[rock music]
* *
- * Well I remember when we were younger *
[children giggling]
* Here we would fight, here we would win *
* Here we would take this nation *
* And we'd fight to stay the same *
* Never grow older *
* We're back to fight this game *
* Universal soldier *
* There we were stoned tripping down on main street *
[girls giggling]
* Kicking up the dust in the summer heat *
* *
* Well, Charlie shaved his head *
* He's saving souls now *
* And Kitty lives her new life saved *
* She thinks she knows how *
* Jerry wants to be the one *
* That gets your--*
[clock ticking]
- Rachel, don't go in there.
[knock at door]
- [inhale, exhale]
[knocking continues] - Angelyne?
You gonna come out?
- [whispering] I am not a woman.
- Angelyne? - I am an icon.
[whispering] I'm not a woman.
[inhales]
I am an icon.
[knocking continues] - Angelyne?
- Read it.
- I-I don't-- I don't think that
that's a very good idea. - Read it.
[lounge music]
* *
- "Way before Paris Hilton and Kim Kardashian,
"the enigmatic blonde bombshell
"was famous for being famous,
"perpetually driving the streets of Hollywood
"in that pink Corvette.
"But her true identity has remained secret
all these years...until now."
- I was just curious about Angelyne.
But it can be destabilizing
for the person you're writing about.
But that's the job.
Sometimes they think you love them or hate them.
It's just journalistic scrutiny.
- It was a very interesting story.
I was riveted by Jeff's story.
- Who is Jeff's source?
No clue. Wish I knew.
Seems like a lot of the same stuff
that I found out about.
I was pretty bummed.
- Hi. Jeff Glaser.
I think you, uh, emailed me?
- I wasn't sure you were gonna show.
- I'm here.
What's in this? - Angelyne.
- I'm not interested in naked photos,
if that's what this is. - That isn't what this is.
- What is it then? - The true story of Angelyne.
Different from her public story.
It's more interesting.
- How'd you come by it? - I synthesized it
from a global network of public databases.
- So the internet?
- It's not illegal.
The way I see it, she forfeited any claim to privacy
when she ran for governor of California.
[intriguing music]
- Holy shit.
* *
[duck quacking]
- Rachel...
why didn't you wake me up?
We missed curfew. We gotta go.
* *
[groans]
* *
[sighs] I'll go inside with you.
- It's okay. - I'll tell them what happened.
- [sighs] That'll just make it worse.
- It was an accident. - Doesn't matter.
- [sighs]
[uneasy music]
* *
- [chuckles]
* *
- I think about the year before we were married.
She was still living at her father's house.
And that entire year,
she never wanted me to come inside.
And at first I didn't know why.
- I don't wanna read this!
Why am I reading this?
"Copies if immigration, marriage, and death records
"pointed to a cloaked prehistory of Rachel Goldman,
"which seems to reveal the trauma
"Angelyne had both emerged and escaped from.
"She was born in Poland, the daughter of Polish Jews
"who had met in the Chmielnik ghetto
"during World War II.
"They were among 500 to survive
"out of a population of 13,000,
"the rest sent to death at Treblinka.
"After Goldman's birth,
"the family immigrated to Israel.
"And from there, they boarded a ship
Leaving Haifa for New York..."
[nostalgic music]
* *
- [speaking Hebrew]
[indistinct chatter]
[curious music]
* *
- [speaking Yiddish]
[applause]
[jazzy lounge music]
- * I wanna be loved by you *
* Just you, and nobody else but you *
* I wanna be loved by you *
* A-lo-one *
* Boop boopy-do *
* I wanna be kissed by you *
* Just you and nobody else but you *
* I wanna be kissed by you *
* A-lo-one *
* I couldn't aspire *
* To anything higher *
* And feel the desire *
* To make you my own *
* Ba doo, doodily doo *
* Ba doo ba dee ah oh! *
* I wanna be loved by you *
* Just you and nobody else but you *
* I wanna be by you *
* A-lo-one *
* *
- * I couldn't aspire *
* To anything higher *
[girls giggling]
- For a while, in the '50s, '60s, '70s,
people weren't really talking about the Holocaust.
It was too big, too close, too awful.
Children of the Holocaust were running from that pain.
The Goldmans came out of a grim and drab past
into a realm of complete fantasy,
into a city defined by metamorphosis
and make-believe.
It's not hard to imagine where Angelyne
came up with the idea to reinvent herself.
- * Barbie *
- There are still many do's and don'ts
on the way to become a complete, attractive person.
Cultivate a relaxed, pleasant voice.
