Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood (2017) - full transcript

- [Answering Machine]
Two new messages.

Message one.

- [Bernardo] Hi,
Scotty, it's Bernardo.

I got your message.

So call me any time you want
to see me or get together.

We look forward to seeing you.

(birds chirping)

- Bernardo took me shopping.

I mean, I paid for it, but
he took me shopping. (laughs)

Bernardo insisted that
I have a handkerchief

for the pocket too.



Jeez, I hope it fits.

- [Matt] When was
the last time Scotty

was dressed like this?

- When we got married.

(Scotty laughs)

Hey!

("It had to be
you" instrumental)

- [Scotty] You look
so pretty, honey.

- This is the birthday man.

- Happy Birthday, Scotty!
- He only looks a day over 50.

("It had to be
you" instrumental)

- [Man] Andreas, for 40 years.

- You're looking wonderful.

We're talking about the
Gomorrah of Hollywood.



- Talking about what?

- [Woman] The
Gomorrah of Hollywood.

- It's amazing!

Can you believe it?

- He must've lived his
life in a good way,

because look at him,
and he's 90 years old.

- I'm telling you, he worked
every day of his life.

And God knows he partied,
you've read his book.

("It Had to be
You" instrumental)

- Are you still working?

(laughs) We wanna know
if you're still working.

- You might say that.

- [Man] Scotty?

Oh, Scott, where are you?

I think there's something with
your name on it over here.

(lively instrumental music)

- [Crowd] Yay!

- [Man] 90 and still going!

- Happy birthday, Scotty.
- Thank you.

That was so nice of you.

- It wasn't until
I started working

my book on Katharine Hepburn.

I was talking to some of
the other biographers,

and they said to me,

"You know, there's this
character out there

"that you really
should try to talk to,

"and his name is Scotty Bowers.

"And he had this
gas station, and he,

"you know, he
supplied men and women

"to the various Hollywood stars.

"He knew, he knows
all about that era,

"but you know, you'll
never get to talk to him."

I began to think that maybe
he was an urban legend.

(laughs) You know, that
there was no Scotty Bowers.

(lively horn music)

- Did you have a
little black book?

- No.
- No?

You kept it all in your head?
- Yes, yes.

- Some people have described you

as a sort of pimp to the stairs.

- [Scotty] Oh, yes.

- [Anthony] In the book you say

you were just trying
to help people out.

- Yes, I was.

- [Anthony] But the risks,

particularly for gay or
bisexual actors, were serious.

- [Scotty] I met Cary Grant
first, then Randolph Scott.

Back in those days, people
knew they were lovers.

- I've lost my clothes.

- But why are you
wearing these clothes?

- Because I just went
gay all of a sudden!

- People are very invested
in the establishment view

of Hollywood movie star history,

which Scotty's story
re-tells in an honest way

and in a way that's more
true to what was going on.

- [Scotty] 90% of jobs could
be lost from being gay.

You were in the
closet, basically.

So many people were.

This is why what I
did in the gas station

was so nice for people.

- You don't think this
thing is gonna get around?

You don't think everybody's
gonna know about it?

I won't even be able to
show my face in Lindy's.

- People get very
angry at the idea

of these beloved Hollywood icons

being revealed to have secrets.

But actually, all it
is that Scotty is doing

is revealing that
these people were real.

They were actual people.

Flesh and blood, like us.

- It turned out that
Scotty was the center

of a whole different
alternate world.

A world to which most of us
had no access or knowledge.

- It can add up to an
awful lot of people,

when you stop and
think about it.

You would say, each
day, 365 days a year.

It's certainly
into the thousands.

And it's hard to
believe a lot of people

who've only been with two
or three different people

would never believe it.

(slow dramatic music)

(birds chirping)

"Dear Scotty.

"What a read, what a life.

"A group of Hollywood's
best writers

"could not have made up the
life you actually lived."

- Really gets one who
doesn't like the book.

- "I believe every
word you wrote.

"Why would you lie?

"God, I wish I'd lived
next door to you."

- 'Cause those would be the ones

that you would think
would let him have it.

Both girls, but not a one.

And yet I know there are
people who don't like the book.

The lady that cuts
your hair told me.

- [Scotty] Yeah,
but she's guessing.

She doesn't know anybody--
- No, she, not guessing.

- [Scotty] She told
you there are people

that don't like the book?

- Because it, yeah, I told you

that you took away their dream.

Shame on you.

- You know, there's a new
book called Full Service.

It's written by a man who
says he used to set up gay

and bisexual affairs for
some of the biggest stars

from the 1940s and beyond.

- The point of this is,
these people are now dead.

They cannot answer.
- Right.

- Some of them have families.

Is it right?

Do you out people
after they're dead?

- Why?

What does it, what does it, no,

you do care because
they got family.

- The point is it's their
business and not yours.

You shouldn't out someone
when they're alive

and you shouldn't out
them when they're dead.

How's that?

You shouldn't out them any time

unless it's you saying
it about yourself.

- Unless they gave
their permission.

- [Whoopi] Yes, yes!

- That's kinda pretty out there.

I mean, with the sun in
the background over there.

Jesus, look at that
beautiful rainbow.

I created the
rainbow in Hollywood.

The Rainbow is at 5777 Hollywood
Boulevard called Richfield,

and that was a rainbow,

that was the fuckin' end of a
rainbow for a lot of people.

I mean, it's hard to believe
unless you were there,

how much fun that
gas station was.

People disappearing
up in the trailer

and going in the washroom
and doing this and that.

The whole thing
was fun. (laughs)

(soft piano music)

5777 Hollywood Boulevard.

And the streetcar used to go
along Hollywood Boulevard,

ding, ding, ding,
and stop right there

in front of the gas station,
which was very nice.

Where the gas station was

is a huge three-story
firehouse there now.

Now, see, that's their
property, came right to here,

went straight back to
that corner and down.

And the gas station
was a little thing,

it was no higher where, where,

than those letters
that say fire station.

It's so completely different now

that it's hard to
believe what it was then.

(lively jazz music)

That period of time
after World War II,

that was quite a different
time, never to be repeated.

Remember, had the
war not come along,

people lived on the farm
and still be on the farm,

like myself.

I went in the Marine
Corps when I was 18.

My brother went in the Marine
Corps two years after I did.

I was in '42, '43,
'44, and most of '45.

(slow soft music)

When you're overseas,
you're a long ways away,

and how many guys
get killed every day,

and you're burying
people all the time.

(slow soft music)

You think, you do think you're
never gonna get back home.

(crowd cheering)

When the war was over
in '45, many guys,

when they got out
of the service,

they went back home again to
the little town, to the farm.

I upgraded myself and went
to Hollywood. (laughs)

(slow soft orchestral music)

I went and got the job
at the gas station.

(bell dings)

The very first person I
met at the gas station

was Walter Pidgeon.

It happened purely accidental.

He drove in, in a nice
Lincoln Continental.

It was a hot day, and
he was a real gentleman.

- [Matt] Did you
know who he was?

- [Scotty] Not really.

I just thought he
was a nice guy.

He said, "What is a
nice-looking guy like you

"doing working in
the gas station?"

That type of thing. (laughs)

"It'd be nice to have you come
and take a dip in the pool,"

and things like that.

I got into the car
and left with him.

(slow soft jazz music)

- [Matt] That day at
the pool, what happened?

- [Scotty] Well, you know,
you're, you're there,

and pretty soon, one
person's touching.

Things just automatically
kind of happened.

- You look at how he
stumbled into this,

and literally, he did stumble.

But then, the key fact there is

that there was a whole
network of folks,

certainly the set
designers, the hairdressers.

They were waiting for someone
like Scotty to come along.

- [Scotty] Edwin B. Willis,

the number-one set
decorator at MGM.

Every picture that came
out of MGM, it said,

"Set Decoration by
Edwin B. Willis."

All of a sudden, Edwin called me

and says so-and-so is coming
to the station, so-and-so,

and this happened
in a matter of days.

And then, word of mouth,
everything flows automatically.

You couldn't believe
how busy I was.

I needed help.

(lively upbeat jazz music)

There's a place on Sunset

called The Crossroads
of the World.

And there were women,
voluntarily worked down there

that would take messages.

I left a number there and
the guys picked it up,

and pretty soon, I
had about 20 guys

hanging around the gas
station, very soon.

And these were guys who just got

out of the Marine Corps
too, and didn't have a dime.

Somebody I knew would come in
to the gas station and say,

"Jeez, I'd love to take that
nice-looking guy to dinner."

I'd say, "For 20 bucks,
you can suck his cock now

"and forget the goddamn dinner."

You know, everything
was $20 bucks.

I would say to my friends,

"I'm gonna fix you
up with a trick,

"and all the guy's gonna do
is take and suck your cock,

"and it's the same as if your
girl was sucking your cock.

"If you wanna close your eyes

"and think it's her
sucking your cock, do."

"Okay, I'll do it once."

Well, once, twice,
you know. (laughs)

♪ When the world should
all be sleepin' ♪

♪ And the melody
comes creepin' ♪

- [Scotty] I was fixing every
bit of 20 people a night

up at the gas station,
seven nights a week.

