then called EarlCarroll's, now called the Moulin
Rouge, and when she walked intothat ball she looked like the
farthest thing from the cutesychorus girl.
This building had last seen heras Nice.
Now.

(01:22:28):
She had black, stringy hair, atattered edged gown with threads
that hung at her elbows andbare feet, and then blue, oxygen
depraved lips.
Wow, myla carried herself as asilent, unbothered zombie all
night, and she got the same kindof attention that Cinderella
received when she showed up atthe ball in her glass slippers.
The crowd ate up her shtick.
Still playing a mute, mila wonfirst prize in the costume

(01:22:51):
contest.
The other winner was a man,dressed or not dressed as a
naked cowboy.

Speaker 2 (01:22:59):
So the guy in New York yeah the guy in New York.
Also not an original Not anoriginal.

Speaker 3 (01:23:04):
Her prize was a portable radio, and when she
silently accepted it, the crowdwas chanting Charles Adams,
Charles Adams.
They got her reference andshe'd made an impression.

Speaker 2 (01:23:14):
Nice.

Speaker 3 (01:23:14):
Do you want to see a picture of the original Charles
Adams comic?

Speaker 2 (01:23:19):
Oh, yeah, yeah, Okay, I remember seeing these I
remember these.

Speaker 3 (01:23:25):
So it's like you can't really see her shoes, or
she is tall, but like she's notlike super buxom, actually, like
it's there's.
She's more like skinny andwillowy skinny and willowy and
like kind of like emaciatedlooking, yeah, and definitely,
the hair is flat, flat andstringy, yeah, flat and stringy,
yeah, flat.
and stringy and so like it's adifferent take on Morticia.

(01:23:46):
As luck would have it, a newlyminted TV producer was at the
ball that night.
His name was Hunt Stromberg andhe just stepped into his role
as program director at KABCTelevision.
He was trying to figure out anenticing way to present the slew
of third-rate movies that thestation had available to show
and he felt that Myla's CharlesAdams-esque ghoul would be the

(01:24:08):
perfect host to present thesesubpar horror films to their
audience.
However, he didn't even knowMyla's name, so he desperately
started asking around and heasked her fashion designer
friend, who told her about theball in the first place?

Speaker 2 (01:24:22):
Rudy Gernreich, and he said Do I know her?
Of course I do.
She is Myla Nurmi, the firstwoman in Southern California to
wear backless shoes.
She's in the phone book underMrs Dean Reisner.

Speaker 3 (01:24:42):
The first woman in Southern.

Speaker 1 (01:24:44):
California to wear backless.

Speaker 3 (01:24:46):
shoes Backless shoes.
Backless shoes.
I love this voice, and so Mylamet with Hunt Stromberg at KABC.
She had cropped blonde hair,wore all black and donned a cape
For that meeting.

Speaker 2 (01:25:01):
Yeah, she was like I know how to dress.
Oh, I know how to dress.

Speaker 3 (01:25:04):
Oh, I love it.
Stromberg explained his ideathat Myla host a lineup of late
night horror flicks as theCharles Adams character that
she'd portrayed at the Balcareep.
But Myla didn't want toinfringe upon his creation Nice.
So Stromberg suggested that shemake her into a vampire instead
of a zombie, vampire instead ofa zombie.

(01:25:25):
And he told her she needed todo it in four days.
Everything in Myla's life upuntil this point had been
leading her here, and she wasready to pounce on this
opportunity.

Speaker 2 (01:25:31):
Hunt wanted a vampire .
So then I thought what about asexy vampire?
Adams's flat-chested barefootmute certainly wasn't that.
I could be a sexy vampire,pondering death in all sorts of
crazy and urbane ways.

Speaker 3 (01:25:54):
With a clear idea of her character, Myla got to work
reconfiguring her costume fromthe ball crib.
She started by flipping itaround to make the low-cut back
the front and the high-cut frontthe back.
She sewed wire hangers into itfor structure and split the
skirt as high as she could getaway with.
Luckily, Myla had a fetishwardrobe which provided a solid

(01:26:16):
foundation for her look.
She pulled out her trusty waistcincher and tailored the dress
to accommodate it, along withher breast and hip padding.
Stock up on fetish gear.
You never know when you'll needit.

Speaker 2 (01:26:29):
That's right if you, if you take one thing away from
this podcast yeah, you stock upon your fetish gear that's right
, it's not frivolous at all, notat all, not at all you might
need it for a rainy day yes or ajob, yeah, that requires full
drag.

