‘J. Edgar,’ the new movie about J. Edgar Hoover, argu that the FBI chief was gay, but was he also black?THE ROOT D.C. | There is yet another skeleton poundg on the closet to be let out.
Contents:
- J. EDGAR HOOVER: GAY OR JT A MAN WHO HAS SEX WH MEN?
- UNIQUELY NASTY: J. EDGAR HOOVER'S WAR ON GAYS
- LOVE AND ATH: THE LEGACY OF CONGRSNAL CEMETERY’S ‘GAY CORNER’
- J. EDGAR HOOVER: GAY MARRIAGE ROLE MOL?
- HE SLEPT WH CARY GRANT AND SPENCER TRACY—AND CHANGED HOLLYWOOD HISTORY‘PIMP TO THE STARS’STTY BOWERS RAN A BROTHEL OUT OF A GAS STATN AND SLEPT WH DOZENS OF HOLLYWOOD’S BIGGT STARS. INSI HIS ‘SECRET HISTORY OF HOLLYWOOD’ AND WHY WE SHOULD BELIEVE HIS STORI.KEV FALLONSENR EDOR, OBSSEDUPDATED OCT. 28, 2018 8:13AM EDT / PUBLISHED JUL. 25, 2018 5:10AM EDT ABOUT 45 MUT TO THE NEW DOCUMENTARY STTY AND THE SECRET HISTORY OF HOLLYWOOD, THE MOST UNBELIEVABLE MONOLOGUE YOU’LL EVER HEAR IS LIVERED. AND ’S ALL TE. ALLEGEDLY.“I FUCKED BETTE DAVIS WORLD WAR II WHEN SHE WAS MARRIED TO A GUY. I ED TO FIX HER UP WH TRICKS, AND WE ED TO HAVE THREE-WAY ALS. I WENT TO BED WH J. EDGAR HOOVER. HE WAS DRAG. HE WAS NOT A GREAT BETY EHER, YOU KNOW, BUT I WAS TREATG HIM JT LIKE HE WAS A GIRL.” STTY BOWERS, NOW 95 AND MORE THAN 60 YEARS PAST HIS PRIME AS THE SO-LLED “PIMP TO THE STARS,” GRS MISCHIEVOLY AS HE LOOSENS THE TAP, NTUG HIS LUGE OF SECRETS.“ONE DAY CARY GRANT WAS THE GAS STATN AND ROCK HUDSON JT HAPPENED TO BE THERE, SO CARY GRANT PICKED HIM UP. I FIXED HIM UP WH ROCK FOR 20 BUCKS, AND ROCK SAW HIM SEVERAL TIM. THIS IS BEFORE ROCK HAD ANY MOVIE. LRENCE OLIVIER AND VIVIEN LEIGH, I NEVER TRICKED THEM TOGETHER. I WOULD FIX THEM UP WH GUYS, AND THEN I WOULD SEE HER AT GARY COOPER’S HOE. SHE WOULD E AND QUIETLY OPEN THE GATE AND BE LIKE, ‘SHH.’ TEN MUT LATER I’M FUCKG HER AND SHE’S SCREAMG.” AFTER SPENDG TWO YEARS FOLLOWG BOWERS FOR THE CEMA VERé-STYLE DOCUMENTARY ABOUT THE GREGAR FORMER SEX WORKER, FILMMAKER MATT TYRNER LGHS, SUMMARIZG THE UNIQUE AND ACTUALLY PROFOUND APPEAL OF THE SUBJECT OF HIS MOVIE. “THIS IS SOMEONE WHO SEEMS TO HAVE JT NOT BEEN H WH THE SHAME STICK AND NOT BURNED WH FEELGS OF GUILT,” TYRNER SAYS, SPEAKG OVER FFEE AT MANHATTAN’S NOMAD HOTEL THE WEEK BEFORE THE FILM’S RELEASE. “HE DIDN’T HAVE THAT STILLED. HE SEEMED TO LIVE AN EXEMPLARY LIFE TERMS OF BEG EE OF SHAME AND GUILT. THAT ULD BE A LSON FOR ALL OF .”PERHAPS UNEXPECTEDLY, LSONS ABOUND STTY AND THE SECRET HISTORY OF HOLLYWOOD. TYRNER BEGAN FILMG BOWERS FOLLOWG THE RELEASE OF HIS MEMOIR, FULL SERVICE: MY ADVENTUR HOLLYWOOD AND THE SECRET SEX LIV OF THE STARS, A JUICY TELL-ALL REUNTG HIS TIME OPERATG A BROTHEL, OF SORTS, OUT OF A GAS STATN ON HOLLYWOOD BOULEVARD STARTG THE LATE 1940S AND FALLY RETIRG S LATER, DURG THE AIDS CRISIS. AS BOWERS TELLS , HE SLEPT WH SPENCER TRACY, VIVIEN LEIGH, CARY GRANT, AND THE DE OF WDSOR—THE ABDITED KG EDWARD VIII. THE LIST OF STARS HE ALLEGEDLY SET UP WH PROSTUT READS LIKE A STROLL DOWN THE HOLLYWOOD WALK OF FAME: TENNSEE WILLIAMS, CHARL LGHTON, VCENT PRICE, KATHARE HEPBURN, GLORIA SWANSON, NOëL COWARD, ROCK HUDSON, COLE PORTER, AND MORE.WHEN BOWERS RELEASED HIS BOOK, SENTIALLY OUTG GRANT, TRACY, AND HEPBURN, AMONG OTHERS, AS GAY OR BISEXUAL, CRICS RANGG OM SUAL REARS TO BARBARA WALTERS BLASTED HIM FOR SPREADG SALAC STORI ABOUT LONG-AD SUBJECTS