Let's Talk About Van Johnson

Johnson and Kathryn Grayson were doing a "tour" of LOVE LETTERS at a theatre where I was directing the show that followed them in. So we were in rehearsal while they were in performance and management had to pay his dressers extra to keep them from quitting. Mr. J was a very "handsy" star.

Van Johnson was charming, and funny on Letterman in the 1980s, when he was promoting "La Cage" on Broadway. Bonus: a funny piano bit by a cute, late-twenties Chris "Roland Schitt" Elliott.

As one of many gay men on the down low during Hollywood's studio system days, one wonders if Van Johnson ever tricked with any of others like Roddy McDowell, Rock Hudson, etc....

IIRC Van Johnson was great pals with Lucille Ball. He certainly was talented, maybe not Oscar award winning level, but could hold his own I should say.

Last Time I Saw Paris was probably first film starring Van Johnson ever saw. Was a PBS late night broadcast and was up ill with flu.

His character was a dick, but Van Johnson was very attractive and charming.

Johnson has been the subject of or appeared in a number of DL threads over the years. (Old Hollywood talk is a DL staple, and occasionally we get some great insights.)

The story of Van Johnson, Keenan Wynn, and their "shared wife" Evie alone is worth a Google search, if you're curious.

Speaking of threesomes, the weirdest one allegedly involved Johnson, Keenan Wynn, and a young Peter Lawford while all 3 were at MGM. I wonder who did what to whom.

R5

Thanks for the tip. Did search for Van Johnson on DL before starting thread, but nothing came up. Then again should have known the search function on this site isn't what it ought to be.

R6 Keenan Wynn and Peter Lawford were gay? Explain please.

r6 - A little soft shoe, a bit of shuffle ball change, no doubt.

Had a pretty nice body when he was young

Only knowing Keenan Wynn from later years (film and television) was surprised to find he was a very attractive young man.

"Shuffle ball change...."

Now those are three words you don't hear often nowadays. Well outside of dance classes.

In his final years, Van had lost his hearing.

There was a great old DL thread called "Van Johnson: Golden Age Queen," but it was from around 2005 or 2006 and it's not in the archives.

Found it!

Have been schooled, never bother with DL searches. If you want to find archived threads use Google or any decent search engine. They sniff out and archive everything.

As another poster already mentioned, there's a fuck ton of threads on or mentioning Van Johnson. Shame DL search engine no longer returns results.

Van Johnson turned down the role of Harold Hill in "The Music Man" as it was prepared to be produced on Broadway, as did Eddie Albert among others.

After Robert Preston triumphed in the role on Broadway, Van saw the light and played Harold Hill in the West End in London when it opened there. I believe Eddie Albert did the U.S. national tour.

Let's talk about Billy Van instead!

He was very cheesy looking and cheesy acting, I loathed him.

A Lucy classic...

Van Johnson, Peter Lawford, Robert Walker, and Tom Drake rose up the ranks at MGM because all its established male stars went off to war. These new leading men were all kind of bland and lacked sexual allure, but I guess American audiences needed sweet and wholesome during those troubling times.

I've mentioned this in past threads, but I've encountered him a couple of times during his elder years and he had this prissy, haughty air about him. His manner of speech was affected old Hollywood, he wore ascots and what appeared to be bronzer or makeup on his face.

I highly recommend a book that's called, I think, "Van Johnson's Family Album." A scrapbook lovingly put together by his wife. When you see photos of swell parties at their house, with Van whooping it tip with Noel Coward, Clifton Webb, and other pals, all sitting on the sofa, with his wife in the background somewhere....well, you just have to WONDER. Or not.

He did a movie called The Bottom of the Bottle that's pretty good - he's playing a drunken bum and a criminal so it's an atypical role for him. He also has a shirtless scene and looks pretty damn good considering he was 40-ish at the time

Johnson will be better remembered than many of his superstar contemporaries because of ILL. Both he and Lucy were so charming and sophisticated that it transcended the slapstick genre of the show.

Van Johnson was NOT gay! And I'm the dame who proved it!

He and Judy Garland are so perfectly paired in "In the Good Old Summertime" it's too bad they only did one film together. They both are better than usual in it.

This is a very well acted scene, my favorite in the film.

I recently read a book on Johnson (MGM’s Golden Boy by Ronald Davis) and it was fairly well researched and published by a university press, so it wasn’t the usual slapdash, copy and paste bio. The consensus is that Van was gay but deeply closeted and was not willing to risk that and lose his stature at MGM. There were a lot of stories about him at 14 and 15 in Rhode Island hooking up with sailors.

In the early 1960s, after he had transitioned from movies to musical theatre, he began to have more gay relationships. When he opened the original West End production of The Music Man he began a relationship with a featured chorus boy, Ben Stevenson. This was the relationship that really ended his marriage to his wife, Eve. The affair was fleeting but Stevenson (that's a photo of Ben Stevenson) went on to have a very long and prestigious career in ballet: he was the longtime Artistic Director of the Houston Ballet and was very chummy with the Bush family.

Johnson had what seemed like a lonely, miserly life in NYC (Sutton Place) and then Nyack, antagonizing his step-children and daughter frequently.

^ The Bushes were pals with Van Johnson's boytoy? Strange bedfellows indeed

I had a friend who said she liked Johnson until she saw him on some talk show and he was SO full of himself, that she decided she didn't like him after all.

