Matt Tyrner ptured the notor gay matchmaker’s unique view of the stars.
Contents:
- LIZ SMH OUTS BARRY DILLER AS GAY AND LEE RADZIWILL AS A HOMOPHOBE
- ON THIS GAY DAY: LIZ SMH, AMERI’S ‘GRAND DAME OF THE DISH’ WAS BORN
- LIZ SMH’S FAL TRIUMPHTHE GOSSIP LUMNIST MAY HAVE OUTLIVED HER HEYDAY, BUT AS A WRER WH FE CURSY, SHE NEVER STOPPED KEENLY OBSERVG THE WORLD AROUND HER.BY BEN WIDDIBENOVEMBER 13, 2017LIZ SMH ATTENDS AN EVENT HONORG HER WORK WH LERACY VOLUNTEERS 1983.BY NANCY KAYE/AP PHOTO.SAVE THIS STORYSAVESAVE THIS STORYSAVELIZ SMH, WHO DIED SUNDAY AT 94, KEPT FAR MORE SECRETS THAN SHE EVER TOLD.ALTHOUGH HER REER GOSSIP WRG LASTED ALMOST 60 YEARS, SHE ALWAYS SEEMED TO BE PLAYG BY THE L OF THE MID-CENTURY STUD SYSTEM, WHICH DOMATED HOLLYWOOD WHEN SHE GOT HER START WH HEARST NEWSPAPERS THE 1950S. HER STYLE WAS MOLED ON THE SOFT POWER WIELD BY WT COAST WOMEN TRAILBLAZERS, LIKE HEDDA HOPPER AND LOUELLA PARSONS, RATHER THAN THE BOMBAST OF THEIR BROTHER OUT EAST, WALTER WCHELL.WH SMH, THE REAL GOSSIP OFTEN SEEMED TO BE EXPRSED NOT BY HER WORDS, BUT THE SPAC BETWEEN. SHE IMPLIED, RATHER THAN STATED WHAT SHE KNEW—WHICH ULD BE FURIATG FOR SOME REARS, EVEN AS THE GENTLE, TEXAN NCE OF HER NVERSATNAL WRG WON THE TST OF LNS MORE. THAT WAS SMH’S STYLE: SHE WAS AN SIR, NOT A TATTLE. HER POWER WAS BASED ON ACCS TO FAMO NAM, WHICH SHE PRERVED THROUGH ZY LUNCH THAT RULTED FLATTERG VERAGE.IT PROVED TO BE A LUCRATIVE STRATEGY. SMH’S SALARY WAS LEGENDARY AMONG NEW YORK GOSSIP LUMNISTS—OF WHOM I WAS ONE, THROUGHOUT THE ‘00S. HER ANNUAL NTRACT WH NEWSDAY WAS MORED TO BE THE $900,000S—MORE THAN THREE TIM WHAT DTRY SCUTTLEBUTT TIMATED HER NEART RIVAL WAS PAID. BUT THAT WAS UNSTAABLE—AND NOT JT BEE OF NEWSPAPERS’ GENERAL DOWNWARD TRAJECTORY. MANY THOUGHT SMH WAS A WRER FOR THE NEW YORK POST, WHICH FACT ONLY SYNDITED HER LUMN OM S LSER-KNOWN LONG ISLAND NEIGHBOR—AN EXPENSIVE MISIMPRSN THAT WAS NOT LOST ON NEWSDAY EXECUTIV. SMH WAS BLDSID WHEN THEY DIDN’T RENEW HER NTRACT 2005, ALTHOUGH THE POST RRIED HER LUMN FOR ANOTHER FOUR YEARS.BEYOND HER SPECTACULAR SALARY, THE OTHER THG THAT DIFFERENTIATED SMH WAS THAT SHE HAD A SECRET. SHE WAS GAY. THIS WAS WHY SHE HUNG ON SO TENACLY TO THE OLD HOLLYWOOD BARGA, I THK, OF MEDIATED ACCS AND MIGATED TTHS. IT WAS UNRSTOOD BY ALL SIS THAT SHE HAD SOMETHG TO LOSE.NO GOSSIP LUMNIST N BE WHOUT ENEMI, AND SOME OF THEM