Scotty Bowers was a gas station attendant in Hollywood when a famous producer solicited his “services,” launching an illustrious career as the sexual fixer to the stars.
Greenwich EntertainmentScotty Bowers with actress Valerie Vernon ( l. ) and Constance Dowling ( r. ) in the 1950s .
He ’s been called a “ gentleman hustler , ” “ Pimp to the Stars , ” and the “ Male Madame , ” but to most of his friend he was simply Scotty . For some , being a joke - turner may seem like a sleazy line of work , but for Scotty Bowers , it was much more than employment — it was a vocation .
During Hollywood ’s Golden Age , Bowers spent almost his integral adult life hooking up closetedqueer celebrities , civilize close friendship ( and more ) with some of the most renowned names in Hollywood history , and blaze a trail for the type of detached gender that would make even today ’s raunchiest dreamers blush .
Greenwich EntertainmentScotty Bowers with actresses Valerie Vernon (l.) and Constance Dowling (r.) in the 1950s.
The Person Behind The Pimp
George Albert Bowers begin his aliveness on July 1 , 1923 , in Ottawa , Illinois . Growing up during the Great Depression with a brother two year older and a sister two class youthful , Bowers describe his childhood with pastoral nostalgia .
He even recalls their friendly neighbour lovingly in the 2017 documentaryScotty And The Secret History Of Hollywood . This was despite the fact that the crime syndicate ’s patriarch allegedly sexually abused him on numerous occasion ( though Bowers himself never characterized it as such ) .
At the age of 18 , after bustle about his mode through a Midwestern puerility , Scotty Bowers engage in the Marine Corps , serve from 1942 to 1945 . Though Bowers never really spoke about his metre in the armed services , it was clear that the close bonds between he and his fellow Marines deeply impacted his respect for close manful relationships .
Greenwich EntertainmentScotty Bowers in his Marine uniform during World War II.
He describe the dark moments of his military career with a lightsome brusqueness fog by unmistakable distance . Upon returning home to the United States , Bowers “ elevate ” himself ( in his own words ) to Hollywood , California .
Greenwich EntertainmentScotty Bowers in his Marine uniform during World War II .
Bowers ’s personal life was one of highs and lows . He describes his sentence hustling in the 1940s , 1950s , and 1960s as some of the happiest moments in his life , but those days of sexual freedom were interrupted by instance of acute heartache .
Greenwich EntertainmentScotty Bowers with some of his friends in Hollywood.
In 1945 , he lose his older brother , who cash in one’s chips scrap in World War II . Bowers ’s first marriage ( through coarse law ) dissolved due to his own frequent absences — he never could cease hustling . And though the couple had a daughter , Donna , she died at the young eld of 23 after a bungled miscarriage .
arbour sound out he never took a day off “ work , ” claiming that he wanted to keep busy to take his nous off of unhappy things and bring other masses joy .
Hollywood’s Busiest Gas Station
Greenwich EntertainmentScotty Bowers with some of his friend in Hollywood .
Scotty Bowers ’s life history as a pimp , as he told it , started at 5777 Hollywood Boulevard in 1946 . It was his first day working as an attender at a Richfield Oil gas station when Hollywood producer Walter Pidgeon stopped by his pump .
Pidgeon allegedly enquire him what a handsome untried man like him was doing there . He also mentioned how courteous it would be to have such a gentleman’s gentleman come take a dip in his puddle .
Wikimedia CommonsHollywood stars and long-rumored gay couple Cary Grant And Randolph Scott sitting on a diving board at the home they shared on-and-off for 12 years.
Despite throw no idea who Pidgeon was , Bowers said he hopped into Pidgeon ’s railway car and — just like that — an conglomerate of celebrity debauchery was stick out .
Soon enough , Bowers was “ turning tricks , ” all day long at the station with a gang of ex - military hunks and the occasional lady at his disposition .
