Summer of Love, 1951
Imagine a 1951 where being gay is completely ordinary. In that year, Guy Madison and Rory Calhoun are Hollywood's newest and hottest couple.
The Couple
They are seen at every hotspot in town. They spend afternoons with friends at the Riviera, LA's swankiest pool and lounge. This summer they star together in MGM's major new picture, "Union Soldiers in Love."
The Real History
The pairing has a real-world basis. Madison and Calhoun were both clients of agent Henry Willson, who built the careers of a generation of handsome leading men, including Rock Hudson and Tab Hunter. Willson also created their names: Robert Moseley became "Guy Madison," and Francis Durgin went through several names before Willson settled on "Rory Calhoun."
The two actors did share the screen. They appeared together in the Monogram film "Massacre River" in 1949. Off screen, Robert Hofler's Willson biography includes a story of Calhoun and Madison found together in a Jaguar while Willson stood outside in the rain. The story is unconfirmed, and both men married women.
The Version That Never Happened
In the actual 1950s, studios and agents carefully managed the image of men like these. Willson did not allow his gay clients to live with other men and enforced the rule through surveillance. In 1955, when Confidential magazine threatened to expose Rock Hudson, Willson gave the magazine information about Calhoun's years in prison and Tab Hunter's 1950 arrest at a gay party instead.
These collages remove that management and show the version that was never allowed to happen.
The Symbols
Blue Moon, representing love, and Jupiter 2, representing freedom, appear in each piece.
Subtext becomes context.
— Behan
Sources: Robert Hofler, "The Man Who Invented Rock Hudson: The Pretty Boys and Dirty Deals of Henry Willson"; Bright Lights Film Journal, "Inside the Dreamboat Factory"; Wikipedia, "Rory Calhoun"; IMDb, Henry Willson biography.