WHO ULDN’T FEND THEMSELV OR QUTN THEIR VERACY. THAT WAS OUT OF RPECT, BOWERS CLAIMS. THEY WEREN’T HIS SECRETS TO TELL WHEN THEY WERE ALIVE, BUT NOW THAT THEY’RE GONE, HE THKS THEY N’T HURT THEM. BUT NOW THAT TYRNER IS GIVG BOWERS ANOTHER PLATFORM, SIAR CRICISMS ARE BEG AIRED AGA. IN A NEW YORK TIM PIECE ABOUT TYRNER AND THE FILM, NOTED FILM SCHOLAR JEANE BASGER—WHO HAPPENED TO BE THE CHAIR OF TYRNER’S FILM SCHOOL AND CLASHED WH HIM THERE—VERBALLY SFFS ABOUT THE DOCUMENTARY’S PURSU. “THIS IS A PERFECT EXAMPLE OF THE EXPRSN, ‘PEOPLE NEED TO GET A LIFE,’” SHE SAYS. “PERSONALLY, I’M MORE TERTED THE WORK OF THE PEOPLE THAN THEIR POSSIBLE OFF-SCREEN SHENANIGANS.” AS SEVERAL ENTERTAMENT JOURNALISTS, CLUDG BUZZFEED’S KATE AURTHUR AND VANY FAIR’S REBEC KEEGAN, WERE QUICK TO POT OUT ON TWTER, THAT OPN IS HORSH. TYRNER SPECTS BASGER DIDN’T SEE THE FILM, PECIALLY SCE SHE SEEMS TO IGNORE S ENTIRE POT. THE REASON BOWERS HAS STORI TO TELL IS BEE THE ACTORS WERE PTIV OF A HOLLYWOOD STUD SYSTEM THAT WEAPONIZED MORAL CLS, NTRACTUALLY PREVENTG THEM OM LIVG THEIR THENTIC LIV. “THEY WERE VICTIMS OF A CERTA KD OF PERSECUTN,” TYRNER SAYS. THEY WENT TO STTY BEE PAYG SEX WORKERS WAS THEIR ONLY OPTN, PECIALLY FOR PEOPLE LIKE CARY GRANT AND KATHARE HEPBURN, WHOSE SAME-SEX PAS WERE AT ODDS WH THE HETERONORMATIVE IMAG OF THEM MANUFACTURED BY STUDS. TO CLAIM TO BE TERTED THAT ERA OF HOLLYWOOD BUT NOT THE WAYS THAT THE ACTORS NAVIGATED THEIR SEXUALY IS SANE. IT’S NOT GOSSIP. IT’S BGRAPHY. IT’S ANTHROPOLOGY. IT’S OUR HISTORY. “FOR SOME REASON OUR CULTURE IS WILLG TO DISMISS THE FULL BGRAPHI OF ALL OF THE CHARACTERS AS BEG SHENANIGANS,” TYRNER SAYS. “TAKE CARAVAGG, FOR STANCE. IF YOU’RE AN ART SCHOLAR, DO YOU JT WANT TO KNOW WHAT CARAVAGG WAS UP TO THE PATG STUD? DON’T YOU WANT TO KNOW WHAT CARAVAGG WAS UP TO WHEN HE WASN’T HOLDG A PATBSH? IS THAT NOT RELEVANT TO WHO CARAVAGG WAS? SO WHY DO WE DISMISS TAILS ABOUT WHAT KATHARE HEPBURN AND SPENCER TRACY WERE UP TO OFF-SCREEN?”STTY AND THE SECRET HISTORY OF HOLLYWOOD ISN’T A TELL-ALL. TYRNER LLS AN ALTERNATIVE HISTORY OF ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT TIM OUR UNTRY’S HISTORY, THE STORY OF HOLLYWOOD AND THE IMAGE MACHE, WHICH CHANGED THE WAY WE ALL PERCEIVE OURSELV AND THE WORLD. LOOKG AT THE HOLLYWOOD SYSTEM AND THE IMAGE FACTORY THROUGH THE LENS OF A SEX WORKER TO THE STARS ULDN’T BE MORE RELEVANT. “IF STTY HAD BEEN OPERATG A BROTHEL OUT OF A GAS STATN D MO, IOWA, WOULD BE A FUN, TERTG, MAYBE RELEVANT STORY, BUT WOULDN’T HAVE THE OPERATIC LOTN AND NARRATIVE THAT THIS MOVIE HAS,” TYRNER SAYS.CRICIZG BOWERS’ STORI AS TRIVIAL PARED TO THE ACTORS’ ON-SCREEN WORK IGNOR THE FACT THAT THEIR PRIVATE LIV WERE OFTEN SCRIPTED BY STUDS AND THEY WERE FORCED TO PERFORM THOSE NARRATIV ORR TO NTUE THAT ON-SCREEN WORK. MORE, FOSTERS A LN THAT MORAL CLS DON’T STILL EXIST, IF NOT LERALLY NTRACTS, THEN HERENTLY AN DTRY THAT FORC KNOWN GAY ACTORS TO PERFORM HETEROSEXUALY ORR TO FURTHER THEIR REERS.THE SAME PEOPLE WHO DISMISS STORI ABOUT HOLLYWOOD AND SEX AS IRRELEVANT ARE THE ON WHO EPT OUTRAGE AT THE SUATN THAT THE ACTORS HAD SAME-SEX SEXUAL RELATNSHIPS AND THAT THE STORI ARE BEG TOLD WHEN THEY’RE NOT ALIVE TO SPEAK TO THEM. IT ILLTRAT THE RELUCTANCE TO ADM HOW EPLY AND SERLY WE ARE ALL AFFECTED AND FLUENCED