TRIED TO E HER SEXUALY AGAST HER. UNFORTUNATELY, THAT TACTIC WASN’T ONLY ED BY HOMOPHOBIC BIGOTS. TO SETTLE A SRE, THE LEGENDARY, OLD-SCHOOL PRS AGENT BOBBY ZAREM ONCE SENT OUT FAKE WEDDG ANNOUNCEMENTS FOR SMH AND HER THEN-PANN, IRIS LOVE.THEN THERE WAS THIS PRS RELEASE OM NEW YORK’S CATHOLIC LEAGUE, WHICH I REMEMBER RECEIVG—VIA FAX— THE SUMMER OF 2004. IT READ, FULL: “IN HER SYNDITED LUMN OF JUNE 30, GOSSIP LUMNIST LIZ SMH SAID THAT THE AFFAIR BETWEEN BILL CLTON AND MONI LEWSKY REMD HER OF THE AFFAIR BETWEEN JOHN F. KENNEDY AND JUDH EXNER. NOTG THAT SMH INTIFIED J.F.K.’S LOVER AS ‘THE CATHOLIC JUDH EXNER,’ CATHOLIC LEAGUE PRINT WILLIAM DONOHUE OPED AS FOLLOWS: ‘WE’RE DISAPPOTED THAT THE LBIAN LIZ SMH DIDN’T INTIFY THE JEW MONI LEWSKY THE WAY SHE DID THE CATHOLIC JUDH EXNER.’” ALL THE YEARS LATER, THAT LAST SENTENCE HAS STAYED WH ME FOR S LM NASTS.MOST POPULARSOUND OF FREEDOM: THE WILD TE STORY BEHD 2023’S MOST CONTROVERSIAL FILMBY EVE BATEYTHE CAST OF OPPENHEIMER AND THE REAL PEOPLE THEY PLAYBY HILLARY BISRUTH HANDLER: SEX TOYS, FANCIAL CRIM AND THE ORIG OF BARBIEBY ANTHONY BREZNINSTILL, MANY THOUGHT WAS HYPOCRIL OF SMH—A GOSSIP REPORTER, WHOSE JOB WAS TO PRY TO OTHER PEOPLE’S LIV—TO BE SILENT ABOUT HER SEXUALY. OUTWEEK, A NEW YORK CY L.G.B.T. MAGAZE DITED TO AIDS ACTIVISM, HECTORED HER FOR AS EARLY AS 1989. A MORE GENERO VIEW IS THAT SMH BELONGED TO AN L.G.B.T. GENERATN WHO WERE DAMNED WHATEVER THEY DID. TO E OUT OF THE CLOSET ULD HAVE END HER REER AND EXPOSED HER TO HARM. BUT STAYG OPENED HER UP TO SNI REMARKS AT BT, AND BLACKMAIL AT WORST.SMH WAS APPALLED BY WHAT GOSSIP BEME. NOT FOR HER WERE THE SELF-CLARED “TTH ABSOLUTISTS” OF GAWKER, WHO PHED THE LEGAL LIMS OF GOSSIP REPORTG RIGHT TO THEIR OWN MISE. AND SHE WAS NFOUND BY 21ST-CENTURY CELEBRY CULTURE, WHICH VALU ROUND-THE-CLOCK SOCIAL-MEDIA TRANSPARENCY OVER THE REMOVED MYSTIQUE OF PAST HOLLYWOOD STARS.BUT SMH WAS ALWAYS SO ENGAGED WH THE WORLD, AND S PECULIARI OF FAME AND PRIVILEGE, THAT PERHAPS OUTLASTG HER TIME WAS S OWN KD OF TRIUMPH. SHE WAS A REPORTER WHO LIVED LONG ENOUGH TO SEE WHAT ME NEXT.THE MOST LAVISH HIGH-SOCIETY PARTI OF THE LAST HALF-CENTURY1 / 16CHEVRONCHEVRONFROM EXPRS NEWSPAPERS/GETTY IMAG.TMAN CAPOTE’S BLACK-AND-WHE BALL (1966)NOVEMBER 28, 2016, MARKS THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF TMAN CAPOTE’S BLACK AND WHE BALL. IT WAS A MASKED