WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.879 Welcome back to another deep dive. We are so 00:00:02.879 --> 00:00:05.219 glad you're here with us today to unpack a story 00:00:05.219 --> 00:00:07.940 that, well, it really challenges the way you 00:00:07.940 --> 00:00:09.779 might think about pop culture. Oh, absolutely. 00:00:09.980 --> 00:00:12.400 Pop culture, fame, the whole machine. Right. 00:00:12.759 --> 00:00:15.019 And those narratives we just sort of casually 00:00:15.019 --> 00:00:17.339 accept as historical truth. We're looking at 00:00:17.339 --> 00:00:20.059 a really comprehensive Wikipedia article today 00:00:20.059 --> 00:00:23.879 detailing the life, the career and the incredibly 00:00:23.879 --> 00:00:26.960 complex legacy of the American singer Cass Elliott. 00:00:27.179 --> 00:00:29.660 Yeah. And it's a legacy that for decades now 00:00:29.660 --> 00:00:32.920 has been dominated by a single. Frankly, a really 00:00:32.920 --> 00:00:35.640 bizarre rumor. Totally. It is basically a textbook 00:00:35.640 --> 00:00:38.820 example of how a person's actual lived reality 00:00:38.820 --> 00:00:41.840 can just be completely eclipsed by the mythology 00:00:41.840 --> 00:00:43.920 built around them. You know, by the press, by 00:00:43.920 --> 00:00:45.780 the music industry. Which is exactly why our 00:00:45.780 --> 00:00:47.939 mission today is to dismantle those cartoonish 00:00:47.939 --> 00:00:50.200 pop culture rumors. We really want to retire 00:00:50.200 --> 00:00:52.539 that nickname she secretly hated. Mama Cass. 00:00:52.820 --> 00:00:57.020 Yes, Mama Cass. And instead, introduce you to 00:00:57.020 --> 00:00:59.340 the brilliant, resilient, and deeply complex 00:00:59.340 --> 00:01:02.789 woman named Ellen Naomi Cohen. Okay, let's unpack 00:01:02.789 --> 00:01:05.170 this. Because the sheer amount of surprising 00:01:05.170 --> 00:01:07.730 history in her life story, it offers a lot of 00:01:07.730 --> 00:01:10.370 insight, especially for anyone who has ever felt 00:01:10.370 --> 00:01:12.390 fundamentally misunderstood by the world around 00:01:12.390 --> 00:01:14.310 them. I think that's exactly the right lens for 00:01:14.310 --> 00:01:16.969 this. This deep dive really operates on two levels. 00:01:17.189 --> 00:01:19.829 I mean, yes, it is a biography, but it's also 00:01:19.829 --> 00:01:22.450 this fascinating look at the construction of 00:01:22.450 --> 00:01:25.370 celebrity mythology. As we go through her life, 00:01:25.530 --> 00:01:27.890 I really want you to consider how rumors are 00:01:27.890 --> 00:01:30.430 manufactured. Why do they manage to stick in 00:01:30.430 --> 00:01:33.180 the public consciousness? Yeah. And why was a 00:01:33.180 --> 00:01:35.859 woman with literally a generation defining voice 00:01:35.859 --> 00:01:40.519 so relentlessly reduced to just commentary about 00:01:40.519 --> 00:01:42.400 her physical image? Right. It's so frustrating. 00:01:42.519 --> 00:01:44.900 But to really understand her, we have to start 00:01:44.900 --> 00:01:47.379 in Baltimore. Right. Back in 1941. Yes, exactly. 00:01:47.480 --> 00:01:49.459 Way before she was a music icon. She was born 00:01:49.459 --> 00:01:52.260 Ellen Naomi Cohen to Russian Jewish immigrants. 00:01:52.359 --> 00:01:55.640 And her family experienced some pretty significant 00:01:55.640 --> 00:01:58.219 financial stress early on. Yeah. Her father tried 00:01:58.219 --> 00:02:00.340 a bunch of different entrepreneurial ventures. 00:02:00.620 --> 00:02:02.640 He was really trying to find his footing. And 00:02:02.640 --> 00:02:04.879 he eventually found some stability running a 00:02:04.879 --> 00:02:07.420 lunch wagon. Serving meals to construction workers. 