SCOTTY AND THE SECRET HISTORY OF HOLLYWOOD: A Story Equal Parts Salacious & Sweet

You’ve likely never heard of Scotty Bowers, but he’s been a smiling shadow hovering on the periphery throughout the history of Hollywood. A Marine who fought in the Pacific theater during World War II, Bowers returned home from the war and began working as an attendant at a gas station on Hollywood Boulevard. There, he claims he was propositioned by the actor Walter Pidgeon one day, and figured, hey, why not?

From there, Bowers embarked on a decades-long career as a procurer of sexual services for the stars, primarily those who were closeted and had no other way of finding same-sex lovers. He kept his exploits to himself until the publication of a memoir in 2012, after the majority of the people involved had passed away. Now, his scandalous life is the subject of a new documentary, Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood. Directed by Matt Tyrnauer, the film explores why and how Bowers devoted his life to such secretive, potentially dangerous activities – and whether he should be criticized for kissing and telling now.

Hollywood Hedonism

At the start of Tyrnauer’s film, Scotty Bowers celebrates his 90th birthday, blowing out candles on a penis-shaped cake while surrounded by gleeful friends. This scene, highlighting both Bowers’ immense popularity and his open-minded attitude towards all things sexual, sets the tone for all of the outrageousness to follow. Bowers takes Tyrnauer for a walk down memory lane in the form of meetings with other hustlers from Hollywood’s Golden Age, all of whom attest to the veracity of Bowers’ claims.

Among those claims? That Cary Grant and Randolph Scott were living together not as friendly bachelors, but as lovers – and that Bowers once had a three-way with them. That Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy never actually slept together; the long-standing rumors of their affair were used to cover up their flings with same-sex partners. (That heterosexual adultery was deemed more scandalous and potentially career-ending than homosexual love tells you a lot about Hollywood’s moral code at the time). That the abdicated King of England, Edward VIII, and his wife, Wallis Simpson, were frequent customers of Bowers’ whenever they were in Hollywood, though Bowers says he kept their royal identities a secret from the other hustlers he set them up with. And that’s only a smattering of the famous names Bowers casually drops during his conversations with Tyrnauer and others over the course of the film.

The way Bowers tells it, everyone in Hollywood knew about each others’ varying sexual proclivities, but if a word leaked to the press, and the general public, they all knew their careers would be doomed. So, Bowers did them all a favor by setting them up with sexual partners – $20 a pop was the going rate – who would maintain utmost discretion. Bowers, now cheerfully married to his second wife and living in a house so packed with stuff that it qualifies as a dangerous hoarding situation, relays all of this information with irresistible charm and, ironically, innocence. His attitude towards sex, he tells us, has been casual since he started secretly servicing priests for money while still a teenager. 

Childhood sexual abuse that may have set Bowers down his sexually adventurous path is briefly alluded to, but Bowers quashes those claims; in his mind, how could his life have ever been ruined by a blowjob? This naive attitude towards what constitutes abuse is a dark moment in the film, even if Bowers doesn’t view it as dark whatsoever. The close friendships that men formed in the trenches of World War II are also explored in Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood, allowing the audience to wonder if those life-changing experiences made men of that era more comfortable seeking comfort with each other. It’s an intriguing historical subplot that deserves its own documentary.

Substance Over Style

I recently reviewed another documentary directed by Tyrnauer, Studio 54, when it played at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival. Like that film, Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood is not doing anything revolutionary with the documentary form. Tyrnauer’s style of storytelling is solid, but nothing spectacular; his films lean on talking heads, superbly well-curated stock footage (props for finding all of the most hilariously homoerotic clips of Cary Grant and company), and straightforward narrative.

However, both Studio 54 and Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood are no less entertaining or eye-opening for Tyrnauer’s style (or lack thereof). This is largely because Tyrnauer lets the larger-than-life characters who he has chosen to focus his films on do most of the heavy legwork, carrying the films through their own force of character and charm. In Studio 54, that character is club co-founder Ian Schrager; here, it is Bowers, whose easygoing nature and no-nonsense attitude about his salacious past make him an incredibly compelling figure.

Bowers might be over 90, but he’s in remarkably good shape and clarity of mind. (Perhaps years of sexual shenanigans helped keep him young? Who’s to say?) He is completely confident that he spent his life doing the right thing by making so many people happy; the death of his beloved brother during the war, and of his only daughter as the result of a back-alley abortion, are presented as the only moments in his life where Bowers felt true sadness and regret. As his fellow hustlers note throughout the film, Bowers never took a dime off of them in exchange for setting them up with customers; one such man embraces Bowers with intense emotion, noting that without Bowers sending customers his way, he might not have had enough money to get by. As Bowers sees it, he wasn’t a pimp – just a friendly guy trying to help others out sexually and financially. And what could possibly be bad about that?

Conclusion: Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood

Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood is a delightful look behind the curtain at a side of Hollywood kept so long in the dark. Personally, I am on the side of Bowers, not his critics; it’s important for people to understand that Hollywood stars were just like us, with just as diverse a range of sexual tastes. In this day and age, there’s no reason to keep pretending that people like Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn were something they were not, when what they actually were is just as acceptable. Bowers’ philosophy of acceptance and openness is one we could all do well to practice.

What do you think? Does Bowers deserve plaudits or criticism for his actions? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood is released in Los Angeles on July 27, 2018 and in New York on August 3, 2018.