Dark History - 160: ICON, Sex Kitten, and BLACKLISTED?! WTF happened to Eartha Kitt

Episode Date: February 19, 2025

Hi friends, happy Wednesday! Most celebrities are lucky to be known for one big thing. But some are famous for different things, across multiple generations. To me, those are the icons.  And one of those people is Eartha Kitt. A lot of millennials recognize her as the voice of Yzma from The Emperor’s New Groove, that animated movie with the llama? But Eartha was so much more than a cartoon villain. She was a civil rights activist, an award winning singer, dancer, actor, teacher and author. And on top of all that, a sex icon! Learning about her story just made me even more obsessed with her. So let’s get into it. Welcome to the Dark History of the one, the only… Eartha Kitt.  I appreciate you for coming by, and tune in next week for more Dark History. I sometimes talk about my Good Reads in the show. So here's the link if you want to check it out. IDK. lol: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/139701263-bailey ________ FOLLOW ME AROUND  Tik Tok: https://bit.ly/3e3jL9v Instagram: http://bit.ly/2nbO4PR Facebook: http://bit.ly/2mdZtK6 Twitter: http://bit.ly/2yT4BLV Pinterest: http://bit.ly/2mVpXnY Youtube: http://bit.ly/1HGw3Og Snapchat: https://bit.ly/3cC0V9d Discord: https://discord.gg/BaileySarian RECOMMEND A STORY HERE: [e-mail]  Business Related Emails: [e-mail] Business Related Mail:  Bailey Sarian  4400 W. Riverside Dr., Ste 110-300  Burbank, CA 91505 ________ This podcast is Executive Produced by: Bailey Sarian & Kevin Grosch and Joey Scavuzzo from Made In Network Head Writer: Allyson Philobos Writer: Katie Burris Additional Writing: Jessica Charles Research provided by: Coleen Smith  Special thank you to our Historical Consultant: John L. Williams, author of "America's Mistress: The Life and Times of Eartha Kitt"  Director: Brian Jaggers Additional Editing: Julien Perez and Maria Norris Post Supervisor: Kelly Hardin  Production Management: Ross Woodruff Hair: Luca Burnett Makeup: Roni Herrera ________ Sign up for a free 30-day trial at http://www.audible.com/DARKHISTORY Go to https://www.DipseaStories.com/DARKHISTORY for 30 days of full access—for free! Get 20 percent off your first order of Liquid I.V. when you go to https://www.LIQUIDIV.com and use code DARKHISTORY at checkout. T Go to https://www.shipstation.com and use code DARKHISTORY to sign up for your FREE trial. 

Most celebrities are lucky to be known for one big thing, but some are famous for, I don't know, different things across multiple generations. And to me, those are icons. And one of those people is Eartha Kitt. Ah, I love Eartha Kitt. A lot of millennials recognize her as the voice of Yzma from the Emperor's New Groove. Remember the animated movie with the llama? Pull the lever, cronk! Pull the lever, cronk! Wrong lever! That's as good of an impression as I can do, sorry. But Ertha was so much more than a cartoon villain. She was a really polarizing personality. She had beef with the president. She was way ahead of her time when it came to feminism and not eating a man.

Eartha Kitt was a sex symbol in America in a time when black women were still fighting for equality, but she had so much more to offer than just her looks. She was a civil rights activist, an award-winning singer, dancer, actor, teacher, and author. Learning about her story just made me even more obsessed with her. So, welcome to the dark history of the one, the only, Eartha Kitt. Hi friends, I hope you're having a wonderful day today. My name is Bailey Sarian and I'd like to welcome you to my podcast, Dark History.

Here we believe history does not have to be boring. It might be tragic. Sometimes it's happy. But either way, it's our dark history. Before we get into it, don't forget to like and subscribe because I'm always posting new content for you. And let me know what you think. I love hearing from you in the comments section. Now let's get into today's story.

If you're watching on YouTube, you may see that Paul came dressed today. In theme as Miss Eartha Kitt, correct? Are you Catwoman? That waistline, Paul. Wow. You know, Paul's really been loving dressing up. His closet looks so good. And honestly, Paul, I love that you've come into a theme. Joan, I don't know what happened.

What happened? No outfit today? Okay. All right. That's fair. That's fine. Okay. Well, let's talk about Miss Earthly Kit. She was born January 17th, 1927, in a city called

North in South Carolina. I know, how confusing, huh? North was a major town at the time. They were best known for like, well, they were known for growing like the best cotton. Eartha's mother, her name was Annie Mae, was Afro Cherokee, which means that she was black and also a Cherokee American. We don't know for sure who Eartha's father was. It was rumored that Eartha's father was a respected doctor named Daniel Sturkey. There are records of Annie Mae living in his house as a housemaid just before she gave birth to Eartha.

