Lena Horne

The first closeted lesbian of modern times.

Cunt.

Watching her bug those eyes and open that trap like the guinea-pig-eating queen on "V" always gave me the willies. But close your eyes or just look at her in stills and her renditions were the best for so many standards. Midler copied her all the way through "One for My Baby," for example.

She put up with a great deal of shit, and naturally it hurt and embittered her. But she assumed she would have been a lot bigger if the race issue hadn't screwed her over. I'm just not so sure.

Like a lot of the greats she sure was a mess, though, and rewrote her story.

R1 who did she fuck?

No

I didn't know her personally, so I can't speak to that.

But her one woman Broadway Show 'Lena Horne: The Lady And Her Music' was fucking magnificent.

She was especially a DL fave when David Ehrenstein was here throwing tantrums when anyone mentioned her lesbian proclivities.

Lena liked to portray herself as the ultimate victim of show business racism, when the fact is she had a much better time of it than other black stars of her day. Thinning her nose, marrying her white (and gay) conductor was very helpful.

There will always be the Ava Gardner rumors. She was close to Jinx Falkenburg in the 1950s. Lena lived with civil rights activist Jeanne Noble in the 1960s. A woman exec of Chanel USA was a close companion. In the 1980s, Lena was not above inviting female fans backstage.

Nobody sings "Yesterday When I Was Young" like Lena. She KILLS with it!!!

Studio bigwigs tried to get her to pass for white, but she refused. Maybe if she had, she'd have been a bigger star.

That's bullshit, R9. The reason Lena never got good movie parts 1. the money people in NY were afraid to 2. Lena was not a good actress

No R10, you are bullshit. But then, that's not really NEWS, is it?

R11, not true. In other words, bullshit.

One of the reasons Lena had no chance of getting her dream role in Show Boat was because she couldn't possibly pass as white. Not that she was ever up for the role, she'd left MGM by 1950. People have all sorts of confused ideas about what happened, some think she was fired from Show Boat and replaced by Ava Gardner. Not true.

One of the major reasons Lena was HIRED was because she was black. The NAACP had been pressuring MGM to hire and present a black woman as a dignified star instead of a servant. This was not Lena's idea, although you might have been led to believe otherwise.

The creative people, and even LB Mayer, were always on Lena's side and wanted her to get speaking roles. It was the business people that controlled the budgets who were timid.

Fred Sanford) I saw Stormy Weather 37 times

Lena) You paid to see Stormy Weather 37 times?

Fred) No I went in on a Friday and came out on a Tuesday.

Always had the greatest respect for her talents her perseverance & her integrity.

She wouldn't let Hollywood get the better of her & stuck with it til she was a star. Even though that meant she often had to take demeaning/subservient roles, or play 3rd fiddle behind others.

Bravo Lena!

R7- great clip. If she was gay bully for our team! What makes her a great singer is that she feels free when she sings. It allows her to connect with an audience in a better way. Far more honestly. Always thought her beauty was very MGM-glamorous. There is a hyper sense of beauty. But her voice is all her own.

I always wondered how she and Ava became best friends? And why? Who else befriended her? And wasn't part of her career problems due to being blacklisted? And what Lena thought of Frank Sinatra.

And I once heard they drained a pool in Vegas after she took a swim? Any truth to that?

r15, that was Dorothy Dandrige.

I believe she was slated to star in the movie "Pinky" about a black that passes for white, but the studio cast Jeanne Crain because they felt audiences would be very uncomfortable seeing a white male (William Lundigan) kissing a black female on screen. She had very racist views but it was all bs..she married a white guy.

For awhile there, she was Bobby Cannavale's Grandma-in-Law.

In spite of the lack of speaking roles, she was gorgeously costumed and coiffed and presented in all her singing cameos in those MGM musicals, like some exotic and extraordinary bird of paradise.

R6 and R14 nail the divine Lena.

She could munch carpet with the best of them.

I love her. A friend turned me onto her and gave me the CD "At long last Lena". She put up /endured a lot of racist shit, but persevered.. I don't care about any other gossipy bullshit about her, she was a strong woman and more hardcore than most of us here.

I just love Lena's honest comments about Hollywood and MGM in That's Entertainment III.

I always found her icy but elegant in those MGM musicals, but (R6) speaks the truth, "The Lady and Her Music" is the greatest one person show I have ever seen. Stunning in every way.

R14, she never played demeaning roles - she was always the singing star 'Lena Horne' who suddenly appeared in a glamorous gown to sing a song and disappeared. (except for Cabin in the Sky and Stormy Weather).

R17, Lena's second husband was the white and gay Lennie Hayton, she married white to further her career - she admitted it.

R15, Ava lived near Lena in LA in the late 1940s. Lena knew all the MGM stars though she later erased them from her biography except for Ava.