He had an affair with Tom "The Boy Next Door" Drake during their MGM days

Damn, that is some serious gayface on Ben Stevenson.

Just off the plane to LA 1985. Visiting my soon to be ex in Santa Monica. He was living with an older gentlemen he called "Uncle" Bill. I was so naïve I really thought the guy was his uncle. "Uncle" takes us for dinner at a restaurant called the Golden Bull. Place is all red leather booths and 20 oz steaks and dry martinis. We are the youngest guys there by 25 years.. We are seated at a booth right in front. Hadn't even gotten the menus when a martini is placed in front of me. I tell the waiter " I didn't order this". He smirks and replys "From the gentleman." Points to some old geezer with day glow orange hair wearing a blue blazer , white pants and a paisley cravat. I respond by getting up with the drink walking back to cravat's table putting the glass down and quite sincerely saying 'Thanks but I don't like gin". Back at the table "Uncle" is rolling with laughter. Informs me "That's Van Johnson!" Me: "Who?"

There was an incident years ago between Van and an underage boy in a YMCA that the MGM lawyers hushed up.

I thought they also hushed up a cruising arrest where he was busted with a sailor

I think R34's arrest is the one Arthur Laurents was alluding to in his bio (as a blind item). He says the arrest resulted in Johnson being forced to marry a woman: in actuality, Johnson married Eve, the wife of his best friend (ahem) Keenan Wynn, which was a bit of a scandal even without the gay angle.

R16, that's not THE 'Van Johnson, Golden Age Queen' thread. The actual one was 500+ posts long, and FULL of dishy, dishy gossip and hilarious stories of encounters and working with the red-socked flamer.

Spencer Tracey was obsessed with Van Johnson.

R37, So was Spencer Tracy.

R32

Get her, she found her pride, heaven knows where she got if from .....

Bitch a free drink is a free drink. Day a fine young thing goes into an establishment and no free drinks are forthcoming, then you might as well be dead. That's a sure sign you've peaked and are over.

The answer to these questions about Van Johnson is answered in his own words with painful certainty in his unredacted FBI file. It was posted some years ago but has since vanished from the web. Hoover's boys as we know were unrelenting on this issue.

R39 Hon you should hear my Cesar Romero story.

or Van's johnson, R47.

^R37

R35

"“In January 1947 Evie and Wynn were finally divorced, and the following day she and Johnson were wed. Although rumours quickly circulated that the MGM chief Louis B. Mayer had ordered the union to cover up potential scandal, the truth is cloudy. The writer Arthur Laurents states in his memoirs, ‘A sunny male star caught performing in public urinals once too often was ordered by his studio to get married. His best friends, a young comedian and his wife, divorced so that he could marry the wife.’"

@ R27 from same link above....

'“In 1960 Evie sued Johnson for divorce, citing cruelty and his causing ‘grievous mental suffering’, and a few weeks later she sued Wynn for ‘fraud and breach of contract’ in their property settlement and for failing to pay child support. She was briefly reconciled with Johnson and travelled with him to London in 1961 when he starred on stage in The Music Man, but the couple finally parted when Johnson began an affair with a member of the show’s cast. Ned Wynn writes that his mother told him that Johnson had left her ‘for a man – a boy, really. He’s the lead boy dancer.'” Their eventual, acrimonious divorce (Johnson called it ‘the ugliest divorce in Hollywood history’) was made final in 1968.”"

[quote]Ned Wynn writes that his mother told him that Johnson had left her ‘for a man – a boy, really. He’s the lead boy dancer.'”

This is from "We Will Always Live in Beverly Hills" by Ned Wynn. The book is pretty good but mostly about Ned (who cares) and his life as a Hollywood brat who has no motivation or drive and falls into drugs and transcendental meditation (or trance and dental medication). The book is not available as an ebook so I ordered it. I thought there'd be more dirt on the relationship between Keenan and Van but Ned really only talks about how their lives changed and then mentions the above very brief revelation about Ben Stevenson (who is not named). Evie Wynn/Johnson eventually became Van's agent and fucked his career up big time by making outrageous demands.

Lucy and Desi wanted Van for Desilu's new series "The Untouchables" and Evie acting as Van's agent tried to negotiate a better deal for him. They hired Robert Stack, the series took off, and Stack made a bundle.

R32 I never decline a libation offered by a gentleman.

"Seeming to work in alphabetical order, Desi pivoted next to actor Van Johnson. Van Johnson’s wife and manager knew the clock was ticking and insisted he be paid $10,000 for the pleasure, but Desi, sourced by the extortion attempt, passed. Desi briefly considered playing the role himself."

The book "The Lion of Hollywood: The Life and Legend of Louis B. Mayer" begins with the story about how he manipulated the marriage of Van Johnson and Evie. Just like Universal did with Rock Hudson, according to Evie. She said she was in love with Van, and Mayer promised to keep Kennan working so that he could afford to pay child support. Evie claimed she was in love with Van, and had no idea he was gay. If she didn't marry him, then Keenan would be out of a job, basically.

Keenan was always working, and would send Evie to parties and premieres with Van. He thought Van was safe around Evie, lol.

The studio was apparently so spooked by the incident with a boy that they had Van Johnson marry his best friend's wife so he would look like a total pussyhound who broke up marriages. Evie spilled the beans about the whole marriage before she died but apparently had burned so many bridges that no one would verify her story. These days though it seems to be accepted fact that the studio strong-armed the Wynns into getting divorced so Evie could marry Van, though like r50 says, another version of the story is that Evie wanted to trade up to a more famous husband (or maybe even really did love Van) and went along with the bearding.