Some believe Annie Mae was maybe raped by this doctor since she was just a teenager when she gave birth, and that's probably why there was a lot of mystery surrounding who her father was, but we don't know for sure. And yeah, you know? Urtha said she was treated differently the second she was born. She looked different from everyone around her. She had black and indigenous features, and she also had lighter skin than the children she grew up around. For the first few years of her life, her family was homeless. They would sleep in fields or in the yards of neighbors. And one day, Annie Mae married a man who thankfully took the family in, but for some reason he refused

to accept Ertha or let her live with the family. Yeah, it was either because of her skin tone or who her father was. Either way, she was kicked out of the family. Mind you, Ertha was only 4 years old at this time and she was sent to live with her neighbor, Miss Stearns. You see, there were several other kids and teenagers living with Miss Stearns and Miss Stearns treated Ertha like her personal servant, really. So you know, again, Ertha's like 4 years old and this Miss Stearns person was making

Ertha like clean the entire house as a four-year-old. So yeah, according to Eartha, the other kids in the home did not like her. They would tease her constantly, plus she was seen as an outsider so she was just a scapegoat for everyone. Anytime someone broke a dish, didn't get their work done, whatever, it was always Eartha's fault. And Ms. Stearns would like punish her with beatings. You know, things started off rough and, ugh, you know, it just goes from bad to worse. Out of nowhere, Eartha's mother, Annie Mae, ends up dying. Rumor has it that she died after eating food sprinkled with an unusual pepper.

Air quotes are happening here. Aqua Tavana, I bet you. People thought she was poisoned, but it was never proven. Even though Ertha didn't live with her mother, she did have some kind of protection when she was alive. But now, like, you know, there was no one to watch out for Eartha, even from afar. After this, for years, Eartha was sexually assaulted by the boys who lived in the house. Between the verbal and the physical abuse, Eartha became very introverted because of

how terrified she was. Also, on top of this, she really wasn't eating a lot, so she was, you know, pretty thin. I mean, there was no one protecting her until years later. A random man Ertha didn't know ended up showing up at Ms. Stern's house and he was there to see Ertha. There's rumors that this man was like related to Ertha's father, but we don't really know for sure. There's a lot of mystery. It was said that when this man saw the state that Ertha was in, he was completely shocked. Ertha at this time was eight years old.

She was like way underweight. She looked terrified and it was clear that she was not being taken care of. So he decided to send her to live with Marnie Kitt. So Marnie was Ertha's aunt who lived in New York City. And the two, they had never met before, but this man's probably thinking like, hey, this is better than what's happening here, right?

So Urtha was given some food, she was also given a trunk of clothes, and then was dropped off at the train station where she was headed to New York. Okay, so for years and years and years, since I was 18 years old, not even, since I was younger, I always have read books about well-being, taking care of yourself, self-help books.

I've always just been fascinated with humans, why we behave the way we do, and learning about it, really. So with that being said, a lot of the times, the wellness books or self-help books can be just kind of boring. You're being talked at, not to. But I want to learn from the experts. That's why I always like turning to Audible. Audible's the best because look, if you don't want to read it, hop on over to Audible and listen to it. Oh, it's so helpful in that sense. I love that. And with Audible, you can explore over 1 million audiobooks,

podcasts, they have exclusive Audible originals that'll inspire and even motivate you if you're looking for some motivation. Just open up the app and you can tap into your well-being with advice and insight from leading experts and professionals. They have titles for everyone whether you're looking to improve your relationship, take control of your health, restart your career, learn how to be more assertive in life. That was the last one I read. How to be more assertive and like not assertive,

but not a bitch, you know? Or even like get a handle on your finances. You name it, Audible has it. I recently listened to Atomic Habits, an easy and proven way to build good habits and break bad ones by author James Clear. I felt like with the last name Clear, he probably has a clear mind and can help me clearly understand what I need to do clearly in my life to have a nice clear life. You know? What are you listening to? Let me know.

Sign up for a free 30 day trial at audible.com slash dark history. So Eartha is not doing well living at this abusive neighbor's home and it's decided that she's going to live with her aunt in New York city. Her aunt, her name is Marnie and apparently they had never met, but that's where we're at. Okay, great. Marnie was said to be a very serious, tough person, but you know, Eartha was just happy to be out of South Carolina. She was also going through total like culture shock. I mean, Urtha grew up in an area

full of like cotton plantations and nature. Like it was very country. And now she's in New York City, you know? Marnie did the best that she could with Urtha and made sure she was always learning new things and doing lots of different activities and like put her in piano lessons and Ertha was said to be very skilled when it came to the piano and like that was her thing for a really long time. At school, Ertha pretty much kept to herself. She was very shy but all that changed one day when she was given

an assignment. Now Ertha was told to memorize a poem and recite it in front of the class. Now normally, for most of us, I don't know about you, but when I had to like get these types of assignments and I had to do something in the front of the class, I'd start sweating. I hated it. Don't call on me. Don't call on me. Don't call on me. Don't call on me. Don't call on me. You know, Ertha, she spent days practicing this alone, just dreading it and wanting to get the assignment

over with. But as soon as she got in front of the class and started reciting the poem, something in her unlocked. She realized, I'm actually kind of good at this. And for the first time in her life, when she spoke, people paid attention to her. And after that, Ertha wasn't shy anymore. It was clear that Ertha had real talent when it came to performing. She ended up getting into the Metropolitan School of the Arts in the Lower East Side. Little fun fact, this was the high school that ended up becoming the Fame High School. Now, so, Ertha's here. When you're at this school, you know, she's able to take dancing lessons.

And it was just like another talent to add to her wheelhouse because she was really good at that too. She was like, oh shit, I'm good at this. At this new school, she felt very at home and made a ton of friends. Well one day in 1943, Ertha went to the movies with one of her friends. And after the movie, they were just hanging out on the street outside, trying to decide like, you know, what are we going to do now? And then this girl who was like about Ertha's age, stopped Ertha and asked her how to get to the local dancewear store. I guess this person needed to buy a leotard. Ertha gave her a look like, what do you need to buy a fancy leotard for?

