January 2

Closeted Gays in the White House
James Buchanan and William Rufus King

Buchanan (above) was the only U.S. bachelor president, and King (right) was the only bachelor vice president. They also had the hots for each other. King was vice-president under Franklin Pierce, who was president immediately before Buchanan. The two lived together for fifteen years in a house in Washington, DC, beginning in 1836. Buchanan was a one-term president, serving from 1857-1861, in the years immediately preceding the U.S. Civil War.

King, a senator from Alabama, was five years older than Buchanan, but King was called “Miss Nancy” by Andrew Jackson, “Mrs. James Buchanan” by James K. Polk’s law partner, and “Buchanan’s better half” and “Aunt Fancy” by others. Senator King was noted for his “fastidious habits and conspicuous intimacy with bachelor Buchanan.” Around Washington, Buchanan and King’s sexual orientations were widely rumored to be gay. They were known as the “Siamese twins,” slang at the time for gays and lesbians.
When King was appointed envoy to France in 1844, Buchanan lamented, in a letter to a friend that “I am now solitary and alone, having no companion in the house with me. I have gone wooing to several gentlemen, but have not succeeded with any of them.” King died of tuberculosis five years before Buchanan became president.
Buchanan and King must have had something to hide, because the two men’s nieces destroyed all their uncles’ correspondence; as well, Buchanan ordered that all his letters be burnt upon his death.

Historical footnote: Senator King was elected Vice President of the United States on the Democratic ticket with Franklin Pierce in 1852, but took the oath of office while in Cuba, where he had gone due to ill health. This unusual inauguration took place because it was believed that King, who was terminally ill with tuberculosis, would not live to return to U.S. soil. The privilege of taking the oath on foreign soil was extended by a special act of Congress for his long and distinguished service to the government of the United States. Even though he took the oath 20 days after the president’s inauguration day, he was still Vice President during those three weeks. Shortly afterward, King left Cuba to return to his Chestnut Hill plantation in Alabama, where he died within two days, at age 67.

But I digress. It's time for more male tan lines.

January 1

Closeted Gays in Hollywood
Cary Grant (1904-1986)

Cary Grant & Randolph Scot share an intimate moment outside their Santa Monica beach house (1930s).

Though he married women five times, movie star Cary Grant (1904-1986) enjoyed many gay relationships during his early career in New York and Hollywood. His most famous same-sex romance was with fellow actor Randolph Scott (1898-1987), the rugged star of numerous westerns.

Grant and Scott met at Paramount Studios in 1932 and were immediately attracted to each other. Soon after, they moved in together, sharing a house at 2177 W. Live Oak Drive near Griffith Park in Hollywood. The arrangement was explained away by studio public relations agents as a way for two young actors to “cut costs and share expenses,” even though both men could easily afford their own homes. Even after Grant’s marriage to Virginia Cherrill, the two men continued co-habiting. Cherrill simply moved into the house with the two lovers for the duration of her 13-month marriage. In her 1935 divorce settlement from Grant, she received $50,000, which was equivalent to 50% of their community property at the time.

Randolph Scott (above). Is it any wonder Cary Grant fell for him?

Between liaisons with other men and women, Grant and Scott’s relationship endured, well known to their colleagues in the industry. In the late 1930s, Grant and Scott occupied a Santa Monica beach house at 1019 Ocean Front (since renumbered – now 1039). In fan magazines, they were  photographed together in domestic bliss, wearing aprons and cavorting pool side or on the patio. According to Grant’s biographer, they believed their public flamboyance would raise them above suspicion of homosexuality. The public bought it, and Grant enjoyed a screen career as a suave ladies’ man for the next three decades, while Randolph Scott made popular westerns, always playing rugged, masculine characters.

Thanks to an interested reader who provided additional information to lead to this elaboration of my December 10 blog entry about roommies Grant and Scott.

Don’t miss My Favorite Wife (1940 - available from NetFlix), a film featuring Grant and Scott as co-stars in a screwball comedy. In this trailer for the movie, Scott appears with Cary Grant at the 1:45 mark.



Now, back to the tan lines.