I'm just confused about the state of the Keenan Wynn marriage. Was it already floundering before LB Mayer interfered in it? Were there stories of Keenan fooling around with men other than Van?

I met Van way back in 1970 when I was an apprentice at a summer stock theater. He would chat me up backstage and was very sweet, not sexually threatening at all. But I was a cute young 20 year old (who looked like a teenager) and probably of no serious interest to him. I remember he always wore red socks, even in the middle of the summer.

Worked w him once. I was 25. He was well into his 70s. He was a pro. Reliable but that’s about it. Bitter. Brittle. Angry. Caustic. Miserable backstage. Snippy with me & my boyfriend. Self loathing homo homophobe. A cautionary tale for anyone scared to come out. I hope he eventually found peace.

I think we have to be more tolerant of men like Van who rose to stardom in a world where they had no choice but to be closeted.

It's remarkable to me that there are still gay actors who feel compelled to remain closeted in this day and age. Young British actors like Jonathan Bailey, Russell Tovey and Andrew Scott, to name just a few, really are role models.

Saw him once on the East Side, walking by the Starbucks I was sitting in (Starbucks was the new thing back then). Didn't recognize him, but an older friend did.

R53

Here we go again....

There was no question of Van Johnson ever "coming out". Furthermore you cannot compare life of a man born just after turn of last century to one born say even in 1950 or 1960.

Like Tom Tryon and many other gay actors in Hollywood back then and some would say even today coming out is just not an option.

More to the point under old studio system if Van Johnson came out is career would have been effectively over. MGM would have dropped him, and it would be highly unlikely any other major studio would pick him up.

Yes, gays like Arthur Laurents did come out saying "fuck the consequences", but there were consequences and repercussions. Maybe not huge by some people's standards, but never the less...

Am betting many of you all would be bitter as will if forced to remain in that closet. Van Johnson couldn't (or didn't far as one knows) even have that outlet of private gay parties like Rock Hudson, Roddy, and others. Nor like Anthony Perkins a queer ménage à trois living arrangement with a two gays and one female acting as beard.

By time Van Johnson began to remotely feel comfortable about that side of his life, he was already >50.

Just about everyone who worked at MGM in the 40s and 50s spoke about it being an extraordinary gilded cage. The actors were well paid and coddled by the studio, they lived in luxurious surroundings and received all the trappings of fame, but they were expected to follow a strict code of conduct, and being gay was absolutely a career killer. When you are carrying a secret that, had it become public, would destroy all of that life in an instant, you become obsessive about hiding it. Johnson was not alone - Rock Hudson, Cesar Romero, Ramon Novarrro, Tab Hunter, and many others all played the game.

Johnson was a popular actor, perhaps a bigger star than his talents would warrant. So in his case, the loss of his cover would have been devastating. Indeed, he spent most of his post-Hollywood career coasting on his star image in dinner theater and stock.

He lived in New York in a penthouse at 405 East 54th Street, an elegant apartment building that was known for having many gay tenants -- it was jokingly called "4 out of 5." That alone was almost a coming out statement in those times, but it was about as far as Johnson would go. I don't know that he had any long-term relationship with a man.

I'll always remember an episode of Fantasy Island where Van Johnson plays a diplomat who finds out he has a love child played by none other than Charo! In one scene, she sings Chiquitita to him and he tries to look impressed, but you can see behind his look is one of knowing his career is officially dead having to play such a scene.

I saw him recently in a Love Boat episode playing the husband to a blind June Allyson, who refuses to accept her blindness! He is really over-the-top fake.

R56 Agree. I also think WSS and Gypsy gave Laurents oodles of "fuck you" money.

Laurents wasn't in front of the camera. His stakes weren't as high.

[quote]blind June Allyson

Didn't that make it difficult to change her bladder pads?

American women never dreamt of dating, marrying, and/or fucking Arthur Laurents.

[quote] There were a lot of stories about him at 14 and 15 in Rhode Island hooking up with sailors.

Such a charmed youth he had!

R41, let's hear the Cesar Romero story!!!

What's this about his FBI file?

It was hotter than the file on Thelma Jordan, r67!

R49 Thanks for the very interesting link about how Van was considered for the Eliot Ness role. I have an even greater appreciation of what Desi Arnaz did for Desilu than I did previously.

The first time I saw him in a movie I wanted to fuck him so bad.

Who were the two men Tony Perkins was living with along with his wife?

r27 Here's a recent pic of Stevenson.

Life's a bitch sometimes.

^ The sweet bird of youth has definitely flown away, but at least he has an impressive resume

R56 - I empathized then. I empathize now. However I reserve to have opinions about someone who I met and proved to be a bit of an ass to me and someone I loved.

R71

Tony Perkins, Grover Dale and Helen Merrill all lived together in a New York City townhouse. First two were lovers, third acted as "mistress" of the house as sort of beard.

We've discussed this before on DL. Please keep up.

WEHT Van's daughter?

Improper form, r76...

R67 At the onset of WWII, when he was a nobody actor, he avoided the draft by checking the "I'm gay" box.

As he soon became a well-known actor he started to worry this could affect his career, and when he suffered serious injury in an accident he asked whether he could switch the basis of his military exemption to the aftermath of the accident.

