Stars Of The Golden Age Podcast: When Hollywood Shone Brightest!

Creator and host Erin Carlson of the Stars of the Golden Age podcast is more than just another entertainment podcaster. She's become an institutional repository for an era of classic movie making that is gradually being forgotten by current generations.

How many people remember Robert Mitchum? Lena Horne? Paul Robeson? Mary Pickford was one of the biggest names in Hollywood in the 1920s. Now, you'd be hard-pressed to find anyone under 70 who remembers her.

The vehicles to get to know these icons of Hollywood's golden age are disappearing. TCM is still viable, but almost axed by Warner/Discovery CEO David Zaslav, who's a bottom-line guy. You can also see classic movies on AMC, The Criterion Channel, or Kanopy, but these are not mainstream vehicles for discovery.

Indie podcaster Erin Carlson to the rescue. Here's her elevator pitch for Stars of the Golden Age "It's a show that highlights the lives of legends from film, music, and the birth of television during Hollywood’s Golden Age and the few years surrounding it. I will dive into the early lives that led to stardom for some of the biggest names in Hollywood’s golden age… and I’ll shine the light on some lesser known names as well."

Carlson began the podcast in June 2024 and started strong, with an episode on actress Vivian Leigh of Gone with The Wind fame, who suffered from mental illness for much of her life. Since then, she has maintained a consistent release schedule, and her show is technically solid, featuring superior sound quality. Moreover, Carlson is an outstanding narrator. She doesn't rush, adds pauses, so the listener can reflect, and inserts just enough of her views and experiences to be interesting without being disruptive.

To be clear, Carlson focuses more on the star's personal life than their acting career. Therefore, it's not a movie review podcast. I don't know Erin Carlson's day job, but she makes a good psychologist because she analyses these stars quite effectively.

My favorite episodes so far are about movie stars I knew little about. For example, the April 8th show on Robert Mitchum, who was decidedly one of the unlikeliest people to become a movie star. 

Carlson tells us: "Actor Robert Mitchum graced movie and television screens from the 1940s into the 1990s. He had such a cool and unique presence, and just wait until you hear about the wild life he led! Robert Mitchum was no ordinary man. His story is quite a wild tale."

She wasn't kidding. Brawls, arrests, pot smoking (remember, this is the 1950s), multiple affairs, and carousing were trademark Mitchum habits.

During Women's History Month, Carlson shared the tales of three trailblazing women -- Mary Pickford, Ida Lupino, and Lucille Ball.

On March 18, Carlson released a two-minute episode explaining that her laptop had died prematurely, but she would return next week with a new episode. First, kudos for doing that instead of radio silence. That took courage. Second, that technical disaster exemplifies the tightrope that indie podcasters must balance on every day. It's a tough existence. They need some love.

I tried to contact Erin Carlson for more information about the show and her background. Unfortunately, there are several Erin Carlson's. I contacted the individuals most likely to be her, but received no response. If I am arrested for cyberstalking, you'll be my witnesses that I was attempting to locate the creator/host of Stars of the Golden Age. My intentions were purely podcast-related.

Anyone reading about this enigma, who has a mystery podcast, may want to tackle the mystery of who Erin Carlson is. In the meantime, I highly recommend Stars of the Golden Age.