Our celebratn of post-war gay, bisexual, and straight movie stars wearg next to nothg at all.
Contents:
BIG GAY HORROR FAN
Gay actor fortable beefke rol. * george nader gay *
He stayed shape most of his life by liftg weights and swimmg, and Universal Studs kept tryg to bolster his mascule image by settg him up on dat wh the moral climate of the 1950s, gay stars like Rock Hudson, Tab Hunter and Anthony Perks were terrified of beg exposed, so they all had "beards", women who provid them wh an emblem of spur virily. The uple, who were close iends of Rock Hudson - and beneficiari of his tate - would often vis rtrants wh years later, 1978, Nar had no fears about publishg a homoerotic sci-fi novel lled Chrome. Obvly a metaphor about the place of gay men society, the story is well-wrten and holds together on s own wrg the book, Nar mt have found difficult to fet his first starrg role, Robot Monster (1953), which has, at least, gaed a mp reputatn as one of the worst films ever ma.
Which beefke star wrote a groundbreakg gay sci-fi novel? A tall, dark and handsome closeted gay man who worked Hollywood durg the 1950s, often ‘beefke’ rol, was perhaps evable that Nar – who was born 100 years ago on 19 October 1921 – would have been overshadowed by his close iend, Rock Hudson. In 1978 he wrote Chrome, a groundbreakg and well-received work of gay science fictn, which a human man falls love wh an android.
Rock Hudson and Gee NarWhy do so many gay and lbian travelers flock to Palm Sprgs?
Which beefke star wrote a groundbreakg gay sci-fi novel? Who starred both an unrrated Brish noir and a notorly bad monster movie? Who played the German equivalent of 007? That would be Nar. Gee Nar. * george nader gay *
There are valid qutns, and almost all n be answered by readg A Cy Com Out: How Celebri Ma Palm Sprgs a Gay and Lbian Paradise, David Wallace's timate and affable personable examatn of the sert town's gay archects, landspe signers and Hollywood producers who loved the same sex ntributed to Palm Sprgs's rise the early-to-mid Twentieth Century, was movie stars, then a new breed Amerin popular culture, who me to the sert to pe pryg ey provid the real thst for Palm Sprgs's boom. Sce the 1920s, Palm Sprgs has been a playground for Hollywood--both straight and gay--and pe to the sert was fairly easy, rarely more than a two-hour drive on the two-lane blacktops or a ri on the (much missed) tras of the day. Sce the film dtry has always had a relatively high percentage of homosexual talent by s very nature was evable that many of the new arrivals people were gay or lbian, and th by their very prence, they created both a uniquely hip image for the place and, spe ocsnal efforts of reactnary policians and monied terts, an environment of, a few words about the book.
All this appli even more tensely the evolutn of Palm Sprgs to a world-famo gay and lbian paradise, bee many of the people who shaped the place -- even if only by their prence -- were, bee of their Hollywood nnectns, among the bt-known celebri the world their film star William HaPalm Sprgs's early days unfold a time when "gay" was somethg pletely different, and not somethg an uniated Amerin public associated wh Hollywood, where agents and publicists very much forced stars like Rock Hudson to marriag of nvenience.
If there existed a glass closet, was fogged, Wallace explas how public sndals, startg wh the gay-flavored ntroversy that brought down famo actor William Ha (pictured wh Ana Page, a woman he fely didn't sire), created Hollywood s and rerced the closet:In much of Ameri, the part that people ocsnally dismiss today as "fly-over" untry--plac like Wicha, Omaha, and other ci, towns, and wi plac the road where the only entertament may have been a weekend screeng of the latt movie--most people had never heard the word "homosexual.
* george nader gay *
" And the term "gay" (rived om the French "gai" meang high-spired or merry) s homosexual meang didn't bee part of the vernacular until the late 1960s, although had been e as self-reference among homosexuals sce the 1920s. Those lns of ticket buyers Ameri and the rt of the world were the last people that the studs wanted to learn that the latt matee idol preferred men as sexual partners rather than women, and that the hottt leadg lady liked a major gay sndal explod. In 1933 William Ha, a name unfaiar to most people the days but at that time one of the most popular actors the untry, was ught havg sex wh a man and was immediately was jt the latt of a growg list of Hollywood sndals, cludg the 1923 ath of another leadg man, Wallace Reid, by a dg overdose, the arrt and trials of Rose "Fatty" Arbuckle for brgg about the ath of a popular Hollywood starlet (he was acquted after three trials but his reer was ed), and the 1922 murr of William Dmond Taylor, a famo director mored to be havg a clanste gay relatnship wh his chffr as well as a straight relatnship wh Mary Mil Mter, one of the most famo silent dtry reacted by stallg a self-censor and then, 1934, a productn .
Among the sualti of such censorship was the double was sleepg solo on the silver screen om then on for more than a generatn, and of urse any reference to homosexualy as well as the ridicule of relign was exprsly banned. Privacy, as was noted earlier, was provid by the ubiquo walls surroundg many of the muny's hom and rorts, yet the place was still close enough to the studs that a star uld show up for a movie or televisn productn ll a uple of for the publicly homophobic Liberace (who once sued a Brish newspaper for sayg he was gay while at the same time vortg wh bevi of young male beti behd the walls of a succsn of hom) and hundreds of closeted gay, lbian, and bisexual actors, actrs, and their iends, a trek to the sert was the ial solutn to havg your fame as well as enjoyg .