Wisecracker: The Life and Times of William Haines, Hollywood's First Openly Gay Star

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William Haines was one of MGM's biggest stars in the late 1920s, playing cocky but sympathetic wise guys in movies such as Brown of Harvard. He was as self-assured in real life: dropped by the studio in 1933 because he refused to hide his homosexuality, Haines became a successful interior decorator. Journalist William J. Mann perceptively links Haines's story to shifting attitudes in the movie industry, the gay community, and America as a whole. He also paints a tender portrait of the actor's love for Jimmie Shields, his companion from 1926 until Haines's death in 1973.

Book Description

In 1930 William Haines was Hollywood's number-one box-office draw--a talented, handsome, romantic lead. Offscreen, he was openly gay. This bestselling biography captures the rich gay subculture of Hollywood before the Production Code--before studio intimidation led to the establishment of the Hollywood closet. Alone among his contemporaries, Billy Haines refused to compromise and was ultimately booted out by Louis B. Mayer. Forced to give up acting, Haines went on to become a top interior designer to the stars and to clients such as Nancy Reagan. By his side through it all was his lover, Jimmie Shields; their fifty-year relationship led their best friend, Joan Crawford, to call them the "happiest married couple in Hollywood." Wisecracker is an astounding piece of newly discovered gay history, a chronicle of high Hollywood, and--at its heart--a great and enduring love story.

Customer Reviews:

A sloppy job.......2004-04-28

This book was a major disappointment. It could have been good. Unfortunately, once you throw out all the regurgitated gossip, conjecture, and seemingly endless repetition, there's not much real information on William Haines. It doesn't help that Mann doesn't seem to know (or care) that he frequently contradicts himself. Potentially interesting topics - that Haines may have been a manic depressive, to name just one - are touched on, but Mann prefers rehashing old publicity to attempting any real insight.
One of the more irritating aspects of this book is the repeated emphasis on how "cultured" Haines was. He quit school at age 14; how and when he acquired the "culture" he was so famous for is never really made clear. It's possible that he educated himself in art, music, literature, etc., which would be laudable as well as interesting, but if this side of Haines existed, Mann does him a huge disservice by ignoring it. Apparently it's enough for Mann that Haines was well-versed in antiques and Emily Post's Etiquette.
As has been pointed out in other reviews, Mann's research leaves a lot to be desired. Take, for example, his reference in Chapter Four to Gloria Swanson's "marriages to European royalty." Supposedly Mann read Swanson's autobiography; of her six husbands -and she discusses each one-only two were Europeans and neither one was a member of a royal family. Sounds like nitpicking, but that's just one of several statements based on slipshod research.
Then there's the question of style. Mann's prose is, on the whole, pedestrian, except when he tries to be imaginative, and then the results are laughable. You may be amused by Barbara La Marr's "extravagant green eyes," but my personal favorite is "Already movies [sic] stars like Gloria Swanson and Rudolph Valentino were building outrageous castles to their absurd fame." Say what?
Overall, I think Haines probably deserved better than this. There may be, buried in all the muck, a truly interesting and even admirable man. Mann tries to tell that there is, but he's too fascinated by the muck to present a clear picture of the man.

Things you can tell just by skimming through it.......2003-06-02

This book is very informative and full of eye-opening photographs. It reflects an issue that needs to be addressed much, much more. I already knew much about this silent star, and have learned more just by simply skimming through Mr. Mann's excellent survey. I definitely recommend it as I also recommend another of the author's books, which I am currently reading as well, "Behind the Screen: How Gays and Lesbians Shaped Hollywood 1910-1969."