00:02:07.719 --> 00:02:10.000 Right. So you see this foundation of working 00:02:10.000 --> 00:02:12.580 class hustle. It was instilled in her from a 00:02:12.580 --> 00:02:14.800 very young age. And you could absolutely see 00:02:14.800 --> 00:02:18.400 that hustle in how she actively constructed her 00:02:18.400 --> 00:02:20.840 persona. I mean, she didn't just sit around and 00:02:20.840 --> 00:02:22.780 wait for the entertainment industry to mold her. 00:02:22.960 --> 00:02:25.780 No, not at all. Even back in high school, she 00:02:25.780 --> 00:02:29.159 adopted the name Cass. which, according to the 00:02:29.159 --> 00:02:31.900 source, a former bandmate suggested she might 00:02:31.900 --> 00:02:34.000 have actually borrowed from an actress. Peggy 00:02:34.000 --> 00:02:37.180 Cass. Exactly. Peggy Cass. And then a bit later, 00:02:37.199 --> 00:02:40.300 she takes the surname Elliot to honor a friend 00:02:40.300 --> 00:02:43.139 who had passed away. So she's authoring her own 00:02:43.139 --> 00:02:45.439 identity long before she ever signs a record 00:02:45.439 --> 00:02:48.379 contract. Exactly. And she chased that dream 00:02:48.379 --> 00:02:50.780 so relentlessly. I mean, she actually left high 00:02:50.780 --> 00:02:52.659 school before graduating just to move to New 00:02:52.659 --> 00:02:55.659 York City. And originally she was pursuing acting. 00:02:56.300 --> 00:02:59.520 Right, not music at first. She toured in a musical. 00:02:59.620 --> 00:03:02.960 She auditioned for a theatrical part. Get this. 00:03:03.139 --> 00:03:05.639 She actually lost to Barbra Streisand. Oh, wow. 00:03:06.060 --> 00:03:08.159 Talk about a tough competition. Right. And she 00:03:08.159 --> 00:03:10.439 was even working as a cloakroom attendant in 00:03:10.439 --> 00:03:13.379 Greenwich Village just to physically embed herself 00:03:13.379 --> 00:03:16.319 in that creative scene. Just grinding away. Just 00:03:16.319 --> 00:03:19.360 grinding. And eventually she finds her way into 00:03:19.360 --> 00:03:23.740 the booming 1960s folk music world. She's singing 00:03:23.740 --> 00:03:26.580 in groups like the Big Three and the Mugwumps. 00:03:26.699 --> 00:03:29.419 Which is such a fascinating era because the Greenwich 00:03:29.419 --> 00:03:32.300 Village folk scene at that time, it was highly 00:03:32.300 --> 00:03:34.620 collaborative, but it was also fiercely competitive. 00:03:35.039 --> 00:03:37.479 Yeah. And somewhat insular, honestly. Yeah, very 00:03:37.479 --> 00:03:40.000 cliquey. Right. Artists were constantly swapping 00:03:40.000 --> 00:03:41.879 bands. They're sitting in on each other's sets, 00:03:41.979 --> 00:03:44.500 just trying to find that exact right vocal chemistry 00:03:44.500 --> 00:03:46.280 that would translate to a record deal. Right. 00:03:46.360 --> 00:03:48.560 It was an environment where talent was definitely 00:03:48.560 --> 00:03:51.780 paramount, but image was rapidly becoming just 00:03:51.780 --> 00:03:54.340 as important. Which brings us to one of the most 00:03:54.340 --> 00:03:56.719 famous and, frankly, the strangest legends in 00:03:56.719 --> 00:03:59.879 music history. The pipe story. Okay, so it's 00:03:59.879 --> 00:04:03.219 the mid -60s. Cass is trying to secure a spot 00:04:03.219 --> 00:04:05.800 in this new group that John Phillips is putting 00:04:05.800 --> 00:04:08.560 together. And they are all down vacationing in 00:04:08.560 --> 00:04:10.800 the Virgin Islands. Right. According to the legend 00:04:10.800 --> 00:04:13.479 that she propagated, she was just walking through 00:04:13.479 --> 00:04:15.599 a construction site when she was hit on the head 00:04:15.599 --> 00:04:18.920 by a falling, thin metal plumbing pipe. Just 00:04:18.920 --> 00:04:21.819 out of nowhere. Out of nowhere. She suffers a 00:04:21.819 --> 00:04:24.339 concussion, goes to the hospital and upon recovering, 00:04:24.600 --> 00:04:27.579 her vocal range has miraculously increased by 00:04:27.579 --> 00:04:29.860 three notes. I mean, it reads perfectly as a 00:04:29.860 --> 00:04:32.319 comic book origin story for a pop star. It totally 00:04:32.319 --> 00:04:35.129 does. And she fully committed to the bit. In 00:04:35.129 --> 00:04:37.649 a 1968 interview with Rolling Stone magazine, 00:04:37.970 --> 00:04:41.329 she swore to the reporter her words, honest to 00:04:41.329 --> 00:04:44.430 God, that the story was true. Wow. She detailed 00:04:44.430 --> 00:04:46.670 having a bad headache for two weeks, followed 00:04:46.670 --> 00:04:49.290 by this sudden magical ability to sing higher 00:04:49.290 --> 00:04:52.269 registers. But the reality of where that anecdote 00:04:52.269 --> 00:04:55.129 actually came from is quite dark. It really is. 00:04:55.189 --> 00:04:57.149 What's fascinating here is that the pipe story 00:04:57.149 --> 00:04:59.829 was a cover. It was just a less humiliating explanation 00:04:59.829 --> 00:05:01.850 that they manufactured for the media. Right. 