Behind the gas station I
had this huge house trailer.

Now the guy that left it

gave me $50 a month
to park it there.

And he said, "Use it
any time you want."

♪ It's no cabaret ♪

- [Scotty] And you
entered from the center.

Up here was a king-size bed

and over here was
a king-size bed

and they had a drape
that could separate it.

Son of a bitch, I had that
going night and day, you know.

(upbeat jazz music)

And then a friend of
mine, an old queen,

ran a motel right
across the street.

He would call me and say,

"I have six, seven,
eight, 12, and 14 vacant.

"The door's open.

"Just go right in.

"Five bucks, do you
get what I mean?"

(upbeat jazz music)

A lot of people liked
the bathroom thing.

It had a little hole,
a quarter-inch hole,

and I had that directly
underneath the toilet paper.

You would lay on
the air compressor,

put your eye up against the
thing, and watch the washroom.

So I had people in there,
and I had people watching

and the whole bit,
you get what I mean?

That's what you call
business, baby. (laughs)

(upbeat jazz music)

(men laughing)

Good to see ya.

You sweet little baby, you.

- Oh, I've been trying to
get you over here for years.

- [Scotty] You've been so nice.

- I told Scotty he was so
well-organized in those days.

I said if you'd been in the
business world instead of here,

you would've ended up as
chairman of General Motors.

- (laughs) You sweetheart, Jack.

Jack was a young trick of mine.

- You picked me up in Acapulco.

- That, that's right.

We met in Acapulco.
- Acapulco.

- Son of a bitch,
that's right. (laughs)

- [Jack] Where did
those years go?

- [Scotty] Jesus, I don't know.

Those years slipped
by, Jack, so quick.

- This, this was a
book you had to write.

But everyone trusted you.

Did, did anyone ever bother
saying to you, you know,

"You would never
betray me, would you?"

I mean--

- That's why, when
everyone was living,

I would never even think,
under any circumstances,

no god-damned dime, and no
matter what anyone offered me,

I wouldn't write a book then.

(people chattering)
(cameras clicking)

- All those people.
- Ya.

- Don't you think you
misled their trust

by writing a tell-all book?

- A lot of people at
the time knew what,

who these people were
and what they were,

so it's not a secret, really.

It may be a secret to some
square that lives in Illinois,

but people who lived
in Hollywood, they
knew these people.

- Yeah, but you,
but for their fans,

I mean, like if they
had a grand kid,

the grand kid remembers, "Oh
no, my grandfather was gay,"

or whatever like that.

- What's wrong with, what's
wrong with being gay?

So, but thanks anyhow.

- [Man] Okay, that's
just my feedback.

- No, I can, I can see it.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I did the book just to
show some of these people

that people are still people.

But some of these
squares think oh my God,

you're weird, you're
different, you know.

Like, ladies would say to me,

"Just what are you?"

I said, "I'm everything."

(man laughs)

- [Woman] Thank you.

- [Photographer]
One more, one more.

There we go.

(men laughing)

- Just Hollywood trash, Scotty.

You and I traveled
on the same highways

and low life, and the alleyways.

- [Scotty] That's right.

- You know I worked for
George Cukor for two years.

And, and Katharine Hepburn
lived down in the guesthouse.

You know, she would come
up, "George, George!

"I hope you're not up there
spilling the beans about us,

"telling, telling the truth!

"We've been in the
closet for 40 years,

"and don't, don't
you," and, you know,

finally we had to
cancel the book,

and he, George hated it.

George had to give
back a $75,000 advance.

That nearly killed him.

- [Narrator] George
Cukor has been the center

of more controversies
than any other director

in the history of Hollywood.

He's not only directed a string

of highly successful
pictures like Little Women,

Philadelphia Story,
and Adam's Rib,

but he's also been
fired from quite a few,

including Gone with the Wind.

(slow soft bass music)

- [Scotty] I met George in 1947.

George came in the gas station
in his new black Dodge Sedan,

introduced himself, and
invited me up to the house.

Within a few days I was up here.

He almost came on
like Walter Pidgeon.

"It's a hot day. I'd
love to have you come up,

"take a dip in my pool, and
cool off," and things like that.

- [Narrator] George
Cukor has never married,

but lives alone in a palatial
home in Beverly Hills,

a house which has seven living
rooms and only one bedroom.

- George Cukor was,
really one of the arbiters

of Hollywood society.

He was someone who had
the greatest parties,

he, he knew everyone.

(soft orchestral music)

- On Saturday nights,
there were like the great,

elegant soirees with the
kings and queens of Hollywood:

Vivien Leigh, Laurence Olivier,

Garbo.

Sunday afternoons around
the pool was brunch

with 10, 12, 15 of the most
beautiful men in Hollywood.

Scotty Bowers would
always provide new talent.

- George Cukor was the
epicenter for gay Hollywood

in the '30s, '40s, and '50s.

If George gave his seal
of approval to someone,

the rest of the community
looked on with favor.

George respected Scotty.

He wasn't simply this Madam
Cukor called for events,

he was also a friend
of George Cukor's,

and Scotty became friends
with many of Cukor's friends.

(soft piano music)

(birds chirping)

- [Scotty] That son of a bitch

is loaded with
stuff in there, wow!

(laughs)

- [Matt] How many garages
like this do you have?

- Let's see, I have one,

two,

three, four, about five

full.

I started this, Jesus,
25 years ago, I guess.

And I kept packing
in, packing in

until you couldn't
even move anything.

(birds chirping)

The pictures should be in here.

These were all the guys
from the gas station.

All clean-cut, nice-looking
guys, aren't they?

- [Matt] When was the last
time you saw those photos?

- Uh, about the time
they were taken. (laughs)

But I haven't seen
them since then.

I forgot about them completely.

Every one of these guys,
including the girl,

were all hustlers, every
one of them. (laughs)

(steady jazz music)

Ronnie Stinson was my buddy
from Regina, Saskatchewan.

One of my number one
guys, Ronnie was.

Bob Atkinson had a big prick,
and Bob was out of the Navy.

He had a nice rugged look about
him, looked like a cowboy,

you know, that type of thing.

Georgie Fargo from Chicago,
put him on a few tricks,

he wasn't great.

His heart wasn't in it.

One day, I introduced
him to Clint Eastwood,

and he and Clint
were buddy-buddy,

and, and Clint got him
a part in pictures.

And Lee was a pretty,
little, 21-year-old boy

that every fucking queen in
Hollywood was hot for. (laughs)

- [Matt] Are any of
these guys still alive?

- Some of them are still living.

Lee, Lee's old, but
he's still around.

(Scotty laughs)

Hello, baby.

When I think of Lee, I can
only think of nice things,

and a smile comes on my face,

because here we
are back together.

It was a cool little car,
that little '55 way back.

- [Matt] Some people
don't believe the book.

What do you say to those people?

- I showed it to
a friend of mine.

He thought it was trash.

I said, "Well, it's,
maybe, that's your opinion,

"but it's all true."

- [Matt] About what year did
Lee show up at the gas station?

- 1951.

I came into Hollywood.

I saw this sign on a
glass window and it said,

"Are you looking for employ?"

I said yes, so he
hired me right there.

- [Scotty] Right then and there.

The moment he walked
in, he was on his,

he was on his first
trick, right, within a,

within an hour. (laughs)

- Customers please, Scott.

- I must have given you this
card 60 years ago, right?

These are basically business
people out of New York.

Don't forget, I was fixing
an awful lot of people up

that weren't famous, too.

This is just a backup.

So when you go to New York,

in case something happens
with the deal you got,

you got somethin' to fall back
on for a ticket back home,

you know?

What the hell.

- Well, this is a program

from a Shakespeare's
Memorial Theater.

Charlie autographed it for me.

He said, "Lee, to Lee, who
bawled the hell out of me

"until I did this.

"Gratefully, Charles Laughton."

That's Charlie here,

King Lear.

- Lee was Charles
Laughton's favorite,

and Charles loved
Lee, really he did.

- [Lee] Charlie, he
was a beautiful man.

He really was.

- [Woman] Hello, Charles.

How are you?
- Hello, gentlemen.

- How do you do?
- Hello, Elsie.

- [Lee] And whenever he
had problems with Elsie,

he'd call me up and we'd
go have dinner some place.

- Hello, come on in.
- Come on.

- [Lee] I was a good listener.

- [Matt] What did Charles
like to do sexually?

- He just likes to
suck cock. (laughs)

- That's right.

(lively jazz music)

Charles Laughton and I
were very close from,

way back from World War
II and up until he died.

I saw him myself and
fixed him up with tricks.

Charles was going to England,
I drove him to the airport.

And Charles, he
gave me an envelope

and I looked at it later,
it was a thousand dollars.

It's ten $100 bills
that he gave to me.

That's just being,
being nice, you know.

I certainly didn't
ever ask for it.

(lively upbeat jazz music)

The world was different
then than it is now.

(birds chirping)

You know, every
four or five days

you gotta run this up, you know.

(clock winding)

This is a little house
that I paid $22,000 for,

about 52 years ago.

$22,000 for the
house in $20 bills.

You know, those $20
add up quick. (laughs)

There are some pretty things
in here, you know, but...

