A Friend of Dorothy
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Under the Rainbow: An Intimate Memoir of Judy Garland, Rock Hudson and My Life in Old Hollywood
by John Carlyle
Carol & Graf. 325 pages, $26.95

“I   HAVE, I admit, the old-fashioned yen to go happily to my grave with one foot in the closet,” writes pretty-boy actor John Carlyle in Under the Rainbow. Thank God he resisted the impulse. In this rescued memoir, Carlyle lifts the curtain obscuring the intersection of the movie industry, homosexuality, and mid-century Los Angeles. His beguiling book draws the reader into a detailed world of wit, sex, glamour, and tragedy. For those who love to scour Hollywood biographies for the gay parts, it’s a delicious overdose.