A review by michaelkerr
Wisecracker: The Life and Times of William Haines, Hollywood's First Openly Gay Star by William J. Mann

3.0

It's not like history is crowded with positive gay figures, so when I heard about Billy Haines I was keen to read his biography. And while he is a great example, heroic even, in his unwillingness to retreat to the closet (like his contemporary, Clark Gable - juicy bits about other Hollywood figures are a big plus here), I just could not love the book. A lot of repetition and speculation about how Haines must have felt or thought. I'm still an admirer of Haines (and his 47 year relationship with his partner, Jimmie Shields), but the book itself didn't work well for me.