Well, the girl told her she was buying a leotard for a woman named Katherine Dunham. And when Ertha heard this, her eyes lit up. Katherine was a legend in the dancing world. She had started this first modern dancing troupe made of all black dancers. So when Ertha hears this, she was fan-girling hard over having like a connection to Catherine because her dance troupe had recently appeared

in a movie she loved called Stormy Weather. So it's like, you know, what are the odds, right? The universe is kind of lining up. It's like, Oh my good, what, you know, Catherine. So, Eartha makes this girl a deal. She's like, I'll take you to the dancewear store. If you take me to meet Catherine. Well, the girl agrees. There's no Google maps or anything, you know? So you need help. So when Catherine meets Eartha, she's intrigued. Eartha is stunning and unlike anyone she's ever met before

and she clearly had a lot of nerve to like show up to her studio unannounced, you know? And honestly, to Catherine, she was kind of impressed. So Catherine invites Eartha to audition for her and Eartha's like, hell yeah baby, like this is it. Because she knows she's gonna crush it. So Eartha gets up on stage next to the studio's piano player and the piano player's like, when do you want me to play?

And Eartha freezes. She realizes she actually doesn't even have a routine. What do you do from here? I would just bust out. Baby, don't you wanna dance off on me? That's what I would do. Just like improv, you know? But Ertha, she's smart.

She's not like me. So Ertha knew the thing that she was best at was this style called Spanish Harlem street dancing. So she's like, waiting on stage, like, okay, I'm just gonna do what I know, that. So the piano player was able to play something, do do do do do, you know? And then Ertha is just popping off with this complete improvised dance

that was 100% her in hindsight. It was like a big risk because this is not usually how you audition, right? But Ertha, she doesn't know this yet. So it kind of way, it like worked, right? Cause her risk ends up paying off. Catherine is like, oh wow, wow. And offers her a job on the spot.

Yeah, to work at her dance studio. Could you imagine? I'd be like Hilary Duff, this is what jeans are made of. Now at this time, Ertha was only 17 years old. And I mean, this was a dream come true. So she dropped out of school and accepted the job right away.

Catherine wanted to set her dance troupe apart so she decided to mix things up and add some singing to the shows. Now this was great news for Ertha because she actually was an amazing singer. Now Ertha when she talks she has this very whimsical and sharp way of talking almost like she's a queen from like a Disney movie, and her voice was similar to that. I found out that they were strange and wonderful words. Is that how you would describe it? Yeah, she has such a unique, fun, cute voice. I just, it's good! It's good! So after 6 months of working for Katherine,

Ertha was promoted to an official company dancer. Ertha ended up traveling with Katherine's dance troupe for years. And even though she was usually just part of the chorus in the background, she was always the standout. You just couldn't help but watch her. Listen. Katherine loved Erthaa but you know at the end of the day Catherine's like this is actually my dance company and I'm the star of the show so she was getting kind of annoyed that people were coming to see Eartha, this new girl, and not her. So she's like Eventually the dance troupe ends up in London performing at the West End, which is their

version of Broadway. And Ertha was more popular in Europe than she had been anywhere else. So she was getting offers left and right to perform solo, which I'm assuming here probably pissed off Catherine. Now Catherine knew she couldn't fire or demote Ertha because she was like one of the main reasons at her show was selling tickets. In Urtha, I mean she was loving the attention but she also wanted to step out on her own and not be attached to Catherine anymore. So in 1948, Urtha leaves Catherine's dance troupe and heads to a famous club in Paris to begin her solo career.

Superstar! Oh, listen. The world is ending and my favorite thing to do as of right now is cancel all of my plans and curl up with a book. Mmm. Usually a dark book. I usually read, like right now I'm reading about dictators. So just a cozy book, you know?

But sometimes I need a break from all that, right? Because I've got needs. So Joan suggested that I read her favorite book, Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. I guess Joan had read it, like what, 56 times at this point? I know, I was like, I didn't even know you could read. And everyone has told me to read it too. And I was like, I wouldn't mind reading Pride and Prejudice if the guy was like, I don't even know you could read. And everyone has told me to read it too. And I was like, I wouldn't mind reading Pride and Prejudice

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Visit dipsystories.com slash dark history. So, Ertha, when she's in London, she is killing it, okay? And after being part of a traveling dance troupe for years, she realizes it's time to go solo. In 1949, Ertha started performing at a Parisian nightclub called Carol's Nightery. This was a bar that would host wild cabaret shows. It's like Moulin Rouge, but with a small budget. So this was perfect for Ertha. She'd sing some famous songs and culture at the time and then other songs she came up with herself, you know? And if she forgot lyrics, oh she was great because she would just ad-lib and go with the flow.

And like no one knew that she was ad-libbing. She's just a natural performer, very gifted. And people loved how informal and unique she was. The show went on for almost a year and it drew in people from all over the world, including one of the biggest celebrities at this time, a man named Orson Welles. I know, it's a very familiar name

and you're like, I know that name. Where do I know that name from? Orson Welles. I was thinking, what was that book, 1984? That's not him though, right? Who's that? Orson Welles, not the man who wrote 1984, Bailey. Anyways, Orson Welles.