He had patrons hole up in a trailer behind the post with two beds on either side and a drape separating it right down the middle . And , as Bowers was n’t one to miss out on any chance , he also staffed the bathroom conk . Additionally , the stall was decked out with a eyehole hidden underneath the toilet paper for his more voyeuristical customers .
Greenwich EntertainmentScotty Bowers and his wife, Lois.
He even did house - calls , stock some of the risky parties of Hollywood ’s heyday with nubile and uncoerced young human race and women . Like thetitle of his tell - all autobiography , Bowers business genuinely was full service .
Scotty Bowers’ Golden Age Clientele
Wikimedia CommonsHollywood wizard and long - rumored gay couple Cary Grant And Randolph Scott sitting on a diving board at the home they shared on - and - off for 12 geezerhood .
From Katharine Hepburn to Cary Grant , Scotty Bowers had a script in some of the least known and most titillating Hollywood hookup in chronicle . According to Bowers , George Cukor , Spencer Tracy , Tom Ewell , Ramon Novarro , Cole Porter , Vivien Leigh , Bette Davis , Bill Holden , Paul Lynde , Randolph Scott , Charles Laughton , and Rock Hudson all took advantage of his services .
Bowers ’ business surpassed even the sozzled rotary of Hollywood royalty to include existent royalty ( or at least ex-husband - royal line ): Wallis Simpson and Prince Edward , the Duke of Windsor . According to Bowers , he used to engage out a cottage at the Beverly Hills Hotel for a week and send in men and cleaning lady , two or three at a fourth dimension — a young cleaning woman for her and a young man for him .
Greenwich EntertainmentScotty Bowers shortly before his death.
Scotty Bowers did n’t just hustle for money , he long claim . He bustle for felicity , for himself and those around him . Money just happened to be a necessary increase to these relationships . in the end , Bowers was just looking to link up his friends with the right people , despite what the universal public may have believe about their exploit .
At the time , many of Hollywood ’s inner circle were quite aware of these intimate proclivities . However , if the American public were to discover out about the trysts , the participants would be fired at well and incarcerate at bad . The studio did n’t care if their actor were homophile , but they did care if multitude find out .
During its so - shout out golden years , Hollywood was a harbour for those at the sexual margins of guild . However , the origination of the product codification in the thirties gave way to the sovereignty of “ common decency . ” By the time Bowers follow around , discreet faggot skirmish were a highly lever service — and Scotty Bowers put himself at the epicenter of it all .
The Legacy Of Scotty Bowers
Greenwich EntertainmentScotty Bowers and his married woman , Lois .
Even as a nonagenarian , Bowers ’s presence had the same get-up-and-go as one would imagine from a charming trick - turner in the fifties . He was the type of man who would gleefully slit into a giant member - shaped cake on his ninetieth natal day and then leave the scraps out to fee the local wildlife that nighttime .
Some may ask that this promiscuous powerhouse would have some hint of a lecherous leer in his eyes , but Bowers recounted his colorful life story with a youthful exuberance toward even the most ribald ventures .
Greenwich EntertainmentScotty Bowers curtly before his death .
pergola may have die on Oct. 13 , 2019 , but in his clip on Earth , he gave citizenry a fashion to be their lives as their true selves . And in his death , the world remember him as a gratis - intellection intimate innovator . Some people , upon pick up these stories , call them gimcrack — defame even .
Maybe it ’s prosperous to recite report about other people when they ’re no longer around to refute them . Or maybe Bowers simply assess the privacy of his erstwhile friends . He asserts that a luck of people at the clip have it off what was happening , but it was all just kept quiet for the saki of public image .
Then there are the naysayers that decry Bowers ’s story not as untrue , but plainly indecent . How could he out these people as gay when their grandchild may still be around to now hear it ? To that , Bowers say , “ What ’s wrong with being gay ? ”
If you liked reading about Scotty Bowers , then you ’d have sex to read all about the workplace offamed sexologist Alfred Kinsey . Then , check out this gallery of some ofvintage Hollywood ’s finest photos .