Sinatra and Lena HATED each other after he got with Ava. Many think that he thought Lena and Ava had been intimate. Sinatra went into a meltdown years later when he thought he caught Ava and Lana Turner after they'd slept together (there was a police report).

Look at Sinatra's indifference to Lena in this TV show. Lena did it as a favor to Kay Thompson who was the musical arranger.

That's so sad, r24.

I love Lena, always have. Her voice was very flexible. She could easily sing breathy and airy soft songs or belt out to the balcony.

And then there's this, one of my favorite moments.

R24, that's a myth. It happened only once in Tennessee, I think Memphis - her song, "Love," was cut out manually by a local theater owner. But "Lena being cut out of films in the South" has become part of her biography.

Believe me, MGM would not have spent the money to produce two different prints of films she was in.

R29, Lena was great friends with ALL of the stars. No one ostracized her. Where did you read that nonsense?

I have a lot of respect for the lady because she was a survivor. She didn't allow the system to kill her the way it killed Dorothy Dandridge.

Who is to say she wasn't a good actress? I don't think she was ever given enough opportunities to demonstrate one way or the other.

Not here, I think she's overrated. Her star rose in an era when any black women in the movies had to be so light-skinned they all but looked white. Lena's looks, beautiful, practically white, played so much into making her a star, the fact that she was also a decent singer was practically an afterthought. I do remember Lena herself commenting on that, that she also thought she was getting more attention than her actual singing talent warranted. Sure Stormy Weather's good song, but any competent singer can make it work.

Let me also note, I think it's creepy that she's one of the few token black women mentioned in the beautiful women threads. Yes she was beautiful, but it's embarrassing that DL'ers seem to be stuck way back 70 years ago when black women were only considered beautiful if they looked like white women with tans.

Her cunty daughter was the catalyst for Janet Jackson being fired from the Lena Horne biopic. It was right after the Super Bowl incident, and Lena and her daughter distanced themselves from Janet. The project remains unproduced.

Lena Horne is most definitely not overrated as a singer and recording artist. She is a masterful interpreter who only got better with age. As her voice diminished her interpretive gifts broadened but she is rarely credited for being a talented, distinctive artist.

Unfortunately, those fanatical Old Hollywood queers who managed to find this thread are only fascinated by her because of her appearance. If she was a darker skin, less attractive black woman all of those folks who claim to be offended by her personal politics wouldn't have even taken notice of her. She completely overwhelmed white audiences in the 40s and 50s and they have been gagging ever since -- alternately exalting and disparaging her for all the wrong reasons.

R27 thank you- I love being introduced to a great new song by a great singer. Made my day.

R34, Lena's daughter did as she was told by her mother. Lena was very opinionated and high-strung; daughter Gail is passive by comparison. Gail had nothing to do with Janet's dismissal from the bio-pic.

Lena WAS overrated if all you know about her are those shitty movie musicals. If that was it, Lena would be a footnote in show business history. It's the career she had after the movies that made her -- top headliner in night clubs.

I've never gotten into her. I prefer Etta James' Stormy Weather.

By age 80 in 1997 Lena was in no condition to order her daughter to do anything. The Janet Jackson incident happened years after that.

R39, you're nuts. Lena was is fantastic condition when she was 80. In fact, she was recording and appeared on several TV shows at age 81.

The Janet Jackson firing was after the Super Bowl of 2004 -- Lena was 86. Her signature was required on a contract in order for the bio-pic to go ahead with Janet, are you suggesting her daughter forged it? Lena made a wise decision stopping that film.

A year later, in 2005, Lena held up the release of a Blue Note CD because she hated it -- some outtakes from recording sessions she had done when she was 80. Unfortunately, it was released.

Excuse me.

"Her signature was required on a contract in order for the bio-pic to go ahead with Janet, are you suggesting her daughter forged it?"

should have been:

"Her signature was required on a contract in order for the bio-pic to go ahead with Janet, are you suggesting her daughter ripped it out of Lena's hand?"

So glad Janet did not get to do this part.

"I read the only MGM star who didn't ostracize her was Angela Lansbury."

R29, the reason Lena later re-wrote her story and left a lot of MGM out was because her GF Jeanne Noble wanted her to in the 1960s. In reality, Lena socialized with all of the MGM stars including Ava, Judy Garland, Esther Williams, Gloria DeHaven, Gene Kelly and Betsy Blair.

You must read the 2009 James Gavin biography. Keep in mind that there was lots of personal stuff that didn't make it into the book because Lena was still alive.

Ava and lena in the 1940s and 50s? wonder what that was like?

I do wish she wouldn't make those faces, because her voice can be lovely.

And yeah, I know she's in the past tense.

When she appeared at the Fox Theater in Atlanta, she did a cartwheel on stage. She shocked the crowd because she wasn't wearing any panties.

She was my least favorite singer making the rounds of TV shows back whenever. She was no Rosemary Clooney.