AN ALMOST TRUE BOOK.......2003-05-11

For those looking for an introduction to the career of William Haines and for some insights into gay life in the 1920s and 1930s, this book will suffice. But it has as its grounding assumptions several false facts.
1) William Haines was not the biggest moneymaker or the biggest star at MGM in 1930. He was not the Gay Gable. That "fact" is gleaned from one minor poll of distributors and is not reflective of the reality that by 1930 -- even 1929 -- Haines was fading.
2) Haines was fading partly because he was losing his looks -- an odd thing to say about a thirty year old man -- but true. He was getting heavy; he was losing his hair, and he was losing the boyish look that had been the source of his appeal.
3) Anyone who has ever seen a Haines talkie will understand why his career faded. His wiseguy personna did not translate well to the talking screen. He was, in a word, obnoxious. He looked like a big obnoxious stiff.
4) Mann says that changing mores in Hollywood, mores that would soon result in the Hays Code, partly brought about Haines's downfall. Wrong. Haines was already finished by 1932, long before the Code was instituted. And in any case the Code wasn't a product of some kind of consensus within Hollywood. And there could have been no moral re-trenchment in Hollywood, in anticipation of the Code, because in 1932, no one saw it coming. And to know that, all one has to do is watch some 1932 movies.
5) Half the people Mann says were gay weren't.
6) Some of the sex stories are specious, undocumented, seventy-year-old gossip.
7) Haines gayness was a nuisance, so far as MGM was concerned, but if his movies were making money the studio would have kept him indefinitely. He was dropped because his movies were tanking.
There was an honest story to tell here. Haines was a fairly major actor (for about three years). He was gay. He was out. He traveled in an interesting circle. That's all here, too. It's just the connections, the conclusions, the assumptions and the assertions that need to be taken with a bucket of salt.

WONDERFUL Biography of a Star!.......2002-04-13

I got much more out of this biography than I expected. I wanted to learn more about Billy Haines, and his struggle to be openly gay in Hollywood, and about his long marriage to Jimmie Shields. But, what I learned was how alot of people in Hollywood were gay, and openly so, but then became closeted later. Stars I never knew were gay, Cary Grant, Claudette Colbert and many others. The book was fascinating. Lots of gossip, Hollywood stories, movie star information, but more than all that its a book about the amazing life of Billy Haines, and more than 50 year love affair with his companion Jimmie Shields. The book was well researched and never really left me wanting more. I recommend this book as a source for Hollywood lovers, and for gay men and women. A story all would enjoy, and a life worth reading about.

Badly Researched Book by William J. Mann.......2002-04-06

William J. Mann's book Wisecracker seems at first well written. Also, it appeared well researched and Mr. Mann
wanted to write about FACTS and not sensationalize a not so interesting life as William Haines. The book
centers around William Haines gayness above all.
But I totally lost interest in reading any more of this book when I reached page 116 where Mr. Mann
refers to Virgina Rappe as a "young starlet" when in fact she wasn't young by any means and her profession was
actually "prositute." She did do some modeling (adverts for make up) but never appeared in a film. Also he states that the "lured
details of the Fatty Arbuckle case came out..." The details he lists may have come from some old publicity
rag, but not the facts stated in Arbuckle's court transcripts. Rappe tried to extort money
from Arbuckle and to get back she said he raped her. He was never seen in ripped pajamas, and did not
wear anyone's "smashed hat" since there was no such item in that set of hotel suites in San Francisco.
Arbuckle barely saw Virgina Rappe since she lay sick - in another room with complications from a botched
abortion done a week before. Which was proven and the stories that circulation were just rumors.
THAT'S WHEN I REALIZED THIS BOOK IS JUST A HUGE COLLECTION OF COMPILED PUBLICITY
SHEETS..or rag, more like. Don't bother to read this book if you want to know the truth.

Wisecracker : The Life and Times of William Haines, Hollywood's First Openly Gay Star

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Wisecracker : The Life and Times of William Haines, Hollywood's First Openly Gay Star
William Mann
Manufacturer: Penguin (Non-Classics)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OJ7U78

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Wisecracker: The Life and Times of William Haines, Hollywood's First Openly Gay Star
William J. Mann
Manufacturer: Vikiing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000P9YS4U

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Wisecracker; The Life and Times of William Haines, Hollywood's First Openly Gay Star

Manufacturer: Penguin Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000I348N4

Book Description

"If this thriller was any more hard-boiled, you'd be able to paint a face on it and roll it down the hill . . . Noir at its grungiest"-The Good Book Guide

Cooper had done his time in prison. Now on the outside, he'd set up a legitimate business with Doc, who he'd met inside. They called themselves "Righteous Repo," and they even had an accountant. The repo firm did good business, but it wasn't anywhere near as exhilarating as the bank jobs they did on the side.

