Excerpt - from 'Wisecracker: The Life and Times of william Haines, Hollywood's First Openly Gay Star' - Brief Article

In 1920s Hollywood the glare of publicity was more forgiving--even for a gay star who refused to live in the closet. This excerpt from Wisecracker resonates all the more during Oscar season 1998, with the modern publicity machine in full gear.

If Billy had been heterosexual, chief MGM publicist Pete Smith might have found his job a little easier, but not by much... Being gay was just one more factor to be considered in an actor's resume. There was no request that Billy restrain himself in his private life, for in the 1920s there was still a clear distinction that a star had a private life separate from his public image.

...An indiscretion on the part of a star wasn't necessarily a secret from the press; it was, however, carefully restructured or defused by a well-oiled publicity machine that held out carrots to the press with one hand while sweeping garbage under the rug with the other. The press, accustomed to the game, understood their livelihoods depended on the largesse of the publicity departments. It would have been going against their best interests to challenge the official word of the studio.

Still, it was tricky. How does a reporter frame questions for (and print responses from) an obviously gay star? The best of the Hollywood journalist--such as Louella Parsons, Ben Maddox, and Herbert Howe--weren't hacks. They were thoughtful, determined writers who, despite their maintenance of the game, tried not to rely simply on studio press releases. They knew Billy's true story... Their challenge became finding a way to present the truth in such a way that the whole house of cards didn't come tumbling down.

Some articles succeeded at this better than others. Writing about [Rudolph] Valentino was an exercise in futility if a reporter had even the faintest desire to be truthful. Valentino, who was likely not exclusively homosexual but who certainly transgressed traditional gender and sexual boundaries, lied repeatedly and allowed his wife, Natacha Rambova, to lie for him. Billy, however, was different. If one asks how a writer dealt with reporting on a gay star, one must also ask how that star presented himself to the writer. Valentino lied. [Ramon] Novarro hid. William Haines, however, came up with a completely different tack: He wise-cracked.

... If Billy had lied ... the press would have lied right along with him. Because he refused to, his interviewers followed suit. The trick became how to tell the truth without telling all of it, to write so that those who knew would get it, and those who didn't, wouldn't.

From Wisecracker by William J. Mann, Copyright [C] William J. Mann, 1998. Reprinted by agreement with Viking Penguin, a division of Penguin Putnam Inc.

COPYRIGHT 1998 Liberation Publications, Inc.
COPYRIGHT 2000 Gale Group