The FBI got wind of this and started an intensive investigation to determine whether he lied in initially checking that box. The FBI file contains a long and intensely personal interview in which he successfully convinces the agents it was no lie.

J Edgar must have really gotten off reading that file and knowing the sort of control it gave him.

Didn't J. Edna also spy on Rock Hudson? That queen had a lot to answer for

Francis Xavier Aloysius James Jeremiah Keenan Wynn

Is there any verificatia of Van Johnson's johnson being size meat?

someone should do a version of rock hudson's home movies on van and his love scenes with actresses.

^ That sounds awesome. Who would play Van?

R83, NPH

Confidential did an expose on his gay life...he was kind of commenting on it by doing the movie Slander

Schuyler Johnson is still with us (aged 73), but you don't hear much about or from her these days.

She's discussed in this old DL thread on Van Johnson

[quote] Always nicely dressed but giving off a vibe from a different era, sort of like your grandfather.

As we will all do should we live as long.

The 𝙩𝙤𝙧𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩!!!

r86, that has some interesting dish:

Miss Van used to hang out the Golden Bull resturant next to SS Friendship ( the oldest gay bar in LA.) He used to get completely shit faced . Clutch desperately at the cute waiters, slober on about how he sucked off Clark Gable. He always wore a blue blazer and a cravet. He had florescent day glow orange hair that would put Lucy to shame.He'd get fallin down drunk and we'd wind up calling him a cab and one of us would follow him up to Bel Aire in diving his Caddy. Good tipper but a rather sad ole queen.Some of the waiters laid on their backs for 5 minutes until he passed out. It was an easy Grant. Oh well . May Miss Van RIP.

On "I've Got a Secret" (I'll say!)

^ They have to guess what Van is going to do later. Shockingly, no one guessed "Suck off a waiter"

What's My Line?

Wow, it's so sad that actors couldn't be who they really were back then!

I'm glad things are so much better today!

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to make passionate love to my hot girlfriend

I don't mean to be Dora Dumbfuck, but is "Schuyler" pronounced "SKY-ler", or "Shoo-ler"?

It's a dopey name, mo.

Also this photo I found looks like the worst double date in history! Is there enough booze to make this a fun night out?

R94 Mia Farrow and Andre Previn in the photo may have been married or dating at the time. Other than that, it’s not clear to me who was with whom. It’s certainly an odd combination of people.

So Van Johnson, Mia Farrow, Joan Crawford, and Roman Polanski walk into a bar....

The story behind that photo at R94:

R96 Oops, I mistook Roman Polanski for Andre Previn because Mia Farrow is in the photo. I did think the man seemed short for Previn, but I had no idea what Polanski looked like.

Golden Bull in Santa Monica is still going strong....

S.S. Friendship closed, but reopened as Shore Bar.

Santa Monica Canyon is a beautiful place that long has been welcoming to gays. Not surprised Van Johnson would find his way down there.

R84 NPH is no where near butch enough to play a young or even middle aged Van Johnson

Shame is then wife along with agent screwed Van Johnson out of doing Elliot Ness. Watch the "Untouchables" on MeTv and think VJ would have been excellent.

R27

More than you know, and Ben Stevenson wasn't the only victim by far.

Simon Gallaher went from this...

[post redacted because linking to dailymail.co.uk clearly indicates that the poster is either a troll or an idiot (probably both, honestly.) Our advice is that you just ignore this poster but whatever you do, don't click on any link to this putrid rag.]

There are now and have been for ages elder gays just like Van Johnson at certain watering holes such as Townhouse.

You really cannot be too hard on these stately old queens. One must remember these gays came up in our father's , grandfather's or even great grandfather's time when world was just a different place.

Aside from being gay many of these men had all sorts of issues. Van Johnson's mother left home when he was three (she had a drinking problem, and sounds like his father threw her out or something). Van never forgave his mother for leaving, worse he was left with a father that while did love him in his own way, just wasn't the warm and cuddly sort. Van Johnson's father wanted his son to become a violinist. Van spent hours alone practicing something he really didn't like.

When you look at that childhood it's no wonder (if true) young Van was out cruising sailors for tricks at 16 or 17.....

As another poster stated end of studio system/golden age of Hollywood hit actors and actresses who came up in that scheme hard. They went from being steadily employed (under contract) to basically having to fend for themselves. There was just no way Van Johnson was going to come out then for a host of reasons.

Van Johnson was my mother’s Hollywood heartthrob. In 1987 I took my parents to NYC for their wedding anniversary. Got tickets to La Cage Aux Folles (which I had seen with the original cast), Van Johnson was playing the George role. My mother carried her teenage scrapbooks with movie fan clippings about VJ with her. Her plot was to get him to sign the scrapbooks. After checking with the box office, I gave the scrapbooks to the door guard at the stage entrance, asked they be given to Mr. Johnson, and said I would come back after the performance. After the show, we went to the stage door; the guard asked if my mother would like to meet VJ. He let us backstage, and we witnessed VJ bitching out the orchestra conductor for upping tempo on his solo number (Song on the Sand). I came forward to introduce myself to VJ, he got this huge smile on his face, and I then introduced my parents. He loved the scrapbooks, gave my mother a huge hug and kiss. My mother was blown away. There was an incredibly hunky guy (his driver) and we talked about how VJ looked in the 40s and 50s. Van Johnson was dressed in a seersucker suit (this was August), but had his full face of stage makeup on, even though he was out of his wardrobe and ready to go on the street. He wrote a nice personal note to my mother in her scrapbook (in red ink of course). I was so glad I arranged this for my mother. I thought he was a real gentleman.