Speak... - Cultivate
a relaxed, pleasant voice. - Or too loud...
- Which one is Abba?
- Doesn't go over too well.
And keep in mind, listening is
often more appreciated... - That one, I think.
- Than talking.
- That one has his eyes.
- You look much better this way.
- They all do.
- Couldn't make up for this choice.
- This is him, I think.
- Is that Eema?
- But keep in mind some basic jewelry,
colors that go well with your skin and hair...
- I've never seen her smile like that at him.
The photos, quick. - Hurry!
- The way you walk is a cue to your personality.
Walk smartly.
[dramatic instrumental music]
* *
- [humming]
- Can it be a bit shorter?
- Really? - Really.
[woman singing in Hebrew]
[humming]
- You know the photos Abba keeps under the desk?
- Why does he keep them
if he doesn't want anyone to see them?
- Tell me again
how you and Abba found each other.
- [grunts] In the camp.
After the war.
- That's where you fell in love?
- [chuckles] Something like that.
Your tateand I, we-- we both wanted the same thing.
A family.
At that time, nothing else mattered.
- What if you had wanted something different?
- You'll find it easier to want the same things as men.
- Easier for who?
- Everyone.
Hmm. [groans] Ah--
- Mama?
- Mm. Just my back.
I see someone next week.
- Another appointment?
Now, take this off.
[lighthearted music]
* *
- Do you like it? It's for the talent show.
I'm going to be Marilyn.
I made it myself.
It's not short.
- You will look just like her.
- Dr. Cohen, please come to the nurses' station.
Dr. Cohen to the nurses' station.
- [sighs]
- The talent show is not until next month.
- Mm? - Parents can come.
- Oh.
I may have to stay a little longer
than we'd hoped.
- How long?
- I don't know, mamashane.
- It's okay. I don't--I don't--
I don't really want to do the talent show anymore.
- Nonsense. You-you will do it.
And you will be wonderful.
- [sniffling]
- The show must go on.
- I'll see you tomorrow?
[gasps]
[mournful string music]
* *
[sniffs]
* *
- You heard your father. - "When Rachel was 15,
"Eli remarried another Holocaust survivor,
"a seamstress divorcee named Leora,
and Goldman acquired two younger step-siblings."
- My parents?
They died when I was small, and I was adopted.
I'm an only child.
My adopted parents went to... live in another state,
and I've lost touch with them.
It's a long story. I don't want to get into it.
- * You gotta go where you wanna go *
* And do what you wanna do *
* With whoever you want to do...*
- You gotta go where you wanna go.
- * Go where you wanna go and do what you wanna do *
* With whoever you wanna do it with *
* You don't understand *
* That a girl like me can love *
[giggling voices]
[TV sounds]
- Oh, no, truly. I will show you.
[chuckling voices]
See? It is most cozy.
- Glad you like it, darling.
Because from now on, it's home, sweet home.
- * Please don't follow *
* You gotta go where you wanna go *
* Do what you wanna do... *
- She depended on me a lot
because she didn't have a car.
Whatever she wanted, wherever she wanted,
I would drive her.
Missed you. - Just drive.
- * You want to do it with *
* You don't understand *
* That a girl like me can love *
* Just one man *
- Oh, uh, watch where you're, uh, going.
- Oh, people?
Oh, they don't mind.
They're free of all this nonsense.
[sighs]
- Hey, w-where are we going?
- On a journey
through the subconscious.
- Oh.
- Right over here by Jayne Mansfield.
- Okay.
[grunts] - Cross your legs, like this.
- Okay.
- And rest your palms in your lap.
- What for?
- [softly] Meditating.
- [chuckles] Okay.
- Back a little straighter. - Mm-hmm.
- Chin level. Close your eyes.
[inhales and exhales]
And now just breathe deeply.
Take the mind away from every distraction.
Let thoughts float by.
[lighter clicks]
Really?
- I thought we were meditating. [chuckles]
- Oh, you're really funny.
- [coughs] - Come on.
- [coughing]
Sorry.
- Have you ever felt trapped?
[crickets chirping]
Meditation...
it can un-trap you.
It's like when you're pushing on a pull door.
It-it-it pulls it from the other side.
And then you can get out.
- Hey.
You can talk to me about anything.
- I wish I never had to go back to that house.
- I wish you didn't have to either.
- Then let's get in the car and drive.
We can go up the coast, sleep on the beach,
and never look back.
- Can I maybe finish high school first?
- Forget school.
It's only good for teaching you to think like other people.
Don't you want to carve your own lane?
- Look around.
I think all lanes lead to the same place.
