Title: A History of Shadows Author: Robert C. Reinhart Published by: Alyson Publications, 1986 ISBN: 0-932870-77-5 [trade paperback, 303 pages]
"I didn't have to hide being gay, as long as people didn't think I did anything about it." Billy Hicks went through Cafe Society to become one of Manhattan's classiest interior designers ... always afraid they'd guess the truth about his "assistant.""It wasn't that I didn't trust my talent. I didn't trust others. What if they knew?" Carl Mason lived for music. And when Warner took him to Hollywood to do soundtracks, his career shot into the limelight -- while his love was kept in the dark.
"Believe me, I would have changed. I tried to change. What fool would choose to be gay?" Robert Regal never forgave himself for being "that way." He got the respect and success he fought for ... but lost the man he never stopped wanting.
"I preferred men, but I could get it up for boys, starlets or roosters. Saved my ass many times." Wesley Ober turned his sex appeal into movie stardom, running through people and money with the recklessness of a man who needed someone of his own.
They grew up in small towns and big cities. They found out about sex in alleys, train stations, and at frat parties. Dated debs, Southern belles, and boys next door. They discovered love and learned how to hide it.
They suffered quack psychiatry, were blacklisted as undesirables, and sent lovers off to war with a handshake. Through four decades of dangerous times, and changing times, through depression, war, McCarthy and Kinsey, they lived their lives in hiding.
But they coped, and they were successful. Because, more than just friends, the four of them were family.
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