Once Upon a Time… at Bennington College
It’s the groves of academe: Bennington College, the wildest and wickedest school in America. In the last great decade: the 1980s. Bennington class of ’86, class of Bret Easton Ellis, future writer of American Psycho and co-leader of the literary Brat Pack; Jonathan Lethem, future writer of Motherless Brooklyn and MacArthur Fellow; and Donna Tartt, future writer of The Secret History and Pulitzer Prize winner. All three are, at various times, infatuated and disappointed with one another, their friendships stimulated and fueled by rivalry as much as affection. And all three will mythologize Bennington in their fiction—fiction that, as we’ll discover, isn’t always fiction, is often fact—and thereby become myths themselves. From Vanity Fair's Lili Anolik, comes the latest installment in the Once Upon a Time… franchise, Once Upon a Time… at Bennington College. This is a tale of money, murder, madness, and—of course—genius. This is, too, a multi-dimensional expose: the secret history of The Secret History revealed; the secret history of three of the greatest writers of Generation X revealed; and the secret history of Generation X itself revealed.Once Upon a Time at...Bennington College is an Audacy original.This follows Season One: Once Upon a Time...in the Valley, a real-life psychological thriller about underage adult star Traci Lords.
Episodes
Welcome to Once Upon a Time… in the Valley.
It's 1986. The San Fernando Valley. And, it turns out, the biggest star in Adult, isn't one.
A 15-year-old Redondo Union High sophomore learns to fake it so she can make it... as a nude model.
Traci lands the Penthouse centerfold--and the studliest stud in porn.
Traci goes from adult model to adult actress to adult phenomenon.
The only thing wilder than Traci on camera, is Traci off camera. Also: Traci gets a rival; Traci gets a company; Traci gets a passport; and Traci gets busted.
The adult industry is screwed. The question is: Who's doing the screwing?
We leave the Valley and Traci Lords behind; go back to Redondo Beach and to Traci Lords before she was Traci Lords, when she was Nora Kuzma.
Meet Troy Matherly, the heart of this story. The heart of Nora's story, and of Traci's story.
We return to the Valley, and it looks a whole lot different this time around.
The mystery is (maybe) solved. And we hear directly—and at length—from 1985 Traci, in a never-before-aired interview.
Traci Lords as the key to pop culture in the late 20th and early 21st century.
A crucial new piece of information comes to light.
It’s the groves of academe: Bennington College, the wildest and wickedest school in America. In the last great decade: the 1980s. Bennington class of ’86, class of Bret Easton Ellis, future writer of American Psycho and co-leader of the literary Brat Pack; Jonathan Lethem, future writer of Motherless Brooklyn and MacArthur Fellow; and Donna Tartt, future writer of The Secret History and Pulitzer Prize winner. All three are, at vari...
Bennington. Autumn, 1982. Donna, Jonathan and Bret arrive on the campus of the school nicknamed “The Little Red Whorehouse on the Hill.” One of them comes with a steamer trunk. One of them comes with a Kangol cap. One of them comes with a “suitcase full of drugs.”
Los Angeles, 1980-1981. “There was just this huge sense that the world was gay, gay, gay.” The origin story of Bret Easton Ellis (and Less Than Zero), Part One.
Los Angeles, 1981-1982. “This rumor went around in 1981, 1982, that kids just were brought to see the body of another kid.” The origin story of Bret Easton Ellis (and Less Than Zero), Part Two.
Bennington. Autumn, 1982. Bret and Donna go on a date.
Bennington. Autumn, 1982. Donna falls under the thrall of a magus-like professor, and the very small, very elite, very male band of students to whom he teaches Ancient Greek. “I can absolutely distinctly remember the three of them, and then the four of them—the three guys but then the four. The guys with Donna.”
Winter, 1982-1983. Over Non-Resident term, Donna gets closer to Jonathan, and becomes Paul McGloin's "Burning Boy."
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