00:05:02.220 --> 00:05:04.300 Because friends and collaborators later revealed 00:05:04.300 --> 00:05:06.639 the real reason she wasn't initially included 00:05:06.639 --> 00:05:09.459 in the group. John Phillips had been actively 00:05:09.459 --> 00:05:11.720 keeping her out because he simply considered 00:05:11.720 --> 00:05:14.920 her, and this is a quote, too fat. It's awful. 00:05:15.000 --> 00:05:17.600 And that dynamic right there introduces the core 00:05:17.600 --> 00:05:21.120 conflict of her entire career. Here is a woman 00:05:21.120 --> 00:05:24.180 with this immense, undeniable talent, and she 00:05:24.180 --> 00:05:26.740 is forced into this agonizing battle against 00:05:26.740 --> 00:05:29.220 the sheer superficiality of the music industry. 00:05:29.439 --> 00:05:32.420 Yeah. She literally felt compelled to invent 00:05:32.420 --> 00:05:35.019 a fantastical story about suffering a traumatic 00:05:35.019 --> 00:05:37.560 head injury just to avoid publicly addressing 00:05:37.560 --> 00:05:39.939 it. the fact that her own bandmate was discriminating 00:05:39.939 --> 00:05:41.959 against her because of her weight. It's heartbreaking. 00:05:42.220 --> 00:05:44.899 And it really forces a reevaluation of her subsequent 00:05:44.899 --> 00:05:47.339 success. Because she didn't just eventually join 00:05:47.339 --> 00:05:50.120 that group. She named it. Right. It was Cass 00:05:50.120 --> 00:05:52.220 who came up with the name The Mamas and the Papas. 00:05:52.319 --> 00:05:54.560 Wow. And when you examine their massive global 00:05:54.560 --> 00:05:58.439 impact, her powerful, distinctive voice was the 00:05:58.439 --> 00:06:01.279 absolute driving force behind hits like California 00:06:01.279 --> 00:06:04.420 Dreamin' and Monday Monday. She was the anchor 00:06:04.420 --> 00:06:06.779 of their sound. Her musical instincts were just 00:06:06.779 --> 00:06:09.720 extraordinary, particularly when you look at 00:06:09.720 --> 00:06:12.600 her signature solo track, Dream a Little Dream 00:06:12.600 --> 00:06:14.800 of Me. Oh, absolutely. A lot of people, you know, 00:06:14.819 --> 00:06:17.079 they casually assume that song was written specifically 00:06:17.079 --> 00:06:19.399 for her, but it was actually an old standard 00:06:19.399 --> 00:06:22.860 from 1931. And originally it was a fairly uptempo 00:06:22.860 --> 00:06:25.339 dance tune. Exactly. She completely reimagined 00:06:25.339 --> 00:06:28.600 it. Her version is uniquely slow. It's contemplative. 00:06:28.699 --> 00:06:31.920 It's deeply emotional. It really is a masterclass 00:06:31.920 --> 00:06:34.420 in vocal interpretation. She just inherently 00:06:34.420 --> 00:06:37.100 understood how to serve the emotional core of 00:06:37.100 --> 00:06:39.360 a lyric rather than just showing off her vocal 00:06:39.360 --> 00:06:41.360 power. She could have belted it, but she held 00:06:41.360 --> 00:06:43.720 back. Right. But the tension between her immense 00:06:43.720 --> 00:06:46.680 talent and her public image, it never really 00:06:46.680 --> 00:06:50.459 subsided. So by 1968, the Mamas and the Papas 00:06:50.459 --> 00:06:53.480 break up and she embarks on a solo career. aiming 00:06:53.480 --> 00:06:55.519 for the absolute top of the industry. And she 00:06:55.519 --> 00:06:58.079 goes big. She booked a three -week headlining 00:06:58.079 --> 00:07:00.620 engagement for her solo debut at Caesars Palace 00:07:00.620 --> 00:07:02.879 in Las Vegas. The biggest stage there is. Right. 00:07:02.980 --> 00:07:07.120 And the contract was for $40 ,000 a week, which 00:07:07.120 --> 00:07:10.459 in 1968 is just an astronomical amount of money. 00:07:10.579 --> 00:07:12.500 Unbelievable pressure. Suffocating pressure. 00:07:12.939 --> 00:07:16.300 And to prepare for this massive debut, she felt 00:07:16.300 --> 00:07:18.399 she had to drastically change her appearance. 