Arnold Schwarzenneger, Don Johnson, Steven Seagal - just a handful of the
Hollywood celebrities who have stood accused of sexual harassment in recent
years. However, such allegations are nothing new in tinsel town. The use of the
'casting couch' by powerful male industry figures to extract sexual services
from young female performers struggling to gain a foot hold in the business, has
become something of a Hollywood tradition - stretching back to the silent era.
According to leading film historian Kevin Brownwing - author of The Golden Grope
- A History of Hollywood Harassment - famed silent comedian Charlie Chaplin was
probably one of the first stars to make systematic use of the 'casting couch'
for sexual gratification. "Apparently he would only communicate with the
actresses he was 'auditioning' via caption cards and mime, supposedly to test
their ability to 'perform' in silent movies," says Brownwing. "The cards would
become ever more lewd and suggestive as he got them to undress, and he would
fondle their breasts in an exaggerated silent movie acting manner, silently
conveying his growing sexual arousal through grotesque facial mugging and
crudely mimed gestures. Eventually, he would get them to stand, naked, at one
end of the audition room and throw custard pies at them. Finally, he would lick
the girls clean with his tongue before making love to them on an actual casting
couch, whilst a pianist played appropriate background music. He would insist
that they 'perform' entirely in mime and if they cried out (as they inevitably
did), he would tell them that they had failed the audition!" The 'little tramp'
would inevitably conduct the auditions in full costume, including false
toothbrush moustache and bowler hat, only removing the latter when he came. He
would also frequently use his trademark walking stick to perform increasingly
obscene mimes - simulating masturbation and other unspeakably vile sexual acts.
"Some of the actresses were reportedly disappointed that his baggy, low slung
trousers did not, in fact, conceal a huge member, but that he was actually quite
modestly endowed," claims the film historian, musing that Chaplin's perceived
inadequacies in the trouser department may have lain behind his appalling
treatment of women. "He was immensely jealous of rival comedians Buster Keaton
and Harold Lloyd, both of whom were hung like donkeys and never had to resort to
Chaplin's casting couch antics." With the advent of talkies, Chaplin found
himself unable to employ his bizarre 'casting' techniques and instead had to
other avenues by which to pester young women. Sadly, his poor speaking voice
meant that his attempts to establish himself as an anonymous obscene phone
caller ultimately came to nothing, and his career as one of Hollywood's top
sexual harassers was effectively over.
As revealed in Brownwing's book, it was not just aspiring actresses who were
subjected to humiliating ordeals in order to secure advancement. "Whilst it is
quite well-known that the young Clarke Gable engaged in oral sex with fellow MGM
player William Haines in order to establish himself at the studio, less well
known are legendary hard man John Wayne's use of casting sessions to seduce up
and coming young male contract players," claims Brownwing. "During the 1940s the
outwardly conservative and heterosexual Wayne would regularly attend screen
tests with director John Ford, in order to size up potential conquests. He'd get
Ford to order the young hopefuls to take off their shirts and enact scenes which
required them to lift heavy objects or bend over a lot." When he'd picked out
his likely targets, Wayne would arrange for Ford to call them back to the studio
- usually late at night - for a bogus final screen test. Instead of the director
and a camera crew, the bewildered young actors would find themselves alone in an
otherwise deserted studio with an amourous Wayne, who would typically be clad
only in a Stetson and a pair of pearl handled Colt .45s holstered on his gunbelt.
This seduction technique proved surprisingly successful for 'The Duke' - his
conquests allegedly included Randolph Scott, Joel McCrea and Montgomery Clift,
with whom he had a torrid affair during the making of Red River in 1948. Two
other male stars to suffer unwanted attention were Rock Hudson and James Dean.
"Elizabeth Taylor reportedly came on to them very strongly during the making of
Giant, so they put out the rumour that they were both gay," says Brownwing.
"This proved so successful that Hudson kept up the gay pretence for years in
order to ward off the attentions of notorious female sexual predators like Doris
Day. He even hired male models to pose as his boyfriends." So few people were
aware of the truth that even a hooker who had slept with Rock tried to sell a
story to the press claiming that she was so hot she'd turned Rock Hudson
straight! Luckily, nobody believed her.
It was not only the stars who abused their positions in order to abuse
impressionable young hopefuls - several top film directors also became notorious
for their sordid activities. Heavyweight British suspense director Alfred
Hitchcock is probably the most infamous of these. "He would invariably cast
actresses of a certain type - young, blonde and beautiful like Grace Kelly, Eve
Marie Saint and Tippi Hedren- in his films and then subject them to his own
twisted sexual fantasies on screen," asserts Brownwing. "He would always be
devising scenes where they were tied up or brutally manhandled by villains. Cast
and crew on several of his films have reported that he would become sexually
aroused during the filming of such scenes - frequently drooling and gasping as
his trousers strained to contain his huge erection. It has been alleged that
during the filming of the sequence in The Birds where a helpless Tippi Hedren is
attacked by crows and seagulls, he actually got his old man out and began to
whack off - he became so excited that some people feared that he was about to
suffer a heart attack. Finally, with a huge moan, he shouted 'Cut!' and
ejaculated into a paper cup." Another Hollywood heavyweight, famed
actor/director/producer/writer Orson Welles, also had a reputation for enjoying
'close ups' with young actresses. "Welles, a gifted amateur magician and
notorious hoaxer, would often claim to have mystic healing powers, and would
offer to cure impressionable budding actresses aches and pains by a 'laying on
of hands' or an application of his specially prepared natural ointments.
Invariably this would involve him groping their breasts and rubbing oil onto
their buttocks, regardless of where the pain actually was," explains Browning.
"He would sometimes hypnotise such young women and instruct them to perform lewd
acts for the amusement of himself and his cronies." Brownwing's book, The Golden
Grope - A History of Hollywood Harassment, will be published by Little Dick Ltd
in October, price £14.95.