- What do you want to do then?
- With the rest of my life?
I think I wanna just spend it with you.
[chuckles]
* *
[duck quacking]
Rachel...
why didn't you wake me up?
We missed curfew. We gotta go.
* *
[dog barking distantly]
* *
[grunts]
I'm sorry. We fell asleep.
[groaning]
[sobbing]
Please!
Please don't.
Please open-- please open this.
Please open this.
[panting] Pl--
[sobbing]
Emotions are the things that hurt people the most.
Emotions are our tortures.
They're the connection to the pain.
I'm okay, I'm okay.
I want to stay in the positive.
I'm okay, I'm okay, I'm okay.
So if you ever feel trapped,
write your name on a piece of paper
and then light the paper on fire
and watch it disappear.
- We got married to get her away from them.
But maybe it wasn't far enough.
[uneasy music]
Who would have guessed we'd be divorced
within a year?
- Now can we bring the parents in?
Eyes here.
Squeeze in just a little tighter.
Now let's get one with just the bride
and her parents.
- I think marriage should be a 24-hour agreement.
You're married for 24 hours and then it lapses out.
And you can renew it if you want,
but that way you're not bound to each other or else.
- It was a brief marriage, but done out of love.
It got her out of the house at least.
She moved in with me and my family in Beverly Hills.
She changed schools.
Why she'd leave, I'll never know.
She seemed...happy.
* *
- What are we doing here?
- We're late for Leah's birthday dinner.
[dog barking distantly]
[uneasy music]
I know what this is, and I'm not going in there.
- Rachel... - Mm-mm.
- I just want to understand why you left me.
Was it this night?
The night you and your dad argued?
- [sighs] You just don't get it.
- It's okay.
It already happened.
We're already there.
- Danny, baby, let's go to the beach.
Come on, honey. - He called you
a bitch or something, and I--
I should have told him that he couldn't
talk to you like that. Was that it?
- It wasn't one thing or the other.
Come on. Let's go hear some music.
- Okay, just-just a sec. Just a sec.
- Come on, come on. Give me the keys.
Let's start the car. I wanna go.
I wanna go!
- He went to hit you. - [gasps]
- I didn't know how to throw a punch,
so I-I grabbed a lamp,
and I went to Eli and I said,
"Do not hit her. I will not stand for that."
And-and- and we just walked out.
I protected you.
See? I--
* *
- [exhales]
- When was the last time I saw Rachel?
I knew you were gonna ask me that.
Honestly, I can't remember.
She had a way going
shht... the world is gone.
She just turns it off
and goes into one of her fantasies.
Whenever she's done with something, she's done.
I mean, I looked for her. I tried.
Even her sister had no idea where she was.
She just...
disappeared.
[clock ticking softly]
- [sighs]
[moody music]
* *
All the religions basically come from the same idea.
It's always the struggle between dark and light.
I choose to go for the light.
Mm-hmm.
And that's why I win in the end.
* *
[breathing hard]
[crash] [grunts]
[upbeat, enchanting music]
* *
- [labored breathing]
[intense, moody music]
* *
[wind howling, whistling]
[music intensifies]
* *
[clock ticking]
[soft, eerie chords]
* *
[monitors beeping]
- You're here.
- Who are you?
- I am you is me is we.
- Where are we?
- A place of painless existence.
You sit there.
[monitors beeping]
Don't worry. You'll know what to do.
Really. - Oh, we're on TV here.
- Angelyne, we're just dying to know about you.
[cheers and applause]
- Look at all these cute guys.
- The rest of us work for a living.
- Hey. Hey, Angelyne,
I think you're gonna fall out of that dress.
- There's so much suffering in the world,
and I am a divine, sex goddess presence
for the world to discover.
[inhales]
[monitors beeping]
[uplifting music]
* *
Ooh.
[small laugh]
[spaceship beeping]
[dramatic music]
* *
[controls beeping]
[sweeping instrumentals]
* *
You might think you've solved some kind of mystery,
But that doesn't mean there's no mystery left.
I still have mystique.
I'm still intense. I'm still a sex goddess.
And that is never gonna change, because that is just who I am.
[spaceship rattling]
[alarm beeping urgently]
- People were meant to have their fantasies taken away.
It's a beautiful tragedy.
The sad things, to me, don't take away, they deepen.
[alarm beeping]
[alarm stops]
Just as LA is far more complicated and darker
than people give it credit for elsewhere,
so too is Angelyne.
- I, uh, have a call in to all our attorneys.
He won't get away with this.
[phone rings]
[notifications chime]
- Thank you for calling Angelyne.