Underneath it all, I meant.

I lived here with Bette

for just a dash over
50 years, I guess.

Bette was my first wife.

You might say that
we were common-law.

We never really married.

And, and as many years
as I've been here,

I rarely ever stayed
here, considering my work.

There were some years
I might be here one

and two nights in a year.

There are some nice
little goodies in here.

These are, these things in
the house are called goodies.

Bette had it very
nice, really, she did.

It's me that fucked it up.

And then that's Donna
when she was a little girl

that a friend of mine painted.

I'm rarely here.

I come up, get the mail,
get some phone calls and,

and other than that, I
don't even come here.

- [Answering
Machine] Message two.

- [Gerard] Hey, Scotty,
it's Gerard from Book Soup.

We were wondering
if you could come in

and sign some books for
us when you get a chance.

Thanks.

(birds chirping)

- [Man] West Hollywood
Book Fair this weekend,

so we wanted to take
some signed stock back.

(woman chattering)

- Boy, they have a book
on everything here.

Randolph Scott, Cary Grant.

What was so funny is they,

they lived right behind
the Chateau Marmont there.

And they lived at the beach too,

they lived right at
Santa Monica Beach.

And they lived
together, of course,

people said they were roommates.

Okay, we're roommates.

I mean lot of people who are
lovers are roommates too.

- Well, I feel it's
about time for a dip.

(lighthearted orchestral music)

- Young man, is that
Johnny Weissmuller?

- No, I wish it were.

(drum roll)

(lighthearted orchestral music)

- [Scotty] Back in those days,

people knew they were
lovers and together.

Then, all of a sudden,
as years go by,

they're kinda, "How
dare you talk that way?"

But I'm not talking about them,

I'm just saying they're great
guys, you know, both of them.

(moves into soft piano music)

I'd been with them
individually and both of them,

what you call a three-way,

and I've also
brought another buddy

for them to where
there were four of us,

you know, two-and-two.

(soft jazz music)

Before he became an
actor, a known actor,

Cary Grant was living with
Orry Kelly in New York,

who was a mad queen.

Orry Kelly was a dress designer.

Actually, he got three
Oscars for dress design.

- Some Like It Hot.

Orry Kelly!

- [Scotty] Then he came
out here and lived here

for a year and a half together.

Then he met Randolph
Scott and left Orry,

dropped him like a hot potato,

because he wanted to steer clear

for fear they might
think he's gay,

if he's with someone
who's known to be gay.

(upbeat jazz orchestral music)

- When Hollywood began,

when the studio system
really got, got rolling,

Hollywood was a
rollicking place,

there were very, very few rules.

It was a haven for people
who lived larger than life,

had radical views
about sex or politics.

And there were, you know,
lot of same-sex cohabitation,

people, men and
women living together

who weren't getting married.

The kind of rules that,
and, and strict moral code

that we associate with Hollywood

came in place in the 1930s
with the production code.

- It's vulgar, it's cheap
and the tawdry is out!

There is no room on
the screen at any time

for pictures which offend
against common decency,

and these, the industry
will not allow.

- With the production code
came morals clauses in,

in people's contracts.

(soft piano music)

Hollywood had adopted

a very different
relationship with the public.

It was really about, we're
just like all of you.

It was very important to
sell this myth to America,

that the movie stars
were just good,

honest, moral,
law-abiding citizens.

- If it became public
that you were gay,

you would be immediately fired.

- When actors were under
contract to their studios,

everything about their
life was defined:

how, what they wore, how
they wore their hair,

you know, and they worked,
very, very, very hard.

They made lots of movies a year.

Where could they get a real life

where they could just let
go and sort of undo the,

the belt, as it were,
and the, the constraints?

Scotty gave them that.

- Scotty was able to
provide a very real service

to these people, who
otherwise were very restricted

by this moral code.

(slow dramatic music)

(traffic humming)

- Now, this is a fucking
low-flush toilet.

This is not a good
toilet at all.

That's a low-flush.

Let's see.

Not a bad-looking
toilet, but that,

that's just a recent type.

I would take it otherwise,

but it's not that
good of a toilet.

- [Matt] Where did
this hole come from?

- Huh?

- [Matt] This hole.

- Oh, she had a rug on here,

and the rug dry-rotted the wood.

- I fell in, and it went
down up to here in this leg,

and I couldn't get it out.

- [Scotty] You can
see that circle.

See the circle?

She had put a big carpet down.

When you a carpet down,
it dry-rots below.

- Anyway, I had to
call the neighbors

to come and get me out.

- [Scotty] So I gotta
replace all of that stuff.

- [TV Reporter] Police got a
call that two hand grenades

have been found in a fire pit

in the backyard of this house.

- He's just collecting things.

He never did this before.

Never.

So it's just since
we've been here.

- I have every copy
of Playboy Magazine

since Playboy came out.

- [Matt] Where are they?

- Over at the other house,
stacked in the basement.

- [Lois] There's no room here.

- Well, you know,
you know how much,

I got stacks this high
for Christ's sake.

- [Matt] Tell me about
these photos on the wall.

Lois, are they your family?

- [Lois] That's my mother and
my brother and I up there.

That's me.

A long, long time ago. (laughs)

- [Scotty] We've been
together about 35 years.

And that was Cindy.

The god-dammed time goes.

- [Lois] We met in
December of '80,

we were married July '84.

♪ It had to be you ♪

- [Scotty] A friend
of mine had a bar here

on Robinson called Alberto's
and I met her in there.

She was singing
at the piano bar.

♪ Could make me feel bad ♪

♪ Even be glad ♪

♪ Just to be sad ♪

♪ Thinkin' of you ♪

♪ Some others I've seen ♪

♪ Might never be mean ♪

♪ Might never be cross ♪

I'm singing at Alberto's.

He came past me one night and
said, "I love your singing."

I don't know, he looked
like a, an old leprechaun.

I mean, it was the dickens
in his eyes, you know.

(laughs) I don't know.

♪ Wonderful you ♪

♪ It had to be you ♪

♪ It had to be you ♪

(audience clapping)

- [Matt] Is that the paperback?

- Yeah, it is.

For a paperback it's
kinda nice, you know.

- Honey?
- What?

- Didn't you get a
box of these home?

- [Scotty] He took
eight books out of here.

Another good title
would've been,

How To Make People Happy.
- Mm hm.

- Same thing as the,
the real book, yeah.

- [Matt] Lois, do you
think you'll be tempted

to read one of them?

- No, she won't.

She won't read those
goddamn things.

Are you kidding?

If she read the book,
she'd jump off the balcony.

She'd jump out the window.

- [Matt] You're not planning
on reading it, why not?

- Well, two reasons.

I don't, I didn't know him then.

I don't know him as that person.

And not sure I want to.

(Scotty laughs)

And I'm not interested
in Hollywood

shenanigans.

I'm just not.

I guess I feel some,

I don't know how you'd put it,

regret.
- Regret?

- That he didn't say something.

- [Scotty] What do you
mean, say something?

- Before, when I first knew you,

about your life prior
to my meeting you.

- [Scotty] You never
told me about your life

prior to me meeting you.

I never asked.
- Ain't nothing to tell.

- [Scotty] Well, you never know.

I mean you could've been
a hooker, I don't know.

- You know what
I'm talking about.

Stop being silly.

- [Scotty] You could've
been a hooker and something.

I never asked you,
you know that.

I'm not that type--

- Well, apparently, it
didn't matter to you.

It might have mattered to me.

(birds chirping)

(slow soft music)

- Yeah, you know, the
god-dammed toilet.

I didn't get it right away.

I got so much yesterday,
yesterday afternoon.

And, and...

You never know when you're
gonna need it, baby. (laughs)

I used to take care
of Beach's houses.

Beach Dickerson owned about
18 or 19 houses up here.

And I maintained them.

I did all the plumbing
in all of them.

I mean, see, see Beach
could count on me to do it,

and do it right.

Originally, Beach met
me at the gas station,

then we became friends.

This was his house and he
lived here all those years.

Beach was originally
from Glennville, Georgia,

went in the Army,
ended up in California,

and stayed here,
and became kind of

what you call a
half-assed actor.

I still get checks.

$1.80, $2.25 for little
things he was in.

You know what I mean?

- [Announcer] The Creature
From the Haunted Sea!

(dramatic theatrical music)

- [Scotty] Oh, they
were class C movies

by Roger Corman many years ago:

The Attack of the Crab Monster

and Creatures of
the Haunted Sea.

(soft orchestral music)

Beach was my steady number-one
person that I would see.

Oh, that's Lois's, the
Columbia University,

City of New York, Lois Broad.

(soft orchestral music)

Beach owned about eight,
eight thoroughbred horses.

And the only horse
he ever had that won,

he named the horse
Hollywood Scott.

And that was the only horse
he ever had that won a race.

- Beach Dickerson owned a house
up where I'd walk my dogs.

I said, "I understand, you know,

"we have a mutual
friend, Scotty Bower."

He said, "Yeah."

He said, "Scotty's my lover."

I said, "Well,
that's news to me.

"I didn't know Scotty had
a, a gay lover up here."

And he said, "Oh,
yeah." (laughs)

- [Scotty] Here's
Jennifer Aniston.