Most of those old Hollywood stars treated fans very well -- a chat, a nice word, a photo op. The studios trained them to treat the audience with respect. Contrast that today with the spoiled, entitled brats who scowl and scream "MAKE HER STOP LOOKING AT ME IN PUBLIC!!!!"

That was a fun read r97, thanks! I'd never heard that before.

[quote] He lived in New York in a penthouse at 405 East 54th Street, an elegant apartment building that was known for having many gay tenants -- it was jokingly called "4 out of 5."

I read that somewhere and thought it was hilarious. Where did you read it? I can't find the source (someone's memoir?).

VJ was that odd holdover from the Golden Years of Hollywood for whom there was no right place by the time summer stock, nightclubs, and cabaret acts were no longer in vogue except for certain pockets that managed to survive. Where was one to go except for television, and in the most dreadful period of television imaginable -- the 1970s and 80s? So many of the shows were crap but were built around names and former stars who could no longer carry a movie. He did say, rather sardonically, that all his peers owed a great debt to "Angie" for keeping so many of them active by having them perform on "Murder, She Wrote."

R107

What a great story, and you're a great son!

Whatever else people may say about Van Johnson, he exuded that old Hollywood studio system charm towards his fans. He never forgot that old nugget of wisdom of theater and later film people that it is the pubic who put you (the actor) where you are. If they stop attending your performances you're done.

His escapades in cruising young men not withstanding don't think have ever read or heard of Van Johnson being rude or unkind to a fan. By all accounts Van Johnson was great in La Cage!

VJ did television adverts, that should have brought in a few pennies...

Ann Miller, Cyd Charisse, Kathryn Grayson, and Van Johnson discuss their days at MGM

Speaking of "4 out of 5", here is 4 of 5

R109

Didn't write quote you responded to, but can answer your query.

Matt Crowley (wrote play "Boys In The Band..", lived at 405 East 54th street along with many other gays back in the day. He explained "405" became "4 out of 5" because that was the ratio of gay to straight tenants.

That area of mid-town east from Third avenue east to Sutton from about 42nd street north to low 60's was once a huge gay area of Manhattan, this going back to 1950's if not before. There were gay bars, restaurants, clubs, and of course by the 1960's or so the famous stroll for gay hustlers at 53rd street and Third avenue.

Today only bar left is Townhouse, but there is a reason why that place is where it is and remains.

Further to R 114's post, the area along Third Avenue in the 40s and 50s was home to what was known as the "bird circuit," a string of gay bars with names like The Blue Parrot and The Swan. It was a very oppressive time and the bars were mafia-run. They would often hire women to sit near the window in an attempt to disguise the otherwise all-male clientele. But there was always the treat of a police raid. There is a subway stop at 53rd and Third and the line runs from Queens and goes down through Chelsea and the Village. So it was a very convenient spot for men to meet. Once the El was demolished in 1955, real estate values skyrocketed in that part of town. The police began patrolling the area aggressively and a series of raids put the bars out of business., and high-rise office buildings went up, essentially destroying the neighborhood feel of the area.

You can still sense a bit of what it was like on the block of 53rd Street between Third and Second Avenues.

So VJ was very much in his element living over there.

Oh, Dear! "threat," not "treat" - unless you're into cops.

[quote]Matt Crowley

His name was MART, not Matt.

Did Van ever do a sitcom pilot? Dan Dailey, who had a similar, though lesser, career, had a one-season show ("The Governor and JJ"); some of his other contemporaries like Bette Davis, Jean Arthur, and Betty Hutton also tried their own shows.

When I was a kid, Van Johnson came through town in "Showboat" playing Cap'n Andy.

There was a group of us kids in a few of the numbers. I heard the chorus boys talking about how he liked to stand behind them and touch them and whisper stuff in their ears. He would also step on the toes of anyone who got in front of him.....some of the girls cried because he would really put all of his weight on their toes.

"Don't get between me and my audience," he would tell them.

When he was on location for THE CAINE MUTINY, he kept asking his tall red haired stunt double, Tom Hennesy to come up to his room to fuck him.

Tom tried to be nice but finally had to tell him to fuck off!

R118 . . .

The Governor & J.J.

1969 ‧ Sitcom ‧ 2 seasons

R110, I loved your story about Johnson and your family. W&W. But for the sake of accuracy, Johnson did his Broadway stint in La Cage in 1985. By 1987 the show had closed.

Van promoting La Cage on Letterman in 1985.

He certainly seems campy in these interviews. Hiding in plain sight.

I can't deal with ginger pubes.

Van Johnson is NOT a queer! He's deeply in love with his wife, Evie!

I always liked this number he did as a cameo in Til the Clouds Roll By. He commands the camera. His partner might be a better technical dancer than he, but he just registers on screen. The man had star quality.

"The man had star quality."

*

He's dancing with Bremer, r127, who did not...

Indeed R128. Til the Clouds roll By was MGMs last attempt to put Bremer over as star material.

The dame just didn't sparkle.

Not just MGM, r193, but Arthur Freed, the head of the studio's premiere musical production unit. Bremer was his mistress.

Quoting Ann Miller: "Lucille Bremer? She was Arthur Freed's pussy."

Quoting Lucille Bremer: "Ann Miller? She was LB Mayer's pussy."