BY HOLLYWOOD AND S PLAYERS. “THE BOOK WAS DISMISSED AS A TELL-ALL, HOWEVER WAS A BT-SELLER,” TYRNER SAYS. “SO THERE’S THE NTRADICTN.” NOW TO BRIEFLY DISMOUNT OM OUR HIGH HORSE, HERE’S ANOTHER REASON THE BOOK WAS A BT-SELLER. THE STORI ARE WILD. AND SO IS THIS MOVIE. BOWERS WAS JT OUT OF THE MAR WHEN HE MOVED TO HOLLYWOOD AND GOT A JOB WORKG AT THE RICHFIELD GAS STATN AT 5777 HOLLYWOOD BOULEVARD. ONE AFTERNOON, THE OSR-NOMATED ACTOR WALTER PIDGEON DROVE UP. “WHAT’S A NICE GUY LIKE YOU DOG WORKG AT A GAS STATN?” HE ASKED BOWERS, VG HIM TO E HOME WH HIM TO SWIM HIS POOL. THEY DID MUCH MORE THAN THAT, AND, SEEG AN OPPORTUNY, HE BEGAN “TRICKG,” AS HE LLS , EVENTUALLY HIRG OTHER FORMER MAR AS SEX WORKERS. “EVERYTHG WAS 20 BUCKS,” BOWERS SAYS. “I WOULD SAY TO MY IENDS, ‘I’M GONNA FIX YOU UP WH A TRICK AND ALL THE GUY’S GONNA DO IS TAKE AND SUCK YOUR CK. IT’S THE SAME AS IF YOUR GIRL WAS SUCKG YOUR CK. IF YOU WANT TO CLOSE YOUR EY AND THK ’S HER SUCKG YOUR CK, DO.’ ‘OK, I’LL DO ONCE. WELL, ONCE, TWICE…’”HE TRICKED WH CARY GRANT AND RANDOLPH STT, WHO WERE LOVERS, BOWERS SAYS, BUT TOLD PEOPLE THEY WERE JT LIVG AS ROOMMAT. BOWERS SAYS HE’S BEEN WH THEM BOTH DIVIDUALLY, TOGETHER AS A THREOME, AND WH A FOURTH FOR PAIRED GROUP SEX. HE SAYS HE HAD A THREE-WAY AT FRANK SATRA’S HOE WH AVA GARDNER AND LANA TURNER. HE WOULD ARRANGE MEN FOR THE FORMER KG EDWARD VIII TO SLEEP WH—“HE SUCKED ME OFF LIKE A PRO”—AND WOMEN FOR THE MISTRS HE ABDITED THE THRONE FOR, WALLIS SIMPSON, TO SLEEP WH. HE TIMAT THAT HE FIXED KATHARE HEPBURN UP WH MORE THAN 150 WOMEN OVER THE URSE OF 39 YEARS. COLE PORTER ONCE REQUTED THAT BOWERS SET HIM UP WH 15 MEN AT ONCE. “I WANT TO SUCK 15 GUYS OFF, ONE AFTER ANOTHER,” HE SAID.“WHY SHOULDN’T COLE PORTER HAVE A VORAC SEXUAL APPETE?” TYRNER SAYS, WHEN I ASK IF HE THKS PEOPLE WOULD HAVE AN EASIER TIME BELIEVG BOWERS’ STORI IF THEY WEREN’T SO OUTRAGEO. “I DON’T KNOW IF HE DID OR NOT, BUT WHY WOULD I FD THAT UNBELIEVABLE?” HE LGHS. “THERE’S A WONRFUL COLE PORTER SONG, ‘TOO DARN HOT’ WHERE ONE OF THE LYRICS IS ‘A MARE FOR HIS QUEEN’ AND ‘A G.I. FOR HIS CUTIE PIE.’ I’M THKG MAYBE STTY IS HIS MARE.”THROUGH ALL OF THIS, BOWERS WAS NEVER TREATED LIKE A MADAME. TO PEOPLE LIKE GEE COR, THE LEGENDARY DIRECTOR OF THE PHILALPHIA STORY AND MY FAIR LADY, HE WAS NSIRED A IEND. THAT END UP BEG HIS KEY TO EARNG THE TST OF THE BIGGT NAM SHOW BS, WH THE MOST TO LOSE IF THE SECRETS WERE EVER OUTED.“ARE THE STORI SUBSTANTIABLE? MY ANSWER IS Y, VERY MUCH SO,” TYRNER SAYS. SHOULD NOW TAKE AS FACT THAT THE LIK OF CARY GRANT, SPENCER TRACY, AND KATHARE HEPBURN HAD SAME-SEX SEXUAL RELATNSHIPS? HE DON’T FLCH: “Y.”CONSIRG THAT TYRNER PURPORTS TO BE RRECTG HISTORY WH THIS FILM AND THE FACTS OF THAT RRECTN ARE LARGELY OM THE MOUTH OF ONE PERSON, BOWERS’ RELIABILY AS A NARRATOR WAS OBVLY IMPORTANT TO HIM. GORE VIDAL END UP BEG AN IMPORTANT SOURCE FOR TYRNER, WHO UNTS THE FAMED WRER AS A PERSONAL IEND. VIDAL WAS A CLIENT AND THEN IEND OF BOWERS, BUT HIS “VERY ACTIVE RNAL LIFE,” AS TYRNER LLS , WASN’T CLUD BOWERS’S BOOK. THE REASON: VIDAL WAS STILL ALIVE. (ONE OF VIDAL’S LAST PUBLIC OUTGS WAS TO THE BOOK’S RELEASE PARTY.) INPENNTLY, VIDAL AND BOWERS NFID TYRNER STORI ABOUT EACH OTHER AND ABOUT THAT TIME AT THE GAS STATN, AND THE STORI ALL CHECKED OUT. SEVERAL