Today we have a little post featuring movie stills and publicity photos of male stars in which, with a little imagination (and that's about how much we possess! Ha ha!), a different scenario might be envisioned than the one intended... In other words, they might be unintentionally suggestive. Or, perhaps, they are completely benign and we just have a dirty mind. Or maybe the men in them are just plain handsome so we feel like sharing!
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| Today's poster boys, Randolph Scott and Cary Grant were featured in a notorious series of photo spreads taken during their bachelorhood in which they were seen swimming together, working out in abbreviated shorts, dining elegantly together, lounging near one another and even cooking in the kitchen (with Cary in an apron and Randy wielding a phallic bunch of celery!) |
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| You thought I was making that one up, didn't you...? Nope. |
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| All just speculation? Hiding in plain sight? Best/worst kept secret in Hollywood? |
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| We may never know the truth about them, but it's been written that when Cary was pressured into marrying and leaving his and Randy's bachelor pad, he soon became despondent, attempted suicide and was soon divorced and back there again. And later in life, in the wake of their marriages and children, these two were reportedly seen holding hands under the table at lunch, which is either the saddest or the most touching thing about their long association with one another. |
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| Here, we find Randolph Scott in an intense stare-down with John Wayne in Pittsburgh. They were meant to be squabbling over Marlene Dietrich, but she's nowhere to be seen in this shot. They could be having a romantic dinner...! |
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| This one, with Scott and Lex Barker from Thunder Over the Plains, is even more suggestive. It could be a dance hold! (The link for Lex this time is to a page with several color Tarzan comic book covers at the end.) |
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| The two brooding pusses in this shot are Richard Arlen and Buddy Rogers in Wings. |
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| Check out the dreamy intensity of this portrait from the same pairing. |
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| As this is a WWI war drama, there's an emotional ending for the young men... |
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| ...VERY emotional! |
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| Arlen, by the way, was a very handsome young man. Sort of a Paul Newman for the 1930s (I always wish they'd have played father and son in a movie.) He's seen here with David Newell and Kay Francis in the four-cornered circus romance Dangerous Curves. (Clara Bow rounding out the quartet.) |
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| But with some thoughtful cropping of Ms. Francis, and the gents' matching robes, this could be another sort of lover's quarrel! |
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| My favorite silent-era actor is delectable George O'Brien, seen here looking as timeless as ever and elbow-to-elbow with another young actor. You may recognize him as one of the most heralded in all of cinema? Spencer Tracy. |
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| On the right in this twosome is Henry Wilcoxon, who while having a sort of sneering quality in his face, is an actor I nonetheless found strikingly handsome in his prime. He later became an assistant and frequent supporting actor in Cecil B. DeMille movies. |
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| Hmmm... I wonder what costars and close personal friends Cesar Romero and Tyrone Power have spied and are discussing here. |
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| Yes, I know they're fighting and not getting comfy, but it's sort of neat to see former Tarzans Johnny Weissmuller and Buster Crabbe working together (in Captive Girl.) |
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| Even better is this one of the two, from another movie of theirs, Swamp Fire. Even out of their loincloths they seemed to find reasons to be shirtless on celluloid! |
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| No, this isn't a pair. Or is it? With Mickey Rooney and Eddie Bracken fighting over who gets the biggest piece of delicious figure model Ed Fury! This was part of a publicity shoot for A Slight Case of Larceny (in which I don't believe Fury even appears!) |
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| Another awesome photo shoot - some of which has appeared on this blog before - involves Tab Hunter and John Bromfield. Here Bromfield is demonstrating his rod for Hunter. |
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| And here Bromfield is demonstrating his other rod for the readers! What a gorgeous man he was. |
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| Now entering the Robert Wagner wing of today's post. He's seen here making his presence known to costar Jeffrey Hunter in A Kiss Before Dying. |
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| And here he is making his presence known to Hunter again, during a photo shoot! |
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| In this shot (from one of his 1950s war films, perhaps The Hunters?) Wagner and a buddy are enjoying an Asian spa together. |
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| Poolside, he's getting his exercise in with a muscular partner... |
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| ...followed by some laps not in but around the pool! |
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| Mechanic fantasy anyone? I don't know the handsome, bearded fella under the hood, but that's Rock Hudson giving the body a hearty buff. |
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| Hollywood's first gay adoption? No... just Broken Arrow star John Lupton showing off his new baby daughter to costar Michael Ansara. |
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| Skipping ahead to longtime friends Robert Redford and Paul Newman, costars of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and The Sting. For a while, there were murmurings about them costarring a third time in a film based upon "The Front Runner," all about a track coach who has a sexual relationship with his star runner! Newman, who'd bought the option, let it lapse when he ran into script (and casting plausibility) issues. |
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| My Two Dads. In retrospect, they sorta look like the type of two dads we see more often these days! |
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| Who knows what hairy stuff was going on in the woods with Joe Namath and his (unidentified) friend...? Gotta love the '70s and '80s when men could go shirtless (not to mention hairy) and few batted an eye. |
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| The End! |
This was really a fun idea Poseidon. People have published innuendo laden books just based on some of these pictures alone! The cropping made me think of that famous picture of Marlene Dietrich and Claudette Colbert on a slide. Claudette said in an interview once that it was just accidental, there was a slide at a party and she got on and at the bottom Marlene was still extricating herself when someone took a photo. Who knows?