R133, Annie was also Conrad Hilton's pussy, after Zsa Zsa.

Van’s singing in La Cage was so awful the audience chuckled during his songs. I’m amazed Laurent’s didn’t fire him in rehearsal. It also makes one wonder just how bad Robert Stack who did get fired was.

R135, I never thought much of Gene Barry's singing.

Barry was John Raitt next to Van.

Van & Miss Arlene

Gene fit the bill just fine.

R139, Meh . . .

Was he the one that bouced all over town in that musical number? Now that was talent!

That was BOBBY VAN, r141.

Let's talk about Van's johnson!

r139 Poor Gene was so embarrassed about playing queer he always stressed his marriage and family in every interview.

He seems gay to me in the reruns of Burke's Law on YouTube, trying to be Cary Grant but not quite pulling it off.

Any rumor's about how big Van's johnson was?

I’ll cut Gene some slack because playing a man singing a love song to another man in a big splashy gayer than gay musical took guts. I thought Hearn was overpraised. Keene Curtis was a brilliant Albin.

Gene was quite good in La Cage. Engaging and charming. Hearn tried hard but in the end he was miscast as a queen. At the time it was still very unusual for a straight actor to take on a gay part. Not unheard of, but still rare. Most were worried people would think they were gay. That's why Barry and Hearn stressed their happy family lives offstage. In the original cast George and Albin never kissed, just hugged.

They had a lot of trouble casting those parts. People they wanted turned them down left and right, esp. closeted gay performers.

Georges was written with Robert Preston in mind. Herman had tailored the songs to his voice. They were almost stunned and more than disappointed when he turned it down, since had openly played gay in V/V. But that's why he declined. After being so successful as Teddy in V/V, he was afraid of getting typecast as the go-to guy for a lovable old gay. It was a legitimate concern back then. In fact though, he loved the show and the part and thought about it long and hard before passing.

And Gene's singing was fine. They felt very lucky to have gotten him after Preston passed.

R144, Gene was married to Betty Kalb, a childhood friend of Lauren Bacall and they remained close friends throughout their lives.

R135, Had Robert Stack ever sung a note in public?

"And Gene's singing was fine. They felt very lucky to have gotten him after Preston passed."

John McMartin would have been excellent.

Were they known as *the two Bettys*, r148?

Gene Barry was also still an incredibly handsome man when he appeared in LA CAGE. That helped the "romance" enormously.

More about the aforementioned Dan Dailey, please! Wasn't he rumored to be gay or a closet transvestite?

John McMartin had a lovely eccentric quality which wouldn’t have worked for George. Keith Michell was perfection.

I vanced with Dan Johnson.

Saw a younger Gene Barry on some 1960's television program was watching on MeTV, may have been Alfred Hitchcock. Didn't know who he was until credits, but the voice sounded familiar. Yes, he was a very attractive young man...

Gene Barry and Van Johnson were same age, both having been born in 1919.

George Hearn sang his big La Cage number "I Am What I Am" dressed in a tux at that year's Tony awards which was televised.

There was much confusion and noise in certain quarters as to why he didn't perform in drag. Some say it was because he was also going to present that evening. Others claim network wasn't to keen on the idea (these are the same people that squashed Anita Morris doing her Call From the Vatican number because the costume and performance was deemed indecent for television). Still more say the very hetro George Hearn (five wives including Dixie Carter) wasn't to keen on doing drag period and didn't want to be too closely associated with that art or even being gay.

Would have to look it up but don't think George Hearn ever did "Za-Za" in drag unless on stage, period.

Not good video quality (recorded off a set), but the peak of Gene Barry's career was when he did a musical number with Cheryl Ladd in Charlie's Angels. It was all downhill from there.

Elder gays will remember Gene Barry starring in "Bat Masterson".

He was nominated and the front runner, r156. It's understandable why he didn't do it in full drag. Barry was quite cute in War of the Worlds...

Elder gays will also fondly remember Gene Barry from Burke's Law, in which he played a playboy millionaire private eye and the weekly suspects were always an exciting array of Hollywood has-beens.

At the conclusion of the R138’s link to the Arlene Francis interview, Van is interviewed by someone else & is shown a tape of him performing with Jacob, the couple’s butler/maid, played by William Thomas, Jr., who originated the role, a key player in the musical. When asked to identify his co-star, Van could only say his name was Billy, but didn’t know his last name.

I've worked with a lot of older actors over many decades and I'm impressed that Van even got his first name right, r161.

Gene Barry , Robert Stack and Tony Franciosa all starred in the revolving series "Name Of The Game". Each week the show focused on one of the, with Susan Saint James being the common link for all three. Though Gene appeared in Burke's Law and Bat Masterson as well, I'll always think of him as the first "guest murderer" in Columbo.

Though Humphrey Bogart, Fred MacMurray and Jose Ferrer all had flashier roles, Van Johnson was actually the main character in "The Caine Mutiny", and did a pretty decent job.

I always got Gene Barry and Barry Nelson confused

Bombshell Betty on Burke's Law...

Mandy should have won the Tony for Sunday... that year. Hearn was overrated.

Bombshell Betty, R165? Or just bombed as usual? Bottoms up, Betty, you old bar rag.

(Seriously, she's terrible.)

[quote]Elder gays will also fondly remember Gene Barry from Burke's Law, in which he played a playboy millionaire private eye and the weekly suspects were always an exciting array of Hollywood has-beens.