OF THE SEX WORKERS BOWERS EMPLOYED ARE ALSO STILL ALIVE, AND TYRNER TERVIEWED THEM FOR THE DOCUMENTARY. THEY ALL VERIFIED BOWERS’S ACUNTS, SOME ON MERA. ONE EVEN STILL HAD AN X RD BOWERS HAD MA WH THE NTACT RMATN OF A DOZEN MEN WHO WERE TERTED SEXUAL SERVIC. “A SMOKG GUN,” TYRNER LLS . ONE OF THE MEN ON THE RD WAS STILL ALIVE, AND NFIRMED BOWERS’ STORI TO TYRNER, TOO. ALL OF THIS WAS ADDN TO THE WORK A TEAM OF REARCHERS DID TO FACT-CHECK MANY OF BOWERS’ ANECDOT.STTY BOWERS DIDN’T KISS AND TELL WHEN THE PEOPLE WERE ALIVE. BUT HE KISSED, SUCKED, FUCKED, AND IS TELLG NOW THAT THE PEOPLE ARE AD. THE STCT TO DISBELIEVE HIM IS UNFORTUNATE, GIVEN HOW THE SEX LIV GIVE A MUCH GREATER SIGHT TO THE REALY OF AN DTRY THAT SHAPED OUR CULTURE. AT A TIME WHEN THERE STILL IS NOT AN OUT GAY OR LBIAN MOVIE STAR STARRG AS THE LEAD BLOCKBTERS, AND PEOPLE STILL BATE WHETHER AN OUT GAY OR LBIAN ACTOR ULD BE BELIEVABLE AS A ROMANTIC LEAD, THE FACT THAT SPENCER TRACY AND KATHARE HEPBURN, TWO INIC ROMANTIC LEADS, HAD SAME-SEX RELATNSHIPS IS ILLUMATG. IT’S PNT TO SEE STTY AND THE SECRET HISTORY OF HOLLYWOOD TO REGNIZE THAT. THE FACT THAT ’S SO DISHY AND SEX-FILLED—TYRNER CLUS VTAGE NU PHOTOS AND SEX FILMS THAT BOWERS STARS —IS ICG ON THE KE.“FOR STTY BOWERS, SEX IS A FACT OF LIFE. IT’S NOT AVOID. SO TO MAKE A MOVIE THAT AVOID SEX AND EXPLIC NUDY JT WOULDN’T HAVE MA SENSE,” HE SAYS. “PL, WHO DON’T WANT SEX ON SCREEN? WE ALL WANT A LTLE SEX. IT KEEPS YOU TERTED. STTY WAS REALLY HOT AS A YOUNG MAN. HE WAS JT UNNIABLY HOT. WHY NOT SHOW SOME SK?” KEV FALLON
J. EDGAR HOOVER: GAY OR JT A MAN WHO HAS SEX WH MEN?
* j edgar hoover gay photo *
Filmgoers never see the s-long romance between the former FBI director, and his number two, Cly Tolson, nsummated, but there's plenty of lovg glanc, hand-holdg and one scene wh an aggrsive, long, ep was the most powerful man Ameri, who died 1972 -- three years after the Stonewall rts marked the morn gay civil rights movement -- homosexual? "In public, Hoover waged a ventta agast homosexuals and kept "nfintial and secret" fil on the sex liv of ngrsmen and prints.
Jack Drcher, a New York Cy psychiatrist who is an expert genr and wh strong attractns to other men n have different gre of acceptance om beg fully closeted to beg openly gay. "Even the Centers for Disease Control and Preventn (CDC) tracks a group that is not labeled "gay" but "men who have sex wh men.
UNIQUELY NASTY: J. EDGAR HOOVER'S WAR ON GAYS
Joseph McCarthy his anti-munist mpaign of the 1950s and who succsfully nvicted Juli and Ethel Rosenberg of pnage, nied he was gay, spe an attractn to, who died of AIDS 1986, was a ntemporary of Hoover and acrdg to one bgraphy, the two attend sex parti together New York the was characterized a scene om Tony Kchner's play, "Angels Ameri, " speakg to his doctor: ".. "In a 2004 bgraphy by Richard Hack, "Puppetmaster, " which was culled om the not of Tman Capote, who had begun terviews on Hoover and Tolson's relatnship, the thor says Hoover was not gay, but suggts the man was virly turned on by the smut he llected on 200-page secret document was on the extracurricular activi of Capote himself, who was openly Anthony Summers, who exposed the secret sex life of Hoover his 1993 book, "Official and Confintial: The Secret Life of J.