So you might recognize him from the classic movie Citizen Kane. Are you guys into films? If you ever meet a film student, they will go on and on about what a great movie this was. And you just have to sit there and be like, uh-huh, yeah, it was okay. But they love it.

Orson was this famous writer, producer, and actor in Hollywood. Think of him as like Leonardo DiCaprio of his time. Whenever he did something, the press was all over it. Orson was always interested in new and unusual talent. So when he went to Paris, he went to check out this show with Ertha in it. And when he saw Ertha, girl, he was in love. He could not get over her insane talent or how gorgeous she was. And on top of that, he was just obsessed with her confidence. Wow, what a woman.

He called Eartha, quote, the most interesting woman in the world. Now, at this time Orson was in the middle of casting a play and as soon as he witnessed Eartha's talent, he cast her in his play, right? And as Helen of Troy. Wow. This play got a ton of attention especially because Ertha, a black woman, was cast as a female lead in a play with Orson, a famous white actor. Like at the time everyone was it was

very edgy for him doing this and to the audience it seemed that these two had chemistry. They took their scenes very seriously if you know what I mean. Honestly it's giving... Remember when Lady Gaga and What's His Name did A Star is Born and everyone was like oh Dave Algen. But that's what everyone was thinking with this. Like okay you guys just have sex on stage like you might as well at this point. So people were kind of thinking the same thing with these two and you know as rumor has it these two had a very show mance. I mean if you see pictures of the two of them in this play you can tell there are sparks in their eyes. The way that they look at each other you're like oh I wish I looked at someone like that. The way I look at beef jerky is the way that she

and Orson were looking at each other. Stars and beauty and love in their eyes. Ready to eat that whole pack of jerky one sitting. It was that. So Orson and Urtha, you know, they became very close, very tight, and they would host these parties and it would be filled with booze and it was beautiful. They'd invite all these artists over and they'd talk and drink wine all night and their connections to the industry, it ran deep. So the people that they were surrounding themselves with were just interesting top people.

So I imagine that these dinners and stuff were just interesting, right? No? Well I think it was. I'd like to be a fly on the wall. I'm sure it was interesting. Now according to like speculation, you know, during these nights, these little dinner nights, the two would be all over each other.

But, Ertha and Orson, they have always publicly denied that they were in a relationship. They always said that they were just friends. I think I watched an interview where she said they were kind of like soulmates in a way, but like nothing more than just a, they had a connection and an understanding. It was kind of beautiful. I wish they were whatever. Either way, together or not, them being together in some way,

it did benefit them in a very big way. Orson took Ertha to work meetings with him and Ertha was apparently an amazing date because she wasn't just arm candy. She asked good questions. She made him look good. She was smart. She knew. She asked good questions. She made him look good. She was smart.

She knew what she was talking about. And Ertha always said the most valuable lesson that Orson taught her was to market herself. That she should find a way to keep herself relevant at all times. Ertha took this advice and headed back to New York. She booked a show at this famous jazz club and it caught the attention of big time producers. These producers, they decided to put her on a variety Broadway show called the New Faces of 1952. Now this show was mostly basic comedians doing like comedic skits and songs and they wanted to bring Ertha on to like freshen up the show. Now, Ertha accepted the challenge. So she gets up there

and she performs a spicy song called Monotonous. Ertha had the whole stage set up with these three long chaise lounges. You know, they look like those fainting couches from the 50s. Long therapy chairs essentially. And she would like essentially crawl from one chair to the other while singing in a very sultry voice. Because of this one performance Ertha went on a national tour and she even got to star in a film version of the show. At this point Ertha she like has a reputation as a Broadway star and she even got nominated for Tony Awards. So people in the entertainment industry they really see that she has a lot of potential okay especially as a recording artist because Ertha wasn't afraid to sing scandalous songs. In 1953 she released this one song called I Wanna Be Evil. The lyrics

are all about how she's tired of being pure and innocent and she just wants to be naughty and bad and when you listen to it in comparison of like music today it's so PG safe and cute but back then it was like women never said these naughty words about wanting to be evil so it was kind of like oh anyways people really liked it and it turned out to be a best-selling record and then that success led to Eartha releasing my favorite song of hers which I know you've heard because we've all heard this song Santa Baby. Santa Baby a shoo ba doo ba doo ba doo ba doo da boo da boo da boo ba. You know? So she sang that song. Yeah! The song was written specifically for Urtha to perform. That was Urtha! You've been listening to Eartha all these years. Yep, mm-hmm.

The music video for this song was very simple, okay? It's Eartha in a white, like, fur. It kind of looks like a little blanket and she's, like, naked and she's covering up her body. So you know, like, the costume budget was... They saved money, is what I'm saying. And she's, like, wrapped up and she's peeping out a window she's like santa baby oh it's so cold outside and so therefore ertha starts to get this

like reputation as a little sex kitten and instead of trying to fight it she leaned into it her performances became very interactive especially when it came to the men in the audience. So, Ertha, when she would be performing, Santa, baby. She'd like drape herself all over the men and like, you know, sing the song directly to them. And naturally, the wives would be like there too, and they'd be like, what the fuck, bitch?

I'm right here. And Ertha's like Uh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh Good for her. She knew her audience. Let me know if I should go on tour. I could do it. Yeah. I got lyrics. So Ertha started to say in her shows quote, Ladies, I'm not here to seal your man tonight.