00:07:18.839 --> 00:07:23.300 She went on a severe six -month crash diet. She 00:07:23.300 --> 00:07:26.259 ended up losing 100 pounds off her 300 -pound 00:07:26.259 --> 00:07:29.259 frame, but the physical toll on her body was 00:07:29.259 --> 00:07:32.240 just catastrophic. The details in the article 00:07:32.240 --> 00:07:35.360 are brutal. The diet resulted in a severe stomach 00:07:35.360 --> 00:07:38.160 ulcer and really significant throat problems. 00:07:38.459 --> 00:07:41.519 And then, attempting to treat the ulcer by drinking 00:07:41.519 --> 00:07:44.439 milk and cream, she rapidly gained 50 pounds 00:07:44.439 --> 00:07:47.529 right back. Her body was just in total crisis. 00:07:47.709 --> 00:07:49.689 And I think this really highlights the intense 00:07:49.689 --> 00:07:51.970 demands placed on entertainers, particularly 00:07:51.970 --> 00:07:54.129 women. Definitely. Instead of dedicating her 00:07:54.129 --> 00:07:56.170 energy to rehearsing her music for one of the 00:07:56.170 --> 00:07:58.949 biggest stages in the world, she was pushed into 00:07:58.949 --> 00:08:01.269 physically transforming herself to a dangerous 00:08:01.269 --> 00:08:03.930 extreme. And that physical crisis leads directly 00:08:03.930 --> 00:08:06.389 to the disastrous opening night at Caesar's Palace. 00:08:06.490 --> 00:08:10.029 This is October 1968. Picture the Circus Maximus 00:08:10.029 --> 00:08:12.709 Theater packed with 950 people. And not just 00:08:12.709 --> 00:08:16.089 any people. Right. The crowd is filled with her 00:08:16.089 --> 00:08:20.410 peers. Sammy Davis Jr., Jimi Hendrix, Joan Baez, 00:08:20.589 --> 00:08:23.649 Liza Minnelli, Mia Farrow. Just think about the 00:08:23.649 --> 00:08:26.069 psychological weight of that. Standing in front 00:08:26.069 --> 00:08:27.850 of your most successful contemporaries while 00:08:27.850 --> 00:08:30.730 your body is actively feeling you, it must have 00:08:30.730 --> 00:08:33.860 been paralyzing. Backstage, she is running a 00:08:33.860 --> 00:08:37.200 raging fever. Friends are literally begging her 00:08:37.200 --> 00:08:40.120 manager to cancel the show. But she insists the 00:08:40.120 --> 00:08:42.539 debut is too important to post -cone. She felt 00:08:42.539 --> 00:08:45.039 she couldn't back out. Yeah. So she walks out 00:08:45.039 --> 00:08:47.879 on stage sick, having barely rehearsed because 00:08:47.879 --> 00:08:49.639 her voice had been giving out during the week. 00:08:50.019 --> 00:08:52.460 And the performance is a disaster. Her voice 00:08:52.460 --> 00:08:55.340 is weak. It's barely audible. Yeah. At the end 00:08:55.340 --> 00:08:57.379 of the set, she actually returns to the stage 00:08:57.379 --> 00:09:00.139 to apologize to the audience. She tells them 00:09:00.139 --> 00:09:02.139 this is the first night and it will get better. 00:09:02.299 --> 00:09:04.820 She sings Dream a Little Dream to this half -hearted 00:09:04.820 --> 00:09:07.379 applause and just leaves. And she attempted the 00:09:07.379 --> 00:09:09.659 second show that night, too. She did. And it 00:09:09.659 --> 00:09:11.720 was even worse. People were noisily walking out. 00:09:11.860 --> 00:09:13.980 The fallout in the press the next day was just 00:09:13.980 --> 00:09:16.620 merciless. Oh, it was brutal. Esquire magazine 00:09:16.620 --> 00:09:19.559 published a review titled Sync Along with Cass. 00:09:20.110 --> 00:09:23.490 And Newsweek compared her performance to the 00:09:23.490 --> 00:09:25.669 sinking of the Titanic. And of course, the rumor 00:09:25.669 --> 00:09:28.309 mill immediately kicked into high gear. Within 00:09:28.309 --> 00:09:30.929 hours, rumors began spreading that she had been 00:09:30.929 --> 00:09:33.210 taking drugs in the weeks leading up to the show. 00:09:33.289 --> 00:09:35.710 Right. One biographer noted that Elliott later 00:09:35.710 --> 00:09:37.649 admitted to a boyfriend she had actually injected 00:09:37.649 --> 00:09:40.809 heroin right before going on stage. Wow. So between 00:09:40.809 --> 00:09:43.769 the humiliating performance, the brutal press 00:09:43.769 --> 00:09:47.129 clippings and the swirling rumors, she plunged 00:09:47.129 --> 00:09:49.909 into a severe, deep depression. And you really 00:09:49.909 --> 00:09:52.929 see the vicious cycle of media mythology at work 00:09:52.929 --> 00:09:55.529 right here. The industry