It was an early Aaron Spelling show. That Hollywood has-beens formula was successfully transferred to other shows like "Fantasy Island," "The Love Boat," and "Murder, She Wrote."

Looking back at George Hearn in La Cage, he's really terrible.

He is completely miscast for starters.

[quote]Van Johnson was actually the main character in "The Caine Mutiny"

I'd forgotten that, R163, He did do well in the role, it's one of my favorite oldie movie.

In some older movies, "looks like he came from Third Avenue" was code for "he's a sissy" to get by the Hayes office.

I liked him in The Caine Mutiny, too

Van Johnson liked watching young boys play piano!

Better clip.

Van Johnson was certainly good looking then, he must have gotten plenty of action during WWII.

Though tastes have changed, during WWII and the years that followed, Van and June Allyson were touted by MGM in roles that presented them as the perfect young American couple, the hope of the future, representing the ideals we fought for during the war. Whatever we think about them, they were actually very popular and well-liked by their colleagues in Hollywood.

June's inexplicable popularity is being discussed on another DL thread about the film THE WOMEN (she starred in a 1950s musical remake of the film).

Van Johnson did in fact do a (failed) sitcom pilot called MAN IN THE MIDDLE. They used to dredge up failed sitcom pilots to fill random summer network TV timeslots. It was absolutely godawful.

Man in the middle....of a gay orgy

Van did a lot of stock tours in plays like There’s a Girl in my Soup and Tribute.

There's a girl in my soup....and a boy in my bed

R174 I would guess that Van saw more action than the Pacific Fleet!

Fleet being the operative word, r180.

Like enema?

No Rose, as in "...of foot".

I wonder if ole Van was turned on by the kinky scene in his BATMAN tv show episode as the "minstrel" when he has batman and robin tied up one on top of the other to a barbecue pit as they rotate around and around and their crotches first robin, then batman, then back to robin, then back to batman are plainly shown off as Van's character the minstrel watches then rotate and spin?!...

highly pervy, kinky, homoerotic scene!.... it helped that the "belts" they used to strap in both adam west and burt ward were literally placed right above their crotches ensuring blood flow to their nether regions and making them both bulge!

How...vivid.

Van was in a serious car accident in 1943 during the filming of A Guy Named Joe; he had a metal plate put into his head and, despite extensive plastic surgery, had a nasty scar on his face that was hidden with makeup for the rest of his career. MGM wanted to replace him in the film but co-star Spencer Tracy insisted that the movie be put on hold until Johnson had recovered.

For The Caine Mutiny (1954), Johnson decided not to hide his scar as he felt it added to his character.

What's never stated (I wonder why?) is: Irene Dunne, the leading lady of A GUY NAMED JOE also insisted the movie be put on hold until Van recovered. I believe the famous MGM family anniversary photo was taken while this film was being shot....but before Van's accident, with Tracy, Dunne and Johnson all prominently featured..

This photo?

MGM did a group photo of its stars every year but the famous one is this one from 1943.

No, r188, the earlier one which I believe was taken in 1943. 2oth Anniversary or maybe the 25th?

It's interesting that Irene Dunne is present in the photo as I believe she was never a contract player but was appearing in a current film.

Like Marlon Brando, his face always looked like someone took it out of the mold too soon.

Yes! That's the one, r189, thanks. You can see Spencer Tracy and Van in costume in their aviator jackets and Irene Dunne to our right of Greer Garson.

I remember seeing him at Casa Manana in Ft. Worth in the 70’s, he was in Brigadoon, reprising his role as Jeff.

R187

Irene Dunne had nothing to do with putting "A Guy Named Joe" into filming hold while Van Johnson was on injured list. Well not directly anyway.

It was Spencer Tracy who convinced studio to hold up production after Van Johnson was injured in that automobile accident for for months. Furthermore both Tracy and director Victor Fleming agreed to pull in their claws and treat Irene Dunne better than they had previously.

Though Tracy originaly wanted Ms. Dunne in the picture, once shooting began both he and Fleming behaved rather beastly towards her, in many instances reducing Ms. Dunne to tears. This tension was clearly evident in scenes that had been shot before Van Johnson's accident.

With that agreement in place studio used those four months Van Johnson was away to retake certain scenes that previously weren't their best due to the bullying of Ms. Dunne.

R194, Van discusses the Tracy-Dunne issue at 2:00.

Thanks for the clip, r195. It perfectly sums up everything about Van we've been discussing.

Here's the redacted FBI file on Miss Van. Lots of details even with the names redacted. Let's figure out who these lovers were!

BTW - his 10-page statement is at the end. It's his sexual autobiography.

That is an incredibly powerful document to read in 2021, r197. How did that get released, even now?

The enormous strength and sadness it took to write those pages on the record comes through for me. We, as contemporary entitled gays, should all read this and see what hell life was like, even for a privileged movie star like Van.

Thanks for posting. I hope everyone here takes the time to read it.

Did J. Edna Hoover slobber while reading that?

Yes, that's the file. Sad reading really: to think the Government put someone under that sort of microscope to force that sort of "confession."

Cryptome originally hosted the unexpurgated file but quickly took it down, and Cryptome very rarely takes stuff down.

That statement is heartbreaking to read.

Heartbreaking to read that statement (and rest of file for that matter) may be to us, but remember Van Johnson was requesting to be disqualified from military service during war time. Many assume getting out of draft/military service was simple as showing up wearing perfume and acting too twee, and or just saying "I'm a homosexual", and military said fine.. next... There could be and often was more to things that that.

