Hollywood Lesbians

October 3, 1994
Fans of Hollywood's golden age will find this collection of interviews conducted over many years revealing though hampered. The principal problem is not so much that all of the subjects-including actresses Judith Anderson, Marjorie Main, Barbara Stanwyck, Agnes Moorehead and Sandy Dennis and designer Edith Head-are now deceased, but that almost all were raised in a generation terrified of voicing support for fellow homosexuals, let alone daring to come out of the closet. The sole exception is comedienne Patsy Kelly, who made no secret of her sexual orientation-and whose career suffered for it. Even with carefully couched questions from Hadleigh (Conversations With My Elders), the respondents dance around the subjects of sex and sexuality. Still, an enlightening picture emerges of Tinseltown, different from that presented in the fanzines. Photos not seen by PW.