The Nude Photos of Martin and Lewis: A Gay Tease or a Gay Getaway in 1952

 

Nude photos of 1950s-60s comedy duo Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis have recently appeared on ebay, "from the Frank Branda collection."  This one sold for $4,494.99"  Wow, why spend that much when you can see it online for free?

Frank Branda was Jerry Lewis's personal assistant, driver, and close friend; he also appeared in three of Jerry's movies..  The photos were originally sold at Sotheby's shortly after Lewis's death in 2017.

Here Dean seems to be cold or pretending to be embarrassed, while Jerry is pretending to masturbate.

Same shower, but Jerry's hair is dry, so taken earlier?  Obviously staged. Dean and Jerry face each other.  Dean grabs Jerry's wrist to move him, and pretends to be soaping his back.  I can't read their expressions.

The candids seem to depict ordinary bathhouse activities: sauna, gym, flirting.  The captions say that they were taken in 1952, about five years into their comedy partnership, at the El Mirador Hotel in Palm Springs.

The Spanish Colonial style El Mirador, which opened in 1927,  was converted to an army hospital during World War II, and re-opened in  November 1952.  During the next 20 years, it was a "must see" landmark for tourists and a resort for the rich and famous, including U.S. Presidents.  

Are Dean and Jerry romantic partners, or are they fooling around, playing with the perception that they were gay?  At this time you could "hide in plain sight," as long as you were seen on the arms of women on occasion.  In November 1952, the 35-year old Dean was married to his second wife, Jeanne Biegger, and had five children (he would later have two more, and marry a third time).  The 24-year old Jerry was married to Patti Palmer, and had a son (he would marry a second time, and have a total of six children).  Both had numerous extramarital affairs.

Playing with the perception that they are a romantic couple, or actually a couple, having a gay weekend while their wives and kids wait at home?   Here they hang out in the sauna with  his driver/"close friend" Frank Branda and  Dean's assistant Mack Gray.  Notice that Jerry is keeping a chaste distance from Dean and crossing his legs in "don't touch me!" body language, while the other two guys are pressing their thighs together and letting their dongs hang out.

They were aware that Mack Gray was in a relationship with George Raft (1895-1980), who often played gangsters and heavies in movies.  They even attended parties at Raft's house as a couple, leaving the wives at home.

Here Jerry kisses Mack while Dean and an unidentified boyfriend wait.  One gets the impression that Jerry is comfortable in the gay world, while Dean is a bit standoffish.

Romantic partners, or gay teases?  Nearly 70 years later, there's no way to know for sure, but either challenges our perception of the 1950s as a dark era when gay people were closeted and lived in constant fear.

My Celebrity Boyfriend

West Hollywood, January 1987

When I moved to West Hollywood in 1985, I found that half of the residents were aspiring actors, directors, writers, models, dancers, or singers.  Most of my friends and acquaintances had been in something, and some had been in several things.

I've had hookups and dates  with several celebrities, or at least people who are listed in the Internet Movie Database, but I've only been in a relationship with one.

No real names because he's still closeted, and  I don't want to get sued -- how crazy is it that in 2015, you can be sued for slander for "accusing" someone of being gay.

But I can tell you that he's a couple of years older than me, tall and slim, with dark hair and dark eyes.  He was most famous at the time for an adventure tv series which I watched at Indiana University in the early 1980s, but since then he's starred in a cop show and appeared in some soap operas. Shouldn't be hard to figure out.


The Meeting:

We met at the post office at Christmastime in 1986, a few days after my fight and sort-of-breakup with my boyfriend Raul.  He was standing in line in front of me, carrying a large package.  I said "that's one enormous package.  And the box you're mailing is pretty big, too."  He laughed. (In the 1980s, "package" was slang for the visible bulge that sex organs make in tight pants.)

I told him I worked for Joe Weider's Muscle and Fitness, and asked if he would be available for the June centerfold.  He laughed again.