AFFAIR THAT THE IN COLD BLOOD THOR HAD PLANNED FOR OVER A YEAR, BRGG ALL OF NEW YORK SOCIETY TO S KNE THE PROCS. OSTENSIBLY GIVEN FOR KATHARE GRAHAM, WHO HAD TAKEN UP THE RES OF THE WASHGTON POST FOR HER FAY, THE BALL MIXED UP THE TYPIL SOCIAL ORR, VG CREATIVE DOERS AT THE TOP OF THEIR GAME TO MGLE WH THE UAL HIGH-SOCIETY PROFSNAL PARTY-GOER SET.BEN WIDDIBE
LIZ SMH OUTS BARRY DILLER AS GAY AND LEE RADZIWILL AS A HOMOPHOBE
In the new documentary Stty and the Secret History of Hollywood, former V.F. edor Matt Tyrner sh a light on the sexual fixer who tered to secretly gay Goln Age stars * liz smith gay *
Buckley Jr., the edor of Natnal Review, had wrten that people wh AIDS should be those reasons, she me unr fire by the lumnist Michelangelo Signorile, who durg the n of the magaze OutWeek named and shamed closeted gay celebri whom he saw as hypocr the midst of a adly panmic.
ON THIS GAY DAY: LIZ SMH, AMERI’S ‘GRAND DAME OF THE DISH’ WAS BORN
”In an era when few celebri were openly gay, Mr. Though OutWeek’s ire was directed toward public figur, the ia of beg outed sudnly beme even more stiflg for an agg muny already battered by AIDS and anti-gay vlence.
LIZ SMH’S FAL TRIUMPHTHE GOSSIP LUMNIST MAY HAVE OUTLIVED HER HEYDAY, BUT AS A WRER WH FE CURSY, SHE NEVER STOPPED KEENLY OBSERVG THE WORLD AROUND HER.BY BEN WIDDIBENOVEMBER 13, 2017LIZ SMH ATTENDS AN EVENT HONORG HER WORK WH LERACY VOLUNTEERS 1983.BY NANCY KAYE/AP PHOTO.SAVE THIS STORYSAVESAVE THIS STORYSAVELIZ SMH, WHO DIED SUNDAY AT 94, KEPT FAR MORE SECRETS THAN SHE EVER TOLD.ALTHOUGH HER REER GOSSIP WRG LASTED ALMOST 60 YEARS, SHE ALWAYS SEEMED TO BE PLAYG BY THE L OF THE MID-CENTURY STUD SYSTEM, WHICH DOMATED HOLLYWOOD WHEN SHE GOT HER START WH HEARST NEWSPAPERS THE 1950S. HER STYLE WAS MOLED ON THE SOFT POWER WIELD BY WT COAST WOMEN TRAILBLAZERS, LIKE HEDDA HOPPER AND LOUELLA PARSONS, RATHER THAN THE BOMBAST OF THEIR BROTHER OUT EAST, WALTER WCHELL.WH SMH, THE REAL GOSSIP OFTEN SEEMED TO BE EXPRSED NOT BY HER WORDS, BUT THE SPAC BETWEEN. SHE IMPLIED, RATHER THAN STATED WHAT SHE KNEW—WHICH ULD BE FURIATG FOR SOME REARS, EVEN AS THE GENTLE, TEXAN NCE OF HER NVERSATNAL WRG WON THE TST OF LNS MORE. THAT WAS SMH’S STYLE: SHE WAS AN SIR, NOT A TATTLE. HER POWER WAS BASED ON ACCS TO FAMO NAM, WHICH SHE PRERVED THROUGH ZY LUNCH THAT RULTED FLATTERG VERAGE.IT PROVED TO BE A LUCRATIVE