The trailer for a new documentary about Scotty Bowers, the Hollywood hustler who helped arrange gay hookups for many closeted gay actors in the ’40s and ’50s, has just dropped and it looks juicy as hell.
Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood tells the story of Scotty Bowers, an ex-Marine who landed in Hollywood after World War II and became the lover and confidante to many of Hollywood’s biggest stars, including Cole Porter, Rock Hudson, Cary Grant, and Katharine Hepburn.
According to the film’s description:
How about we take this to the next level?
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In the 1940s and ‘50s, Scotty ran a gas station in the shadow of the studio lots where he would connect his friends with actors and actresses who had to hide their true sexual identities for fear of police raids at gay bars, societal shunning and career suicide. An unsung Hollywood legend, Bowers would cater to the sexual appetites of celebrities—straight and gay–for decades.
The documentary is based on Bowers’ New York Times best-selling memoir Full Service: My Adventures in Hollywood and the Secret Sex Lives of the Stars. It opens in Los Angeles on July 27 and on August 3 in NYC.
Watch.
missuniverse
What theater in NYC will this documentary be playing ?
Donston
I honestly don’t see the point in outting people many decades later. The saddest thing however is stuff like this still persists.
dannyboi2
Just saying, what difference would it make I’m dead already and if it helps others why not? Nothing to be ashamed of after all.
startenout
The point, in this case, is establishing the fact that these people existed. That these people had to hide themselves and their true natures. It reminds us how fortunate we are today and that despite what some people say, homosexuality has always been a part of our culture.
Donston
Anyone with a lick of sense knows that old Hollywood (and new Hollywood) had a lot of closeted gay/homo-leaning people. No one needs a docu for that. It’s just sensationalistic to me, and it banking off of these long dead people. I would feel that way even if it were exposing hetero affairs. Also, I don’t get this obsession with the “queer past”. Hell, most homophobes and self-hating gays praise those days when people “kept it in the bedroom” and they hardly have any illusions about the past.
Donston
Furthermore, I’m personally not all that interested in people’s sex lives. If the film was talking about/exposing some real Hollywood relationships and affairs I might care more. Who these people got pulled from bars to hook up with hardly interest me.
James
SO STAY HOME WITH YOUR CRITICAL ATTITUDE. THE REST OF US ARE GOING.
James
WHO CARES ABOUT WHAT YOU THINK ABOUT GAY DOCUMENTARY FILM.
brooklynbobby
Well this is Scotty Bowers story about his life and he has every right to tell it. By denying him that right you are asking him to deny his very existence. He was there, he lived these stories and they are documented. Nearly all of these actors and their hidden sexual preferences are pretty much common knowledge now. They are long dead and they can not be hurt. You can not hurt the reputation of a decades long public personality. Especially when their secrets aren’t secret anymore and hardly germane in 2018. Go and see the doc or don’t it’s your right to make that decision but don’t presume (through multiple comments to make a non-existent argument) to decide for me what I can go and watch. I really hate sanctimonious queens.
JoeyRamone
So don’t watch or read about it.
Sex is fun, interesting, and galvanizing. Most of us–who can or are able–do it. A cause for celebration not shame.
DuMaurier
Truthfully, I’m not against doing this and I’m not for it because of the “good” it’ll do. I just really like Golden Age Hollywood gossip.
Heywood Jablowme
@Donston: “I’m personally not all that interested in people’s sex lives.” Hey, you sure tell us plenty about your OWN sex life here. This may come as a shock to you, but most of us are much more interested in who Cole Porter or Cary Grant had sex with than in whether or not you lick your boyfriend’s a**. 🙂
“Also, I don’t get this obsession with the ‘queer past’.” Why not? It’s fascinating, and it’s a reassuring reminder that homosexuality wasn’t invented in 1969.
“If the film was talking about/exposing some real Hollywood relationships and affairs I might care more.” Real? They had sex for real with Scotty. Why would it be more “real” if two stars had sex with each other, instead of with a hunk from a gas station?
“Who these people got pulled from bars to hook up with hardly interest me.” It wasn’t a bar it was a gas station and anyway, that’s very, um… classist of you!
Donston
I guess gossiping about who slept with who 60 years ago just doesn’t interest me all that much. I’m clearly alone with that opinion.
Lacuevaman
shut up fool. you dont have an honest though in you. “Outting”?? what’s your definition of that? These folks were “out” just not to your ilk. “Saddest thing” is that you are a fool.
James
I DID BUY THE BOOK AND NOW TO READ IT. THANKS.
reesielover
I could use a Scotty Bowers in my life.
Josh447
Scotty Bowers documentaries is nothing new. Here’s a clip from 4 years ago. Will be cool to see a longer version on the silver screen.
https://youtu.be/eRFrjjm3mF8
jcoberkrom
The book was fascinating and reasonable, but since little of it can be collaborated I’m not sure how much of it can be believed.
crowebobby
How about as much of it as it turns you on to believe. That’s the route I’m taking.
Kangol
Some of it has been corroborated by other sources, biographies, etc. So it’s not all Scottie Bowers’ testimony. I definitely to see it, and every bit of information that opens up the gay past, and past gay, bi, etc. figures, from James Dean to William Shakespeare, are important for all of us, gay, straight, bi, and otherwise, to know about.
Stephen
We need to know we are not alone.
We respect as these people are dead they are not shamed as they might have been alive. Morality clauses killed careers. Breakdown of Cary Grant forced to stop living with Randolph Scott for ten years it was brutal. He never fully recovered. Separate or lose your career. I know about Dietrich, Garbo, Travolta, James Dean had a short affair with Brando, and much more. But the secrets were killing people. To shame Scotty now is to project your own shame. Hepburn never married but cared for a raging alcoholic Tracy. It was a great cover to date an emotionally unavailable man. Win Win. I applauded his book, film and believe his intentions are good for all. If we knew nothing of LGBTQI stars we would never know the fear of exposure they lived with everyday of their lives. There families were ashamed and burnt journals and diaries. I mean the cult of denial shows we still have a long way to go. Glad he’s still alive to enjoy his success and creative career of helping actors keep working and keep there sanity. Cole Porter. Listen to him sing on YouTube! No surprise there. This is fun, warm, humane. Let’s celebrate the OKness of being different not attack guy who is writing about it. It’s a sweet breath of fresh air. Halle gay luehja!
russdog
I found many of these stories fascinating. Especially Spencer Tracy whose “cover” was that he was such a devout Catholic that he could never divorce his wife (who had some illness or mental disability), yet it was somehow considered OK that he would basically abandon her and enter into a long-term public relationship with Katharine Hepburn. However, privately, he seemed tormented about his same-sex desires. I’m always interested in how people navigated the world while experiencing such fear and shame.
I also noted the stories Scotty Bowers told vs. the ones he didn’t tell. If he were going to lie or make up stories, why those particular ones? Why those specific people when he could have mentioned anyone? They are all dead, but certain celebrity encounters have the ring of truth. He mentioned Errol Flynn and could have easily said they had sex or that Flynn secretly was bi, but that story was totally straight. It seemed true, given the subject. Not all of his encounters were gay, successful, or eventful. It makes for a more believable account.