If victory has a thousand fathers, power and perversion do too.Īll these powerful men had many affairs with young ambitious hotties hoping to become movie stars. Mayer, the second M in MGM Howard Hughes the studio head, aviator and germaphobic billionaire Jack Warner of Warner Brothers and Benny Thau, the MGM casting whiz whose casting couch, some say, “ was the busiest in Hollywood.” The talent agent, Henry Willson, may have invented the gay casting couch.
Journalists keep blaming many different initiators of this demeaning show business “audition.” Suspects include Mack Sennett of the Keystone Comedies Samuel Goldwyn, the G in MGM Louis B.
The Casting Couch is as old as Hollywood and as inescapable as bad reviews.