You can leave a magnificent message.
[answering machine beeps] - Hello, Angelyne.
This is Carrie Jacobs from NPR.
We'd love for you to come on "Air Talk"
and respond to the recent "Hollywood Reporter" article.
The response to the article has been off the charts.
[answering machine beeps] - Hey, Angelyne.
I think that reporter should leave you alone.
You want me to tell him that?
[answering machine beeps] - Angelyne,
you're one of Hollywood's greatest icons.
I don't care what that press says.
[answering machine beeps] - Hey, Angelyne,
I read what that guy wrote about you.
Keep your head up. Keep spreading love.
It doesn't matter who you grew up as
or what you went through. You're Angelyne!
- The thing is,
the mystery will never be solved.
That's just the way it is.
There's always more. And more.
T-shirt and join the fan club, okay?
- Angelyne? - Picture? A picture is 35.
Here's a hat.
Please, just don't--
no, don't touch the merchandise.
You're so cute. There you go.
And I have a magnet.
You want a hat? Do you want a pink hat?
You want to put that money right in here.
- The things she said addressing
the "Hollywood Reporter" story,
her interview for this--
that's probably the closest I'll get
to her commenting on mine.
That might be it.
- It's just a part of being famous.
I come with a set of rumors.
But who I am is Angelyne-- inside, outside.
As far as any facts go... [scoffs]
I'm gonna write my own story.
This...isn't it.
- She's happy selling out of her car.
She wants the adulation. She needs it.
I mean, she-she's giving rides to strangers
in her car for money.
I-I wouldn't trust that shit.
H--how do you know that guy is not gonna
hit you over the head, steal your car,
and-and-and toss your headless body somewhere?
* Have you seen her, have you seen her? *
* Oh *
- What made her become Angelyne?
Honestly, I don't know.
It's a persona that must have suited her.
- Well, Angelyne the character is Angelyne the person.
Definitely.
She is as you see her in real life.
I guarantee you that.
- * Within my heart, have you seen her? *
* Tell me, have you seen her? *
* Oh, I see her hand reaching out to me *
* Only she can set me free *
* Have you seen her? *
* Tell me, have you seen her? *
* *
* Why, oh, why *
* Did she have to leave and go away *
* Oh, yeah *
* Ohh, I've been used *
- [gasps] Ooh.
[giggles]
I don't want to deny it all
so that I don't get the sympathy and the empathy
that the article gave me, but...
I did have... a lot of challenges
to dig Angelyne out of who she supposedly was born as.
But all the details are not true.
But what I represent to Hollywood
and who I am...
that's who I really am inside, outside.
And my looks reflect from the inside,
not the outside.
I'm for real. Ooh.
- And cut. - How was that?
Hello? Hello?
Hello! - Emmy, stand by.
We're trying to locate Angelyne.
- Oh, God damn it. Ang?
[indistinct chatter]
What more do you want?
- I've got tote bags.
- I thought there was supposed to be a cameo.
[grumbles] Hello?
An--
- It's so much fun being famous for nothing.
What do you do? It's like...
Whether the story is true or not,
everybody got challenges
and it affects them differently.
I'm a rebel. I'm not an actress.
I inspire people.
If someone could do me in a movie, which I would hate,
'cause nobody has that kind of energy,
it's part of show business.
And, you know, what can I say?
Facts aren't always right.
LA, I love you! Ooh!
- * She wants to lead the glamorous life *
* She don't need a man's touch *
* She wants to lead the glamorous life *
- Could you back up? I need to get some unleaded.
* *
- I'm a billboard star.
I'm a-- I'm a Hollywood sex goddess.
I'm a glamor queen.
Um, what else do I need to do?
- * She threw him bread and said make me scream *
* In the dark, what could he say? *
* Boys with small talk *
- I was just wondering, how--what--
You know, how big are you?
I mean, what's your, you know, measurements?
- If you want to know that, you'll have to come
all the way to Hollywood and measure me.
Ooh! [cheers and applause]
- * Conquer my head *
* She wants to lead the glamorous life *
* She don't need a man's touch *
* She wants to lead the glamorous life *
* Without love it ain't much *
* *
* They made haste in the brown sedan *
* They drove to 55 Secret Street *
* They made love and by the seventh wave *
* She knew she had a problem *
* She thought real love is real scary *
* Money only pays the rent *
* Love is forever, that's all your life *
* Love is heaven-sent *
* It's glamorous *
* Lead the glamorous life *
* She don't need a man's touch *
* She wants to lead the glamorous life *
* Without love it ain't much *
* *