Every eligible American male within age range was expected to serve his country when/if called. A good number of men who wanted to join up but for various reasons were qualified as 4F or something and couldn't, still tried to find a way into some sort of military service.

Against that backdrop Van Johnson and others who said they were gay and wanted an out often got the side eye. It's the old joke of Corporal Clinger of M*A*SH running around in dress desperately trying to get out of military, but it never worked.

Van Johnson couldn't have foretold that automobile accident would occur a few years later after ticking that "gay" box for draft board. From a cursory reading of linked FBI file that is what caused him grief later. Going back after the accident to say it was because of injury he shouldn't serve (and trying to retract the gay thing IIRC), caused a few ears to perk up.

Well our boy Van was quite the busy beaver during his New York days......and those are just the things he admitted to.....

No, Van got his 4F for being gay before the war started. It would have looked really bad if it was after. The explanation of all that was from 1945, late in the war, when Van was a big star and afraid that if the reason he was 4F got out, his career would be over.

Tribute to Van

On his youngest, hottest, fittest day - Van Johnson had zero sexual appeal. He always struck me as they guy working behind the fragrance counter for the last 35 years, but portrayed himself as a fashion executive. All fluff and no substance.

Carleton Varney makes Van Johnson look sexy and butch in that pic. Is there anybody more insufferable with his reminiscences.

R207, not sure your comparison makes sense. He was a bona-fide A-list star with tons of adoring female fans who certainly thought he had sex appeal.

I saw Van in La Cage back in the day and he was fine. At first glance George Hearn seemed miscast, but seeing his performance live -he's what kept me from walking out on what was otherwise a very mediocre show.

When La Cage first opened. there was such anticipation that some friends and I got tickets for the last preview, so we could brag about having already seen it. At intermission we all looked at one another and agreed it was weak and tedious, and hoped the second act would be better. It wasn't.

I never understood the adulation for that show.

It was a gay show for heterosexual audiences.

I loved the original but no, it isn't deep, profound or thought provoking. it was eminently hummable showtunes, lots of glitzy drag by the divine Theoni Aldridge and some good one liners in both the book and lyrics. My cup of tea that evening.

R211, It was a Jerry Herman "feel good" musical with some memorable tunes.

La Cage was a gay love story on Broadway that straights weren't only not bothered by, but loved including many of the gray hairs who come in for matinee performances from the burbs.

HIV/AIDs was revving up at time show opened and would indeed claim many of the dancers and others connected with show. George Hearn tells in interviews how awful things were. Coming in and each day this or that dancer or whoever out due to illness, notices on boards posting who was in what hospital, death notices.....

As for La Cage not being a "great" show, it sure won a fuck ton of awards both OBC and subsequent revivals. It may not have been everyone's cup of tea, but at least La Cage provided something to show gays weren't all evil and deserved to die for "putting their dicks where they didn't belong...."

I can't remember anything about "La Cage aux Folles", except I watched the French movie with my mother and I remember her laughing and laughing - she adored it!

R209 - do you actually find him “hot”, in a sexual way? Even in his youth?

R217, I definitely thought he was hot when he was younger. Not so much when he was 50+ but I definitely would have done 1940s Van

I was watching an old Rosalind Russell movie on YouTube called 'Never Wave at a WAC' (1953). It was a rather silly thing, a vanity project for Ros, produced by her husband Freddie Brisson. The reason I was watching is because my mother, who was a WAC, told me that she was among the WACS marching in the movie.

Anyhow, there's a party scene in the beginning where Ros is playing the social grand dame in Washington, and Evie Wynn Johnson pops up for a few seconds. Ros asks her where her husband is, and she says he's doing something at the Smithsonian. Evie looked matronly, but then none of the women in that scene were young.

Evie Wynn Johnson never looked like the kind of woman to set a heterosexual man's heart aflame, much less the kind to come between two heterosexual BFFs dueling for her hand in marriage.

No, she looks like the kind of woman you marry when LB Mayer is literally holding a gun to your head, saying "It's time to get married, you big pansy."

Yup.

Evie looked like Keenan Wynn in drag

Let's just say it speaks volumes that Evie wasn't asked to participate in the Don Loper fashion show.

He was fat in Murder She Wrote

I was going to fuck him, but my mother always warned me about getting into a strange white van.

Part of me wanted to see the Grammar Trolls take his statement to task. The last paragraph is especially strange. Was he drunk? He talks about the corrections he had made, and then immediately makes a hand written correction. Kind of sad. Typo City.

Let's talk about Van, bay-bee, Let's talk about you and me.....

It's Van's birthday today! He would have been 105

We can celebrate by watching him play John Alden in PLYMOUTH ADVENTURE or , R229.

If we're having a Van-a-thon....

More Van

I always found him to be an appealing, if lightweight, actor. I've enjoyed several movies he was in.

r233, agree

I missed that when this thread was first active r197, thanks for posting, that was a fascinating read.

My Mom was a big movie fan and we were on West 45th St in NYC in the 70's and we ran into him. I was too young to know who he was at the time except for being Henry Fonda's friend in "Your, Mine And Ours" which I saw a bunch of times, but I have to say even as a kid I saw how wonderful he treated my Mother, even hugging her when she told him how much she loved his work. Class act.

That report was so heavily redacted that it could have been censored by the Hays Office.

I vanced with Dan