demands she change her 00:09:55.529 --> 00:09:58.590 body. The process of extreme dieting destroys 00:09:58.590 --> 00:10:01.169 her health and her voice. The performance fails 00:10:01.169 --> 00:10:03.450 because her health is destroyed. Exactly. But 00:10:03.450 --> 00:10:06.169 then the narrative immediately shifts to blame 00:10:06.169 --> 00:10:09.269 her character. They point to drugs or lack of 00:10:09.269 --> 00:10:11.389 discipline rather than the systemic pressures 00:10:11.389 --> 00:10:13.570 that caused the crisis in the first place. It's 00:10:13.570 --> 00:10:15.610 completely backward. And she was in a really 00:10:15.610 --> 00:10:18.490 dark place following Vegas. But hiding wasn't 00:10:18.490 --> 00:10:20.429 an option for her. This is where you really see 00:10:20.429 --> 00:10:22.970 her adaptability shine. She realized she had 00:10:22.970 --> 00:10:26.080 to pivot to survive in the industry. Right. She 00:10:26.080 --> 00:10:27.820 couldn't just rely on the live stage anymore. 00:10:27.940 --> 00:10:30.320 Exactly. So she leaned heavily into television. 00:10:30.620 --> 00:10:33.720 She became a beloved regular on talk shows, game 00:10:33.720 --> 00:10:36.600 shows, variety specials. She even guest hosted 00:10:36.600 --> 00:10:39.179 for Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show. Which 00:10:39.179 --> 00:10:42.000 was a huge deal back then. A massive deal. And 00:10:42.000 --> 00:10:44.580 she even voiced a character on Scooby -Doo. It 00:10:44.580 --> 00:10:46.679 makes perfect sense, though. If the industry 00:10:46.679 --> 00:10:48.600 wasn't going to let her just stand on a stage 00:10:48.600 --> 00:10:51.600 and sing without dissecting her physical form, 00:10:51.799 --> 00:10:54.720 she was going to force the public to engage. 00:10:54.960 --> 00:10:57.759 with her humor, her wit, and her intellect. Yeah. 00:10:58.100 --> 00:11:00.679 She utilized television to completely bypass 00:11:00.679 --> 00:11:04.139 the music critics and connect directly with audiences 00:11:04.139 --> 00:11:06.820 right in their living rooms. And she had this 00:11:06.820 --> 00:11:09.379 incredibly defiant streak that she just refused 00:11:09.379 --> 00:11:12.039 to suppress. There's this great anecdote from 00:11:12.039 --> 00:11:15.240 the source material. In 1967, while she was in 00:11:15.240 --> 00:11:17.799 London, she was prosecuted for stealing bed linen 00:11:17.799 --> 00:11:19.940 from a hotel she and her bandmates had stayed 00:11:19.940 --> 00:11:23.570 at previously. A bed sheet heist. Yes. The case 00:11:23.570 --> 00:11:26.129 actually went to court and the charges were eventually 00:11:26.129 --> 00:11:28.730 dismissed due to a lack of evidence. But when 00:11:28.730 --> 00:11:30.889 she returned to perform at the legendary London 00:11:30.889 --> 00:11:33.590 Palladium, she didn't shied away from the scandal 00:11:33.590 --> 00:11:36.250 at all. She leaned right into it. She did. She 00:11:36.250 --> 00:11:38.909 openly admitted it to the audience from the stage. 00:11:39.049 --> 00:11:41.690 She told them exactly why she took the two sheets. 00:11:41.710 --> 00:11:44.490 She said, I liked them, so I took them. That 00:11:44.490 --> 00:11:46.750 is just a pure distillation of her character. 00:11:46.830 --> 00:11:50.850 She flat out refused to be shamed or forced into 00:11:50.850 --> 00:11:53.889 apologizing for her unapologetic nature. Meanwhile, 00:11:54.029 --> 00:11:57.750 her private life was incredibly complex, often 00:11:57.750 --> 00:11:59.929 in ways the public was completely unaware of. 00:12:00.269 --> 00:12:02.470 For instance, her first marriage to Jim Hendrix, 00:12:02.669 --> 00:12:04.870 her old bandmate, not the guitar player. Right. 00:12:04.970 --> 00:12:07.710 It was entirely a marriage of convenience. They 00:12:07.710 --> 00:12:10.090 married specifically to help him dodge the draft 00:12:10.090 --> 00:12:12.490 during the Vietnam War. The article notes it 00:12:12.490 --> 00:12:15.049 was never consummated and was eventually annulled. 