When They Were Making It

Patrick Rankin
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Marilyn Monroe. Casablanca. Audrey Hepburn. The Wizard of Oz. Charlie Chaplin. Breakfast at Tiffany's. Alfred Hitchcock. Sunset Boulevard. What do they all have in common? They had to make it first. Each week we bring you the untold human stories behind classic Hollywood's biggest icons and most beloved films. Not the myths. Not the takedowns. The whole human story. From the silent era to the early 1960s — the people, the films, and the impossible work of becoming a legend. WTWMI is written, produced, and hosted by Patrick Rankin. Original artwork by Simone Beech and original music by Lionel Ziblat. A new chapter every Tuesday. Follow along wherever you get your podcasts.

Episodes

  1. 2d ago

    Marilyn Monroe, Part 1: From Norma Jeane to Marilyn — Ambition, the Studio System, and the Birth of a Blonde Icon

    On September 15, 1954, on the corner of New York's Lexington and 52nd, a wind machine lifted a white pleated dress — and Marilyn Monroe, already the most famous woman in America, became something more. An icon. Before she became Marilyn Monroe, she was Norma Jeane Mortenson — born in the charity ward of Los Angeles County Hospital to a mother who would be committed before her daughter turned eight. A childhood divided between foster homes and an orphanage. A sixteenth-birthday marriage to escape the system. And a wartime factory job that would change everything. Part 1 of our two-part series on Marilyn Monroe traces her invention, her rise, and her fight to be known as more than a blonde bombshell — from Norma Jeane to Marilyn, from Radioplane assembly line to Twentieth Century Fox marquee, from a nude calendar shoot to her hand-prints in cement at Grauman's Chinese Theatre. It follows her through a childhood of impermanence, an early marriage destined for failure, and a modeling career that opened the door to Hollywood. It traces her early years at Fox, the breakthroughs in The Asphalt Jungle and All About Eve, and the year that made her a household name — Niagara, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, and How to Marry a Millionaire. And the fight for legitimacy that took her out of Hollywood entirely — Marilyn Monroe in dark glasses and a headscarf, slipping into New York to build her own production company, study at the Actors Studio with Lee Strasberg, and earn the review she'd spent a decade fighting for: "Marilyn acts." It also follows the personal life she fought to hold onto. The agent who loved her, made her a star, and died before he could see what she'd become. Her relationship with baseball great Joe DiMaggio — the honeymoon that turned, and the marriage that broke. Her marriage to playwright Arthur Miller — and the brief, hopeful moment when it seemed like she might actually be able to have it all. And beneath it all, the quiet unraveling that had already begun — the pills, the depression, the loneliness behind the brightest smile in America. This is a story of strength, ambition, and self-invention: how a girl who shouldn't have had a chance made herself into the most famous woman in the world — and the price she would pay for becoming her. WTWMI is written, produced, and hosted by Patrick Rankin. Original artwork by Simone Beech and original music by Lionel Ziblat.  Part 2 drops June 2, 2026 — the day after what would have been Marilyn Monroe's 100th birthday. New episodes of WTWMI drop every Tuesday. Listen now wherever you get your podcasts.

    1h 49m

  2. May 13

    Launch Trailer — When They Were Making It: A Classic Film Podcast

    The stars you think you know. The films that became legends. The people the world almost forgot. When They Were Making It — a narrative documentary podcast about classic Hollywood's greatest icons, from the silent era to the early 1960s. Not the myths. Not the takedowns. The whole human story of the glamour, the ambition, the machinery, and the damage behind the icons. WTWMI premieres May 26, 2026 with Marilyn Monroe (Part 1). Part 2 drops June 2 — the day after what would have been her 100th birthday. Hosted, written, and produced by Patrick Rankin. Artwork by Simone Beech and original music by Lionel Ziblat. New episodes of WTWMI drop every Tuesday. Listen now wherever you get your podcasts.

    2 min

Trailer

About

Marilyn Monroe. Casablanca. Audrey Hepburn. The Wizard of Oz. Charlie Chaplin. Breakfast at Tiffany's. Alfred Hitchcock. Sunset Boulevard. What do they all have in common? They had to make it first. Each week we bring you the untold human stories behind classic Hollywood's biggest icons and most beloved films. Not the myths. Not the takedowns. The whole human story. From the silent era to the early 1960s — the people, the films, and the impossible work of becoming a legend. WTWMI is written, produced, and hosted by Patrick Rankin. Original artwork by Simone Beech and original music by Lionel Ziblat. A new chapter every Tuesday. Follow along wherever you get your podcasts.

Information

  • Creator
    Patrick Rankin
  • Years Active
    2K
  • Episodes
    2
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Patrick Rankin
  • Show Website
    When They Were Making It