Fannie Hurst, a best-selling author and friend of Eleanor Roosevelt, is described as a "Miss Anne" who used an idea from Zora Neale Hurston to write "Imitation of Life." The novel and its subsequent film adaptations (starring Lana Turner and Sandra Dee) deal with the theme of "passing" and the tragic relationship between a black mother and her light-skinned daughter. The hosts note the uneven friendship between Hurst and Hurston.