I gave him my telephone number, and said I was getting ready to leave for two weeks in Rock Island, but maybe we could get together afterwards.

You know dating in West Hollywood -- if you're not available right that moment, forget it.  There are lots of other guys around.  So I figured I would never hear from him again.

But when I called my roommate Alan on Christmas Day, he told me that the Celebrity had left a message.

We talked later, and made a date for January 10th, 1987.






The First Date:
I wore a thin silk shirt to show off my pecs, which was a mistake -- the Celebrity planned an "impress your date" dinner at Geoffrey's, on the beach at Malibu.  The temperature was in the 50s, with a wind whipping through me, and we dined al fresco.  And the Celebrity insisted that I have the chilled peach soup.  I turned down the invitation to "see his place," went home, and crawled under an electric blanket.

Ok, the first date was a bust.  I figured I would never hear from him again.

But he called the next day, and invited me to play tennis.

The Second Date:

I have played tennis maybe six times in my life.  I am terrible at it!  But how could I make any worse of an impression?

We played on a public court in Beverly Hills, with half of the Hollywood glitterati watching me stumble and trip, and bat the ball into the stratosphere, and land hard on my knee, requiring a trip to the emergency room.

Ok, the second date was a bust.  This was it for my celebrity romance!

But he called later and invited me to dinner at his house.

The Third Date:

The Celebrity lived in a rather modest house in the Hollywood Hills: only two bedrooms, a small swimming pool that was really more of a hot tub, no tennis court (thank goodness!).  He had two dogs, a Scottish Terrier and a Swedish Valhund, who sometimes took him to dog shows.

In West Hollywood, the third date meant that you were together, a couple.  But we hadn't even gotten to the bedroom yet.  And what if celebrities had their own rules?  I didn't know what to expect.

Dinner was chicken piccata, a green salad, and white wine.  I hadn't told him that I didn't drink, and anxious not to make any more faux-pas, I drank it, and got a little buzzed.

Then we went into the living room, watched a movie on his new VHS player, and eventually made it to the bedroom.

This is Christopher Atkins, not my Celebrity Boyfriend, but it will give you an idea of his physique: lean, firm, not terribly muscular, average or perhaps a little small beneath-the-belt.

But very cute, and energetic, willing to keep going all night.

Neither of us said anything in the morning, but I assumed that we were now together.

The Relationship:

During the next two  months, the Celebrity and I went out only twice more, once to see the opera Porgy and Bess at the Wiltern, and once for brunch at one of those top-floor restaurants where the spectacular views give you vertigo and the entrees start at $100. Otherwise we played tennis (again!), hung out in his pool, walked his dogs, and had Chinese or Thai food delivered while we watched movies on his VCR.

And cuddled and kissed. The Celebrity could cuddle for hours. 

He came over for dinner with my roommate Alan and ex-boyfriend Raul once.  I never met any of his friends.

In March I asked him about it.  He said, "Tell you what.  We'll host a party.  15 of my friends, and 15 of your friends.  That way everybody will get to know each other all at once."

The Last Party

On March 30th, 1987, the Celebrity and I hosted a post-Oscar party.  I invited Alan, Tranh, Raul, and two celebrities, Michael J. Fox and Tom Villard, to prove that I had famous friends, too (they didn't come).  The Celebrity invited several actors and a director.  I figured they were all gay, but as the evening progressed, some of them turned out to be hetero.

I thought I was being an excellent host, refilling drinks, pointing out the direction of the bathroom, answering questions like "how long have you two been together?" and "what are you guys planning for the summer?"  As guests left, I told them "Thanks for coming!"

But maybe I was too cruisy. In West Hollywood, parties tend to be exclusively gay, so light-hearted cruising, pretending to be interested, is customary.  Maybe that embarrassed the Celebrity. Or maybe he was jealous.

Or maybe he had been thinking of us as a "down-low" fling, not as a couple.