Here's Beach.

Every one of these
girls are actresses,

and they all lived here.

And this was taken out
on the patio there.

Elvis Presley and
a girl they were,

when he worked on
a show with Elvis.

There's Beach and
Corbin Bernsen.

- [Jack] He was Beach's godson.

He was on LA Law
and a few things.

- Beach left me two annuities,

plus $300,000, plus two houses,

which was quite nice.

He left me this
house, another house

around the corner
down there to sell.

And the house that he left me,

I sold for a little
bit over $600,000.

The will was made out that I
have this house until I die.

Then when I die, and I,
I've gotta be really dead,

then, and may not happen,
then fuckin' Corbin gets it.

See? (laughs)

Corbin, when Beach died,

Corbin was gonna rent a yacht

and spread the ashes at
sea and have a big party.

He wanted something like
$35,000 from the estate,

and I said,

don't give him a fucking dime.

That's all bullshit.

You know what I mean?

Right now, Beach's
ashes are down in,

in Pat's garage in
the trunk of his car

where they've been for
the last five years.

We were always gonna
do something with them,

I don't know what.

And then, then Pat
died and they're still

in the trunk of
the car down there.

(crickets chirping)

Hello kitty.

Did you know cats
hate scented litter?

Look.

There, look at
those, those eyes.

You gotta say they're
cute little things.

David called and said
they've got a check

from the publishing
company for $188,000.

That guy from the office said,

"Is it okay to
send to the house?"

I said yes, so
they'll send it here.

- I just wonder how they do it.

Do they have an accounting?

Do we know how many
books were sold?

Do we know what are
his percentages?

Nothing.

- Well, whatever you
get helps, you know.

I mean, what the hell.

- No, I'd just like to
know how many books,

and how much do you get,
and how much do you get,

and how much did
David get and...

- [Matt] That seems
like your policy.

The money takes care of itself.

- That's right.

Do you know there are a
couple of old Jewish ladies

in Beverly Hills who have money,

that years ago I worked, I
worked for them for $5 an hour.

I go to work from them
now, they have money.

They hand me $20. I'm
there five or six hours.

I give them a kiss
and say thank you,

like everything is okay, right?

Perfectly all right.

- But they're laughing
at you. (laughs)

- Everything works out.

Things always work out.

They, they, you know...

(jazzy piano music)

- [Man] So Scotty, we are all
big fans of your services.

- There's Polish,
French, and Spanish now.

- We can get a German. (laughs)

- Well, they're going,

they're going to
German and Italian

in about two or three months.
- Oh, yeah?

- Ya.
- How cool.

- You know somebody
emailed me just a week ago,

and was asking, you know,

"Have you guys thought
of doing something

"with that guy Scotty Bowers?"

and, "He's so cute."

Did you pose for Bob Mizer?

- No, but I had many
guys pose for Bob Mizer.

Bob Mizer was kind of the
number one queen of guys.

(upbeat jazz music)

You know, Bob Mizer was
the number one photographer

of boys at the time.

(upbeat jazz music)

- [Dian] The
stories about Ewell.

Did you know Tom Ewell?

- [Scotty] Oh yeah,
I knew Tom very well.

But Tom was a mad one.

- [Dian] That's what we heard.

He was in The Seven Year Itch.

He was an everyman.

- Tom Ewell,

a lot of people didn't
even know he was gay.

But Tom, he could see 20 guys,

one right after the
other, and want more.

So, I called them
big users. (laughs)

The three, what you call big
users, three of them were:

Tom Ewell

and Ramon Novarro

and Cole Porter.

Cole Porter would say,
"Can you bring 15 guys by?

"I wanna suck 15 guys off,
one right after the other."

♪ You're the top ♪

♪ You're Mahatma Gandhi ♪

♪ You're the top ♪

♪ You're napoleon brandy ♪

(moves into bluesy jazz music)

- Normally, I would not
talk about it really,

but people have often said,

you couldn't have done
that many things in,

in any given week, fixing
up that many people,

seeing that many people,

doing this working
at the gas station.

You're fucking right, I did it.

I fucked Bette Davis in World
War II when she was married

to a guy I used to
fix up with tricks.

And we used to have
three-way deals.

I went to bed with
J. Edgar Hoover.

He was in drag.

He was not a great
beauty either, you know,

but I was treating him
just like he's a girl.

Judith Anderson was a
friend of Alex Tear.

Alex had said, "I'm sending
Scotty over with a gift."

"Where's the gift?"

I'm the gift.

You get what I mean?

We finally go to bed together.

But she was more
into girls than guys,

because later I fixed
her up with girls.

One day Cary Grant
was in the gas station

and Rock Hudson just
happened to be there.

Cary Grant picked him out,

so I fixed him up
with Rock for $20.

And Rock saw him several times.

This is before
Rock had any money.

And Laurence Olivier
and Vivien Leigh,

I never tricked them together.

I would fix them up with guys,

and then I would see her
at George Cukor's house.

She would come and
quietly open the gate,

and all the way in it was,
"Shh, don't say a word."

10 minutes later in the
bedroom as I'm fucking her,

she's screaming.

- Whoo!

- And Bill Holden,

I fixed him up with an
awful lot of girls too.

When they did Sunset
Boulevard right here

with Gloria Swanson
and Bill Holden.

And Bill called me and
said, come on over.

- Goodbye, Norma.

- [Scotty] They did night
scenes at the swimming pool,

behind the big house
that was there.

- [Gloria] Joe!

- I went over and fucked
around all night long

while they were shooting
one little scene

that could've taken
three minutes to shoot.

And I said, "Bill,
forget that bullshit."

(gun fires)

Hi Tony.
- Hello.

- [Scotty] How are you, baby?

- And we still, he
still comes to the house

and works for me.
- That's right.

I still come and work here.

- [Tony] But Scotty, you
can show them around.

You know the house.

- See how many Emmys
Tony has right here?

Right there.

(birds chirping)

There are some gorgeous
paintings here.

Oh, (laughs) that's
a thing he did of me.

(laughs)

- Since he serviced
a lot of people,

and we were having a party
on the Fourth of July,

and so, I had to have
an American flag.

And, of course, he did all of
his work with the telephone,

and most of it in a bedroom.

- I mean very clever, Tony,

the way he thought
when he did it.

- This is from a
Fourth of July event.

That's Joe Kennedy from Paris,

and he was Big Dick
Strauss, Richard Strauss.

- [Scotty] Oh, yeah.
I remember him.

- [Tony] We would
have a parade in drag.

(bluesy jazz music)

- [Scotty] Tony had
all kind of parties.

You know me, I'm up
for anything. (laughs)

I'm in it for anything,
anytime, you know what I mean?

(laughs)

(bluesy jazz music)

Hi honey.
- Hi.

- I got your car all
covered and everything.

Did you find
Hollywood Sheet Music?

- No, I went to Chico's
instead. (laughs)

- [Scotty] Oh. (laughs)

- I'm going to a new
place to sing Sunday.

- [Matt] Oh, where?

What's it called?
- I don't know.

- It's a fucking gay bar.

- [Lois] It was beautiful.

It was like a nightclub,

and it felt very strange to be
there on a Sunday afternoon.

- Yeah, it's a purple
lights and everything and--

- But, it was filled
with gay guys,

and I don't know how to react.

I mean, you, you know, I
don't care what they do,

but I don't like to be in
the middle of it, you know.

- [Scotty] (laughs)
You didn't know.

- You know, I'm writing a book

about how gays are
treated in Hollywood.

So, when I came across your
book, I mean I was just amazed.

- [Scotty] That's a
perfect one to ask, right?

- Exactly. (laughs)

- [Scotty] You
know, you're right.

- You're revealing a lot,
so that was the point.

The fact that at that
time, studio were trying to

secure what was happening
with their leads--

- Remember, at that time,
many people who were gay

had jobs, that they
would lose their jobs

if they were exposed in any way.

After World War II, the vice
squad was red-hot in this town.

They were picking
up guys for nothing.

- It wasn't fun, sitting in
a gay bar on Melrose in 1962

waiting for the police to raid.

They'd go in there
and they'd say,

"We have a quota of
eight for tonight."

And you know, to be
beaten up in public parks,

or have an effeminate friend

viciously attacked
going down the street.

- It's probably hard for people
who were born the last 20,

30, perhaps even 40
years to fully grasp

how difficult it was.

Not only was it hard for them

to find someone to fall in love,

but if they tried,
they could go to jail,

they could go to a institution

where they might be
castrated or lobotomized.

This was a terrible,
terrible time for people.

- Crush the monster.

Crush homosexuality.

Homosexuality is, in
fact a mental illness,

which has reached
epidemiological proportions.

- When we hear
about these stories

of people being
arrested in the parks,

and we think, oh, they must
have been such degenerates

to be down there
having sex in public.

But in some cases, you
know, they were simply there

to meet someone like themselves.

Scotty was able to allow
these people to have lives

that were honest and authentic,

which is really what
they were seeking.

- I think what Scotty
did was kind of

an introduction service.

People wanted something,
Scotty would get it for them.

Being exploited may be
true of prostitution,

but that wasn't what Scotty did.

It wasn't prostitution.

