Patricia Douglas: The Woman Who Took on MGM

In 1937, twenty-year-old dancer Patricia Douglas accused an MGM salesman of raping her at a company convention attended by hundreds of studio employees and guests. When a grand jury declined to indict, she refused to back down, taking on one of Hollywood's most powerful studios in a legal battle that would last for years. In this episode, we examine the assault, the investigation, the court cases, and the woman who spent decades fighting to have her story heard.

Source Materials

Stenn, David. Girl 27 (Documentary Film). Red Letter Films, 2007.

Stenn, David. “It Happened One Night... at MGM.” Vanity Fair, April 2003.

 Stenn, David. “The Systematic Crushing of a #MeToo Pioneer.” The New York Times, January 5, 2018.

Abcarian, Robin. “A Hollywood Role She Never Asked For.” Los Angeles Times, January 19, 2007.

Galloway, Stephen. “How a Hollywood Studio Got Away With Rape in 1937.” The Hollywood Reporter, November 13, 2017.

Schatz, Thomas. The Genius of the System: Hollywood Filmmaking in the Studio Era. Henry Holt & Company, 1988.

Contemporary newspaper coverage from June 1937, including The Independent (California) and other contemporary Los Angeles-area newspapers reporting on the investigation and grand jury proceedings.