He was fine in bed that night, sharing the Director and then Alan, but the next day he didn't call, and when I called him, I got his answering machine.  During the next week, three messages and a drop-in went unanswered, and when I finally got through to him, he was "really busy."  Finally  I moved on.

Alan dated him soon after..

I just heard from him recently.  He said "thanks for not outing me," told me that he remembered the breakup being mutual, and complained that he wasn't on my Sausage List.

See also: My Celebrity Boyfriend and I Share; Guess Which Celebrities I've Dated; and Alan's Top 20 Scenes

West Hollywood Stories of Gay Celebrity Dates and Hookups

In the gay neighborhoods of West Hollywood and San Francisco, not so much in New York or Florida, everyone had a celebrity dating or hookup story.  Here are the most famous or most believable I've heard.

I'm making no claims about the sexual orientation of any of these celebrities except #1 and #10. Some of the stories are probably exaggerations, a non-romantic lunch becoming a romantic date, a casual meeting becoming a vigorous all-night orgy.  Some are probably pure inventions.

Cesar Romero (1907-1994) 1940s heartthrob and the Joker on the old Batman tv series.  My boyfriend Lane hooked up with him in the early 1990s.  When he told the story, Adam West (Batman) and Burt Ward (Robin) were in the mix.

President Ronald Reagan (1911-2004) He was just a local radio announcer when Oscar, the retired set designer from Des Moines, claims that they dated. The biographical details check out.

Desi Arnaz (1917-1986).  Ricky Ricardo on I Love Lucy.  Cesar Romero claimed that they had a long-term "friend with benefits relationship.

Tony Randall (1920-2004) star of the Odd Couple (1968-1975).  Marcus, the first person I met in West Hollywood, said that they met on the set of Hollywood Squares, and hooked up in a hotel in Beverly Hills.  Marcus was in the industry, and introduced me to several celebrities, including Michael J. Fox and Robin Williams, but there's no evidence that Tony Randall was gay.

Tony Curtis (1925-2010), the movie star who went in drag for Some Like It Hot (1959).   Drake, the leather teddy bear artist of South of Market, claimed to have tricked with him when he was starring in Trapeze (1956), about a circus love triangle.  Tony Curtis was married to women five times, but his androgynous prettyboy looks made him the subject of many gay rumors in the 1950s.

Allen Ginsberg (1926-1997), the gay Beat poet.  Fangorn, aka Dennis, said that his first gay experience was a three way with Ginsberg and Peter Orlovsky.

Dick Sargeant (1930-1994), Cary Grant (1904-1986), and Groucho Marx (1890-1988), all on the same night, in the same bed!  In 1958, when he was a teenage navy recruit, Randall (the bear with the pierced penis) told us that he hooked up with Dick Sargent (future star of Bewitched), who took him to a gay party.  There Groucho and Cary both invited him home.  They compromised.

Pat Boone (1934-).    This doesn't really count as a friend's hookup story, but Randall, the Muscle Bear with the Pierced Penis, told us that he heard about a three way that Pat Boone had with Dick Sargent and a teenage fan.




Richard Chamberlain (1934-)  The now-out star of Shogun (1980) and I competed over Thanh, the Vietnamese grad student, one night at Mugi. Thanh and I dated once, and then became friends.  He immediately sought out Chamberlain for a dinner-and-bedroom date.

Peter Fonda (1940-), actor and political activist.  This is actually a buffed model representing his iconic role in Easy Rider (1969).  Will, the Bondage Boy with the Sweeney Todd fetish, told us that they hooked up at a bath house in Mexico in 1978.  Fonda, who has been married three times, has been the subject of gay rumors.

Sylvester Stallone (1946-).  In Upstate New York, the Satyr claimed that he had a job as a "fluffer" for Stallone during his 1970 porn movie.









David Cassidy (1950-) teen idol and star of The Partridge Family (1970-1974).  My housemate Derek, a former fitness model, told us about a romantic weekend of motorcycling through Wales with him in 1974.  At that time David Cassidy was the most famous pop star in the world.  If it really happened, why is there no news coverage?