I'm going to rev his engine up for you later. Vroom, vroom, you know? Good for her. Everything these days is so sexualized, so it's easy for us to kind of just be like, all right. But Ertha was doing this all in the 50s, again, judgmental, segregation, bullshit, whatever. And Ertha was like, I don't give a fuck. Again, judgmental, segregation, bullshit, whatever.

And Ertha was like, I don't give a fuck. I'm gonna do whatever I want. Love it. Well, you know, she's performing, she's doing her thing. And then eventually she's like, you know what? I'm not really fulfilled being just a sexy little performer. She channeled all of this fame and opportunity into charity. She knew she was lucky to get the opportunity to go to a performing arts school. So, Ertha would go into different schools with underprivileged kids and teach them how to dance. And then

during this time, Ertha also found love. Through mutual friends, she met a man named John William McDonald. John was a wealthy real estate investor. I guess Ertha had been looking for a nice rich man to settle down with, so she was thrilled. Rumor has it that Ertha was involved with lots of wealthy men before John. I guess like billionaires and stuff, there was a rumor that she was dating the heir

to the Revlon Cosmetics fortune. Babe, I'm there. But when it came time for Eartha and her boyfriends to like take the next step, they just never did. Their families wouldn't allow them to marry a black woman and that's annoying. But this didn't matter to John. They fell in love not long after they met and on June 9th, 1960, Ertha and John got married. In the next year, Ertha gave birth to her one and only child,

a daughter she named Kit McDonald. Now when it came to being a mother, Ertha had never been happier. But sadly, her marriage fell apart pretty quickly after having Kit. You see, John was injured after fighting in the Korean War years earlier, so he was prescribed morphine to deal with his injuries. And that's great.

Unfortunately morphine is addictive, and John became addicted to it. So on top of that, Eartha was traveling for work all of the time. They just didn't work as a couple anymore. He and Eartha divorced in 1964. Even though this was a sad time in Eartha's personal life, she was kind of killing it when it came to her career. I feel like that's how it goes. If your career's taking off, your personal life is shit.

In 1967, she landed a TV role that would change her entire life. Wait, how does a cat sound? Catwoman. This show is sponsored by Liquid IV. You know what I struggle with during the winter? Hydration. Maybe you can relate.

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At the time, she was one of the only black women in a leading role on prime time TV and she wasn't about to play it safe. When Ertha played Catwoman, she transformed into Catwoman. She was Catwoman. What do you call those like actors and stuff who do stuff with their body? She's that.

She's a very physical actor, but also flexible. And like the way she moves is like, what? She's just so good. She was great as Catwoman, but she would wear like this very sensual, skin tight cat suit. And like at the ponytail and she would wear like this very sensual skin-tight cat suit. And like at the Pony Town she'd be like, how do you purr? Ertha, she had this signature purr that she would do in every episode. I will try and recreate it for you, but she rolls her tongue and I can't roll my tongue.

But she'd be like Look, I gotta google how to like roll your tongue. I just never learned. Anyhow, she would do it all the time. Honestly, I thought she was the star of the show, but then she only was on for one season and I was actually upset and I stopped watching. I used to watch the show as a kid.

It reruns. Yeah, you know, okay. But look, she became a cultural icon. Eartha's time in the spotlight was all about to come crashing down, unfortunately, when she took unapologetic opinions all the way to the White House. Around this time, Eartha became involved

with a group in Washington, DC called Rebels with a Cause. Now this group worked with kids and teenagers from the inner city who were going down the wrong path. They had either been arrested or were falling behind in school and they just needed support. Now normally celebrities wouldn't touch a group like this because it involved kids from underprivileged neighborhoods and many of them had criminal records. A lot of people just would write them off as like, they're bad and then that's it. But for Urtha, she grew up in extreme poverty and she had her own personal experience so she felt like she could speak to the politicians on behalf

of these kids. So these kids just they wouldn't be just a statistic. You know someone had to speak up for them. So in 1967, Ertha testified before Congress on behalf of rebels with a cause. Her testimony was so moving and impressed Congress so much that they even suggested that she take this work further. They recommended her for a position working with the White House to improve conditions for the kids. This meant that Ertha would be working with the president at the time. The president, a man named Lyndon B. Johnson,

AKA LBJ, remember our weird presidents episode? This is the dick guy guy talking on the phone, on the toilet, whipping his wiener out and then pranking people with his boat, his carboat. He's a weird, he was a weird president, obsessed with his wiener. So President Johnson's wife, she went by the nickname Lady Bird.

So one day Lady Bird invited Ertha to a White House charity lunch. Now this event was put together so women could get around and talk about the growing crime rates in America's youth. They're like, you guys, what is happening to all of our precious angel babies? What are we gonna do? Now at this time, kids all over the country, they were rebelling because of the Vietnam War. They were getting arrested for smoking pot, fighting each other, vandalizing buildings,

stuff like that. Plus thousands of them were taking part in protests every day. Technically, allegedly, Ertha did not want to go to this lunch. She said, quote, I didn't want to go because I thought of the politicians in the day. Those luncheons, what are they going to mean? Blah blah blah blah blah. And that's it. So Ertha was about to RSVP no, but she gets word that Lady Bird really wanted her to attend.

