Hollywood Lesbians by Boze Hadleigh

Hollywood Lesbians

Boze Hadleigh

Fans of Hollywood’s golden age will find this collection of interviews conducted over many years revealing though hampered. The principal problem is not so much that all of the subjects-including actresses Judith Anderson, Marjorie Main, Barbara Stanwyck, Agnes Moorehead and Sandy Dennis and designer Edith Head-are now deceased, but that almost all were raised in a generation terrified of voicing support for fellow homosexuals, let alone daring to come out of the closet. The sole exception is comedienne Patsy Kelly, who made no secret of her sexual orientation-and whose career suffered for it. Even with carefully couched questions from Hadleigh (Conversations With My Elders), the respondents dance around the subjects of sex and sexuality. Still, an enlightening picture emerges of Tinseltown, different from that presented in the fanzines. Photos not seen by PW.

Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. –This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Positioned as a sequel of sorts to Hadleigh’s earlier collection of interviews with gay men in Hollywood, Conversations with My Elders (1987), this volume is both less and more than it seems. It’s less because the subjects of Hadleigh’s interviews–Marjorie Main, Nancy Kulp, Barbara Stanwyck, and Capucine, among them–were almost uniformly reluctant to discuss their sexuality. Only comedienne Patsy Kelly speaks openly of her life as a lesbian. It’s not surprising, in fact, that Hadleigh waited until all his subjects were dead to publish this collection; almost certainly, many of them would have objected to being included. On the other hand, the book is more than it seems because these women are great talkers–about subjects other than sex. Marjorie (‘Ma Kettle’) Main, for example, though never admitting to being Spring Byington’s lover, does tell some great stories about her life as a contract player in Hollywood’s heyday. Similarly, costume designer Edith Head isn’t saying a thing about whom Dietrich slept with, but she says plenty about the horrors of miniskirts. A fun book, but not in that dishy way we expect from the title. Ilene Cooper –This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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