- Oh man!
- Hello, baby! (laughs)

- This man helped buy this house

in the darkest days of my life

when motion pictures sucked.

If it wasn't for this guy,
he, I'd be, I would have sank.

- You sweetheart. (laughs)
- I love you.

- Al, you sweet baby.

- You have no idea.

He never took a
dime of my money.

He, he introduced me to
some great, nice people,

like John Schlessinger.

I was the least qualified
of all of his boys.

But I made a tidy sum, you know?

And like Scotty's
motto always was,

"That's 20 bucks I never had."

And that's his philosophy, and,

and that's why
he's so successful.

- That's right.

You, you know, I never took
a dime from anyone, right?

You bet.
- Yeah, never.

Never, never, never.

There's his book.

Oh, is this you, Scott?

This photo, that's you!

You were posing sometime
in the '50s or the '60s.

- Yeah, that is me.

I remember.

Did you like the book at all?

Did you read it?
- Yeah!

Everybody's reading it, and
I tell them it's all true.

- You know, we were very close,

and I fixed him up with a
lot of good tricks, didn't I?

- You bet, and some bad ones
too like Paul Lynde, the drunk.

- [Scotty] Oh,
remember Paul Lynde?

Remember Paul Lynde?
- (sighs) Ay-yai-yai.

- [Scotty] Jeez, Paul
was, Paul was wicked.

- And George Cukor,
the salivator.

(laughs)

Yeah, we had some
great times. (laughs)

You know, I've tried working
for pimps and it's horrible.

Scotty was never a pimp.

He was a friend
doing another friend

a service and helping both ends.

And for that, I
really respect him.

- [Answering Machine]
Time not set.

Message two.

- [Dian] Hey, Scotty.

This is Dian Hanson.

Not sure if you remember me.

We met at the Benedict Passions

and I'd like to talk to
you about a book project.

We'd like to have
you do some writing,

I would work with you on it.

It involves World War II,
so please give me a call.

(Scotty whistling)

- The Crossroads is (laughs)
same as it was, 75 years ago.

And, and on a
Saturday afternoon,

right here there'd be well over
1,000 servicemen in uniform.

And this was in 1942, this
was during World War II

when this took place.

- We recently
found these photos.

A guy contacted me,
a huge collection

of amateur photos
from World War II.

And we're gonna make
a book about this.

I'm thinking of
calling it My Buddy,

which is named after a song

that was popular
in World War II.

I mean, look at
these, walking along,

crossing a bridge
with their dogs.

- [Scotty] Everything and a hat,

and the whole bit,
and the rifle, and...

- [Dian] And then, I found this:

a man being consoled when
his buddy has been killed.

- That's right, and
it's got nothing to do

with the gay bit at all.

It's just buddy-buddy.

- [Dian] You offer
such a unique resource

'cause you were Marine
who was actually there.

- I don't know why he, you know,

that's not like him.

But you can see, it's
just falling apart.

It's dangerous.

Hello.

- It was Rod on the phone.

That fucking house sold,

I gotta get my stuff
out of that garage.

- [Lois] Oh my God.

- Within 10 days.

(laughs)

I'm young and
innocent-looking there,

though I wasn't, but. (laughs)

What's this?

This a picture.

Is this a picture too?

- [Matt] Can I see?

Can I see?

Which one are you?

- Right here, right there.

Here, here, here
I am right here.

That's my mother's
handwriting, I can see.

That teacher, Mrs.
Ham, Ham, Hammerhand,

she was a nice lady

who liked a little
girl I was going with.

I used to fix her up with
a girl I was going with

because she was a dyke
and her brother was gay,

and I'd always trick
her brother. (laughs)

- [Matt] How old were you?

- Whatever I was there.

When I was 11, yeah, probably.

- [Matt] You didn't have
any problem with that?

- Oh, no, fuck, are you kidding?

I never had a problem with
that shit at all, baby.

(laughs)

Never.

I was always tricking, even
when I was very young, you know,

even back on the farm.

(birds chirping)
(slow soft music)

With the Depression
being at its full swing,

you couldn't make a
dime from the farm.

And certainly there, it
wasn't a lot of food.

My brother was two years older

and my sister was
two years younger.

I had a very nice
childhood, a good childhood.

And that neighbor who had
two kids and everything,

and his wife was a
sweetheart, and he was too,

and I couldn't think of anything
but nice things about them.

Just because he
wanted to cuddle me

and hold me and jack off
me, nothing wrong with that.

I mean, there's nothing
wrong with that, baby.

- [Matt] Many people would
consider that child abuse.

But you don't think
of yourself as abused?

- Being abused?

Absolutely not.

I mean, this is bullshit, Matt.

There's no such thing as
somebody ruining your life

when they suck your cock.

The only way that
they ruin your life

is when they run over you
with a bus on the street.

That can ruin your life.

And even as a little
bitty kid, Matt,

I never saw anything
wrong with anything.

You know what, (laughs)

I went along with everything.

And I never told anybody.

(dramatic theatrical music)

When we moved to Chicago,

my mother and
father had divorced,

and I ended up later
with a stepdad.

We moved directly
across the street

from Holy Angels Church on
Oakwood Boulevard in Chicago.

We had an old car
with a trailer,

went loading, and a
priest introduced himself,

and he, I could tell
by the look in his eye,

he kind of wanted me,

and I'm over there
staying all night

with him the first
night we're there.

And I thought, uh-oh, I
could pick up a few bucks.

Then he proceeded to
fix me up with friends.

And through him, I'd
meet other priests

that I would go to their church.

Within weeks, I had seen
approximately 25 or 30 priests.

They'd paid me off in change:

penny, nickels,
dimes, and quarters.

Whatever they got out of the
collection box, you know?

(laughs)

(lively jazz music)

I was always out
hustling around.

And I would go
downtown, shining shoes,

selling papers, selling rubbers.

You know what I mean?

I had that going,
and the tricking too.

And, baby, I had a
very good thing going.

You know, everybody
knew me downtown.

Are you kidding?

And they'd take me over to
their apartment and then,

then they had
their friends over.

- [Matt] Your mother
never knew that you were--

- [Scotty] Never picked up,

my brother and sister never
picked up on it at all.

My brother, Donald, did
his own little thing

in a very square way,
never said a word to him.

He thought I was selling
papers and magazines.

I never mentioned a
trick to him at any time.

Him, my sister, my
mother, anybody.

My little thing I was doing
all by myself. (laughs)

(jazzy theatrical music)

Many years later, when
Dr. Kinsey met me,

he'd already heard about me.

That's why he interviewed me
about four, five or six times.

Kinsey was a zoologist,

and he started the
Institute of Sex Research,

Indiana University
in Bloomington.

- This research
has been possible

because of tens of thousands
of people who have cooperated.

- Scotty did play
an academic role

in the sexual
revolution in a way,

because he was the
connective tissue

between the academic Kinsey

and the people
who were doing it.

Scotty was a
revelation to Kinsey.

- [Scotty] We became friends

and he liked interviewing me.

I was one of the only people

that completed interview
from one end to the other,

meaning, had done everything.

It would always
start out by saying,

"You ever had sex with a girl?"

Yes.

What did you do with, you
know, doom, doom, doom.

How about with a guy?

Yes.

What did you do?

Everything?

How about with an animal?

Yes.

So whatever he had, I did.

And I got him, not only
the best interviews he had,

I took him to gang bang
parties and things like that,

and put him in a fucking
bedroom and everybody fucking,

and mainly guys, and
then, girls and guys.

And, and he'd be over
there and I'd crawl over

and reach to see if
he had a hard-on,

and he'd say, "Scotty, I'm
just observing, you know that."

(laughs)

I think he had a
hard-on watching.

(jazzy theatrical music)

- [Guard] Hi there.

- The name is Scott, Ellie
Valiant Byron Clark's place.

(panting)

(people chattering)

I do a lot of bartending.

That looks full, but
it's just the ice

that makes it look that.

And I started doing it,
shortly after the gas station.

I left the gas station
after about 10 years.

You know, the, the
station got so busy,

and I thought, the vice squad

has got to get onto
this eventually.

There's a vodka.

Even though I was in
full swing of tricking,

people that I knew
started, you know,

when, I'm having a party, why
don't you tend bar for me,

things like that.

So I proceeded to that.

- Read your book.

You behaved yourself.

(laughs)

- The desk needs
cleaning, that's true.

But in the meantime, I
know where things are,

and it's not exactly in file,

it's just written down
on available space.

- [Matt] When you were
writing down a trick,

it was the same thing?

- Yeah, but when I was
writing down tricks,

I didn't, it wasn't
lying around.

It was in my pocket,

and it was for the moment.

And the moment that
was taken care of,

it was torn up and, really
torn up and thrown away.

You follow what I mean?

- [Matt] So you did that
because you were worried

Confidential might pick it up?

- 'Cause they could,
those son of a bitches

went through garbage
and everything,

you know what I'm talking about.

- [Matt] Confidential?

- Oh, yeah.

♪ You got to accentuate
the positive ♪

♪ Eliminate the negative ♪

- [Scotty] There was a paper
much like the Enquirer,

called Confidential.