STRATEGY. SMH’S SALARY WAS LEGENDARY AMONG NEW YORK GOSSIP LUMNISTS—OF WHOM I WAS ONE, THROUGHOUT THE ‘00S. HER ANNUAL NTRACT WH NEWSDAY WAS MORED TO BE THE $900,000S—MORE THAN THREE TIM WHAT DTRY SCUTTLEBUTT TIMATED HER NEART RIVAL WAS PAID. BUT THAT WAS UNSTAABLE—AND NOT JT BEE OF NEWSPAPERS’ GENERAL DOWNWARD TRAJECTORY. MANY THOUGHT SMH WAS A WRER FOR THE NEW YORK POST, WHICH FACT ONLY SYNDITED HER LUMN OM S LSER-KNOWN LONG ISLAND NEIGHBOR—AN EXPENSIVE MISIMPRSN THAT WAS NOT LOST ON NEWSDAY EXECUTIV. SMH WAS BLDSID WHEN THEY DIDN’T RENEW HER NTRACT 2005, ALTHOUGH THE POST RRIED HER LUMN FOR ANOTHER FOUR YEARS.BEYOND HER SPECTACULAR SALARY, THE OTHER THG THAT DIFFERENTIATED SMH WAS THAT SHE HAD A SECRET. SHE WAS GAY. THIS WAS WHY SHE HUNG ON SO TENACLY TO THE OLD HOLLYWOOD BARGA, I THK, OF MEDIATED ACCS AND MIGATED TTHS. IT WAS UNRSTOOD BY ALL SIS THAT SHE HAD SOMETHG TO LOSE.NO GOSSIP LUMNIST N BE WHOUT ENEMI, AND SOME OF THEM TRIED TO E HER SEXUALY AGAST HER. UNFORTUNATELY, THAT TACTIC WASN’T ONLY ED BY HOMOPHOBIC BIGOTS. TO SETTLE A SRE, THE LEGENDARY, OLD-SCHOOL PRS AGENT BOBBY ZAREM ONCE SENT OUT FAKE WEDDG ANNOUNCEMENTS FOR SMH AND HER THEN-PANN, IRIS LOVE.THEN THERE WAS THIS PRS RELEASE OM NEW YORK’S CATHOLIC LEAGUE, WHICH I REMEMBER RECEIVG—VIA FAX— THE SUMMER OF 2004. IT READ, FULL: “IN HER SYNDITED LUMN OF JUNE 30, GOSSIP LUMNIST LIZ SMH SAID THAT THE AFFAIR BETWEEN BILL CLTON AND MONI LEWSKY REMD HER OF THE AFFAIR BETWEEN JOHN F. KENNEDY AND JUDH EXNER. NOTG THAT SMH INTIFIED J.F.K.’S LOVER AS ‘THE CATHOLIC JUDH EXNER,’ CATHOLIC LEAGUE PRINT WILLIAM DONOHUE OPED AS FOLLOWS: ‘WE’RE DISAPPOTED THAT THE LBIAN LIZ SMH DIDN’T INTIFY THE JEW MONI LEWSKY THE WAY SHE DID THE CATHOLIC JUDH EXNER.’” ALL THE YEARS LATER, THAT LAST SENTENCE HAS STAYED WH ME FOR S LM NASTS.MOST POPULARSOUND OF FREEDOM: THE WILD TE STORY BEHD 2023’S MOST CONTROVERSIAL FILMBY EVE BATEYTHE CAST OF OPPENHEIMER AND THE REAL PEOPLE THEY PLAYBY HILLARY BISRUTH HANDLER: SEX TOYS, FANCIAL CRIM AND THE ORIG OF BARBIEBY ANTHONY BREZNINSTILL, MANY THOUGHT WAS HYPOCRIL OF SMH—A GOSSIP REPORTER, WHOSE JOB WAS TO PRY TO OTHER PEOPLE’S LIV—TO BE SILENT ABOUT HER SEXUALY. OUTWEEK, A NEW YORK CY L.G.B.T. MAGAZE DITED TO AIDS ACTIVISM, HECTORED HER FOR AS EARLY AS 1989. A MORE GENERO VIEW IS THAT SMH BELONGED TO AN L.G.B.T. GENERATN WHO WERE DAMNED WHATEVER THEY