Scotty Bowers

George Albert Bowers (born July 1, 1923), commonly known as Scotty Bowers, is a former Marine who, from the 1940s to the 1980s, was a famed Hollywood pimp.[1][2][3][4][5]

Stories of his exploits circulated for many years,[6] and were alluded to in books such as Hollywood Babylon. Bowers finally decided to talk publicly about his life when most of the people involved were dead and could no longer be affected by his revelations.[7][8] In 2012 the publication of his memoir Full Service, written by Lionel Friedberg from 150 hours of interviews,[9] drew significant publicity, including a profile in the New York Times,[10] and a feature on CBS News Sunday Morning.[11] One journalist has written: "He has a savant-like quality: a result of his refusal to be embarrassed by sex."[6]

Life and career

Scotty Bowers was born in Ottawa, Illinois. After working his way through the Depression in Chicago, he fought in the Pacific, including at the Battle of Iwo Jima, as a Paramarine in the Marine Corps during World War II, losing his brother and two close friends.[12]

According to his memoir, his sexual career began in 1946 while he was working as an attendant at the Richfield Oil gas station located at 5777 Hollywood Boulevard, at the corner of Van Ness.[12] Bowers turned it into a meeting place for paid sexual encounters, with Former Marine friends and others assisting him. He was considered to be handsome, well-endowed and personable.

In 1950 Bowers stopped working at the service station and began working as a party bartender, while continuing his sexual services. He also claims to have provided women—mostly prostitutes— to Alfred Kinsey as interview subjects for his famous study on human sexuality.[13]

Bowers was never prosecuted by the authorities for his illicit activities; he kept all his contact information in his head.[7] He says he never took payment for arranging sexual encounters for others, only when he provided sex himself, and that though he is bisexual, his own preference is for women.

When the AIDS epidemic began Bowers ceased his procuring activities, though he continued to work as a handyman and bartender. In 1984 he married his wife, Lois. He was still working as a bartender in his late eighties.

The actor Beech Dickerson willed three houses to Bowers[14] and cinematographer Nestor Almendros bequeathed him his Oscar.[14]

Support of claims

According to Variety: "Everyone knows Scotty. After all, he’s been serving drinks to the Beverly Hills crowd for almost 60 years, working a different party almost every night of the week, sometimes two a day."[14]

The veracity of Bowers' many claims was endorsed by Gore Vidal.[15] (In his last public appearance Vidal spoke at the official launch of the memoir.)[16] Robert Benevides, the partner of actor Raymond Burr, also supported Bowers, telling L.A. Weekly: "Scotty just liked to make people happy."[17]

Joan Allemand, a former arts director of the Beverly Hills Unified School District, who knew Bowers for more than 20 years and introduced him to his co-writer, Friedberg, said: "Scotty doesn't lie about anything. He's a poor kid from a farm in Illinois, and when he got here, his two assets were his big penis and charming personality. That's what he used to feed his family."[2] Others who had dealings with him include Cecil Beaton[18] and Milton Berle.[19]

A profile in New York Social Diary attested to Bowers' connections, career of sexual support, and happy-go-lucky character: "Clients all agreed that he was 'very good' at what he did, and very agreeable... And very discreet. He did not discriminate. He even had one regular longtime client...who had no arms and no legs... The Scotty I knew was a guy who always seemed to be enjoying his life working morning, noon and night, with never a gripe; always with a smile to greet you, and never with an axe to grind. After a lifetime in Hollywood, that's a remarkable feat and its own kind of Zen."[20]

Other writings and appearances

Bowers authored the introduction to a collection of archival photographs of male affection in the military My Buddy: World War II Laid Bare.[21][22] In March 2016 he wrote a profile of himself for the Guest Of A Guest blog.[23] He also appears in Sir Cecil Beaton's published diary for the 1960s,[18] and the biography In Bed With Gore Vidal.[1]

Bowers has also assisted a number of authors, including Vincente Minnelli biographer Mark Griffin[24] and William J Mann, author of Behind the Screen: How Gays and Lesbians Shaped Hollywood.[25]