LOVE AND ATH: THE LEGACY OF CONGRSNAL CEMETERY’S ‘GAY CORNER’
And Bra are issug a remake of the medil expert told Summers that Hoover was "strongly predomant homosexual orientatn" and another tegorized him as a "bisexual wh failed heterosexualy. "Hoover promoted men cled to homosexual discretns, cludg Tolson, who had barely 18 months experience wh the FBI when he beme Hoover's pair ed to make "scy jok" about some of the other agents, like Melv Purvis, who was a hero for arrtg John Dillger, acrdg to 's son shared his father's 500-letter rrponnce wh Hoover, who teased the good-lookg, blond-haired agent as "the Clark Gable of the FBI, " even though he was were timate and one was highly charged wh nuendo, as Hoover referred to himself as the "Chairman of the Moral Uplift Squad. In 1978 when the actrs was asked to ment on Ana Bryant's anti-gay mpaign, Merman told the reporter, "Some of my bt iends are homosexual.
"Harry Hay, founr of the Mattache Society, one of the first gay rights anizatns, nfirmed that Hoover and Tolson sat box owned by and ed exclively by gay men at their racg hnt Del Mar California. I might stir a kettle of worms by makg that statement, but everybody then unrstood that he was a homosexual, not jt the doctors. "He was totally self-servg and the way which he was a reprsed homosexual didn't require him to abe dividual rights and human liberti the way he did, " said Summers.
J. EDGAR HOOVER: GAY MARRIAGE ROLE MOL?
"A younger generatn of gays was moved by the film precisely bee portrayed such an inic figure's stggle wh his sexualy. "The dience I was clearly rooted for Hoover to be gay and to have happs his sex and love life, " said Ben Ryan, a 33-year-old novelist om New York Cy.
"The more spic among might thk that the filmmakers were still aaid of Hoover's ghost sug them for libel if they jt put right out there that he was gay. Edgar Hoover protected anized crime for years bee top mobsters had evince of his homosexual activi, cludg his drsg flouncy miskirted drag and takg part hotel i, acrdg to excerpts om a new book about the late FBI director.
The book claims unrworld boss Frank Costello and Meyer Lansky obtaed hard proof of Hoover's homosexualy the form of photographs of the FBI director havg sex wh his longtime ai, Cly Tolson.
HE SLEPT WH CARY GRANT AND SPENCER TRACY—AND CHANGED HOLLYWOOD HISTORY‘PIMP TO THE STARS’STTY BOWERS RAN A BROTHEL OUT OF A GAS STATN AND SLEPT WH DOZENS OF HOLLYWOOD’S BIGGT STARS. INSI HIS ‘SECRET HISTORY OF HOLLYWOOD’ AND WHY WE SHOULD BELIEVE HIS STORI.KEV FALLONSENR EDOR, OBSSEDUPDATED OCT. 28, 2018 8:13AM EDT / PUBLISHED JUL. 25, 2018 5:10AM EDT ABOUT 45 MUT TO THE NEW DOCUMENTARY STTY AND THE SECRET HISTORY OF HOLLYWOOD, THE MOST UNBELIEVABLE MONOLOGUE YOU’LL EVER HEAR IS LIVERED. AND ’S ALL TE. ALLEGEDLY.“I FUCKED BETTE DAVIS WORLD WAR II WHEN SHE WAS MARRIED TO A GUY. I ED TO FIX HER UP WH TRICKS, AND WE ED TO HAVE THREE-WAY ALS. I WENT TO BED WH J. EDGAR HOOVER. HE WAS DRAG. HE WAS NOT A GREAT BETY EHER, YOU KNOW, BUT I WAS TREATG HIM JT LIKE HE WAS A GIRL.” STTY BOWERS, NOW 95 AND MORE THAN 60 YEARS PAST HIS PRIME AS THE SO-LLED “PIMP TO THE STARS,” GRS MISCHIEVOLY AS HE LOOSENS THE TAP, NTUG HIS LUGE OF SECRETS.“ONE DAY CARY GRANT WAS THE GAS STATN AND ROCK HUDSON JT HAPPENED TO BE THERE, SO CARY GRANT PICKED HIM UP. I FIXED HIM UP WH ROCK FOR 20 BUCKS, AND ROCK SAW HIM SEVERAL TIM. THIS IS BEFORE ROCK HAD ANY MOVIE. LRENCE OLIVIER AND VIVIEN LEIGH, I NEVER TRICKED THEM TOGETHER. I WOULD FIX THEM UP WH GUYS, AND THEN I WOULD SEE HER AT GARY COOPER’S HOE. SHE WOULD E AND QUIETLY OPEN THE GATE AND BE LIKE, ‘SHH.’ TEN MUT LATER I’M FUCKG HER AND SHE’S SCREAMG.” AFTER SPENDG TWO YEARS FOLLOWG BOWERS FOR THE CEMA VERé-STYLE DOCUMENTARY ABOUT THE GREGAR FORMER SEX WORKER, FILMMAKER MATT TYRNER LGHS, SUMMARIZG THE UNIQUE AND ACTUALLY PROFOUND APPEAL OF THE SUBJECT OF HIS MOVIE. “THIS IS SOMEONE WHO SEEMS TO HAVE JT NOT BEEN H WH THE SHAME STICK AND NOT BURNED WH FEELGS OF GUILT,” TYRNER SAYS, SPEAKG OVER FFEE AT MANHATTAN’S NOMAD HOTEL THE WEEK BEFORE THE FILM’S RELEASE. “HE DIDN’T HAVE THAT STILLED. HE SEEMED TO LIVE AN EXEMPLARY LIFE TERMS OF BEG EE OF SHAME AND GUILT. THAT ULD BE A LSON FOR ALL OF .”PERHAPS UNEXPECTEDLY, LSONS ABOUND STTY AND THE SECRET HISTORY OF HOLLYWOOD. TYRNER BEGAN FILMG BOWERS FOLLOWG THE RELEASE OF HIS MEMOIR, FULL SERVICE: MY ADVENTUR HOLLYWOOD AND THE SECRET SEX LIV OF THE STARS, A JUICY TELL-ALL REUNTG HIS TIME OPERATG A BROTHEL, OF SORTS, OUT OF A GAS STATN ON HOLLYWOOD BOULEVARD STARTG THE LATE 1940S AND FALLY RETIRG S LATER, DURG THE AIDS CRISIS. AS BOWERS TELLS , HE SLEPT WH SPENCER TRACY, VIVIEN LEIGH, CARY GRANT, AND THE DE OF WDSOR—THE ABDITED KG EDWARD VIII. THE LIST OF STARS HE ALLEGEDLY SET UP WH PROSTUT READS LIKE A STROLL DOWN THE HOLLYWOOD WALK OF FAME: TENNSEE WILLIAMS, CHARL LGHTON, VCENT PRICE, KATHARE HEPBURN, GLORIA SWANSON, NOëL COWARD, ROCK HUDSON, COLE PORTER, AND MORE.WHEN BOWERS RELEASED HIS BOOK, SENTIALLY OUTG GRANT, TRACY, AND HEPBURN, AMONG OTHERS, AS GAY OR BISEXUAL, CRICS RANGG OM SUAL REARS TO BARBARA WALTERS BLASTED HIM FOR SPREADG SALAC STORI ABOUT LONG-AD SUBJECTS WHO ULDN’T FEND THEMSELV OR QUTN THEIR VERACY. THAT WAS OUT OF RPECT, BOWERS CLAIMS. THEY WEREN’T HIS SECRETS TO TELL WHEN THEY WERE ALIVE, BUT NOW THAT THEY’RE GONE, HE THKS THEY N’T HURT THEM. BUT NOW THAT TYRNER IS GIVG BOWERS ANOTHER PLATFORM, SIAR CRICISMS ARE BEG AIRED AGA. IN A NEW YORK TIM PIECE ABOUT TYRNER AND THE FILM, NOTED FILM SCHOLAR JEANE BASGER—WHO HAPPENED TO BE THE CHAIR OF TYRNER’S FILM SCHOOL AND CLASHED WH HIM THERE—VERBALLY SFFS ABOUT THE DOCUMENTARY’S PURSU. “THIS IS A PERFECT EXAMPLE OF THE EXPRSN, ‘PEOPLE NEED TO GET A LIFE,’” SHE SAYS. “PERSONALLY, I’M MORE TERTED THE WORK OF THE PEOPLE THAN THEIR POSSIBLE OFF-SCREEN SHENANIGANS.” AS SEVERAL ENTERTAMENT JOURNALISTS, CLUDG BUZZFEED’S KATE AURTHUR AND VANY FAIR’S REBEC KEEGAN, WERE QUICK TO POT OUT ON TWTER, THAT OPN IS HORSH. TYRNER SPECTS BASGER DIDN’T SEE THE FILM, PECIALLY SCE SHE SEEMS TO IGNORE S ENTIRE POT. THE REASON BOWERS HAS STORI TO TELL IS BEE THE ACTORS WERE PTIV OF A HOLLYWOOD STUD SYSTEM THAT WEAPONIZED MORAL CLS, NTRACTUALLY PREVENTG THEM OM LIVG THEIR THENTIC LIV. “THEY WERE VICTIMS OF A CERTA KD OF PERSECUTN,” TYRNER SAYS. THEY WENT TO STTY BEE PAYG SEX WORKERS WAS THEIR ONLY OPTN, PECIALLY FOR PEOPLE LIKE CARY GRANT AND KATHARE HEPBURN, WHOSE SAME-SEX PAS WERE AT ODDS WH THE HETERONORMATIVE IMAG OF THEM MANUFACTURED BY STUDS. TO CLAIM TO BE TERTED THAT ERA OF HOLLYWOOD BUT NOT THE WAYS THAT THE ACTORS NAVIGATED THEIR SEXUALY IS SANE. IT’S NOT GOSSIP. IT’S BGRAPHY. IT’S ANTHROPOLOGY. IT’S OUR HISTORY. “FOR SOME REASON OUR CULTURE IS WILLG TO DISMISS THE FULL BGRAPHI OF ALL OF THE CHARACTERS AS BEG SHENANIGANS,” TYRNER SAYS. “TAKE CARAVAGG, FOR STANCE. IF YOU’RE AN