Speaker 3 (01:26:46):
Myla envisioned her vampire woman having long,
three-inch fingernails, but thatwas not an available costume
option back then.
So she got crafty and cutpieces from a plastic food
container, softened them byboiling them and then fit them
over her own nails.
Whoa boiling them and then fitthem over her own nails, whoa.
Then she wrapped them aroundpencils and secured them with

(01:27:07):
rubber bands before cooling herbespoke press-ons on a tray of
ice.
So they would set.
Oh a queen I know so craftyqueen I want to see her in
speaking of rupaul's drag race.
I want to see her like in acostume challenge you know know
what I mean.
Yes, after hearing about thislike she'd be so good.
So they were so long, thesenails, that they popped off

(01:27:29):
regularly.
So Myla ended up having tocarry spares.

Speaker 2 (01:27:32):
She's prepared, she's prepared.

Speaker 3 (01:27:34):
I know that game.
I have to have gone the presson route many times and have had
to carry spares.
I get it In Myla's words.

Speaker 2 (01:27:41):
her look was one part Greta Garbo, two parts each of
the Dragon Lady, Evil Queen andTheta Barra, Three parts Norma
Desmond and four parts BizarreMagazine.

Speaker 3 (01:27:55):
And Bizarre Magazine was where she ordered all her
fetish gear for context Now sheneeded a voice and a personality
.
She unveiled her character atKABC by whisking off her cape to
reveal her sultry costume andsvelte meat, tenderized waist
that was sent to the gods.
She pulled a long cigaretteholder from her cleavage,
offered them a cigarette andthey ate it up.

Speaker 2 (01:28:18):
Wow, I'm eating it up .
I'm just imagining it and I'meating it up.

Speaker 3 (01:28:21):
Yes, Milo was officially hired and Vampyra was
born, and this is where we'regoing to leave it.

Speaker 1 (01:28:28):
No, Until our next episode.

Speaker 3 (01:28:30):
I know, but there was a lot of pre-Vampyra.
I mean, like, can you imagineleaving any of that out?
No, you can't.
You can't, it's just like thatbackstory is insane.

Speaker 2 (01:28:39):
It's insane and necessary.

Speaker 3 (01:28:41):
Yes.

Speaker 2 (01:28:41):
So that was pre-Vampyra yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:28:43):
So next week will be Prime Vampyra, where you can, or
next time.
It's not going to be every week, so next time will be Prime
Vampyra, where you can hear allabout the splash that Myla made
on 1950s television and more.
So thoughts and impressions.

Speaker 2 (01:29:00):
Oh my gosh.
Ok, it's fascinating.
Yes, also, I think it's.
I don't know if it's like noone talked about this at the
time, but like I think it'shilarious too that she's like
I'm going to move to New Yorkand LA and do New York and LA
and New York and LA to be thisactor, but like she didn't take
any acting classes.
No, you're right.

Speaker 3 (01:29:21):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:29:21):
She like she was just like.
I'll just put meat tenderizeron my waist and shack up with
famous people.

Speaker 3 (01:29:30):
Well, what I don't even feel like shacking up with
famous people was part of herstrategy, really.
I mean, she did want to be seenand noticed.

Speaker 2 (01:29:36):
I don't think she had a strategy.

Speaker 1 (01:29:38):
She didn't have a strategy, she didn't have a
strategy.

Speaker 2 (01:29:40):
She was just floating about and had like a strong
aesthetic which goes to show you, yes, that a strong point of
view can get you really fuckingfar.

Speaker 3 (01:29:53):
Yeah, and I feel like even before she.
Well, you know, the thing is,she always had that point of
view.
So, but it's like the stuffthat was always like innately in
her, yeah, and so the stuffthat led her to opportunities
were always kind of dark likethey, and that's what people saw
in her yeah like so it's likeshe saw it in herself and other
people saw it in her and it'slike, yeah, it's such a bummer
that the howard hawks thingdidn't did that movie get made?

(01:30:15):
the one that he wanted to makeno I mean, I think that that was
like something he was makingjust for her and scrapped it.
But yeah, yikes, so I, butanyway, yeah, I feel like, yes,
she didn't truly have a plan.
Um and no plan no strategy, notraining no, but I also feel

(01:30:35):
like I don't know if she thoughtof herself as an actress.
Actress, really.
I feel like I think that it waslike a time.
Well, she wanted to be a radioperformer.
She wanted to be a radioperformer.
I think she really wanted to belike the auteur and artist and
like I kind of feel like thereweren't words for what she was
trying to do at the time and Ifeel like she ended up being
more categorized as like a andtruly was like more of a

(01:30:58):
performance artist.
She like she really wasn'tgoing to be the person who was
transforming herself into like abunch of different roles I mean
, even though she kind of didthat to an extent, like when she
was like selling the newspapersand stuff and creating these
characters and things.
But I still feel like, yeah,maybe she would have fit into an
improv world.