00:12:15.169 --> 00:12:18.049 That decision really contextualizes her within 00:12:18.049 --> 00:12:20.710 the counterculture of the 1960s. Yeah. Vietnam 00:12:20.710 --> 00:12:23.049 draft was a source of sheer terror for young 00:12:23.049 --> 00:12:25.230 men in that scene. So putting herself on the 00:12:25.230 --> 00:12:27.929 line legally to protect a friend from being sent 00:12:27.929 --> 00:12:30.970 to war. It just shows a profound sense of loyalty. 00:12:31.289 --> 00:12:33.470 She was fiercely protective of her private world. 00:12:33.590 --> 00:12:36.590 In 1967, she gave birth to her daughter, Owen. 00:12:36.909 --> 00:12:40.049 But Cass kept the identity of the father an absolute 00:12:40.049 --> 00:12:42.529 secret from the public, and even from her daughter 00:12:42.529 --> 00:12:44.710 for her entire life. That takes a lot of resolve. 00:12:44.990 --> 00:12:47.990 It really does. It wasn't until many years after 00:12:47.990 --> 00:12:49.990 Elliot's death that Michelle Phillips actually 00:12:49.990 --> 00:12:52.649 helped Owen locate her biological father, a musician 00:12:52.649 --> 00:12:55.590 named Chuck Day. His paternity wasn't publicly 00:12:55.590 --> 00:12:58.399 revealed until he died in 2008. You know, given 00:12:58.399 --> 00:13:00.779 how much the public and the press felt entitled 00:13:00.779 --> 00:13:03.220 to consume and comment on her body and her lifestyle, 00:13:03.480 --> 00:13:05.940 it makes complete sense that she would aggressively 00:13:05.940 --> 00:13:09.059 carve out spaces like her daughter's parentage 00:13:09.059 --> 00:13:11.539 that belonged only to her. Definitely. It was 00:13:11.539 --> 00:13:14.580 a boundary she had to draw. And by 1973, she 00:13:14.580 --> 00:13:16.580 had really had enough of the cartoonish public 00:13:16.580 --> 00:13:19.620 image. She hired Alan Carr as her manager. He 00:13:19.620 --> 00:13:21.659 was a powerhouse who managed stars like Tony 00:13:21.659 --> 00:13:24.200 Curtis and Anne Margaret. A real Hollywood heavyweight. 00:13:24.299 --> 00:13:26.679 Right. And he suggested a pivot away from pop 00:13:26.679 --> 00:13:28.879 and toward the cabaret circuit. So they developed 00:13:28.879 --> 00:13:31.740 a new stage show with a title that served as 00:13:31.740 --> 00:13:34.679 a direct manifesto. It was called Don't Call 00:13:34.679 --> 00:13:38.360 Me Mama Anymore. That title is just a brilliant 00:13:38.360 --> 00:13:40.919 piece of branding. She is actively demanding 00:13:40.919 --> 00:13:43.500 that the world stop using this demeaned maternal, 00:13:44.120 --> 00:13:47.259 slightly mocking nickname. Yes. She was demanding 00:13:47.259 --> 00:13:50.379 to be recognized as an adult, sophisticated solo 00:13:50.379 --> 00:13:52.639 artist. And it worked. It was a massive success. 00:13:52.860 --> 00:13:55.779 She took Vegas by storm the second time around, 00:13:55.919 --> 00:13:58.240 premiering at the Flamingo. The reviews were 00:13:58.240 --> 00:14:01.179 glowing. The Las Vegas Sun wrote that she served 00:14:01.179 --> 00:14:03.299 notice she was here to stay. Incredible. There 00:14:03.299 --> 00:14:06.080 were standing ovations, no empty seats. She finally 00:14:06.080 --> 00:14:08.279 conquered the city that had publicly broken her 00:14:08.279 --> 00:14:10.429 five years ago. It is the triumphant narrative 00:14:10.429 --> 00:14:12.769 arc she absolutely deserved. She reclaimed her 00:14:12.769 --> 00:14:14.990 name, her voice, and her standing in the entertainment 00:14:14.990 --> 00:14:17.909 industry entirely on her own terms. But that 00:14:17.909 --> 00:14:20.350 triumph makes a final chapter of her life deeply 00:14:20.350 --> 00:14:24.129 tragic. We move to July 1974. Cass is back in 00:14:24.129 --> 00:14:26.190 London playing two weeks of solo concerts at 00:14:26.190 --> 00:14:28.389 the London Palladium. She is receiving standing 00:14:28.389 --> 00:14:30.970 ovations night after night. The pinnacle. Yeah. 00:14:31.960 --> 00:14:34.120 On her last night, she actually made an international 00:14:34.120 --> 00:14:37.080 call to Michelle Phillips, crying tears of joy 00:14:37.080 --> 00:14:40.059 over how successful the run had been. She had 00:14:40.059 --> 00:14:42.080 reached the exact heights she had been striving 00:14:42.080 --> 00:14:44.860 for since she was a teenager in Baltimore. She 00:14:44.860 --> 00:14:47.799 was respected, she