Customer Reviews

Open Secret: Gay Hollywood--1928-2000

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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.

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!

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.

A breathless indictment of the hypocrisy that rules Hollywood. It exposes the willingness of the PR people and Studio Heads to hold back the truth about who is and who isn't gay. Moreover, it is a polemic that raises the question, "If it is OK to be gay now, why don't more big stars come out of the closet?" and answers it with clarity and rare insight.

This book talks alot and shows very little for it. Ehrenstein loves to gab and rehash tired rumors, but the point gets lost time and again as you slog thru this poorly written mess that's part trash, part trashy sociology. Really shoddy work. An annoying read.

The author examines Hollywood like it is a set decoration being used in a movie. He shows us the attractive scenery (the Hollywood that middle America sees every day), as well as behind the scenes: the nails, glue, and sandbags that hold the set in place. In this case, however, the nails, glue, and sandbags are decades of deception, denial, and hushed tones that the industry continues to use. Ehrenstein writes with a knowledgeable pen, yet rarely if ever comes across as smug or elitest. His narrative is conversational, but structured. It allows the reader to understand better many individual stories in Hollywood's past and present while showing them in context relative to time and social acceptance. "Open Secret" is well-written and comprehensive.