Marie Dressler was the biggest female star of American movies in 1933. She wasn’t a sex symbol like Jean Harlow or Marlene Dietrich. Dressler was homely, overweight, in her 60s – and moviegoers adored her.

You Must Remember This:

The public loved nothing better than to see their Marie play a drunk or a dowager and steal every scene from the glamour girls less than half her age. Dressler had been down and out for most of the 1920s. That she became a star at age 60 was an achievement that told Depression-battered audiences it was never too late.

The Ukraine was part of a broad pattern of behavior that makes Trump manifestly unfit to be President. Why didn’t Congress go after all of it rather than just one, very narrow incident?

On Impeachment: A Daily Podcast with Preet Bharara, former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and host Brian Lehrer.

Ezra Klein: America is a better country today than it has ever been: More inclusive and more prosperous. There has been no better time to be alive and be American. But the trend is going in the wrong direction. Things are not getting better. They’re declining rapidly.

Acquitted [Today, Explained]

Gilbert Gottfried and Frank Sontopadre interview the delightful Ken Berry, star of “F Troop” and “Mama’s Family.” Berry discusses working alongside George Burns, Don Rickles, and Carol Burnett, as well as a brief variety series he did in 1972, “The Wow Show,” featuring then unknown Steve Martin, Teri Garr, and Cheryl Ladd, then known as Cheryl Jean Stoppelmoor. I was 11 when “The Wow Show” aired, and I remember I loved it.

Berry also avoids answering whether Forrest Tucker and Milton Berle, respectively co-star and guest star of “F Troop,” were really massively hung.

I love this podcast. I’ve already listened to about a dozen episodes and I’ve got about 80 queued up.

Ken Berry [Gilbert Gottfried’s Amazing Colossal Podcast!]

Nat Eliason: How to take notes on what you’re reading.

I never did highlights or took book notes in school. I just did the reading (or didn’t – I was a slacker student), crammed everything into my brain and hoped it stuck there.

Likewise, I tried to highlight text, but I didn’t really see the point. I ended up highlighting more than half the book … or nothing.

Eliason proposes a simple rule: Only highlight passages that give you an idea. Then make a note of that idea. What does the passage make you think of? If the passage simply conveys information or opinion, and doesn’t spark further thought, just read it and move on.

And here’s a tool for note-taking, for those of us who read electronically: Readwise archives your ebook and article highlights from Kindle, Instapaper and iBooks.