was successful, and she was 00:14:47.799 --> 00:14:50.419 deeply loved by her audience. But her final 24 00:14:50.419 --> 00:14:53.399 hours are this whirlwind of celebration and physical 00:14:53.399 --> 00:14:56.720 exhaustion. She attends Mick Jagger's 31st birthday 00:14:56.720 --> 00:14:59.879 party. The next day, she attends a brunch in 00:14:59.879 --> 00:15:02.620 her honor. But attendees noted she was coughing 00:15:02.620 --> 00:15:05.019 heavily, blowing her nose, and clearly struggling 00:15:05.019 --> 00:15:07.879 to breathe. She was really sick. Right. But despite 00:15:07.879 --> 00:15:10.740 being visibly ill, she pushes through and attends 00:15:10.740 --> 00:15:13.440 a cocktail party that evening. Finally, around 00:15:13.440 --> 00:15:15.720 8 p .m., she says she's tired and heads back 00:15:15.720 --> 00:15:18.779 to get some sleep. She retires to Flat 12, 9 00:15:18.779 --> 00:15:21.460 Curzon Place in the Mayfair District of London, 00:15:21.659 --> 00:15:23.480 which was an apartment she was borrowing from 00:15:23.480 --> 00:15:27.120 the singer Harry Nilsson. And that specific address 00:15:27.120 --> 00:15:30.600 holds a very dark place in music history. There 00:15:30.600 --> 00:15:33.059 is a haunting parallel here from the text. Four 00:15:33.059 --> 00:15:35.980 years after Cass Elliott died in that exact bedroom, 00:15:36.220 --> 00:15:38.840 Keith Moon, the legendary drummer for The Who, 00:15:39.039 --> 00:15:42.629 would die in the very same room. And eerily, 00:15:42.690 --> 00:15:45.330 they were both exactly 32 years old when they 00:15:45.330 --> 00:15:47.669 passed. It's so strange. Later that night at 00:15:47.669 --> 00:15:49.830 the age of 32, she passes away in her sleep. 00:15:50.320 --> 00:15:53.279 The autopsy, which was conducted by a prominent 00:15:53.279 --> 00:15:56.279 pathologist named Keith Simpson, confirmed she 00:15:56.279 --> 00:15:59.200 died of a heart attack. Specifically, the medical 00:15:59.200 --> 00:16:01.480 report noted her heart had suffered from fatty 00:16:01.480 --> 00:16:04.259 degeneration. Essentially, her heart muscle had 00:16:04.259 --> 00:16:06.440 been weakened and replaced by fat tissue over 00:16:06.440 --> 00:16:09.559 time. A tragic physical toll. Yeah, it was a 00:16:09.559 --> 00:16:12.279 direct medical consequence of the extreme rapid 00:16:12.279 --> 00:16:14.779 fluctuations in her weight from years of severe 00:16:14.779 --> 00:16:17.440 crash dieting. And that was compounded by her 00:16:17.440 --> 00:16:21.259 lifelong struggle with obesity and... Her cardiovascular 00:16:21.259 --> 00:16:24.399 system simply couldn't take the strain anymore. 00:16:24.639 --> 00:16:26.899 The pendulum swings of starving herself to meet 00:16:26.899 --> 00:16:29.019 industry standards, followed by rapid weight 00:16:29.019 --> 00:16:31.679 gain, alongside the grueling schedule of a touring 00:16:31.679 --> 00:16:34.840 performer. It all just caused irreversible damage 00:16:34.840 --> 00:16:37.539 to her heart. But that medical reality isn't 00:16:37.539 --> 00:16:40.100 what the public remembers. The actual cause of 00:16:40.100 --> 00:16:42.139 death was almost immediately overshadowed by 00:16:42.139 --> 00:16:44.440 the most infamous rumor of her entire career. 00:16:45.129 --> 00:16:47.769 The myth that Cass Elliott choked to death on 00:16:47.769 --> 00:16:50.110 a ham sandwich. And this is exactly where the 00:16:50.110 --> 00:16:53.429 story shifts from a tragic biography to a profound 00:16:53.429 --> 00:16:56.309 commentary on media manipulation. Yeah. Because 00:16:56.309 --> 00:16:58.590 that ham sandwich rumor wasn't just a misheard 00:16:58.590 --> 00:17:00.950 quote. It wasn't a sloppy piece of journalism. 00:17:01.250 --> 00:17:05.309 It was a deliberate, calculated PR spin planted 00:17:05.309 --> 00:17:08.599 by her own team. In 2020, a journalist and friend 00:17:08.599 --> 00:17:11.079 of Elliott's named Sue Cameron finally confessed. 