Confidential was a red-hot thing

where they exposed anyone that
was well-known that was gay.

♪ You got to spread joy ♪

♪ Up to the maximum ♪

♪ Bring gloom down
to the minimum ♪

- I am going to file a
$25 million libel suit

against Confidential Magazine.

- If it was written
that you were gay

in Confidential Magazine,
your career was over.

- Confidential came as
close as you ever could

to toppling the whole
house of cards here.

- [Scotty] Confidential
came to me with stories

that they had already
written and said,

you just have to sign the story

and say the story is true.

They'd hand you an
envelope with $1,000 in,

and most people would've
signed for $1,000.

One story was at Frank
Sinatra's house in Palm Springs,

when I had a three-way with
Ava Gardner and Lana Turner.

Ava Gardner and Lana Turner,

they were buddy-buddy
in those days, you know?

They were a little stoned,

and they were in the
pool in the nude,

and pretty soon we're
in bed together.

The word got around.

You know how the
word gets around?

Confidential came to
me with a story first,

and that's one they
wanted me to sign

and I wouldn't sign it.

After I wouldn't sign it,

they grabbed two
other guys who signed

and went for the money.

(slow bluesy music)

- He declined to do it.

I'm sure he could've
used the money.

$1,000 was a lot more
back then than it is now.

But his personal code of honor

prevented him from doing that.

- Hello, baby.

Hi sweetheart.

That's a pretty kitty.

Just look at that
pretty little thing.

Chicken dinner,
tender chicken dinner.

Gotta get some of that. (laughs)

Tender chicken dinner
for my kitties.

Look at the size
of that cat food.

It's a little bitty thing,

and that particular
thing was $1.69 plus tax.

That's fucking you when
they charge you that much

for a little bitty
can of food like that.

I always, when I go over there,

I always throw a couple,
three in my pocket

for my little kitty, you know.

And, all she does
when you open it is,

lick the moisture off of it,

eat a couple of little bites,

and then I put the rest
out for the skunks.

Do you want me to
show you that picture?

- [Matt] Sure.

- Baby was a wonderful
little doggie

that came to the house.

She just all of a
sudden appeared one day

and she was my
baby from then on.

Oh, here I got a book
I wanna show you.

This is by Cecil Beaton.

He liked to be called
Cecil, you know. (laughs)

Cecil was very grand, you know.

"Don't call me Cee-cil,
the name is Sesille."

He's a great photographer,

and he photographed
the Royal family.

And somebody gave me
this and I'm in it.

There it is, Scotty.

"Scotty is a phenomenon.

"I heard several years ago

"that the police had
caught up with him,

"that he quit his racket
and was out of the running.

"This is a blow to me
'cause I'm very fond of him.

"But no, Scotty appeared
among the bushes

"at a Beverly Hills
bungalows with his smiling

"and trimmed form as ever.

"He still continues his
nefarious activities."

- [Matt] It's like you
were hiding in plain sight.

You were always very discreet.

- No, but it was
just like, Matt,

when I took people to
see Wally and Edward,

I never told one person,

even though they
were close buddies.

And they were seeing
the Duke and Duchess.

When I met the Duke
and Duchess of Windsor,

he said, "You came so
highly recommended.

"Cecil Beaton's told me
about you numerous times."

And he said, "I feel
that I know you."

- The Duchess and I
are actually very glad

to set foot in America again.

- My friend was a manager
of the Beverly Hills Hotel,

so I would get a bungalow

at the Beverly Hills
Hotel for a whole week,

and then flood them with people.

As you know, the bungalows
there, even today,

you can walk straight
into from the street.

It was easy to get
people in and out

and never ask who
was there at all.

Two at a time, sometimes
three at a time,

but usually two at a time.

Maybe I'd bring a guy
and a girl or both;

a girl for her, a guy for him.

He'd like to see guys
and girls together,

and then, sort of
work his way in.

And when a guy wants to see
a guy and girl together,

they're usually gay or
have tendency of being gay,

because if they were straight,

why would they want the guy?

She's the one that
would do the talking.

He'd sit there this whole
time and not say a word,

he was very shy and bashful.

She's the one that would
say we're gonna do this,

we're gonna do that,
we'll suck his cock.

Do this, do that.

You know what I mean?

I mean, you know, she
was a real ballsy chick.

But they thought what I did

was the nicest thing that
ever happened to them.

If Eddie and them were
around now, and Ronnie,

I might tell them now,
now the book is out,

"That was, that was
them that you saw

"at the Beverly Hills Hotel."

(birds chirping)

It just, it seems like
I just keep adding.

You know, I'd come in,
I'd throw this there,

and this there, and...

- [Matt] Do you still
work at the desk or is--

- No, I can't get
to the desk now.

I'll eventually get there again.

Look how pretty that tiger is.

It just came in,
someone brought it in,

at Out of the Closet,

and I said, "How much?"

And he said three bucks.

It looks kind of
real, doesn't it?

- It's horrible.

We just can't live like this.

It's dangerous.

I was talking
about getting help,

but you can't get help
until you cleaned,

had the house cleaned out.

And one way to do it is
to call Social Services.

It would be considered
elder abuse for him

to make it dangerous for me

to walk through the
house every day.

And I can't do that.

- All these bags here are new.

- [Matt] Do you think
that it's compulsive?

- You see, if you
don't have control,

the world will fall apart.

And I'm sure the
war did this to him.

- [Matt] Do you think Scotty
could've used some therapy?

- No, I don't know that
that would've done any good

because he doesn't
believe in it.

But normally that's,

should've been with all--
- I'm the one that,

I'm the one that gives
therapy to people.

I don't need therapy.

(both laugh)

- [Matt] A lot of
people would say

what you did all
your life was wrong.

- You're kidding?

I mean I, I think it was right.

- [Matt] Probably
because you were damaged

when you were a child.

- Oh, yeah, bullshit.

I mean, that, that's
damage, but hey. (laughs)

- [Matt] Someone
needed to tell you

that you were traumatized.

- I did what I did
because I wanted to do it

and knew what I was doing

and it wasn't a case of
accidentally or anything.

Anything you do, you best
better blame yourself

and forget that
bullshit of coming up

and blaming someone else.
- But you don't.

- No, I don't blame
someone else for anything.

- [Lois] You don't
blame yourself, either.

- I don't blame myself.

I've done nothing wrong.

Why do I blame myself?

Today, tomorrow, and forever.

Bette and Scotty.

- [Matt] You and
Bette never married.

Did she change her
name to Bowers?

- Oh, yeah, she
changed it to Bowers.

When I was in Seattle,
before I was discharged,

I met Bette in town
at the Olympic Hotel.

It naturally brings
back memories, you know.

- [Matt] Good ones or bad ones?

- Oh no, they were good ones.

Of course, I'd naturally get
pictures of Bette like that.

(laughs)

A lot of romances turn cold
as you know what I mean.

But at the time it was great.

No, Bette was a good Joe.

Son of a bitch, she was.

It's just a shame that I
was not a one-person person.

I had too many things to do.

If anyone was to blame

for not making it work
over the years, it was me,

because I wasn't a
stay-at-home person.

You know what I mean?

- [Matt] Did she know
you were doing tricks?

- Even though I didn't sit
and discuss it with her,

she'd have to know because
I was so busy doing that.

You know, I bought the house
up on St. Andrews for Bette.

I'd saved my money
from tricking.

Stash it away, you know.

You gotta see my nice
new roof here, baby.

In 52 years, it
only had two roofs.

So this will be the third one.

I put this fucking roof
on 52 years ago by myself.

Bette and I, we just bought
the house for $22,000

and she and my little daughter

were very excited to come here.

We only lived a short
distance away from here.

I mean, I was always in
the neighborhood here.

And we--

- [Matt] Did you guys go
out to dinner to celebrate?

- Oh no, I went out and
turned a couple of tricks.

I was, you know, I was busy.

I didn't do that
fucking dinner bit.

When you're busy, you're busy.

And I was busy every
day and every night.

I didn't have, which
I'm sorry to say,

I didn't have time to do that.

- [Matt] You're sorry to say?

You wished you could have?

- Well, I should have, I guess,

spent more time with
them, which I didn't.

I don't know, maybe,
maybe I did take her

out to dinner on
her birthday once.

(laughs) Once.

Maybe I did once.

It was very nice to have
a pretty little baby.

She was a good girl.

This was Donna's
little room here.

Donna's clothes are
still in the closet.

And she went to school
and never missed a day,

and went from grammar
school to high school

at Hollywood High,
and then to college,

and finished college, and,

and then she died.

Here's a picture
of her here, too.

She had an abortion.

And within three or four days
after having the abortion,

she went into a coma
and never came out.

She had an abortion by some,

obviously, quack doctor back
in those days, you know.

And she was 23.

(slow soft music)

And her phone is still there
with the same number. (laughs)

I didn't go around
saying anything.

Within an hour after
I learned she died,

I'm on my way to Malibu to a
party with a carload of guys.

I was 100% dependable, reliable,
whatever you wanna call it,

regardless of what it was.

None of that bullshit:

It's too cold today,
it's raining today,

or whatever might happen.

If I told someone I was
gonna be there, I'd be there.

