AI Summary
5 min read"Seventy cents." That's what Billie Holiday, one of the most iconic voices in American history, had to her name when she died of cirrhosis at age 44 in 1959. Her husband, a man described as a "mob enforcer," had exploited her finances throughout their toxic marriage, and after they separated, he refused to pay for her funeral. A wealthy jazz fan named Michael Grace stepped in to cover the costs, but Holiday's husband insisted she be buried in an unmarked grave at St. Raymond's Cemetery alongside her mother. Thousands had attended her funeral, yet she nearly disappeared without a marker. The story only changed when publications picked it up, and her husband eventually paid for a monument—likely, the hosts note, with what was left of her own money.
The Titanic's Aftermath: Recovery, Classification, and Burial
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What you'll learn
- 1 (02:18) **Welcome Back & Tech Talk** - Spencer and Madison banter about recording setups, new gadgets, and the joy of a capsule wardrobe.
- 2 (13:20) **Listener Email: “Fuck King Henry the Eighth”** - A listener sends a picture of a Pompeii victim frozen in a sexually suggestive pose, with the subject line “fuck King Henry the Eighth.”
- 3 (14:17) **Segment: Am I the Asshole? (Flowers at a Grave)** - A listener asks if she was wrong to move her stepmother’s plastic flowers to put real ones in the vase at her father’s grave.
- 4 (20:14) **Segment: Am I the Asshole? (Looking Up a Mugshot)** - A friend looks up the mugshot of a guy her friend matched with after he got arrested for public indecency; the friend is now angry.
- 5 (25:21) **Side Bitch: Carolyn Bessette Kennedy’s Obituary** - Madison reads the *New York Times* obituary for Carolyn Bessette Kennedy, comparing her to Jackie O and detailing her private life, career, and tragic death.
- 6 (32:24) **Coffin Spinner: The Titanic’s Body Recovery** - Madison details the grim aftermath of the Titanic sinking, including the recovery ships, the makeshift morgue on the CS Mackay-Bennett, and the burial of victims.
- 7 (55:10) **Coffin Spinner: Celebrities Who Died Broke** - Spencer explores famous stars who died in financial ruin, starting with Billie Holiday, who died with only 70 cents to her name.
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Show Notes
Get in the lifeboat Geoffs because this week Madison is telling us EVERYTHING there is to know about what happened to the victim’s of the Titanic sinking. Next, Spencer has some tales of Hollywood stars who died completely broke! We’ve got an obituary for an icon, one for someone who was an absolute diva, and one that told a tragic tale. Oh…did you really think we’d forget..we’ve also got some dumb.ass.criminalllllls!
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Sources:
https://www.newspapers.com/image/767913397/
https://www.npr.org/2019/07/13/741391152/encore-billie-holidays-grave
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billie_Holiday
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judy_Garland
https://www.biography.com/actors/judy-garland-london-concerts-final-years
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marvin_Gaye
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