Darryl F. Zanuck "Four O'clock Girls"

Darryl F. Zanuck was a legendary figure in Hollywood known for leading a major studio, producing top films and assaulting aspiring actresses in the 1930s. That same decade, the term "casting couch" surfaced to describe the abuse of power by Zanuck and other high-powered men who were the gatekeepers of access to the big screen. In “4 O'clock Girls,” host Tracy Pattin and co-host Matt Donnelly, Variety’s senior entertainment and media writer, detail Zanuck’s duplicitous and dangerous actions that reportedly took place daily at 4 p.m. in his office.  For a full list of sources and citations for this episode, visit https://variety.com/h/variety-confidential/.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Om Podcasten

Variety Confidential is a new true crime podcast that dives into Variety’s historic archives to explore stories of sex, money and murder in the entertainment industry. Season one, titled “The Secret History of the Casting Couch,” will detail the notorious Hollywood casting couch through the decades and draw parallels between recent sex scandals and those of the past, illustrating that sexual predation in the industry is as old as the Hollywood Hills.