Ken Bruen was born in Ireland in 1951. The author of 16 novels, including The Guards and The Dramatist in the Jack Taylor series, he now lives in Galway City with his wife and daughter. The new Jack Taylor novel, The Magdalene Martyrs, is published by St. Martin's Press.

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Collected Poems of Louis MacNeice
Louis MacNeice
Manufacturer: Faber & Faber
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Autumn Journal (Faber Poetry)
Louis MacNeice
Manufacturer: Faber and Faber
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A very readable Faust, including the German!
Goethe's Faust
My favorite translation
"Breathe, spirit, soar!"
des Pudels Kern

Goethe's Faust (Parts 1 and 2)
J.W. von Goethe
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
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Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0195004108

Customer Reviews:

A very readable Faust, including the German!.......2007-09-28

`Goethe's Faust', translated and with an introduction by Walter Kaufmann was quite a surprising find, as I had been, in an earlier life, quite a fan of Professor Kaufmann's works, but I simply had no idea he had translated the `Faust' of Johan Wolfgang von Goethe, the most famous of the many different literary renderings of this story. My surprise is based on the fact that Kaufmann was primarily a professor of Philosophy, who also did several important translations of Friedrich Nietzsche's most important works. But, I had him pegged as primarily a late 19th century / early existentialist scholar, even though late in his life, he did do a scholarly work on Hegel.
Once having recovered from my surprise, I recalled that Professor Kaufmann had written several semi-scholarly articles on Goethe, which were published in his `Critique of Religion and Philosophy' and `From Shakespeare to Existentialism'. I was also delighted, in that Walter Kaufmann singlehandedly convinced me to major in philosophy, all the way to entering a doctoral degree program on the subject. So, I was really quite thrilled to find this volume, since I was simply looking for a simple, hopefully competent translation of the German into English.
Before I go too much further, let me point out that Herr Kaufmann decided to NOT include all of Part II! And, not only did he drop parts, he dropped the entire first four of five acts, leaving only the prologues and Act V. Now fortunately, I really only wanted Act V anyway, so my goals were met with this translation, but if you happen to be intent on reading the entire Part II, look elsewhere for the complete text.
Needless to say, the good professor had a relatively sound reason for excluding 4/5 of a work which is commonly considered one of the monuments of 19th Century German literature. First, Part II was really a posthumous work, and Goethe really didn't spend as much time editing and refining it as he did with the much tighter Part I, which is actually performed very regularly in Germany and by many German faculties in U.S. colleges. The second reason is that most of Part II is deathly dry and not a pleasure to read. I can attest to this, having tried to read parts of it many years ago in a relatively pedestrian translation.
That aside, Herr Kaufmann promises us that his translation, which appears on the right side of the page, facing the original German text on the left, will leave nothing out and add nothing not said by Goethe's words. This is fine, but all one has to do is read a literal translation of some New Testament material to realize that a closely literal translation may not be the best of all possible worlds. My German is very rusty, and I am not a scholar of translations in general, but I do find Kaufmann's translation quite literal. Unfortunately, Herr Kaufmann is NOT a poet, and even with my creaky German, I can easily see how there is much in the tone of Goethe's German which is not captured by the English. I found it very interesting that Kaufmann made a point of quoting Edgar Allan Poe on some points, because I find Kaufmann's translation of Goethe's verses to come out sounding remarkably like Edgar Allan Poe's verses, especially those in `The Raven'.
Joined with this faithful translation is a fine introduction to the work, seeing Goethe's work far more from the philosophical rather than the literary point of view. Kaufmann's primary thesis is that Goethe's world view has much more in common with later 19th century literature and thought than with the 18th century, let alone the origins of the Faust legend. Here, I was really surprised to discover that the origins of the Faust story arose not only from a real person, but a real contemporary of Martin Luther. This little connection tickled me to no end, as I was researching Faust Part II to find an example of some thoughts in Paul's Letter to the Romans, one of Luther's favorite books of the Christian scriptures.
All in all, anyone who simply wants to become familiar with this work for their own pleasure can do much worse than use Kaufmann's translation, especially if you have some passing knowledge of German, so you can make use of the original text. And, I did verify Kaufmann's claim that in fact, Goethe's writing does contain an enormous amount of humor. That discovery alone makes this edition worthwhile.

