Behind the Screen: How Gays and Lesbians Shaped Hollywood, 1910-1969

By William J. Mann

Book Overview

Whether in or out of the closet, gays and lesbians played an essential role in shaping studio-era Hollywood. Gay actors (J. Warren Kerrigan, Marlene Dietrich, Rock Hudson), gay directors (George Cukor, James Whale, Dorothy Arzner), and gay set and costume designers (Adrian, Travis Banton, George James Hopkins) have been among the most influential individuals in Hollywood history and literally created the Hollywood mystique. This landmark study-based on seven years of exacting research and including unpublished memoirs, personal correspondence, oral histories, and scrapbooks-explores the experience of Hollywood's gays in the context of their times. Ranging from Hollywood's working conditions to the rowdy character of Los Angeles's gay underground, William J. Mann brings long overdue attention to every aspect of this powerful creative force.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0142001147
• ISBN13: 9780142001141
• Release Date: October 2002
• Publisher: Penguin Group
• Length: 448 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.6" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

Exhaustive but fascinating

Gay author William Mann writes about how gays helped shape Hollywood from 1910 to 1969. It doesn't just cover actors and actresses--it covers EVERYBODY! Composers, directors, producers, agents, set designers, prop men etc etc etc. Mann explains in MUCH detail how their views and being gay changed Hollywood for better...and worse. It also reveals quite a few talented actors whose lives were destroyed by homophobia and having to remain in the closet. At times I wish Mann hadn't been so thorough. This is a big book and a little goes a very long way...but I'd rather have it done completely than not at all. And when the book works (about 95% of the time) it's absolutely fascinating. Well worth reading.

Fascinating & Filled With Wonderful Stories

This book is another winner by William Mann. His research and attention to detail is mind boggling. He takes us behind the PR and secrets of gay Hollywood and gives us a look at a sexy, provocative world. I couldn't put this book down. It is proof that if it weren't for gay men and lesbians Hollywood would have been lost and the movies we now treasure as classics would never have been made. Bravo again, Mr. Mann.

Fascinating !!!

This is the book I've been waiting for, serious and respectful, as well as fascinating. I have been wanting an account of gay Hollywood that departed from the old scandal, sensational school. This one treats the experience of gays and lesbians with as much respect and scholarship as other studies have considered the experience of Jews, African-Americans, and women in American cinema. I was astounded by the research --and the 30-some pages of notes document the author's sources (something missing in so many books on the subject.) Kudos to Mr. Mann, of whom I remain a tremendous fan. He has done a remarkable job of reconstructing a lost world and subculture-- they said it couldn't be done, but he has!!

A wonderful, successful book!

With a very educated writing style based on much research, Mann has presented a profoundly interesting history of gays in Hollywood. I couldn't put this book down. The details are vastly interesting. E.g., I didn't know that gays were accepted in movies and expected to appear in them from the beginning of theie appearance in movie theaters until the depression hit and the immoral right (the Catholoic church and the federal censors) pounced on Hollywood in the early 30s and used gays as a scapegoat, as did Hitler the Jews later in WWII. There are innumerable cultural, societal, and political details herein, making this a great read. An additionally wonderful read is his previous book on gay actor William Haines, also an outstanding tome.

EXCELLENT HISTORICAL WORK ON HOW GAYS HELPED MAKE HOLLYWOOD!

If Neal Gabler's "An Empire of Their Own" dealt with "How the Jews Invented Hollywood," then William Mann's "Behind the Screen" could be also be called "How Gays and Lesbians made Hollywood!" Mann's book is a serious chronological of the golden age and the people who created it; they just happened to be gay. A very informative book, research extensive, it covers new territory with wit and style dealing with something new in Hollywood history; it is an excellent read. Mann's interviews are astute with survivors of this golden age, a history of a Hollywood movie gay life, that was both creative and glamorous, never to be seen again. It covers the totality of a gay experience in studio era Hollywood and Mann has captured the influence of these men and women behind the screen. Not just movie stars, the book deals with gay directors, that reads like a who's who of Hollywood's creative best, along with the gay set and costume designers who gave Hollywood a look and influenced the taste of the entire world. The material is rich and covers gay producers, character actors, writers, cameramen, agents, executives, etc. It is all enthralling and provides a long needed important volume in Hollywood history. It also chronicles gays who played a part in union organizations, at a time when the studio bosses only concern was profit and greed, along with mentioning their meritorious service during World War II. It makes such contemporary military follies as "don't ask, don't tell," an insult to the memory of these valliant Americans. It is greatly recommended to anyone interested in the movies and how people with great taste and style, something so lacking today, influenced an entire period of our culture.