I never said anything to
anyone about what had happened.

- A number of people deal,
deal with grief that way.

They stay on their regular
path, keep your regular routine.

(birds chirping)
(slow soft music)

- I want to get somebody to
trim all the trees over there,

the bushes over
here, this thing.

- I'm gonna cut that.
- Uh huh.

- Soon as my arm is better,

I'll cut that.
- Yeah, sure.

I'm gonna hire somebody.

- No you aren't.
- Yes I am.

- No you aren't.
- Yes I am.

- [Scotty] Oh, no.

Are you kidding?

I can do it far better
than they can do it.

(soft bluesy piano music)

- You know, they've
asked me why do I stay.

'Cause I love him.

And somebody asked me why,
and I said, I don't know,

it's just, you just do.

And, mainly because
of the way he is,

his sense of humor,
his warmth, his caring.

You know, they don't just go

to the profession he chose
years ago, they go into life.

He likes to make people happy,

but I see it as a terrific need.

It must be a chore to have to
want everybody to be happy.

- [Matt] But you didn't
know until the book,

to what lengths Scotty
went to make people happy.

- (laughs) No, no I didn't.

(people chattering)

- [Woman] Oh my god.

♪ Happy birthday to you ♪

♪ Happy birthday to you ♪

♪ Happy birthday, dear Scotty ♪

♪ Happy birthday to you ♪

(crowd cheering)

- Clever, the way they'd
made that phone, wasn't it?

(laughs) That was good.

I even had a card from my sister

as recently as two days ago.

From my sister, it says,

"Happy birthday, brother.

"Remember how I
used to tease you

"and it really got
on your nerves?"

And you open that fucking card,

it's upside down and it said,

"I'm not finished
yet, have a good one.

"Loads of love,
Phyllis and Barney."

(phone ringing)

- [Phyllis] Hello?

- Hello?
- Yeah, hello?

- [Scotty] It's me.

- [Phyllis] Okay.

- How are you?

- [Phyllis] I'm,
I'm good, George.

How are you?

- What happened to you?

- [Phyllis] Well,
I just fell down

and they picked me
up and I'm over here

in the nursing home right now.

- But you're going home, though?

- [Phyllis] Well,
not for a week.

- [Scotty] Is there
anything you need at all?

- [Phyllis] No, not really.

Just to hear from you
sounded wonderful.

- I'll call you
back again tomorrow.

(phone dialing)

Dale.

- [Dale] Yeah?

- Scotty.

Well, you, you
mentioned that book,

that book, I had forgotten

about that book you've
talked to me about.

- [Dale] Uh-huh.

Yeah, Full Service?
- Full Service, yeah.

- [Dale] Yeah, it was, that
was a pretty good book.

- Well, hey.

Well, don't give it to your
mom 'cause it'll upset her.

You know what I mean?

- [Dale] Oh, no, well,
I, I already did.

- She's upset over what?

- That's why I said,
don't show it to her.

- [Dale] Yeah.

Yeah, I won't show
it to her again.

- [Scotty] Now don't
forget that, okay?

- [Dale] No, I won't.

- [Scotty] Okay, baby.

(people chattering)

- Was there ever any discussion

about the need for subterfuge

and to leave the
life in the closet?

Or was it just something
that everyone knew?

- It's just the way it was then.

They had to play it
very cool, you know?

- What, what can you
say about, if anything,

about Katherine Hepburn?

- [Scotty] Katherine
Hepburn would've liked you.

(group laughs)

And Katherine Hepburn
was not really nice

to Spencer Tracy, you know?

- Because?

You have any idea why that was?

Because he was married, or what?

- [Scotty] No.

They were merely friends,

and they were in business
together, show business.

And they were not in the bed
department together at all.

- Never?
- Never.

(soft theatrical music)

All these movie
magazines sold a story.

And that's why so many
square people say,

"Oh, I thought they
were lovers," you know.

And I said, "Well, they, they
weren't, but it sounds good."

- The story of Hepburn and Tracy

is one of the best examples

of Hollywood crafting
a public image.

George Cukor
directed some of the,

the greatest
Hepburn/Tracy films.

Spencer Tracy lived on the
grounds at George Cukor's house,

but he was still
married to his wife,

who, who he loved very much,

and there's always
been the presumption

that he and Hepburn
lived together

in that little, little cottage.

In fact, they did
not live together.

There was another cottage
that, where Hepburn lived.

Hepburn in later years
tried to make it seem

as if they were living
in a cottage together

sharing a household
like man and wife.

- Remember that night
when, oh, I don't know,

you felt so
disturbed and I said,

"Well, go on in.

"Go to bed, I'll
talk you to sleep.

"I'll just talk and talk and

"you'll be so bored,
you're bound to drift off."

- It was not that way.

They were not living together.

They never lived together.

(slow soft theatrical music)

- She was a designer
of her own legend.

And she had several
fervent relationships

with talented other women.

She was very guarded
about what she did.

- [Scotty] George kind
of told Katherine Hepburn

early in the game what I
did, you know, in a way.

Then, I could see running
it through her head,

well if he fixes up guys,

he should be able
to fix up girls too.

With a girl, you
know what I mean?

I could see that. (laughs)

I fixed her up with
every bit of 150 girls.

And people says, "How
would she see that many?"

I said, this was over
a period of 39 years,

that's almost 50 years.

I mean, that's not
unusual at all.

- [William] The
traditional image

is that Tracy bullied Hepburn.

This was not true.

- Ow!

What are you doing?

- Testing.

- She wouldn't have tolerated
that kind of behavior

from anyone.

I began to understand
that if, in fact,

there were conflicts
between Hepburn and Tracy,

they went both ways.

And she was not happy
about his drinking

or his friendship with Scotty.

Scotty would come
down to Cukor's house,

specifically to
see Spencer Tracy.

- I'd get a ride there at
five o'clock in the evening.

At two o'clock in the morning,

I'm still sitting at the kitchen
table listening to him talk

and going (mumbles),

and I'd better go to bed now

and he'd get up and almost fall,

and he'd put his arm around
me and we would go to bed.

But then the next morning,
he would always say,

"Geez, I must've gotten
drunk last night.

"You were so nice to stay."

Just like nothing ever happened,
it was always the same.

He really didn't want to be gay,

or admit to himself
he might possibly be.

And so the best way is
not to admit it, right?

- Uh, (laughs) I can't
handle this in my head,

it, it rocks me.

- The ironic thing is that it
was somehow more acceptable

to the general public to be
in an adulterous relationship

than it was to be
gay or lesbian.

- But the whole thing about
being gay in Hollywood,

if you played along,
you were okay.

The studio executives
did not really care

if someone was gay or not.

They only cared about
your public persona.

You know, in Hollywood,
everyone knew

that Rock Hudson was gay.

- [Announcer] Rock
Hudson, selected

as the Most Popular
Film Actor of the Year.

This is the second year in a row

that Mr. Hudson has been picked

by Modern Screen as
Most Popular Actor.

- But, his sexuality
became really a problem

when Life Magazine had
done a cover story on him.

It said that he was
approaching 30 years old

and it was about time
for him to get married,

and if he didn't get married,

he needed to tell his fans why.

And like, a month or two later,

he married his agent's
secretary, Phyllis Gates.

- [Scotty] And of
course, Rock was gay,

Phyllis was gay, and
nothing happened.

- It became kind of an
open joke in Hollywood.

Everyone kind of knew that
this was an arranged marriage,

but it was very important
to sell that myth.

It was about reflecting back

a very traditional middle-class,

middle America viewpoint.

The truth of that was, was
something very, very different.

(traffic humming)

- Oh, that and that's the book?

Jesus.

Introduction by
Scotty Bowers with,

with text by Gore Vidal,
with James Jones. (laughs)

Isn't that...

Everything Dian
does is you know,

she should've designed
weapons during World War II.

- (laughs) Yeah, right.

- I was wondering if you could
just start by talking to us

about the buddy system,
sort of how it worked

and why it was created.

- When you're in
the Marine Corps,

the closest thing to
you is your buddy,

you might say your
foxhole buddy,

who watches out for you
and you watch out for him.

- Scotty really had it tough.

I mean, he was in three,
just horrific battles

without much down time, right?

I mean, you were fighting
four months straight

on Guadalcanal.

- And Bougainville, two months.

- He developed the buddy
system in World War II,

because they found that the men

were able to hold up
in battle with a buddy.

- Young guys who just left
home for the first time

to go in the service,
the closest thing to you

is your buddy, you
know what I mean?

Your so-called
foxhole buddy is the

closest thing you have.

It's the best friend you have.

Service record World War II

was put out by Grand
Ridge Community.

So it was a little town
in the area I was born.

That's my brother right there.

Camp Elliott.

Finished training in Hawaii,

participated in the
Battle of Iwo Jima,

lost his life March 4, 1945.

My brother was two
years older than me.

He went in the Marine
Corps two years after I did

because he was working.

He went into Iwo
Jima, and on Iwo Jima,

we had 7,000 guys
killed in 28 days

and about 20,000 wounded.

(slow somber music)

Every time I see some,

it reminds me of
my brother. (weeps)

Every time I see someone,

it reminds me of my
brother, I liked...