Mark Hamill (1951-), the iconic Luke Skywalker of Star Wars (1977).  He's done a lot of theater, too.  He was starring in The Nerd on Broadway in 1987, when Blake the Opera Buff said that they met and went out on several dates.  Hamill is not out, but there has been a lot of speculation about his sexual identity.

Dean Paul Martin (1951-) and Desi Arnaz Jr. (1953-), the sons of Dean Martin and Desi Arnaz, respectively, and two thirds of the boy band Dino, Desi, and Billy.  Cesar Romero claimed that he had a three-way with them in 1971.

Dan Butler (1954-), who played the ultra-macho sports announcer Bulldog on Frazier (1993-2004). Marshall the Virgin dated him several times shortly after we took him to his first Bear Party in 1994.

Kip Noll (1958-2001) the porn star.  My friend Alan, the Pentecostal porn star, worked with him on a film in the early 1980s.  Does it count as a hookup if your sexual activity is part of your job?










Ronald Reagan, Jr. (1958-),  the President's son, estranged from his father, a ballet dancer, who got married very quickly and suspiciously when his father took office -- what were we to think? Half of West Hollywood claimed to have dated him.  My ex Fred claimed that they met at a bathhouse in Chicago during the summer of 1979.

Scott Baio (1960-). Nearly everybody in West Hollywood claimed to have dated "Charles in Charge."

Rob Lowe (1964-), teen idol and brat packer.  Mario, who picked me up at the Different Light Bookstore, worked with him on a tv pilot when they were both teenagers.  According to Mario, they had dinner, went up to Rob's room, and one thing led to another while they were watching Magnum, P.I.

Keanu Reeves (1964-).  The brooding star of the Matrix movies has played gay characters several times, but he had barely begun his career in 1988, when my friends Scott and Will ran into him at the Rage.  They described a wild night that included making out on the beach and skinny-dipping in a pool of a house in Beverly Hills that didn't belong to them.

Luke Perry (1966-2019), star of the teen drama Beverly Hills 90210 (1990-2000).  Remember the Family Guy episode, in which Meg accidentally "outs" him in the school newspaper, and he sues for slander?  My friend Barry, the Colonial Williamsburg boy of Long Island, claimed to have met him while cruising in West Hollywood one night in 1997.  Perry was married with a son at the time, but ok.

Leonardo DiCaprio (1974-), the indy movie star who has played gay characters several times, and receives nearly as many gay rumors as the big boys, Tom Cruise and John Travolta.  Lots of guys claimed to have dated or hooked up with him, but the most believable story came from Farshad, the French Moroccan on my sausage list, who said that they met in Paris in 1995.

Mark-Paul Gosselaar (1974-), star of Saved by the Bell.  He doesn't really count, since it wasn't actually a date: my friend Infinite Chazz claims a hookup that went wrong when MP dumped him for another guy.

Prince Carl Philip of Sweden (1979-).   Zack, the photography student at the Rhode Island School of Design, said that he spent the night with him when they were teenagers, both boarding school students in Connecticut.

Dylan O'Brien (1991-),  star of the Maze Runner movies and the tv series Teen Wolf (2011-).  Jimmy, the Boy Toy of my platonic friends,  told me that they went to high school in Hermosa Beach, California together.  They used to do it in his parents' garage.  This was before I had heard of Dylan O'Brien, so he's an odd person to try to impress me with, and there are some gay rumors.

By the way, the top photo is of model Craig Moody.  He's gay and from Florida, but none of my friends has claimed to have dated him.

Harry Styles (1994-).  Ryan H,, the college track star that I met while driving through small-town Illinois, said that he met Harry Styles of the boy band One Direction in the summer of 2015, and had a rather unsatisfactory three way with him and a silver fox.

See also: Celebrities I've Dated