Wisecracker: The Life and Times of William Haines, Hollywood's First Openly Gay Star | 
| Author: William Mann
Publisher: Viking Adult
Category: Book
List Price: $29.95
Buy Used: $2.90
You Save: $27.05 (90%)
Rating:  24 reviews
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 480
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.7
Dimensions (in): 9.3 x 6.4 x 1.5
ISBN: 0670871559
Dewey Decimal Number: 791.43028092
EAN: 9780670871551
ASIN: 0670871559
Publication Date: February 1, 1998
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com Review
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.
Product Description
In 1930 William Haines was Hollywoods #1 box-office draw - a talented, handsome, wisecracking romantic lead. Offscreen, protected by a careful collaboration between studio and press, he was openly gay with reporters and studio chiefs alike. Here is Haines's virtually unknown story - rich with detail, revelations, and scandal - about silent movies and talkies; his lover Jimmie Shields, and the fifty-year relationship (Joan Crawford, their best friend, called them "The happiest married couple in Hollywood") and the enforcement of the Production Code and the establishment of the Hollywood closet, which led to the blacklisting that ultimately doomed Haimes's film career. Wisecracker sweeps from gay pool parties to the excitement of early talkies to Haines's infamous encounter with gay-bashing white supremicists in 1936. He survived the scandal to emerge as a top interior decorator to the stars and to such clients as Nancy Reagan and Walter Annenberg, who employed him for the American Embassy in London. With a cast of characters running from Tallulah Bankhead to Betsy Bloomingdale, from Clark Gable to William Randolph Hearst, Wisecracker is an astounding peice of newly discovered gay history, a chronicle of high Hollywood, and - at it's heart - a great and enduring love story.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 19 more reviews...
A good read even if there are factual errors... March 23, 2008
John L. Jones (New York)
Kate: The Woman Who Was HepburnHaving just finished Mann's recent biography of Katharine Hepburn, I decided to read Firecracker about William Haines. Mann's thesis in this book is similar to the one in the Hepburn book. As society changed in its view of sexuality, especially gay sexuality, Hollywood was forced to adapt to stay commercially viable. Hepburn changed and consequently became perhaps the biggest female star in Hollywood history, while Haines refused to compromise and is largely forgotten today.
This thesis is certainly provocative and even counter-intuitive since the 30's are often considered a time when liberals were dominant (i.e. the New Deal). But as Mann points out, overt censorship became a reality in the thirties and Hollywood had to adapt.
I highly recommend book with a few objections. Mann, as he did in the Hepburn book, favors the less than felicitous, and nonstandard, phrase "due to the fact" instead of because when he isn't even citing a fact.
More serious errors are made in fact. For instance, on page 118, Mann writes that there was no income tax. Yet, Mann is writing about the twenties. The 16th amendment that concerns the federal income tax was passed in 1913.
Another example is his portrayal of William Randolph Heart's 75th birthday party in 1938. He lists among the guests Van Johnson, but this inclusion seems unlikely as Johnson's screen debut wasn't until several years later.
He cites a party Joan Crawford threw where Barbara Stanwyck and Robert Taylor were guests. Stanwyck and Taylor were divorced in 1951 and had separated in 1950 so it seems unlikely that they were at Crawford's party, at least together, in the "fifties."
These may be small errors but it makes me wonder did Mann make errors in more important facts related to Haines' life. That said, I still enjoyed the book and look forward to his upcoming bio of Elizabeth Taylor.
 Things you can tell just by skimming through it June 2, 2003
J. Rose (Wyandotte, MI USA)
3 out of 6 found this review helpful
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."
WONDERFUL Biography of a Star! April 13, 2002
steve (Memphis, Tn USA)
6 out of 10 found this review helpful
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.
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