LIZA trying to be JUDY? Could it be? — Page 3

Lorna has denied that her grandfather was gay, but she hasn't denied that Vincente was--and she allowed the TV movie to suggest it, whgich didn't please Liza.

Lorna tries to avoid the subject publicly because Liza feels so strongly about it, the way any half-sibling might avoid saying something about a half-sibling's biological parent.

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Sorry, PJ, but in her book Lorna did deny Vincente being homosexual and, to the best of my immediate recollection, there is no indication otherwise in the American television adaptation of her story.

When? In which scene? Are you sure you aren't thinking of the shot where Judy's father is standing in the wings?

The movie implies very strongly that Frank Gumm, Vincente Minnelli and Mark Herron were "gay." (Bisexual should really be the term since each of them did have sex with women.) But that's as far as Lorna would go, which was further than she was able to go when she wrote the book.

The rumor repearted in the Gerald Clarke biography is that Judy attempted suicide whenb she found Vincente in bed with a man. But as Lorna herself would say, "How do I know? Was I was in bed with them?"

So yes, Yawper, you are right: Lorna does equivocate on the subject. The homsexuality of these men was similar to the idea of the "down-low" in contemporary African-American community. It doesn't fit neatly into our idea of Out vs. Closeted.

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Don't ask where I heard this, because it was a while ago, and I don't remember, but I thought Minnelli had a longtime relationship with dancer turned fashion designer, Don Loper (he appeared as himself once in an I Love Lucy episode).

Also, someone said Minnelli was thrice married. Actually, he ended up with four wives altogether, and two daughters.