ART SCHOLAR, DO YOU JT WANT TO KNOW WHAT CARAVAGG WAS UP TO THE PATG STUD? DON’T YOU WANT TO KNOW WHAT CARAVAGG WAS UP TO WHEN HE WASN’T HOLDG A PATBSH? IS THAT NOT RELEVANT TO WHO CARAVAGG WAS? SO WHY DO WE DISMISS TAILS ABOUT WHAT KATHARE HEPBURN AND SPENCER TRACY WERE UP TO OFF-SCREEN?”STTY AND THE SECRET HISTORY OF HOLLYWOOD ISN’T A TELL-ALL. TYRNER LLS AN ALTERNATIVE HISTORY OF ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT TIM OUR UNTRY’S HISTORY, THE STORY OF HOLLYWOOD AND THE IMAGE MACHE, WHICH CHANGED THE WAY WE ALL PERCEIVE OURSELV AND THE WORLD. LOOKG AT THE HOLLYWOOD SYSTEM AND THE IMAGE FACTORY THROUGH THE LENS OF A SEX WORKER TO THE STARS ULDN’T BE MORE RELEVANT. “IF STTY HAD BEEN OPERATG A BROTHEL OUT OF A GAS STATN D MO, IOWA, WOULD BE A FUN, TERTG, MAYBE RELEVANT STORY, BUT WOULDN’T HAVE THE OPERATIC LOTN AND NARRATIVE THAT THIS MOVIE HAS,” TYRNER SAYS.CRICIZG BOWERS’ STORI AS TRIVIAL PARED TO THE ACTORS’ ON-SCREEN WORK IGNOR THE FACT THAT THEIR PRIVATE LIV WERE OFTEN SCRIPTED BY STUDS AND THEY WERE FORCED TO PERFORM THOSE NARRATIV ORR TO NTUE THAT ON-SCREEN WORK. MORE, FOSTERS A LN THAT MORAL CLS DON’T STILL EXIST, IF NOT LERALLY NTRACTS, THEN HERENTLY AN DTRY THAT FORC KNOWN GAY ACTORS TO PERFORM HETEROSEXUALY ORR TO FURTHER THEIR REERS.THE SAME PEOPLE WHO DISMISS STORI ABOUT HOLLYWOOD AND SEX AS IRRELEVANT ARE THE ON WHO EPT OUTRAGE AT THE SUATN THAT THE ACTORS HAD SAME-SEX SEXUAL RELATNSHIPS AND THAT THE STORI ARE BEG TOLD WHEN THEY’RE NOT ALIVE TO SPEAK TO THEM. IT ILLTRAT THE RELUCTANCE TO ADM HOW EPLY AND SERLY WE ARE ALL AFFECTED AND FLUENCED BY HOLLYWOOD AND S PLAYERS. “THE BOOK WAS DISMISSED AS A TELL-ALL, HOWEVER WAS A BT-SELLER,” TYRNER SAYS. “SO THERE’S THE NTRADICTN.” NOW TO BRIEFLY DISMOUNT OM OUR HIGH HORSE, HERE’S ANOTHER REASON THE BOOK WAS A BT-SELLER. THE STORI ARE WILD. AND SO IS THIS MOVIE. BOWERS WAS JT OUT OF THE MAR WHEN HE MOVED TO HOLLYWOOD AND GOT A JOB WORKG AT THE RICHFIELD GAS STATN AT 5777 HOLLYWOOD BOULEVARD. ONE AFTERNOON, THE OSR-NOMATED ACTOR WALTER PIDGEON DROVE UP. “WHAT’S A NICE GUY LIKE YOU DOG WORKG AT A GAS STATN?” HE ASKED BOWERS, VG HIM TO E HOME WH HIM TO SWIM HIS POOL. THEY DID MUCH MORE THAN THAT, AND, SEEG AN OPPORTUNY, HE BEGAN “TRICKG,” AS HE LLS , EVENTUALLY HIRG OTHER FORMER MAR AS SEX WORKERS. “EVERYTHG WAS 20 BUCKS,” BOWERS SAYS. “I WOULD SAY TO MY IENDS, ‘I’M GONNA FIX YOU UP WH A TRICK AND ALL THE GUY’S GONNA DO IS TAKE AND SUCK YOUR CK. IT’S THE SAME AS IF YOUR GIRL WAS SUCKG YOUR CK. IF YOU WANT TO CLOSE YOUR EY AND THK ’S HER SUCKG YOUR CK, DO.’ ‘OK, I’LL DO ONCE. WELL, ONCE, TWICE…’”HE TRICKED WH CARY GRANT AND RANDOLPH STT, WHO WERE LOVERS, BOWERS SAYS, BUT TOLD PEOPLE THEY WERE JT LIVG AS ROOMMAT. BOWERS SAYS HE’S BEEN WH THEM BOTH DIVIDUALLY, TOGETHER AS A THREOME, AND WH A FOURTH FOR PAIRED GROUP SEX. HE SAYS HE HAD A THREE-WAY AT FRANK SATRA’S HOE WH AVA GARDNER AND LANA TURNER. HE WOULD ARRANGE MEN FOR THE FORMER KG EDWARD VIII TO SLEEP WH—“HE SUCKED ME OFF LIKE A PRO”—AND WOMEN FOR THE MISTRS HE ABDITED THE THRONE FOR, WALLIS SIMPSON, TO SLEEP WH. HE TIMAT THAT HE FIXED KATHARE HEPBURN UP WH MORE THAN 150 WOMEN OVER THE URSE OF 39 YEARS. COLE PORTER ONCE REQUTED THAT BOWERS SET HIM UP WH 15 MEN AT ONCE. “I WANT TO SUCK 15 GUYS OFF, ONE AFTER ANOTHER,” HE SAID.