jjares reviewed on 8/19/2020 + 3413 more book reviews

After lawyers cleaned this up (according to Scotty, he served as an unpaid pimp), I suspect most of this book is fairly accurate. This is an interesting sojourn into the up-tight world of Hollywood in the 1940s and later. The post World War II years were far more decadent than we imagined. One fact that Bowers talks about, how the LA police stopped chasing and trying to convict the "queens" in town, really sounds realistic and probable.

Scotty Bowers was definitely into free love. Dealing with Scotty must have been a relief for the Hollywood-types. He was totally nonjudgmental and that must have been quite freeing for people constantly afraid of losing their livelihoods because of the morality police.

One thing that surprised me was the pseudo-relationship between Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn. I was surprised by the revelations about the Duke of Windsor and Wallis Simpson. And the author was correct; a royal couldn't rule England and be a homosexual. He would be vulnerable to rumor and innuendo.

After reading about Ramon Novarro, I googled around and found out that the story this author tells is probably on-the-mark. I'd read a bio or autobio of Laurence Olivier and in that book, he admitted he was bisexual. I knew Anthony Perkins and Rock Hudson were gay years before they came out because of hints others told about the pair. Another gay man was the fabulous singer Johnny Mathis (not mentioned in this book) but mentioned by several other men over the years.

To sum the book up: Sometimes the info was amazing and at other times, it was way too much information.

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