Open Secret: Gay Hollywood--1928-2000 [Paperback]

David Ehrenstein (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 16, 2000

Part social history and part exposé, this revealing, entertaining, and provocative book spans nearly seventy years as it explores the lives and careers of some of the silver screen's foremost gays and lesbians and the effect of their high-profile lifestyles on the general public. From Charles Laughton and Greta Garbo to Nathan Lane and Ellen DeGeneres, David Ehrenstein traces the gradual transformation of Hollywood from a time when it was box-office poison to be publicly gay to the modern era when many top entertainment figures are celebrating their gay sexuality--and are in turn celebrated for it. Updated, Open Secret reveals what has happened to the key players in gay Hollywood since the original hardcover publication.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Brings a welcome, steady compass to barely charted territory." -- --Entertainment Weekly

"So knowledgeable and articulate a tour guide... stories come fully alive after decades of meticulous cover-ups..." -- --Publishers Weekly

About the Author

David Ehrenstein is a journalist who has covered the entertainment industry for numerous publications, including the Los Angeles Times, Daily Variety, Los Angeles Magazine, and Cabiers du Cinema. He lives in Los Angeles.

Product Details

• Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: Harper Perennial; 1 edition (May 16, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0688175856
• ISBN-13: 978-0688175856
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #601,383 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

52 of 55 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Worthy of a magazine, December 23, 2001

By 

S. McEnaney (Seattle, WA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Open Secret: Gay Hollywood--1928-2000 (Paperback)

After a quick glance of my friend's copy, I picked this up, curious to find out more about the current state of affairs for gays and lesbians in Hollywood. While it's certainly encouraging that many lesbian and gay writers/producers/et al are now able (thanks to Ms. DeGeneres) to live their lives more openly, the book itself offers little insight other than Ellen DeGeneres and a couple of other passing (gay) cultural moments, such as Howard Ashman's lover's acceptance of his posthumous Academy Award. Being a supposed historical exploration, the book flips back and forth in time and era, never focusing on one person or subject long enough to discover anything insightful. Its coverage of the early part of Hollywood's gay history is slight at best, focusing mostly on Rock Hudson, and offers little to illuminate that situation. It has the depth and tone of a good magazine article, but as a book it doesn't offer enough: it seems padded, and interviews are quoted verbatim with every bit of bad syntax and "you know"'s intact. I learned nothing from this book that I wasn't aware of through soundbites on entertainment news shows. I really don't like writing a negative review, but reading this was increasingly frustrating and ultimately unsatisfying.

18 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Still the same, July 30, 2000

By 

"sean95i" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Open Secret: Gay Hollywood--1928-2000 (Paperback)

This book may as well be a horror novel in that Hollywood is still the same as it was in the 1920's. Cowardace, politics and money are still keepin celebrities in the closet while teenagers are still taking their own lives because they think they are alone. This book details what can happen to a person in Hollywood when they chose to STOP living a lie (Ellen, Geffen et al), but also how being out and themselves can never equal a dollar amount. Great Book!

10 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars For the aficionados., June 7, 2004

By 

Luc REYNAERT (Beernem, Belgium) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Open Secret: Gay Hollywood--1928-2000 (Paperback)

This book lifts a veil on a still rather taboo issue. A lot of well known people are mentioned in it, but I felt that most of the chapters were written more for insiders.
Fortunately, this book contains some other important movie items which tell a lot about the Pharisaic mentality of the people who ran the studios.
Hollywood's success story is built on its star system. A big panic broke out in the fifties of last century when one of Hollywood's superstars Ingrid Bergman left the US to marry the Italian director Roberto Rossellini. The movie bosses were shattered and thought that they would lose a big part of their public (box office). They launched a big smear campaign against the actress (adulteress...) and forced the movie critics to criticize heavily her new movies. The not so 'orthodox' behaviour of other superstars was left unblemished.
The author unveils the real role of Hedda Hopper and Louella Parsons as the 'Big Sisters' of Hollywood, spying on the stars and employees on behalf of the studio bosses. If the crew didn't behave as the bosses wanted they 'were called on the carpet and told - Unless you show yourself as a respectable person, you'll lose your contract'.

I found this book a decent work on a difficult subject.