Open Secret: Gay Hollywood--1928-1998

Homosexuality has been a fact of life in Hollywood from the silent era to Ellen DeGeneres and beyond, and few cultural institutions mirror the American zeitgeist better than the movie industry. In Open Secret, a veteran entertainment journalist reveals the film community's changing views of its gay members -- and how those views have helped define our attitudes over the years.

Part social history and part Tinseltown expose, this revealing, entertaining, and provocative book explores the lives and careers of some of the silver screen's foremost gays and lesbians and shows the effect of their high-profile lifestyles on a general public still trying to figure out how homosexuality fits into the ever-evolving social landscape. From Charles Laughton, Marlene Dietrich, and Greta Garbo to contemporary stars such as Nathan Lane, Rupert Everett, and Ellen DeGeneres, Ehrenstein traces the gradual transformation from a time when it was box-office poison to be both prominently successful and publicly gay to the modern era when many top entertainment figures are not merely comfortable with their gay sexuality but actually celebrate it -- and are in turn celebrated for it.

If Randy Shilts and Kenneth Anger were to collaborate on a book, this would be it -- a wonderfully readable blend of serious insight and inside scoop that adds a new dimension to our understanding of Hollywood, homosexuality, and ourselves.

If David Ehrenstein's Open Secret says that somebody is gay, you can safely assume that he or she is (which is why the chapter on Tom Cruise reveals nothing more than reasons why people believe--or want to believe--he might be gay). Interviews with contemporary "out" stars, writers, and studio execs are balanced against the reminiscences of those who spent Tinseltown's golden age in the closet. This reveals how open Hollywood's tolerance of its gay and lesbian members has become, but it also shows the lack of similar progress in how the press deals with potential celebrity queerness. There isn't much difference, for example, between the scandal sheet Confidential's 1955 exposé of Tab Hunter's bust at a "pajama party ... for the boys" and the 1997 "Kevin Spacey Has a Secret" cover story in the ostensibly more respectable Esquire.

Open Secret flits from a visit to the set of the Ian McKellen-Brendan Fraser film Father of Frankenstein (based on the novel by Christopher Bram) to an analysis of Ellen DeGeneres's protracted coming-out process, from an overview of the impact of AIDS on the entertainment industry to the story of how Gus Van Sant almost made a movie of Randy Shilts's The Mayor of Castro Street. But the intersection of queer sexuality and Hollywood admittedly covers a lot of territory, and Ehrenstein does an admirable job of providing an overview. One bit of advice: skip over the very brief prologue, which tries a bit too hard to convince readers of the book's seriousness, and allow the informative and entertaining stories here to speak for themselves. --Ron Hogan