ReplyDeleteYou really picked some beauties here that represent different decades of very handsome men. Whatever the truth about Randolph and Cary they are just stunning together. I think Cesar Romero was gay? I read some recent excerpts from a tell-all written by some Hollywood gas station attendant/gigolo(!) that said some filthy things about Tyrone Power. I don't give it a lot of credit.
I have always had the hots for Joe Namath, so that was a bonus.
Must say I am actually glad "The Front Runner" never got made, that book was so depressing and so many gay themed movies from that time period dealt with tragedy. Ed Fury is just gorgeous in any era.
That's interesting about Claudette and Marlene. I've seen that photo before. I recall our Joan Collins once being on a date and being seated in a theater next to Marlon Brando and his date. But the photo cropped out both their dates and made it seem like the two of them were out together! You can't always believe what you read... or see! I wish for Cary and Randolph that, if they were a couple, they could have been allowed to stay one. They clearly loved one another on some level no matter what. Yes, Cesar was gay, gay, gay and served as an escort to many an unattached female star who needed a companion to an event. Someone once said, "Cesar Romero would attend the opening of an envelope!" LOL Scotty Bowers' book was so deplorably filthy I couldn't put it down!!!! Ha ha ha!! I didn't want to believe it, but at the same time couldn't help wondering. He seemed to have no reason to lie (truly no one but TCM devotees cares a whip about the people he was writing about and, while that's a sizeable audience, it's nothing like that of mainstream buyers.) He also wasn't in any way judgemental about the people. Just telling it like he (allegedly) saw it! I hear you about "The Front Runner" but I also wouldn't have minded scenes of Robert & Paul getting it on! :-P
ReplyDeleteRegarding Scotty Bowers and his book-check out this piece from the L.A. Weekly-http://www.laweekly.com/arts/the-apparently-true-story-of-the-man-who-secured-gay-lovers-for-old-hollywood-2372317
ReplyDeleteAs for "The Front Runner" Richard 'John Boy' Thomas was actually Newman's choice for the younger athlete, Redford way too old at that point. Over the years Newman said the main problems were getting a good script and the fact that no one wanted to finance a movie with that subject matter. TV did most of the serious gay themed stuff in the 70s, timid as it mostly was.
And yes, Cesar 'Butch' Romero was indeed quite gay. I read a history of Black Los Angeles and in the chapter on the gay community there were eyewitness accounts of Romero & Power showing up together at gay Black parties in the early 40s. Romero got the nickname Butch from a member of the film crew at Fox famous for giving "opposite nicknames" i.e.-tiny for a big guy, snowflake for a person of color, etc. I've been reading and collecting trashy Hollywood gossip for over 50 years and I'm happy to share it. Love this site!
Eric, I believe you're right about Redford and "The Front Runner." I mean, there was definitely chatter about it among fans, but as to it being a serious prospect, more than likely no. I was referencing a book called The Lavender Screen which, while not ancient, is - like me - getting old! It lists a note that Redford "termed Newman's offer to costar in The Front Runner 'ridiculous.'" So perhaps they briefly tossed the idea around amongst themselves, though I know Redford was always VERY skittish about playing or appearing gay on screen. And, you know, back in the day they did sometimes cast people in roles they were clearly too old for. I recall Audrey Hepburn being touted to play Anne Frank, fer cryin' out loud!! LOVE the information about how "Butch" Romero got his nickname and I also appreciate the follow-up about Bowers and his book. Thanks!!
ReplyDeleteHi Poseidon, Geez I feel like I'm been away an age but it is an incredibly hectic time just now and I just haven't had a chance to comment on your always fascinating posts though I've tried to keep up on reading them.
ReplyDeleteAnyway while I have a free moment another marvelous collection of dreamy men, though in all honesty Randolph Scott never did much for me but he and Cary certainly made a nice looking couple. From the different sources I've seen it seems their relationship was a victim of Cary's ambition more than anything else.
Richard Arlen was a very good looking man, a sort of Arrow shirt ad come to life, not quite as beautiful as Charles Farrell or George O'Brien but a definite looker as was Buddy Rogers.
I've always loved that pool picture of Robert Wagner and Jeffrey Hunter. Jeff is giving you that sultry sexiness that he exuded so well while RJ is all playful eager goofiness.
That pic of Rock Hudson and friend cracks me up. Who the hell waxes their car with a lit cigarette in their hand?!
That publicity photo of Paul Reiser and Greg Evigan really does look like so many pictures of gay couples. That makes sense since with the minorest of tweaking My Two Dads could have easily been the story a couple of gay men raising a child together.
The fellow in the picture with Joe Namath is Richard Todd. Todd was Namath's successor as starting quarterback for the New York Jets.
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