“WHY SHOULDN’T COLE PORTER HAVE A VORAC SEXUAL APPETE?” TYRNER SAYS, WHEN I ASK IF HE THKS PEOPLE WOULD HAVE AN EASIER TIME BELIEVG BOWERS’ STORI IF THEY WEREN’T SO OUTRAGEO. “I DON’T KNOW IF HE DID OR NOT, BUT WHY WOULD I FD THAT UNBELIEVABLE?” HE LGHS. “THERE’S A WONRFUL COLE PORTER SONG, ‘TOO DARN HOT’ WHERE ONE OF THE LYRICS IS ‘A MARE FOR HIS QUEEN’ AND ‘A G.I. FOR HIS CUTIE PIE.’ I’M THKG MAYBE STTY IS HIS MARE.”THROUGH ALL OF THIS, BOWERS WAS NEVER TREATED LIKE A MADAME. TO PEOPLE LIKE GEE COR, THE LEGENDARY DIRECTOR OF THE PHILALPHIA STORY AND MY FAIR LADY, HE WAS NSIRED A IEND. THAT END UP BEG HIS KEY TO EARNG THE TST OF THE BIGGT NAM SHOW BS, WH THE MOST TO LOSE IF THE SECRETS WERE EVER OUTED.“ARE THE STORI SUBSTANTIABLE? MY ANSWER IS Y, VERY MUCH SO,” TYRNER SAYS. SHOULD NOW TAKE AS FACT THAT THE LIK OF CARY GRANT, SPENCER TRACY, AND KATHARE HEPBURN HAD SAME-SEX SEXUAL RELATNSHIPS? HE DON’T FLCH: “Y.”CONSIRG THAT TYRNER PURPORTS TO BE RRECTG HISTORY WH THIS FILM AND THE FACTS OF THAT RRECTN ARE LARGELY OM THE MOUTH OF ONE PERSON, BOWERS’ RELIABILY AS A NARRATOR WAS OBVLY IMPORTANT TO HIM. GORE VIDAL END UP BEG AN IMPORTANT SOURCE FOR TYRNER, WHO UNTS THE FAMED WRER AS A PERSONAL IEND. VIDAL WAS A CLIENT AND THEN IEND OF BOWERS, BUT HIS “VERY ACTIVE RNAL LIFE,” AS TYRNER LLS , WASN’T CLUD BOWERS’S BOOK. THE REASON: VIDAL WAS STILL ALIVE. (ONE OF VIDAL’S LAST PUBLIC OUTGS WAS TO THE BOOK’S RELEASE PARTY.) INPENNTLY, VIDAL AND BOWERS NFID TYRNER STORI ABOUT EACH OTHER AND ABOUT THAT TIME AT THE GAS STATN, AND THE STORI ALL CHECKED OUT. SEVERAL OF THE SEX WORKERS BOWERS EMPLOYED ARE ALSO STILL ALIVE, AND TYRNER TERVIEWED THEM FOR THE DOCUMENTARY. THEY ALL VERIFIED BOWERS’S ACUNTS, SOME ON MERA. ONE EVEN STILL HAD AN X RD BOWERS HAD MA WH THE NTACT RMATN OF A DOZEN MEN WHO WERE TERTED SEXUAL SERVIC. “A SMOKG GUN,” TYRNER LLS . ONE OF THE MEN ON THE RD WAS STILL ALIVE, AND NFIRMED BOWERS’ STORI TO TYRNER, TOO. ALL OF THIS WAS ADDN TO THE WORK A TEAM OF REARCHERS DID TO FACT-CHECK MANY OF BOWERS’ ANECDOT.STTY BOWERS DIDN’T KISS AND TELL WHEN THE PEOPLE WERE ALIVE. BUT HE KISSED, SUCKED, FUCKED, AND IS TELLG NOW THAT THE PEOPLE ARE AD. THE STCT TO DISBELIEVE HIM IS UNFORTUNATE, GIVEN HOW THE SEX LIV GIVE A MUCH GREATER SIGHT TO THE REALY OF AN DTRY THAT SHAPED OUR CULTURE. AT A TIME WHEN THERE STILL IS NOT AN OUT GAY OR LBIAN MOVIE STAR STARRG AS THE LEAD BLOCKBTERS, AND PEOPLE STILL BATE WHETHER AN OUT GAY OR LBIAN ACTOR ULD BE BELIEVABLE AS A ROMANTIC LEAD, THE FACT THAT SPENCER TRACY AND KATHARE HEPBURN, TWO INIC ROMANTIC LEADS, HAD SAME-SEX RELATNSHIPS IS ILLUMATG. IT’S PNT TO SEE STTY AND THE SECRET HISTORY OF HOLLYWOOD TO REGNIZE THAT. THE FACT THAT ’S SO DISHY AND SEX-FILLED—TYRNER CLUS VTAGE NU PHOTOS AND SEX FILMS THAT BOWERS STARS —IS ICG ON THE KE.“FOR STTY BOWERS, SEX IS A FACT OF LIFE. IT’S NOT AVOID. SO TO MAKE A MOVIE THAT AVOID SEX AND EXPLIC NUDY JT WOULDN’T HAVE MA SENSE,” HE SAYS. “PL, WHO DON’T WANT SEX ON SCREEN? WE ALL WANT A LTLE SEX. IT KEEPS YOU TERTED. STTY WAS REALLY HOT AS A YOUNG MAN. HE WAS JT UNNIABLY HOT. WHY NOT SHOW SOME SK?” KEV FALLON
Hoover spread “gay stori” about Adlai Stevenson, among others, and had pre-Stonewall homophile anizatns like the Mattache Society vtigated. We don’t and probably n’t know what Hoover’s sexualy was—”failed heterosexual, ” “unsexed homosexual, ” “life-long bachelor, ” Cly Tolson’s “spoe, ” and/or “married to the FBI” are some of the phras Potter or quot—but we n certaly look at the history of the gossip about him.