So Ertha's like, like fine I'll go. On January 18th 1968 Lady Bird takes the mic in front of dozens of guests and started talking about how the quote quality of their lives has changed because of the increase in youth crime. Most of the women are nodding along in agreement. Yeah, yeah. So other women, they would take turns with the mic and they would back up what Miss Lady Bird was saying and they were committed to helping quote unquote high crime low income communities. Thank you. It was essentially a bunch of Karens talking about how they were going to clean up crime without looking at why there was crime in the first place.

Meanwhile, they're in like a nice luncheon, nice outfits, nice food. Like you guys, if you wanna clean up the crime, maybe go to the crime and see what's going on there. Not gonna figure it out in your nice luxury room, but okay. Anyhow, so President Johnson actually shows up making a surprise guest appearance. Now President Johnson was a controversial figure at this time. He was taxing Americans at a crazy high rate, and he was obsessed with keeping the Vietnam

War going. Now people hated him for that. There was a chant at the time that went, hey, hey, LBJ, how many kids did you kill today? Bring it on. President Johnson walks in and allegedly says, quote, I want you all to know how wonderful it is for the first family to invite the common people

to have lunch with us. Now, if you're sitting there and you were invited and they just called you common people to have lunch with us. Now, if you're sitting there and you were invited and they just called you common people, do you see the hat I'm wearing? This is not a common person hat. Okay, this was a very expensive hat. Okay, common. Anyways, it didn't rub people the right way.

So then he starts talking about the delinquent youth problem in America as if he knows. And then he blames the parents of kids getting in trouble. Now naturally everyone is nodding along like, yeah, mm-hmm, mm-hmm, anything you say, Mr. President, yes, yes, we agree. Now at that point, remember, Earth is there. She's looking around like you dumb bitches. She's fuming.

She was one of the only people in the room who actually understood what it was like for inner city families and like what their day-to-day look like. She worked with them all the time. She was there hands-on. And she had had it after President Johnson's little speech. Things have been a little tense over here.

You see this week Joan had secretly started her own business selling a custom mix of birdseed. I know, I was like, Joan, didn't you watch our Monsanto episode? First of all, second of all, I'm happy for you. I'm so happy for you. But I know how it's gonna go. Everything's gonna fall on me because who's gonna help you with orders, Joan?

Me, you don't have arms. So I know I'm gonna be the one who has to do it. We've been up all night packing and shipping orders at UPS and I've just lost hours of my life waiting in line. It's been a nightmare. I don't even know who's buying your bird seeds. We're definitely on Monsanto's radar, aren't we? We're going down.

Listen, if you're in charge of order fulfillment for an online business, you know that it can be rough, right? Chaotic, yeah. But with ShipStation, you can count on your day-to-day remaining calm. You can save hours and money every month with ShipStation. For Joan and her company, ShipStation has been a huge relief because we can print shipping

labels at the click of a button. I'm the one clicking because she is a bird. Okay, you can manage all the orders on one dashboard so you're not losing track of anything. Plus, we love using ShipStation because it's the fastest, most affordable way to ship products to your customers with discounts up to 88% off UPS, DHL, Express, and USPS rates. And I guess up to 90% off FedEx rates. That's a lot of percentages. That must be why over 130,000 companies have grown their e-commerce business with ShipStation. And 98% of companies that stick with ShipStation for a year become customers for life.

Calm the chaos of order fulfillment with the shipping software that delivers. Go to ShipStation today. Go to ShipStation.com and use code DARKHISTORY to sign up for your free trial. Free, I said. That's shipstation.com code dark history. So President Johnson, he's done with his little speech. He's like, all right, you guys, thank you. And he's like, gonna leave. Well, Eartha, she's like, you know what? Fuck these bitches.

She stood up. She blocked his path. And she's very polite. Kind of. She's determined. There's actually footage of this online and you look it up, she's determined. There's actually footage of this online and you look it up, it's amazing. It's like, yes.

She tells him in a very determined, confident voice. But what do we do about being two parents? The parents who have to go to work, for instance, who can't spend the time with their children that they should. This is, I think, is our main problem. What do we do with the children when the parents go out looking for them? She's asking the truth. This is, I think, is our main problem. What do we do with the children when the parents are all for it?

She's asking the truth. She's asking real questions. And she wasn't being like, she wasn't being a bitch about it. She wasn't being rude. Anyways, so President Johnson, he's kind of like, what the fuck? He's mumbling some kind of half ass answer and is like,

I think that'd be a very good question for you to ask yourself about when you're at the hotel. And then he leaves. So from that point on, Eartha lights a cigarette. She's like, fuck these bitches. Fuck these bitches. Parliament lights. One hundredths. And she's just stewing, waiting for her moment. She keeps raising her hand to speak, but she's getting ignored.

Nothing was really said, but like after, uh, Eartha had stood up and done that, you can kind of tell the room is like, kind of, I don't know about Eartha, like they're not happy with her, but they're not gonna say that because they're ladies who lunch. So finally, toward the end of the lunch, Lady Bird tells Eartha, fine, you can take the podium. So Eartha goes up there, takes the podium,

and she looks straight into Lady Bird's eyes. And she tells Miss Lady Bird the truth. She tells the room that the youth of America are rebelling because they're angry about their lives being defined by a war that they don't understand. She says also, quote, "'They don't want to go to school

"'because they're going to be snatched off "'from their mothers to be shot in Vietnam. "'I am talking as a mother who has a child. So I know the feeling of having a baby coming out of my guts." And Lady Bird is in the back of the room just like doing her best to keep eye contact with Eartha so she doesn't seem weak, but it's clear that she is shook by the comments that Eartha was making. She was like, shut up, this is supposed to be a nice luncheon with ladies who lunch.

