Talk:Janet Gaynor/Archive 1

Archive 1

"Posthumous Revelations"

These links prove nothing:

1. Source #2 is just a link to a short biography on Answers.com, says nothing about Gaynor being a lesbian. 2. Source #3 is just a collection of photographs of women rumored to be gay without an sort of proof. 3. Source #4 is just a list of individuals in a particular cementary, including Gaynor. No allegations about her private life. 4. Source #5 does not exist.

Sadly, Janet Gaynor's wikipedia entry is yet another page overrun by unproven gossip and speculation.

Since Janet Gaynor is dead, the true nature of her sexual orientation will pretty much be speculation since most of those that could definitely say attest to it are dead. Which is something that can also be said for many people, such as Cary Grant and Randolph Scott.

Her lesbian/bisexual orientation has been covered in a few books. The two that I have personally read are Kenneth Anger's book 'Hollywood Babylon' (tabloidish to be sure) and The Sewing Circle: Hollywood's Greatest Secret: Female Stars Who Loved Other Women by Axel Madsen.

Neither mention as I recall that Gaynor had a relationship with Mary Martin but both did indicate that her marriage to Adrian was a 'lavender ' cover for both parties involved. (Much like the Barbara Stanwyck-Robert Taylor marriage, though that was more for his image than hers. He was plagued by charges of being a "powder puff" throughout his career. Many of the roles MGM cast him in was to counteract this perception, which was essentially the truth. By contrast, Stanwyck 'tough girl' persona masked her lesbianism and made studios money so long as she was careful in her personal life) According to the Sewing Circle, it was a happy marriage in that they had a child and loved each other as two people can love each other but they sexually lead separate lives. Admittedly the Sewing Circle focuses quite a bit on Garbo and Dietrich in its first part and quite a bit on the depictions of lesbians in film going into the 70s in the later part. Ladydayelle 15:11, 4 August 2006 (UTC)

'Hollywood Babylon' is a notorious piece of garbage which is considered unusually scurrilous even for the Fake Expose genre. Axel Madsen's book called 'The Sewing Circle: Hollywood's Greatest Secret: Female Stars Who Loved Other Women' is very well named. The love affairs which he claimed took place were so secret, even the people supposedly involved never heard of them. To those who are determined to think of Gaynor as a lesbian, there's also the awkward matter of her deep (and reciprocated) love for Charles Farrell. Farrell's and Gaynor's biography, 'Lucky Star,' says that their love affair throughout most of the 20's was an open secret among movie people, and was almost certainly physical. Since it is impossible either for their biographers or for Wikipedia Commenters like Ladydayelle to have been in the bedroom with them, we will have to leave it at that. Younggoldchip (talk) 22:06, 1 March 2012 (UTC)

It is very cruel to give credence to trashy books written by greedy, sleazy people in an article about a woman who suffered for two years at the hands of a drunken driver then died. She was an actress, not a political activist. Describe her career and her marriage. Leave the rest of her life alone. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.173.4.86 (talk) 04:39, 2 April 2012 (UTC)

I disagree with people who say Barbara Stanwyck had a "tough girl" public image. She usually appeared sad to me, especially throughout the movie Sorry, Wrong Number. It was a highlight of her career.Myra or someone (talk) 13:48, 17 August 2018 (UTC)

Now the sexuality issue has been boiled down to “rumored.” Sounds very “encyclopedic.” Nicmart (talk) 22:40, 15 July 2019 (UTC)

"Films"

Film listing still incomplete and does not include her 30s films, most notably missing is "A Star is Born". Dyslexix 06:11, 4 September 2007 (UTC)

Wikimedia Portraits

Added two studio portraits from Wikimedia which are clearer than the A Star Is Born screenshot and renders more of an idea of what she actually more or less looked like during most of her career. The one to the left, labeled "Janet Gaynor ca. 1931," would probably make a better lead photograph for the article, I think. By the way, I've adored Gaynor ever since seeing the Museum of Modern Art's magnificent retrospective of all her extant work five or six years ago. Given the three films for which she won the first Oscar for Best Actress (Sunrise, Seventh Heaven, and Street Angel), I think she's as important as any other film actress, as she was always regarded throughout the 1930s. Upsmiler (talk) 16:05, 24 December 2011 (UTC)

Car accident

The link used to describe injuries is incorrect. According to the NY Times (https://www.nytimes.com/1982/09/07/us/janet-gaynor-and-mary-martin-hurt-in-crash.html), Gaynor's husband did not have "two broken legs" and in video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWVnUABehg0), walks away from the accident. He had three broken ribs and a bruised kidney. He was kept in the hospital because of an irregular heartbeat. It's possible they were confused with Ben Washer, who had multiple traumatic injuries and most likely died on impact. Ms. Gaynor had, according the NY times (same article) "five broken ribs on the right side, six on the left, broken right collarbone, multiple pelvic fractures, a ruptured bladder and bleeding around right kidney. She was placed on a ventilator and received 9 pints of blood and was "likely to need more".73.26.4.113 (talk) 19:41, 3 November 2018 (UTC)