DID. TO E OUT OF THE CLOSET ULD HAVE END HER REER AND EXPOSED HER TO HARM. BUT STAYG OPENED HER UP TO SNI REMARKS AT BT, AND BLACKMAIL AT WORST.SMH WAS APPALLED BY WHAT GOSSIP BEME. NOT FOR HER WERE THE SELF-CLARED “TTH ABSOLUTISTS” OF GAWKER, WHO PHED THE LEGAL LIMS OF GOSSIP REPORTG RIGHT TO THEIR OWN MISE. AND SHE WAS NFOUND BY 21ST-CENTURY CELEBRY CULTURE, WHICH VALU ROUND-THE-CLOCK SOCIAL-MEDIA TRANSPARENCY OVER THE REMOVED MYSTIQUE OF PAST HOLLYWOOD STARS.BUT SMH WAS ALWAYS SO ENGAGED WH THE WORLD, AND S PECULIARI OF FAME AND PRIVILEGE, THAT PERHAPS OUTLASTG HER TIME WAS S OWN KD OF TRIUMPH. SHE WAS A REPORTER WHO LIVED LONG ENOUGH TO SEE WHAT ME NEXT.THE MOST LAVISH HIGH-SOCIETY PARTI OF THE LAST HALF-CENTURY1 / 16CHEVRONCHEVRONFROM EXPRS NEWSPAPERS/GETTY IMAG.TMAN CAPOTE’S BLACK-AND-WHE BALL (1966)NOVEMBER 28, 2016, MARKS THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF TMAN CAPOTE’S BLACK AND WHE BALL. IT WAS A MASKED AFFAIR THAT THE IN COLD BLOOD THOR HAD PLANNED FOR OVER A YEAR, BRGG ALL OF NEW YORK SOCIETY TO S KNE THE PROCS. OSTENSIBLY GIVEN FOR KATHARE GRAHAM, WHO HAD TAKEN UP THE RES OF THE WASHGTON POST FOR HER FAY, THE BALL MIXED UP THE TYPIL SOCIAL ORR, VG CREATIVE DOERS AT THE TOP OF THEIR GAME TO MGLE WH THE UAL HIGH-SOCIETY PROFSNAL PARTY-GOER SET.BEN WIDDIBE
“People were a batn — not jt aaid of beg outed, but aaid of dyg, ” said Michael Adams, the chief executive of SAGE, an advocy anizatn for olr lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr Warshaw, 84, was a private cizen workg for the cy of New York durg that time.
Speakg to The New York Tim at the age of 85, she said: “I don’t thk I owed gay people any explanatn. ' but that he 'worships' his wife Diane Von Furstenberg (above)Smh tells The Hollywood Reporter that this nversatn me the wake of David Geffen, another high profile executive, revealg he was gay gossip lumnist claims she advised Diller, the chairman of media pany IAC, agast , tellg him; 'No, Barry, David Geffen needs to e out. He worked at a gas statn on the rner of North Van Ns Avenue and Hollywood Boulevard, out of which, he says, he and a dre of his male and female iends serviced Hollywood celebri—many of them closeted homosexuals.
They provid a safety zone for people whose reers would have been ed if the tth about them emerged the s before gay rights and the AIDS crisis.