But Ertha then says, quote, you send the best of this country off to be shot and maimed. No wonder the kids rebel and take pot. And Miss Johnson, in case you don't understand the lingo, that's marijuana. Ooh. That's marijuana. Ooh.

So look, it's not even that bad, right? You and I would just be like, okay, well, when Eartha ends her speech, some of the guests, they start crying. You've seen the videos of Karen's when they get confronted and they just start crying. That's what they were doing. Some were just pissed off.

They were giving Eartha dirty looks. Other guests leaned over and were like, hey girl, you were speaking facts. Thanks for that. So at the end of the lunch, everyone goes to Lady Bird to comfort her. And Eartha just gets ignored. She was like a social pariah at this point. But Eartha's like, whatever. I spoke the truth. Isn't that what point. But Eartha's like, whatever, I spoke the truth. Isn't that what this lunch was supposed to be about? Like, I don't, okay. And that was it. Right? Great. Okay. End of the lunch. Well, unfortunately, this turned into a shit show because that night, newspapers all over the country were printing stories with the headlines saying things like Eartha Kitt denounces war policy to the Johnsons.

They described Eartha as aggressive, disrespectful, and they even went on to say that Eartha made Lady Bird cry. Now even today when I was looking up this story, I kept coming across the fact that she made Lady Bird cry. But the truth is, Lady Bird never cried. Other women did. Get your shit together.

But not Lady Bird. But here's what really happened behind the scenes. When President Johnson heard what Eartha did, he was livid. He was already pissed that she had confronted him in the first place, but you're gonna upset my wife? Ugh. You know? He was not pissed that she had confronted him in the first place, but you're gonna upset my wife? Ugh, you know? He was not having it.

So he picks up his phone, probably on the toilet, dig out, and allegedly he called every news network in America and said, I do not want to see that woman on air. Click. And that baby girl Lisa was the moment that Ertha was blacklisted everywhere. Ugh. So dumb. Despite this, Ertha stood by what she said, saying that I would do it again. She didn't even do anything that bad. She was just telling the truth. Why are people mad at the truth? I mean, there was like a lot of people on Earth aside moms were tired of their kids going to this war and dying. No one wanted this war and

people would take part in like anti-Vietnam marches holding signs that said Earth a kid speaks for the women of America. But it didn't matter. President Johnson was the president and powerful so So TV shows stopped booking her, radio stations stopped playing her music, any type of event she had got canceled. No one would touch her. And for a while, it seemed like that would be the end of Eartha Kidd.

If the president hates you and tells the media to run hit pieces on you, especially back then, it's hard to recover. So, Eartha actually talked about this blacklisting saying, if you tell the truth in a country that says you're entitled to tell the truth, you get your face slapped and you get put out of work.

Which reminds me, do you guys listen to The Clash? I know, I'm just like so cool. No, but there's, The Clash has a song called Know Your Rights, great song. But there's this line in it that always like slapped, it slaps because it says along the lines of like, you have the right to free speech unless you're actually dumb enough to try it.

Something like that. And I feel like this is where it kind of applies. Eartha knew that there was one place that would welcome her back with open arms. And I feel like this is where it kind of applies. You know what I'm saying? Ertha knew that there was one place that would welcome her back with open arms. Europe. She's like, we're going. So Ertha takes her daughter Kit out of school,

hires a tutor, and they go to Europe for the next decade. Apparently they had an amazing time while they were there. So they're living now in their European bubble. Everything is going well. Ertha is working her ass off to keep creating new exciting shows. Then one day in 1975, Ertha gets a strange phone call. The call was coming from the New York Times.

She's like, hello, hi, what are you, yes, hello, yes. They were asking Ertha for permission to print the CIA file that they had on her. Eartha's like, huh? What? Why would they have a file on me? Can I see this file? Turns out it was more,

let me hang up the phone really quick. Okay. Turns out it was more than just a simple file. Eartha had a full on dossier about her with information from the FBI, Secret Service, the National Security Agency, and the CIA. Give me a break. These agencies claimed that they had to follow Eartha around in the 1950s because she was traveling in between the US and Europe. And this was a problem for national security because she allegedly had quote unquote loose morals.

One source reported in 1956 that Ertha's escapades overseas and her loose morals were said to be the talk of Paris. Ertha was also described as having a quote, nasty disposition and a very crude and vile tongue. Oh my god, this is a jump. But they also said that she was a sadistic, nymphomaniac. All because she just wanted the war to stop and care about the kids. Huh?

Wow. So Ertha heard all this and simply replied, well, what does that have to do with the CIA if I was? Ertha was just completely unbothered because she was always sure in herself. She like just knew what she stood for. Ertha gave the Times permission to print portions of the report stating, quote,

I've always lived a very clean life and I have nothing to be afraid of and I have nothing to hide. In January of 1975, the New York Times published an article with the headline CIA in 68 gave secret service a report containing gossip about Eartha Kitt after White House incident. That was a long title.

