A portrait of unsung Hollywood legend Scotty Bowers, whose bestselling memoir chronicled his decades spent as sexual procurer to the stars.
Two general phases in the life of Scotty Bowers are presented. The first, and arguably the most salacious, is the post-WWII era after the end of his military duty when he was working at a Richfield gas station in Los Angeles. Although he was already no stranger to the breadth of sexual activity in which humans can engage, his encounter with Walter Pidgeon at the gas station, he who invited Scotty up to his place "for a swim", led to Scotty's "career" as a sexual being for hire, as well as one procuring sexual favors between others, albeit never with a dime going into his own pocket for that latter service (i.e. he never having considered himself a pimp). At a time when the Hays code was in effect which led to the movie studios closely controlling at least the public lives and thus images of especially their stars, Scotty's services became known as trusted ones for Hollywood celebrities who wanted/needed a sexual outlet of any nature outside of a conventional husband/wife marriage. This part of Scotty's story focuses largely on the sexual needs of Hollywood A-listers who were straight to middle America, with, in many cases, their homosexual orientation the worst kept secret in Tinseltown. This part of Scotty's life was unknown to his current wife of over thirty years, Lois Bowers, until he recently published his book on the matter on which this documentary is based. The second is his current life in which he is peddling the aforementioned book and which he is living off many of the connections made during his years as a hustler, such as owning several houses given to him. It is arguably something about Scotty's current life as opposed to his years as a hustler and sexual procurer that concerns Lois more than anything about their marriage.—Huggo
Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood is the deliciously scandalous story of Scotty Bowers, a handsome ex-Marine who landed in Hollywood after World War II and became confidante, aide-de-camp and lover to many of Hollywood's greatest male-and female-stars. In the 1940s and '50s, Scotty ran a gas station in the shadow of the studio lots where he would connect his friends with actors and actresses who had to hide their true sexual identities for fear of police raids at gay bars, societal shunning and career suicide. An unsung Hollywood legend, Bowers would cater to the sexual appetites of celebrities-straight and gay-for decades. In 2012, he finally spilled his secrets in the New York Times best-selling memoir Full Service: My Adventures in Hollywood and the Secret Sex Lives of the Stars, which revealed a dramatic, pre-Stonewall alternate history of Hollywood. While the studio PR machines were promoting their stars as wholesome and monogamous, Bowers was fulfilling the true desires of many of them. This cinéma-vérité documentary by director Matt Tyrnauer (Valentino: The Last Emperor) tells his story, as well as presents eye-opening takes on icons from the Hollywood Golden Age including Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn, Spencer Tracy, Lana Turner, Ava Gardner and many more.—Greenwich Entertainment