Goethe's Faust.......2007-01-03

Good classic literature. Intense with human turmoil. Not recommended for a younger audience. Faust takes the internal conflict of deciding on right and wrong and turns it outward with the use of Mephisto. This shows what happens when you choose the worldly path as opposed to the honorable path. Our actions have consequences and not just for ourselves, but for those around us as well.

My favorite translation.......2006-11-17

Goethe makes me wish I could be handy with other languages, including German. Walter Kaufmann's translation was my introduction to "Faust" but I bought several others to compare how differently they would measure up to Kaufmann's. Since I do not know German I am left with appreciating the sense of what Goethe intended. One encounter seals my devotion to Kaufmann. As Mephisto and Faust approach the witches, the devilish dealer encourages Faust to seek fulfillment in tilling the earth. Mephisto tells Faust quite plainly that he will find what he is looking for through his own exertion. But Faust rejects that option and Mephisto then says, "We need the witch then after all" (pg237). The other two translations render the line differently and while they are interesting reading, I find so much passion and poetry in Kaufmann's that I inevitably rely on it above the others.

"Breathe, spirit, soar!".......2006-09-13

I have no doubt that this is the best English translation of Faust. It is certainly the translation for those who love the tale. All the life and humor and glory shines through. It is not a "scholar's" translation. It is still fully alive.

I know that people avoid Faust for being too formidable and daunting. They need not feel so. It is amazing just how smoothly the translation of Part One reads. You do not want to put it down. Yet it is so very accurate- a quick glance across to the opposing German original confirms that.

As for Part Two, it doesn't read quite so smoothly, but that is no fault of the translator, since the original German also lacks the perfect flow and polish of Part One. Goethe didn't have sixty more years to perfect it as he did with the first part. In fact, we are only given a translation of the first and last acts. The intervening three acts are summarized in the introduction. My sole criticism of this edition is that the summary should have been actually bound between these two acts so that you do not have to flip back to the introduction to refresh your memory. Still, you can piece the full flavor and meaning out of Part Two in spite of these obstacles.

The author tells us in the introduction that we shouldn't fall into the Germanic trap of analyzing the idea behind the story. He seems to insist that we appreciate it for poetry and characterization and leave it at that. To my mind that would be frivolous. The core idea in Faust is the tale of the German nation- indeed of most of western civilization. Faust the scholar and magician represents the dissatisfaction and arrogance of modern man. Not content with comprehending God's will and putting himself in accord with the Divine order he tries to play God himself in order to "improve" creation. He sells his soul to do this, but then he was incapable of faith in the first place (in spite of first hand dealings with the supernatural.) This is directly analogous to those scientists who unravel the glories and mysteries of creation every day, yet do not pause to appreciate the existence of a Creator. Needless to say, Faust's efforts always end in failure and dissatisfaction- and disaster for those whose life he touches (Gretchen.)

The second part is a continuation of this theme, for Faust has learned nothing in Part One. If anything he is more ambitious and insatiable. He seeks after gold, influence, power, command, land, even progeny and a trophy wife (Helen of Troy.) It all turns out twisted. In fact, just short of his final, hard-won triumph he suddenly drops dead from old age. Nothing lasting- except ill effects- remain of his life's constant striving.

Yet, Faust is saved. The translator says that this is unexplainable. He seems to attribute it to softness of heart on the part of Goethe. Nothing could be farther from the truth. As the Lord states in the Prologue: "A good man in his darkling aspiration/ Remembers the right road throughout his quest." In other words, the Lord knows that Faust was trying to do good- it was just that through his flaws and limitations he ended up making a mess of things. This was also Boethius' understanding- even when we do wrong it is out of a flawed quest to achieve the Good. Even Gretchen (who has now re-ascended to her place as part of the Divine Feminine) understands and forgives Faust. Faust has now the perspective to understand and learn from his errors on earth. He is now truly fit to teach other souls hard-won lessons of worth.

