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As a matter of fact, the star of the series’ next installment had a persona with some stereotypically gay traits, and his name might surprise some fans: Bob Hope. “It’s interesting to see how we were portrayed,” he says. He thinks Here’s Hollywood will change that and also make viewers aware of gay characters, coded and otherwise, and subtext in vintage movies. “Gays and lesbians and their contributions to this great industry are greatly unacknowledged.”Ībove: Bob Hope and Dorothy Lamour in My Favorite Brunette “This is such an unappreciated part of classic Hollywood,” Maietta says. The conservatism of post–World War II era meant not only a blacklist for suspected Communists but a deep closet for gays and lesbians in Hollywood, but their work was still important to the industry.
In 1943, after Grant married heiress Barbara Hutton, he and Scott finally parted ways.
Cary Grant, often said to be gay or bisexual, had at least “a ‘bromance’ of some sort” with housemate Randolph Scott, Maietta says, but Grant had to go on studio-arranged dates with women, although he frequently insisted that Scott go along as well. There was somewhat less acceptance for LGBT actors. Leisen, for instance, had a lifelong relationship with dancer-choreographer Billy Daniels.
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In the 1920s and ’30s, he notes, gay people in the movie business had a measure of freedom, as long as they didn’t get involved in public scandals, showed up to work on time, and made films that were popular. “We were not only the costume designers but the directors.” “Hollywood would not exist if it weren’t for us,” he says.
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One of the things Maietta aims to do with the series is to make viewers aware of the contributions of LGBT artists to classic Hollywood films. That kind of inside info is what Maietta shares as host of the series, which so far has also featured the Elizabeth Taylor melodrama The Last Time I Saw Paris (“It’s a fun, trashy, guilty-pleasure kind of a movie,” he says) and Swing High, Swing Low, with the “luminous” Carole Lombard as a singer wooed by musician Fred MacMurray in a film by the gifted gay director Mitchell Leisen.
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Garland did make use of some songs from the film, Maietta says - she sang one of them, “Too Late Now,” on her 1960s TV series, and her daughter Liza Minnelli has performed another, with surely one of the longest titles ever: “How Could You Believe Me When I Said I Loved You When You Know I’ve Been a Liar All My Life.”Ībove: Van Johnson and Elizabeth Taylor in The Last Time I Saw Paris “She was just at that point in her life where she had no more to give,” Maietta says. She prerecorded some songs for the movie, but she was in a precarious physical and emotional state, and her absenteeism and tardiness led to her firing from the production and the end of her MGM career. Garland was exhausted after filming Summer Stock, but she cut a much-needed vacation short when she was cast in Royal Wedding. However, it marked a less than joyous time in the life of one of the all-time great gay icons, Judy Garland, who was originally slated for Jane Powell’s role. “It’s just such a joyous musical,” Maietta says. The plot is almost incidental, but it has Astaire and Jane Powell as an American brother-sister dance team who find romance with, respectively, Sarah Churchill (daughter of Winston) and Peter Lawford in London at the time of Princess (later Queen) Elizabeth’s wedding.
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Plus it has Astaire at the peak of his career, the expert helmer Donen in what was only his second directorial effort, and a screenplay by Alan Jay Lerner, who also wrote the lyrics for the film’s songs, to music by Burton Lane. “It’s a musical, and God knows, don’t we all love musicals,” he says. That dazzling sequence is familiar to anyone who’s seen That’s Entertainment, but the film has many other things to recommend it, especially to LGBT audiences, says Maietta. The third installment of the series, premiering tonight, features the 1951 MGM musical Royal Wedding, with Stanley Donen directing Fred Astaire, who among other things dances on the ceiling. Above: Jane Powell and Fred Astaire in Royal Wedding