Status
Available
Call number
Genres
Publication
Secaucus, N.J. : Carol Pub. Group, c1995.
Description
Greta Garbo, Marlene Dietrich, and Barbara Stanwyck--to name a few--maintained their images as glamorous big-screen sex symbols complete with dashing escorts, handsome husbands, and scores of male admirers, thanks to studio publicity departments. But off the set, all three box office divas were involved in "lavender" marriages (marriages of convenience, often to gay men) or remained stoically single. They, and several other Hollywood starlets of the era, were members of a discreet women's "club" called the Sewing Circle, Hollywood's underground lesbian society. Madsen takes a candid look at the very complicated dual lives these great stars led and the impact their preference for same-sex relationships had on their movie careers. … (more)
Media reviews
This trashy, scandal-mongering history of lesbian and bisexual women in Hollywood remains readable in spite of itself. Fran Lebowitz once said that "if you remove all gay influences from Hollywood, all you've left is Let's Make a Deal.'' In his perfervid attempt to detail this influence, Madsen
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(Stanwyck, 1994, etc.) names names and dishes dirt with an almost gleeful elan.... In the end this book is little more than a who-slept-with-whom compendium; further proof of how ultimately unrevealing sexuality tends to be and, at least in Madsen's hands, how trite. Show Less
User reviews
LibraryThing member mckait
The Sewing Circle was a euphemism used to describe sapphic Hollywood. Offering a long list of sources, Madsen presents a picture of lesbian and gay Hollywood from the twenties until (almost) current times. Everyone is aware of how the big studios controlled the lives of the actors under contract to
The book focuses mainly on playwright Mercedes de Acosta, Greta Garbo, Marlene Dietrich, Tallulah Bankhead and a few other big names. It is an interesting read, but not a compelling one, as it feels more like reading a gossip column that it does a history.
It seems it was meant more to titillate than to inform.
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them, and anyone who was bi-sexual or gay was forced into so called "lavender" marriage to hide that fact. The book focuses mainly on playwright Mercedes de Acosta, Greta Garbo, Marlene Dietrich, Tallulah Bankhead and a few other big names. It is an interesting read, but not a compelling one, as it feels more like reading a gossip column that it does a history.
It seems it was meant more to titillate than to inform.
Show Less
LibraryThing member Lemeritus
A prurient romp... after which you might wonder if there were any heterosexuals in Hollywood or in the arts anywhere else.
Subjects
Language
Physical description
xv, 240 p.; 24 cm
ISBN
1559722754 / 9781559722759
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