Documentary

Matt Tyrnauer, director of Valentino: The Last Emperor, is working on a documentary film adaptation of Bowers' memoir titled Scotty[10][26]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Teeman, Tim In Bed With Gore Vidal, Riverdale Avenue Books, 2013, p38
  2. 1 2 Teetor, Paul (March 19, 2012). "The apparently true story of the man who secured gay lovers for Old Hollywood". Hollywood Reporyer.
  3. ↑ "Interview: Women He's Undressed Director Gillian Armstrong". www.themarysue.com. Retrieved 2016-05-15.
  4. ↑ "A keeper of Hollywood's secrets now spills them". www.cbsnews.com. Retrieved 2016-05-15.
  5. ↑ "Debbie Reynolds tells of Hollywood playboys in new tell-all". NY Daily News. Retrieved 2016-05-15.
  6. 1 2 Blakely, Rhys (February 11, 2012). "Mr Sex Scotty Bowers' memoirs to lift the lid on Hollywood's debauched underbelly". The Australian.
  7. 1 2 Barnes, Brooks (January 27, 2012). "Hollywood Fixer Opens His Little Black Book". New York Times. p. ST1. Retrieved June 10, 2012.
  8. ↑ "Former Hollywood 'pimp' says he fixed up Katherine Hepburn with 150 women (sic)". Wisconsin Gazette. January 31, 2012. Retrieved June 10, 2012.
  9. ↑ Bowers, Scotty (2012). Full Service: My Adventures in Hollywood and the Secret Sex Lives of the Stars. New York City: Grove Press. ISBN 978-0-8021-2007-6.
  10. 1 2 "Hollywood Fixer Opens His Little Black Book". New York Times. January 27, 2012. Retrieved December 29, 2013.
  11. ↑ "A keeper of Hollywood's secrets now spills them". CBS News. Retrieved June 10, 2012.
  12. 1 2 Tschorn, Adam (February 14, 2012). "Scotty Bowers' 'Full Service' names names from Hollywood Golden Age". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved June 10, 2012.
  13. ↑ Bowers, Scotty; Friedberg, Lionel Full Service, Grove Press 2012, pp173-178
  14. 1 2 3 Debruge, Peter (June 22, 2006). "Bartender To Babyon". Variety.
  15. ↑ Walters, Joanna (February 1, 2012). "Sex fixer to the stars lifts lid on scandal in Hollywood's golden age". The Guardian. Retrieved June 10, 2012.
  16. ↑ Bowers, Scotty (August 2, 2012). "Gore Vidal Remembered By His Closest Friend, Scotty Bowers". The Daily Beast. Retrieved April 2, 2016.
  17. ↑ Teetor, Paul. "The Apparently True Story of the Man Who Secured Gay Lovers for Old Hollywood". L.A. Weekly. Retrieved 2016-04-03.
  18. 1 2 Beaton, Cecil (2003). Beaton in the Sixties: The Cecil Beaton Diaries as He Wrote Them, 1965-1969. Weidenfeld & Nicholson. p. 291.
  19. ↑ Reynolds, Debbie (2015). Make 'Em Laugh: Short-Term Memories of Longtime Friends. William Morrow. p. 89.
  20. ↑ Columbia, David Patrick Its own kind of zen, January 30, 2012 http://www.newyorksocialdiary.com/social-diary/2012/its-own-kind-of-zen
  21. ↑ "WWII and the Buddy System". The Advocate. Retrieved April 2, 2016.
  22. ↑ Bowers, Scotty (2015). "Introduction". In Hansen, Diane. My Buddy: World War II Laid Bare. Taschen.
  23. ↑ http://guestofaguest.com/los-angeles/you-should-know/you-should-know-scotty-bowers
  24. ↑ Griffin, Mark (2010). A Hundred Or More Hidden Things: The Life and Films of Vincente Minnelli. DeCapo Press. p. 300.
  25. ↑ Mann, William J. (2001). "Acknowledgements". Behind the Screen: How Gays and Lesbians Shaped Hollywood. Viking.
  26. ↑ Siegel, Tatiana (May 19, 2015). "Cannes: Two Hot Hollywood-Themed Docs to Get Sneak Screenings". Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved April 2, 2016.
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