Speaker 2 (01:31:17):
I used to do that shit too.
Yeah, I would just get so boredlike waiting tables oh my god
working at all these stupidplaces and I get so bored.
And you waiting tables andworking at all these stupid
places and I get so bored andyou just play games with
yourself.
Right and like create your owncharacter and just like I'm
going to be Scottish for the day.
You told me that I could never.
I never did Scottish.

(01:31:38):
I can't do a Scottish accent.
It always goes to English.

Speaker 1 (01:31:41):
Right right right, you told me that you did that.
I can't do a Scottish accent.
It always goes to English.

Speaker 3 (01:31:42):
Right right right, you told me that you did that I
would go around doing accentsall the time.

Speaker 2 (01:31:46):
That's so obnoxious I know it is, but I was fucking
bored, I know.

Speaker 3 (01:31:53):
Well, that's the thing I mean.
It's true she's trying to sella paper.
I'm going to come up withcharacters to do it and like
whatever she was.
I think it was the same kind ofthing.
But I feel like, yeah, I don'tknow, and maybe it's also just
the time.
I think like people didn't.
I mean, people did go gettraining.

Speaker 2 (01:32:09):
She was around people who had training she was like
around marlon brando and theseother marlon brando was stella
adler's baby and so in jamesdean.

Speaker 3 (01:32:18):
We didn't get to him yet, but she's very close to
james dean and so, like I feel,I feel like this is all like
those guys were likeactor-studio actors, so I don't
know.
Like I feel like maybe with Idon't know if it was like just
not the way she saw herself.
I mean, she must not havereally thought like I'm an
actor's actor, like it wasn'tthe same yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:32:46):
She wanted to, to like, make a mark with a very
distinct thing.
Instead of being I get, I feelbad because, like, obviously the
family rift, but like I get herdad being like, what are you
doing?

Speaker 3 (01:32:51):
yeah, yeah, yeah moving across the country back
and forth, back and forth withlike well and no clear like, not
a plan not a vision like you'renot going to school, you're not
getting training, you're justlike what, waiting to be
discovered you know like right,yeah, yeah yeah, no, I mean like
, and I do, I am, but I also getthe side of it where it's like
I've gotta like be free and makemy own money and figure that

(01:33:14):
out, and then getting completelydistracted by that, which I
think is actually what was goingon.

Speaker 2 (01:33:18):
I gotta make, I gotta be free and make my own money.
She, she kept asking her dadfor money.

Speaker 3 (01:33:22):
Well, he got her money to get places.
But then it was like you haveto live the way I want you to
live.
So, like her whole thing.
I mean she's young, do you knowwhat I mean?
So it's like she's like I don'twant to live the way you want
me to live, I'm going to go makemy own money and get my own
place.
And that became like her wholefocus every time, which not I
mean like I don't relate to thatpart of the story at all I like

(01:33:42):
didn't move around the country,being like Dad, can I have more
money to do this?
Like I never did that.
But at the same time, like I dounderstand the side of it where
you're like, oh, I'm gonna justtry to pay for my own place,
and then getting completelydistracted by doing that.
Yeah, yeah absolutely so I thinkyou know, to give her the
benefit of that.
That's part of it.
But yeah, there's so many timeswhere I'm like, especially the

(01:34:02):
Howard Hawks thing, where I'mlike oh girl why, that's so bad,
but anyway, she'll find her wayin some ways We'll get to it.

Speaker 2 (01:34:14):
But yeah, there's more.
I'm looking forward to Prime,vampyra Prime.

Speaker 3 (01:34:18):
Vampyra yeah, we're going to hear more of her and
there's some clips and there'ssome stuff, so there'll be more
of that.
But anyway, thank you so muchfor joining and we'll see you
next time.

Speaker 1 (01:34:28):
Bye, Bye.
If we've piqued your curiosity,please subscribe on Substack at
deadandkindoffamoussubstackcom.
We list each episode there,along with photos, newsletters,
sources and more.
You can also find us whereveryou get your podcasts.
Dead and Kind of Famous iswritten researched and produced
by Courtney Blomquist.

Speaker 2 (01:34:48):
It is co-hosted by Marissa Rivera.
We tag team on socials.
Jesse Russell and CourtneyBlomquist do our editing Until
next time.

Speaker 1 (01:34:57):
You might not be famous, but you got a story to
tell.
Tell, and you're not dead yet.

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