However, in the 80's I happened onto the double album of her one woman show on Broadway.I can't tell you how many evenings I spent listening to that glorious piece of theater. I became the biggest fan !!!! Dig up that album and hear for yourself.

R44, satisfying from what I can tell.

I read a biography of Vincente Minnelli. He used to frequently escort Lena Horne to Hollywood restaurants and nightclubs in the early 1940s. But he always called the spots ahead of time to clear it with the owner/manager.

I thought that was very sad, but maybe it was necessary? I would have thought Hollywood was more broadminded than that.

It was in 1942 and depended on the place.

Minnelli was also a frequent dinner guest in Lena's home. She did or tried to sleep with him in her quest to marry a white man, only he wasn't the one she eventually got. Imagine if Minnelli had gone with Lena instead of Judy -- a career making duo?

No. Yes, beautiful. Her voice was great but her personality can't help but come through. I'd met her a couple of times (for work) and she was a cool cunt. In interviews, the massive chip on her shoulder is so distracting it takes away anything positive. I wouldn't pay 5.00 to walk across to see he sing in her heydey. Anita 0'Day, who went through just as many hard times only of a different nature, is my pick. There's a fantastic 2 hour documentary (DVD) floating around on her....if you want to understand the age & someone who made it, get it. There's one clip of Bryant Gumbel asking her insane questions about being on heroin. (I think she was addicted twice). She bitch slaps him fast. I'm so tired of Lens & the complaining - you'll get it after you see Anita.

R40, after Lena's death her daughter did a radio/podcast interview with Humphrey Bogart's son wherein she dismissed Janet's talent and stature as a pop star so pointedly you would have thought she was a DL regular. It was clear that SHE objected to Janet and it's likely Lena was given no say in the matter.

Her daughter Gail said that she AND Lena were not in favor of Janet because her style and looks were all wrong, which is true. Gail had become Lena's spokesperson at Lena's request/demand at that point in Lena's life.

That Bogart radio interview was perfunctory bullshit. Neither Steve Bogart nor Lena's daughter know much about Lena's career. Gail even agreed with clueless Bogart that Lena's tumultuous second marriage was a "very happy" one. She wasn't lying, she just didn't know.

Lena was a demanding bitch and Gail did as she was told. Deal with it.

R53, that's bullshit. In her next breath Gail said non-actress, dykon pop singer Alicia Keys would be a better choice to play her mother because she 'looked' more like her. How the hell is Alicia Keys' "style and look" more like Lena when that hoodrat bitch rarely ever wears a dress. That was strictly superficial sh*t and it was ALL Gail. Janet is feminine, beautiful and stylish, and a star. Gail just said it was her and Lena to give her own opinions more credibility.

Years ago, Lena herself wanted (taller, darker) Whitney Houston to play her so she wasn't overly concerned with physical resemblance.

You give yourself away, R54. Lena NEVER wanted Whitney Houston to play her in a biopic. Produce a source or link.

I agree that Alicia Keys looks more like Lena -- pants and all -- Lena was not very feminine off-stage. Lena's light color is a major factor which made the casting of Janet absurd from the start.

You must not know anything about Lena if you believe she was an ultra feminine dress-wearing wilting violet who was easily dominated and controlled by anyone, even in her 80s.

I saw her at Wolf Trap when she took her one-woman show on a national tour. I think there were about 7,000 in the audience. She was fantastic!

My favorite Lena song is "Napoleon." It's a wonderful Harburg-Arlen song she introduced in the Broadway musical "Jamaica."

Streisand covered "Napoleon" in her early night club act. In fact, Streisand stole a lot of singing style points from Lena at the beginning of her career. So did Lainie Kazan, but she admits it.

Whatever, r55. Unlike you I am not part of the Lena-was-a-dyke cabal which professes to know everything about Lena beyond her public persona. She was a private person who successfully shielded her personal life from scrutiny.

I don't know who she was behind closed doors and neither do you. So move on.

R58, did you give up so easily because you cannot produce a link to backup your claims?

R59, I lost interest because I figured out who you were and I've been weary of your agenda for many years now. This discussion in now pointless.

Who am I and what is my agenda? To prevent Janet Jackson from ever working again?

You are clearly a Janet Jackson fan who will go to any length to suggest she coulda been a contender in movies. Starring roles, not supporting. You blame others for her failures, you cannot back up your claims. Very dull.

[quote] Who am I and what is my agenda? To prevent Janet Jackson from ever working again?

Uh-ugh, gurl, not you.

Your friend, the "Lena was a dyke"-"Lena wants you to think she was victim"-"Streisand worshipped Lena" - girl.

I don't know WHO you are supposed to be...

You are confused. And you have a weird fixation on Lena's daughter.

Lena and her girlfriend Ava

Who?

bump

Why do people think she's gay?

She hated white people and made no secret of it. I have no idea if she was lesbo or not.