May this also be the ultimate fate of all modern men.

des Pudels Kern.......2006-04-04

The strength of this play is its story. Of course some quality is lost in translation and even an outstanding translator would not be able to copy the nuances of the original language. There are simply to much words and to much phrases for nearly one and the same in german. Wovon ich ein Lied singen könnte.
But Goethe is not about the beauty of words, his texts are based on conflicts which would be understandable in even the worst translation.
The conflict of ths play is between might and innosence, which are hard to combine. So it ist a modern theme, because there will be man seduced by power in every century. Even the desires will stay the same, a beautiful girl, respect and forbidden knowlege.

The translator worked all those thoughts out and did his job quite well. Some texts can be read in no time but stay in mind for years. Faust is some of this texts, buy it!

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Louis MacNeice: Sceptical vision
Terence Brown
Manufacturer: Barnes & Noble Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

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Selected Poems
Louis MacNeice
Manufacturer: Faber and Faber
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0571152708

Letters from Iceland (Armchair Traveller Series)

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Letters from Iceland (Armchair Traveller Series)
W. H. Auden
Manufacturer: Paragon House
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1557782989

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Serenade for Strings
Serenade for Strings
What it means to be middle class and an intellectual in 1930

The Strings Are False
Louis MacNeice
Manufacturer: Faber Paperbacks
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Customer Reviews:

Serenade for Strings.......2005-10-28

I began reading "The Strings are False" because Louis MacNeice was a schoolmate at Marlborough of the Cambridge Spy and Art Historian Anthony Blunt. I was delighted to discover the luminescent prose of one of the outstanding British poets of the twentieth century. Like Blunt, MacNeice was the son of an Anglican clergyman, and like Blunt, he kicked over the traces of his religious upbringing. Unlike Blunt, however, MacNeice's revolution found expression in his poetry instead of an effort to overthrow the hierarchical British class system.

Why should one bother to read this book, which has long passed out of current circulation? MacNeice's unfinished autobiography not only sheds light on a lost age of British social history, which includes the turbulent thirties and the Spanish civil war, but it also gives one a glimpse into the life of a beautiful mind of an era that is gone forever. Moreover, "The Strings are False" leads us to the gateway to MacNeice's poetry, such as "Epilogue," which furnishes a clue to the title of his book:

Rows of books around me stand,
Fence me in on either hand;
Through that forest of dead words
I would hunt the living birds -
So I write these lines for you
Who have felt the death-wish too,
All the wires are cut, my friends
Live beyond the severed ends.

Serenade for Strings.......2005-07-22

What it means to be middle class and an intellectual in 1930.......2000-10-12

Even on the very first pages of this "unfinished autobiography" there is a hint of snobbery, but that MacNeice is aware of the snobbery he was trained to feel as a member of the middle class is one of the strengths of the book. MacNeice, a poet and friend of W.H. Auden and Stephen Spender wrote this account of his life in 1940 at the age of 33; he never got it published during his lifetime. Maybe he felt the book was too honest - which the modern reader will certainly regard as its chief virtue. MacNeice is far from being a holy man or from being a glamorous bonvivant, and he never tries to give the impression of being what he his not.

MacNeices biography is quite exemplary. He was born in Belfast as the son of an Anglican clergyman with "Home Rule" - sympathies, yet at the age of seven he was sent to a private school in England and never came back to Ireland except on holiday. He felt torn between his Irish and British identities for the rest of his life. At the same time there was the identity of the public school boy, who when at Oxford despised the serious petty bourgeois students from grammar schools, and who when teaching at Birmingham University never took his students very seriously, just because they were not middle class.

MacNeice is a lot more aloof than Auden or Spender, he never really falls for the temptation of communism, nor was he bound to be charmed by Catholicism. He tells quite vividly how he got his full share of religion while growing up in a rector's house. Northern Ireland, Oxford, Birmingham, London, Spain, France, the USA are the places where he explores different kinds of conflicts. Combined with his absolute honesty this makes MacNeice the ideal companion to show us what life was like in the 1920s and 1930s in Britain. He hardly ever mentions his poetry, so this is not just a book for poetry lovers. MacNeice's scepticism has been compared to Orwell's, but in contrast to Orwell he does not affect to be an outsider. He admits that life could be quite comfortable at the time. Just like Orwell, however, MacNeice did not fail to read the writing on the wall.

