Scotty Bowers was a gay prostitute in his 20s, a procurer and retailer of synthetic love for much of his life, and is now 88 and writing a tell-all book about the first two. You can read all about it in this article that has the official best title of any article published this week, Gore Vidal Confirms That Katharine Hepburn Was A Very Slutty Lesbian
I would totally take Gore Vidal’s word on that too, because it’s fairly well known that she didn’t do anything of a sexual nature without seeking Gore Vidal’s permission beforehand and calling him to give an update afterwards. (Maybe somebody got the tapes- those would be great to listen to-
Anyway, the ‘celebrities who used same sex hos’ named in the memoir, entitled Full Service: My Adventures in Hollywood and the Secret Sex Lives of Stars (additional articles), include Walter Pidgeon (Bowers’ own first trick), Rock Hudson, Cary Grant (might want to be careful there- in fact Bowers admits he removed parts of those stories for fear of lawsuit from the Grant estate) and ‘usually said in conjunction with Grant and gay scandal’ Randolph Scott as well Hepburn of course, Vivien Leigh, Spencer Tracy (apparently neither Tracy nor Hepburn could make up their damned mind what they wanted- working on Adam’s Rib or their umpteen other movies together must have been a nightmare), and Vincent Price.
I must confess that the barely still living Gore Vidal vouching for somebody pushing sordid scandal does not equal ‘thoroughly vetted’, in my opinion, nor does the fact that Bowers waited til the stars mentioned were conveniently dead (aka the Boze Hadleigh Book of Revelations). I also argue whether the public truly has a right to know any of it if it is true (not arguing whether it’s his legal right to write it, just whether it really fills any need that can be morally justified), and find it surprising that an 88 year old is greedy enough to want as much assured condemnation and possible litigation as the book is likely to bring. (Maybe his wife is much younger and pushed him into it.)
In any case, we haven’t had anything this trashy in a while to talk about. I personally will take the high road and not support such garbage with my money. I’ll just read the hell out of it in the bookstore iuntil I can find a cheap used copy.
More MPSIMS but since it’s about Old Hollywood here seemed the appropriate place. Thoughts? Anyone planning on reading?
I certainly am, gossipy Hollywood bios and trashy books like this are my secret vice!
I wonder at the truth of these stories, whether this stuff actually happened, or if it was exaggerated, or simply the delusions of an old man-'ho. (There was a similar book a few years ago, a tell-all about the old-Hollywood female stars holding endless lesbian orgies no one ever knew about. I didn’t read it, it kind of was ignored and disappeared.)
If you follow the blind items sites, absolutely nothing has changed in a century, our beloved filthy rich actors and actresses are still up to all kinds of shocking things.
There’s also stories of a brothel in Old Hollywood where the ladies were all lookalikes for the top stars of the era (the era being Ava Gardner/Lana Turner/Elizabeth Taylor/etc.). Mickey Rooney claims to have been there but he also claims Mickey Mouse was named for him (which is totally disproven) so who knows, but if it didn’t exist it should have.
Just curious why you would think it’s all BS? In perusing the various tell alls about the lives of the golden age film stars it would seem many of them led pretty sybaritic lifestyles behind closed doors. Why would this guys book not (potentially) be true in that context?
Word has it in Hollywood that this guy has long been known as a whore and a pimp, but also well-known as a liar and BS artist. I have no intentions of reading the book, but from the reviews, a lot of the “encounters” are either highly unlikely or simply disproven by actual biographers.
Knowing nothing about any particular claims in this book, there is a kind of sexuality-archaeology popular in which people try to guess basically the orientation of dead people. It doesn’t matter if there isn’t one bit of evidence to support it, they will latch onto things written by people from different cultures in different times and claim it as a smoking gun. Holy shit guys he said “I enjoy the company of other men” we’ve got it now!
I refuse to brook any aspersions to Walter Pidgeon’s character. I’ve loved him madly since I saw “How Green Was My Valley” when I was about 10 (thanks, Million Dollar Movie!)
Could be, but it could also be an old guy who doesn’t really need the money but doesn’t want this particular period of Hollywood (and American) history to disappear when he dies. The publisher that finally picked up the book said one of the reasons he agreed is because the book didn’t seem mean-spirited at all.
If you consider it tabloid glurge then I’d agree. OTOH, the thing we’re supposed to be moving beyond is our predictable habit of politely editing the gay parts out of history.