But yeah, so a lot of celebrities might have freaked out and gotten defensive over an article like this, That was a long title. But yeah. So a lot of celebrities might have freaked out and gotten defensive over an article like this, but you know, Eartha, she's pretty badass. And she knew there was power to sticking to her word and not letting these stupid reports define her. And plus on top of that, you know what they say, all press is good press.

When many people would have laid low until the bad press went away, Eartha took a role on Broadway. She starred in a play called Timbuktu. It was a sellout performance. It was clear audiences genuinely missed her and she even won a Tony Award for it. By this time, LBJ was no longer the president and President Jimmy Carter was in the White House. He and his wife decided they wanted to make things right with Eartha. In 1978, they invited her to the White House,

and they invited reporters to photograph Eartha officially being welcomed back to the White House. It kinda was like low-key a middle finger to LBJ. I mean, Eartha was officially back. She was like, blocking out the haters. Uh, uh, uh, you know. From then on, Eartha never slowed down. She recorded more music

and became a Grammy nominated artist. She wrote a book on fitness and positive attitude called Rejuvenate. It's never too late. It became a best seller. She even went on to do iconic voiceover work that eventually won her Emmys. I mean, she was so talented and she never stopped working. Sadly, when Ertha was 79 years old, she was diagnosed with terminal colon cancer, but

she refused to let it define the rest of her life. She worked until her body started to shut down. On December 25th, 2008, at the age of 81, Ertha Kitt passed away. She left behind a legacy. I mean, you couldn't make up this woman's story if you tried. I feel like I learned a lot about Ertha

and honestly, we only only scratched the surface. She once said quote, I have used all the manure that has been thrown on me as fertilizer to make me stronger. I'm that gif remember? She's strong, huh? I think it's safe to say we've all had a lot of shit thrown at us and it's easy to give up or let the bad times define you, but I think what we can learn from Ertha or my takeaway with Ertha is like, you know, don't be afraid to be yourself.

Stand up for what you believe in, but also don't let other people intimidate you and stop you from doing what you want in life, right? So cheesy. Believe in yourself. And the one thing I loved about Ertha too was that she was never like, she was not predictable. I liked that about her. It's like, don't let anyone put you in a box and you have to stay to that one thing.

With Ertha, she was like, yeah, I'm in this box, but I'm also in this one, this one, this one, this one, and this one, you know? So it's like, don't let people define you. And Eartha refused to be defined. And I think we should be too, you know, life is short, easier said than done. I'm aware, but I'm just trying to be positive. Because Ertha is just incredible. I really like her. She's missed. She was such a talent. Ugh. Anywho, next week, what are we doing? What are we doing next week? You're migrating to the south? Okay. Next week we're going to be talking about something everyone has a hot take on. Some say it's one of the deadliest products to ever be created. Others say it's

saved millions of lives. What is it, you ask? Well, join us next week as we talk about the dark history of vaping. I think this episode might surprise you. I'd love to hear your guys' reactions to today's story, so make sure to leave a comment below so I can see what you guys are saying, and your comment might be featured in a future episode. Now let's read a couple of comments that you guys have left me, huh? Charlotte Pratt 6651 left me a comment saying, I don't get the people that fall asleep to you. I literally have your videos on while I do housework, as it feels like I'm having someone

here with me gossiping. So thank you for helping, my house clean and motivating me. Hi Charlotte. Thank you so much. That really means a lot to me. I totally get putting on videos while doing housework. The other day I watched, um, you know what I like to watch? I like to watch roller coaster videos on YouTube. I don't know why. I don't, I don't even like roller coasters, but I watch roller coaster videos and honestly, it's the only way I can actually like deep clean my bathroom is with a roller coaster video.

So I get it. I hear you. I hear you, you know? But thank you for hanging out with me. It really means a lot and that's all I'm going for. It's just a little hangout sesh. I appreciate you. Phoenixbho6q It's just a little hangout sesh. I appreciate you. Phoenixbho6q left us a comment. I cannot get enough of Paul and Joan. Phoenix, their egos have really gotten half control lately, especially Joan's, okay? So this comment really isn't helping me out.

Thank you for watching. We all appreciate it, especially Paul. Because Paul goes all out for his costumes. And if you notice it, that's all that matters. That's all he cares about. He just wants to be seen. He's such a queen. Thank you for watching. Tabitha McEwen 25991 left an episode suggestion. I have a dark history suggestion. The dark history of Shirley Temple. Tabitha, that's a great idea.

You know what? I just watched a documentary about Shirley Temple. It wasn't a documentary. It was actually an interview with older Shirley Temple and she was talking about like her experience as a kid. You're right we should do that. We should should do that. Writing it down Shirley Temple. What a kid huh? Wow that's a good one. Anywho thank you guys so much for watching and commenting. I appreciate you guys so much.

And hey, did you know that you can actually join me over on my YouTube where you can watch these episodes on Thursday after the podcast airs? And while you're there, you can also catch my murder, mystery, and makeup. And I hope you subscribe. And hey, if you don't know, Dark History is an Audioboom original. A special thank you to our expert, John L. Williams, author of America's Mistress, The Life and Times of Urtha Kit. And I'm your host, Bailey Sarian.

Hi. I hope you have a good day today, you make good choices, and I'll be talking to you guys soon. Goodbye. Goodbye!