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The Orestia begins as Clytemnestra slays Agamemnon

The Agamemnon of Aeschylus
Louis MacNeice
Manufacturer: Faber and Faber Ltd
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0571085040

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The Orestia begins as Clytemnestra slays Agamemnon.......2004-05-06

There is a particular scene in "Agamemnon" that I always want to point to in order to show students the genius of Aeschylus as a tragic playwright. To really appreciate any of these ancient plays you really have to have an understanding the peculiar structure of the classic Greek drama. The better understanding you have of this structure, as well as the key elements of tragedy as delineated by Aristotle in his "Poetica," the more you can appreciate any of these plays, but "Agamemnon" in particular.

The play is the first drama of the Orestia trilogy, the only extant trilogy to survive from that period; of course, since Aeschylus was the only one of the three great tragic poets whose trilogies told basically a story in three-parts. Sophocles and Euripides would tell three different but thematically related stories in their own trilogies (the Theban trilogy of Sophocles is an artificial construct). In "Agamemnon" it has been ten years since he sailed away to Troy, having sacrificed his daughter Iphigenia in order to get fair winds (the tale is best told by Euripides in "Iphigenia at Aulis"). For ten years Agamemnon's wife Clytemnestra, the half-sister of Helen, has been waiting for his return so she can kill him. In the interim she has taken Agamemnon's cousin Aegithus as a lover.

This brings into play the curse on the house of Atreus, which actually goes back to the horrid crime of Tantalus and the sins of Niobe as well. Atreus was the father of Agamemnon and Menelaus, who a generation earlier had contended with his own brother Thyestes for the throne of Argos. Thyestes seduced his brother's wife and was driven out of Argos by Atreus, who then became king. Thyestes eventually returned to ask forgiveness, but Atreus, recalling the crime of Tantalus, got his revenge by killing the two sons of Thyestes and feeding them to their father at a banquet. That was when Thyestes cursed Atreus and all of his descendants and fled Argos with his remaining son, the infant Aegithus.

This becomes important because Aeschylus has two people in the palace at Argos, each of whom has a legitimate reason to take the life of Agamemnon. But in this version Aeschylus lays the crime at Clytemnestra's feet. When Agamemnon returns with his concubine Cassandra, daughter of Troy's King Priam, the insane prophetess symbolizes all sorts of reasons for Cassandra to renew her desire for vengeance. However, it is also important that Agamemnon reaffirm his guilt, and this he does by his act of hubris, walking on the scarlet carpet.

Now, one of the key conventions of Greek tragedy was that acts of violence happened off stage, in the skene, which in "Agamemnon" serves as the place at Argos. Consequently, the Athenian audience not only knows that Agamemnon is going to be murdered, they know that once he goes into the "palace" he is not coming out alive and at some point a tableau of his murder will be wheeled out of the skene. However, despite this absolute knowledge Aeschylus manages to surprise his audience with the murder. This is because of the formal structure of a Greek tragedy.

Basically the tragedy alternates between dramatic episodes, in which actors (up to two for Aeschylus, three for Sophocles and Euripides) interact with each other and/or the chorus, and choral odes called stasimons. These odes are divided into match pairs of strophes and antistrophes, reflecting the audience moving across the stage right to left and left to right respectively.

After Agamemnon goes into the palace and the chorus does an ode, the next episode has Clytemnestra coaxing the doomed Cassandra into the palace as well. With both of the intended victims inside, the chorus begins the next ode. Once the first strophe is finished the corresponding antistrophe is required, but it is at that point, while the audience is anticipating the formal completion of the first pair, that Agamemnon's cry is heard from within the palace. The antistrophe is the disjointed cries of the individual members of the chorus, in contrast to the choral unity of the strophe.

This is how Aeschylus surprises his audience with the murder of Agamemnon, but using the psychology of the play's structure to his advantage. Because we do not have any examples of tragedy that predate Aeschylus, it may well be more difficult to really appreciate his innovation as a playwright. But while the Orestia as a whole is clearly his greatest accomplishment, it is perhaps this one scene that best illustrates his genius. While the fatal confrontation between Clytemnestra and Orestes in "Choeophori" has the most pathos of any of his scenes, there is nothing in either it or "Eumenides" that is as brilliantly conceived and executed as the murder of Agamemnon.

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