Is It Really True?

One of the attractive things about being a movie fan is that, on screen, our heroes never die and they do nothing wrong. After all, in Hollywood everything is make-believe. But offscreen, movie people are like us. But is everything we read about them true?

If you're like me, you love the history of Hollywood and the motion picture industry. But the more I read, the more things I read that seem to be, at best, unlikely or, at worst, that I know to be untrue and its pretty much always negative. It's one thing to write that an actor played a particular role seven times when it was actually twice or a certain movie was released a year later than it really was or an actress won an oscar when they were only nominated. That's just laziness on the part of the author. Repeating salacious stories is something else. If you believe everything you read, it seems that everybody who has ever worked in Hollywood is homosexual or bisexual, has a drug addiction, is a raging alcoholic or all of the above and more. Those things were never discussed during the golden age. The studios had publicity departments that made sure their stars had a positive reputation. They knew that damaged merchandise didn't sell tickets. Nowadays, that safeguard is gone but, paradoxically, it is no longer needed as there is no stigma for poor personal behavior on the part of celebrities. It's as if boorishness is expected and attractive.

For example, I recently read, for the first time ever, that Steve McQueen was a closeted homosexual whose death was due to AIDS. True or not? Personally, I choose not to believe, chiefly because that source is the only one I've seen to state that. I also don't believe that Clara Bow sexually serviced the entire USC football team or that Fatty Arbuckle sodomized Virginia Rappe with a bottle. While such stories make for sensational reading, buyer beware. Truth is in the mind of the beholder and lies become the truth only if you want them to be.