Ctomer reviews: Open Secret: Gay Hollywood--1928-2000

Contents:

• OPEN SECRET : GAY HOLLYWOOD, 1928-1998
• DAVID EHRENSTE: OPEN SECRET: GAY HOLLYWOOD 1928-1998
• OPEN SECRET: GAY HOLLYWOOD 1928-1998
• OPEN SECRET: GAY HOLLYWOOD--1928-1998
• OPEN SECRET: GAY HOLLYWOOD--1928-2000
• OPEN SECRET : GAY HOLLYWOOD, 1928-1998

OPEN SECRET : GAY HOLLYWOOD, 1928-1998

[341]-356) and xExplor the changg attus of Hollywood toward gay members of s muny, tracg the reers of famo gays and lbians and examg the changg social landspe of homosexualy the film pal. One of the first extensive, sightful looks at the plexy of Hollywood movi' relatnship to gay and lbian characters and them is Vo Rso's The Celluloid Closet, self turned to a film 1996.

Both book and film al particularly wh portrayals of gays and lbians (or same-sexualy, the term preferred by Open Secret thor David Ehrenste) onscreen, mostly ignorg the liv of the same behd the scen.

DAVID EHRENSTE: OPEN SECRET: GAY HOLLYWOOD 1928-1998

For Ehrenste, this volv viewg the accepted ncept of homosexualy as a social nstct that first surfaced the late 19th century.

OPEN SECRET: GAY HOLLYWOOD 1928-1998

Te, the unterpted matns are often que good: The always-revealg Jam Ellroy is a major character Open Secret's early chapters, and numero and varied g-out stori shed light on what means to be gay and show bs.

” Dpe the town’s private tennci toward tolerance, the public l about homosexualy were clear: If you were an actor who happened to be gay or lbian, you were expected to do some of your bt make-believe off screen, mimickg heterosexualy at least well enough to keep nosy lumnists at bay — or, failg that, well enough to keep straight people om mdg the tth.

— an ex-boyiend sued Liberace for palimony, thereby unleashg a flood of blunt revelatns that had been kept dammed up by the flamboyant entertaer’s succsful 1959 libel su agast a Brish newspaper lumnist who implied he was homosexual. You’ll fd vivid analys of such over-the-rabow-flag ton David Ehrenste’s Open Secret: Gay Hollywood 1928-1998. You’ll also fd sizable, if sttershot, smattergs of old-Hollywood soclogy (like where the homosexual waterg hol were the ’30s and ’40s, and why straights like Bogart blhely equented them), as well as a remarkable, oral-history-style samplg of extend remarks om a host of current dtry folk, rangg om big fish (David Geffen) to directors and producers (G Van Sant, Clive Barker, Lrence Mark) to -the-trench personnel like Steven Dornbch, a blue-llar grip who dish on jt how graphilly gross crew members n get about gay sex.

OPEN SECRET: GAY HOLLYWOOD--1928-1998

Delic as some of the monologu are — I would hate to miss former Warner marketg director Chris Pula ee-associatg his way through the stud’s most dreadful recent movi and clarg ”Beg a cynil queen…has ma me a good marketer, ” or film cric Kev Thomas remiscg at great length about director Gee Cor — they range all over the map om personal nfsnals to gay-rights advocy to sheer unfiltered chatter. How n one survey Hollywood gay history whout broad swatch of natnal gay history? It’s ually when Ehrenste narrows the spotlight that he’s most succsful, as a terrific chapter about the preponrance of gay s wrers recent years.

William Morrow & Company, $25 (320pp) ISBN 978-0-688-15317-5The history of gay Hollywood nnot be summed up one book any more than straight Hollywood n, but Ehrenste's exhstively rearched tome close to beg the five acunt. It is a superb pann to Vo Rso's Celluloid Closet (which documented the history of gay and lbian characters films, rather than who's workg the dtry).

OPEN SECRET: GAY HOLLYWOOD--1928-2000

Begng the late 1880s wh the ventn of cema and the terms ""homosexual"" and ""heterosexual, "" Ehrenste exam the very open secret of homosexualy the entertament pal, validatg Michelangelo Signorile's theory ( Queer Ameri) that the Hollywood closet has always been mataed by stud producers, publicists, the tabloid prs (who ntue to create heterosexual romanc for gay/lbian celebri bee they sell papers) and the stars themselv. Profil and nversatns wh gay/lbian stud heads, producers, directors, screenwrersand publicists, as well as firsthand narrativ by those om earlier eras (cludg Gav Lambert, Gloria Stuart and Armistead Mp), flh out Ehrenste's study (to his cred, he don't e any anonymo sourc).

It's all here: Liberace's two libel sus agast newspapers for sayg he was gay (he won--twice! And talkg about "who's gay Hollywood" has always been the most socially acceptable way of talkg about homosexualy tim have changed for gays and lbians si Hollywood and the culture at large.

" And while Rupert Everett may be lled "the gay Cary Grant, " the real Cary Grant would never have scribed himself as gay -- even though he what has meant to be gay Hollywood, not jt as a star but behd the scen as well? How homosexual actors and actrs me to fe straight Ameri's sexual self-image is only one of the paradoxil and provotive qutns explored Open Secret, a revealg cultural chronicle of gay Hollywood.

OPEN SECRET : GAY HOLLYWOOD, 1928-1998

From the silent era to the age of the multiplex and beyond, homosexualy has been a fact of life the film dtry, and sr of important personali -- stars, wrers, directors, producers -- have enjoyed long and spectacular reers on both sis of the mera, spe mastream Ameri's profsed bias agast gays. Part social history and part Tseltown expose, this entertag book spans seventy years, patg knowg and vivid portras of many of Hollywood's foremost gays and lbians, often the words of eyewns or the prcipals themselv. Veteran entertament journalist David Ehrenste trac the gradual transformatn om an era when gays and lbians had no public profile "pole" society to the morn era when many top entertament figur are not merely fortable wh their sexualy but actually celebrate -- and are turn celebrated for .

A., a well known actor asked me if there were also as many gays the European movie bs as Hollywood?

It expos the willgns of the PR people and Stud Heads to hold back the tth about who is and who isn't gay.

Moreover, is a polemic that rais the qutn, "If is OK to be gay now, why don't more big stars e out of the closet? I picked up Hollywood secret expectg a trashy expose of who's gay who the Biz.