In 1938, some of the biggest Hollywood stars were labelled Box Office Poison by The Independent Theatre Owners' Association. The gist? The likes of Greta Garbo and Joan Crawford weren't bringing in enough money to warrant their huge salaries. In this first episode, we'll look at the ad that started it all, why it had the impact it did, and introduce the women it singled out: Mae West, Greta Garbo, Katharine Hepburn, Marlene Dietrich, Joan Crawford, and Kay Francis.

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Credits:

"Mining by Moonlight" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

"Kool Kats" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/