(slow somber music)

(stammers) It runs through
your mind quite often,

you know what I mean?

You, you don't forget things.

Some people forget
things, but I don't.

It comes back.

I have, I still have
dreams about it at night.

Oh, yeah, you try to
put it out of your mind,

but it's still there.

(slow somber music)

It made me fucking
happy to be alive.

December, well, Beach
died December the 7th.

They sent the ashes to Pat.

He got them, put them in
the trunk of his car saying,

"We're gonna go up to Beach's
and spread the ashes."

And that was six
years ago. (laughs)

During the war, Pat
was in the Navy,

Beach was in the Army, and
I was in the Marine Corps.

We represented
all three outfits.

(crow bar clamors)

Seven years later,

and Beach wanted them
dumped over the patio,

so I'm gonna dump them
over the patio here.

The wind is blowing
a little bit,

so I think I'll dump them here.

I think I'll just dump
them right down here.

(slow somber music)

If I dump them here,
they'll last longer there.

You know, you know what this
reminds me very much of?

Throwing guys overboard, a
fucking dead guy's aboard ship,

you throw them overboard,

just like you do
the fucking garbage.

Now people think
they had burials.

Bull shit.

You just,

you grab one, then
another, and then another,

and another, you just keep
pitching them overboard.

And that's what they
did in World War II.

(somber opera music)

My baby Beach's ashes are
over the side of the hill

where he wanted them.

(somber opera music)

Yeah, without a doubt,
Beach was a good person.

A good person, and
always very nice to me.

(somber opera music)

The bad things
that happened were:

my brother, my daughter,

Bette,

and the most recent one
was my little doggie dying

that I loved so much.

And you're gonna
say that's foolish.

It's not foolish.

Can you understand how I could
love a little doggie or not?

- [Matt] I can.

- [Scotty] Some people don't,
that's why I don't tell them.

- [Matt] You've had some
pretty terrible things happen

in your life.

Do you think that
you've had to keep busy

to not think about] your
brother and the others?

- [Scotty] Yes, yes, I do.

I created happy things,

and making people happy
to kind of compensate

for the unhappy things.

Do you think that's possible?

- [Matt] That many good years,

the late '40s and the '50s
were such a glorious time--

- [Scotty] It was
a glorious time

because nothing bad happened

to anyone, you could do
as many people as you want

and fuck around as
much as you want.

Things really didn't
change along those lines

until AIDS came along.

(slow somber music)

When I think of all
the people that I knew,

who not only had AIDS,
but died of AIDS,

I mean, a lot of them,
not some, but a lot.

And I mean, a lot.

Look at, look at Rock Hudson.

That AIDS was a very sad thing.

Is a very sad thing.

(slow soft piano music)

Rock was a good friend of mine.

He changed so much
in appearance,

you hardly knew
him in a matter of

two or three months.

I remember when he
went off to Paris

thinking they're gonna cure
him in France or something.

- Hollywood was shocked
by the Rock Hudson story

because there was not
really an acknowledgement

of the gay scene and the secrecy
surrounding his condition.

That hit the town
like a tidal wave.

- This ended the Hollywood
myth right there.

That, that exposed it
as the lie that it was.

And Hollywood was never
the same again after that.

Things changed for Scotty.

Scotty was devastated
by Rock's death.

He was aware that this was a
disease that was spreading.

AIDS brought a whole
new layer of danger

and risk to being
gay in Hollywood.

- When AIDS came along,
I thought I'm gonna pass

on fixing people up
because I don't want to

be involved in that.

It's a case of, you just
hope you don't catch it.

- [Matt] Luck.

- [Scotty] Luck.

That's right.

That's exactly what it'd be.

It'd have to be just luck,
just one of those things.

- Honey?

He shouldn't be up there.

(dog barking)

What are you doing?

- [Scotty] I'm gonna get over
to the ladder and get down.

- [Lois] Oh, good.

- Jesus, when I think
of how I used to be able

to maneuver around, now
I'm a fucking cripple.

My goddamn arm.

- [Lois] You shouldn't
be doing this.

- [Scotty] Wait a minute.

(babbles)

Fuck, what's the matter
with my goddamn legs now?

Is it on the thing?

- [Lois] Yeah.

(Scotty sighs)

(ladder rattling)

(slow somber music)

- Apparently, I had a little
bit of a kidney problem

from taking Atabrine.

Atabrine is for the
prevention of malaria.

They found out later that

everybody that took that,

it did damage to their kidneys.

- [Matt] You took
it during the war?

- Took it for three years, yeah.

And I should never
have taken that shit.

Reserved only for who?

- [Matt] Volunteer parking.

- I'm a fucking volunteer.

Fuck it. (laughs)

- They do ultrasound
every so often

to check how the kidneys are.

And obviously,
they're slowly going,

'cause when it first started
it was only 25% loss.

You know, then they
said, maybe someday

we'll have to consider dialysis.

And the last time he went

they said we have to do it.

They wanna put the,

like a stent in
his arm and, soon.

I think he thinks he can
buy a kidney someplace.

- [Scotty] Lee,
how are you, baby?

Huh?

You sweetheart.

(slow soft music)

- [Lee] Morning.

- You know, Lee and I said,

to show you what a buddy is,

Lee called me and said he
wants to give me a kidney.

(laughs)

Now is that a buddy?

I said you're a real buddy.

You're a real buddy, Lee.

(garage door rattling)

(slow soft piano music)

I often think back of

how nice things were.

I can't think back of any bad
scenes or bad things at all.

And, and so many people
have said the nicest

and best time of their whole
life was that gas station.

And that's why I felt good that
I made so many people happy.

(laughs)

- [Female Reporter]
Team coverage,

Jay Yamamoto is looking ahead

for what is next
for gay couples.

- [Male Reporter] The decision
from the Supreme Court

now paves the way to historic
change here in California.

- The Justices
dismissed Proposition 8

and the news sent shockwaves
throughout Southern California.

(slow soft piano music)

(people chattering)

- I would say the timing
is just about right, now.

And when I tell people the gas
station days were different,

I mean they were
completely different.

50 or 60 years ago, this
could have never happened,

you know that, impossible.

- History evolves in
incremental steps,

and Scotty really was
lighting a way forward

that we are now embracing

where the motto is:
Do your own thing.

He was doing that when it
was not culturally accepted.

- You want to wear
those clothes?

- No, I don't wanna
wear this thing,

I just want to get married!

(dog barks)

- We were given a myth,

and it's important
to show the public

that their heroes can be flawed,

or their heroes
can be complicated,

or their heroes can be gay.

You know, Scotty holds a
mirror up to the culture

to help people see the kind
of puritanical nature of,

not only the culture during
the 40s, 50s, 60s and 70s,

but even to this day.

- I think a mistake would
be to look at the story

of Scotty's being a
story of a, you know,

gay renegade in a gay
world, in a gay subculture.

Because, Scotty was pre-gay.

He, he himself doesn't conform
to any particular label.

Scotty just breezes
across all the fences

that we erect to separate
ourselves from others.

♪ Nights are long ♪

♪ Since you went away ♪

♪ I think of you ♪

♪ All through the day ♪

♪ My buddy ♪

♪ My buddy ♪

♪ Nobody quite so true ♪

♪ Miss your voice ♪

♪ The touch of your hand ♪

♪ I hope to know ♪

♪ That you understand ♪

♪ My buddy ♪

♪ My buddy ♪

♪ Your buddy misses ♪

♪ You ♪

(audience clapping & cheering)

("The Hut-Sut Song")

♪ In a town in Sweden by a
stream so clear and cool ♪

♪ Some boys would sit
and fish and dream ♪

♪ When they should've
been in school ♪

♪ They couldn't read
or write a word ♪

♪ But happiness they found ♪

♪ In a little song they heard ♪

♪ Here's how it would sound ♪

♪ Hut-Sut Rawlson
on the Rillerah ♪

♪ And a brawla, brawla soo-it ♪

♪ Hut-Sut Rawlson
on the Rillerah ♪

♪ And a brawla soo-it ♪

♪ Hut-Sut Rawlson
on the Rillerah ♪

♪ And a brawla, brawla soo-it ♪

♪ Hut-Sut Rawlson
on the Rillerah ♪

♪ And a brawla soo-it ♪

♪ Now the Rawlson
is a Swedish town ♪

♪ The Rillerah is a stream ♪

♪ The brawla is
the boy and girl ♪

♪ The Hut-Sut is their dream ♪

♪ Hut-Sut Rawlson
on the Rillerah ♪

♪ And a brawla, brawla soo-it ♪

♪ Hut-Sut Rawlson
on the Rillerah ♪

♪ And a brawla soo-it ♪

("The Hut-Sut Song")

♪ Now the Rawlson
is a Swedish town ♪

♪ The Rillerah is a stream ♪

♪ The brawla is
the boy and girl ♪

♪ The Hut-Sut is their dream ♪

♪ Hut-Sut Rawlson
on the Rillerah ♪

♪ And a brawla, brawla soo-it ♪

♪ Hut-Sut Rawlson
on the Rillerah ♪

♪ And brawla soo-it ♪

(moves into soft
orchestral music)

(soft playful orchestral music)