Episode #116 | 12.13.22

Mama Cass (Part 2): Rape, Murder, and Taking Secrets to the Grave

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In this episode

​​Mama Cass’ role as Hollywood’s hippie den mother pulled her into the orbit of troubling company during the “Summer of Love.” The former Mamas and the Papas singer thrived in Laurel Canyon's social circles, which included her close friend Sharon Tate and Sharon’s husband, filmmaker Roman Polanski. But Cass’ alleged involvement in some of the long rumored-hedonistic events at Sharon and Roman’s home on Cielo Drive put her at the center of a counter-narrative that explosively disrupts the supposed motive for the Manson family murders. Decades later, there’s plenty to debunk about the final years of Mama Cass’ life— including a silly, fat-shaming myth surrounding death that has persisted for nearly 50 years.

This is a crossover episode with BADLANDS Sharon Tate (Part 2)

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Sources

Chaos: Charles Manson, the CIA, and the Secret History of the Sixties, by Tom O’Neill with Dan Piepenbring

Waiting for the Sun: A Rock & Roll History of Los Angeles, by Barney Hoskyns

The Family, by Ed Sanders

Go Where You Wanna Go: The Oral History of the Mamas & the Papas, by Matthew Greenwald

What’s It All About?, by Michael Caine

Marlene Dietrich and lesbian nanny who raped her daughter - by her grandson (Daily Mail)

10 Dark Tales Of Depravity, Vice, And Abuse From Old Hollywood (Listverse)

A Penetrating Interview with Dennis Hopper (Rolling Stone)

Sharon Tate's Marriage with Roman Polanski: Orgies, Sex Tapes and More (People)

Pic Dawson (The Great Wen)

Jaw-Dropping Stories About The Mamas & The Papas (Ranker)

Disgraceland is a podcast about musicians getting away with murder and behaving very badly. It melds music history, true crime and transgressive fiction. Disgraceland is not journalism. Disgraceland is entertainment. Entertainment inspired by true events. However, certain scenes, characters and names are sometimes fictionalized for dramatic purposes.

 

Music

Hosted, written, and scored by Jake Brennan. 

Copy editing by Pat Healy.

Mixed and Engineered by Sean Cahalin.

Disgraceland theme song, "Crenshaw Space Boogie" written and produced by Jake Brennan. Performed by Jake Brennan, Bryce Kanzer, Jay Cannava and Evan Kenney. Mixed and engineered by Adam Taylor.

*illustrations by Avi Spivak @avispivak