00:17:11.380 --> 00:17:13.619 She admitted that she was the one who put that 00:17:13.619 --> 00:17:16.539 false ham sandwich story into the official obituary 00:17:16.539 --> 00:17:19.099 for The Hollywood Reporter. And she did it because 00:17:19.099 --> 00:17:21.799 Cass Elliott's manager, Alan Carr, explicitly 00:17:21.799 --> 00:17:25.299 begged her to plant the lie. You see, Carr understood 00:17:25.299 --> 00:17:28.259 the media landscape of the 1970s. He knew that 00:17:28.259 --> 00:17:30.500 given her history, rumors of a drug overdose 00:17:30.500 --> 00:17:33.259 would be immediate. In his mind, planting a somewhat 00:17:33.259 --> 00:17:35.299 cartoonish falsehood about food was actually 00:17:35.299 --> 00:17:37.440 preferable to any implication that her death 00:17:37.440 --> 00:17:39.599 was associated with substance abuse. But wait, 00:17:39.680 --> 00:17:41.960 looking at it objectively, was Carr entirely 00:17:41.960 --> 00:17:45.000 wrong to do that? I mean, given how aggressively 00:17:45.000 --> 00:17:48.019 the 1970s press destroyed artists for drug use, 00:17:48.200 --> 00:17:51.259 wasn't he making a calculated, albeit grotesque, 00:17:51.279 --> 00:17:54.319 attempt to save her music's legacy? Just to keep 00:17:54.319 --> 00:17:56.200 it from being completely banned or written off 00:17:56.200 --> 00:17:58.779 as just another rock and roll casualty? I mean, 00:17:58.779 --> 00:18:00.980 it's a pragmatic defense of his actions, certainly. 00:18:01.130 --> 00:18:03.609 You can definitely argue he was trying to protect 00:18:03.609 --> 00:18:07.150 her catalog. But the result was undeniably grotesque. 00:18:07.609 --> 00:18:11.029 By trying to avoid the stigma of drugs, he leaned 00:18:11.029 --> 00:18:14.230 entirely into the stigma of her weight. It turned 00:18:14.230 --> 00:18:17.390 her final moments into a cruel punchline. It 00:18:17.390 --> 00:18:20.329 cast this tawdry light over her legacy, and it 00:18:20.329 --> 00:18:23.190 threatened to overshadow her mighty, underappreciated 00:18:23.190 --> 00:18:25.890 talent for decades. Instead of remembering a 00:18:25.890 --> 00:18:28.170 powerhouse vocalist who fought tooth and nail 00:18:28.170 --> 00:18:30.730 against a superficial industry, the public remembered 00:18:30.730 --> 00:18:33.789 a joke. Ellen Naomi Cohen was a woman who defined 00:18:33.789 --> 00:18:36.549 the sound of a generation. She battled an industry 00:18:36.549 --> 00:18:38.670 that constantly told her she wasn't right, she 00:18:38.670 --> 00:18:40.250 wasn't thin enough, she didn't fit the mold. 00:18:40.390 --> 00:18:43.289 She reclaimed her identity, triumphed on the 00:18:43.289 --> 00:18:46.170 biggest stages in the world, and then, in the 00:18:46.170 --> 00:18:48.869 end, end had her actual human legacy obscured 00:18:48.869 --> 00:18:52.349 by a desperate PR lie engineered by the very 00:18:52.349 --> 00:18:54.990 people supposed to protect her. Doing deep dives 00:18:54.990 --> 00:18:57.509 like this really matters because it reminds us 00:18:57.509 --> 00:19:00.710 to look past the punchline. The accepted, universally 00:19:00.710 --> 00:19:03.509 repeated narrative is rarely the whole story. 00:19:04.000 --> 00:19:06.259 Absolutely. Cass Elliott's life is a profound 00:19:06.259 --> 00:19:09.380 historical reminder of our responsibility as 00:19:09.380 --> 00:19:11.819 consumers of media to seek the human truth behind 00:19:11.819 --> 00:19:14.400 those sensational headlines. Before we go, I 00:19:14.400 --> 00:19:16.240 want to leave you with one final thought to mull 00:19:16.240 --> 00:19:19.839 over. We just saw the machinery of 1970s PR at 00:19:19.839 --> 00:19:22.140 work, where a manager could literally call a 00:19:22.140 --> 00:19:24.819 reporter and invent a historical fact that survived 00:19:24.819 --> 00:19:27.740 for decades. Think about how this machinery operates 00:19:27.740 --> 00:19:30.440 today. With the rise of social media, do artists 00:19:30.440 --> 00:19:32.700 actually have more power to correct these false 00:19:32.700 --> 00:19:35.509 narratives? in real time? Or does the modern 00:19:35.509 --> 00:19:37.490 internet simply allow the ham sandwich myths 00:19:37.490 --> 00:19:40.109 of the world to spread infinitely faster, becoming 00:19:40.109 --> 00:19:42.190 permanent reality before the truth even has a 00:19:42.190 --> 00:19:44.829 chance to put its boots on? Think about it. We'll 00:19:44.829 --> 00:19:45.410 see you next time.