Was it understood Fanny's cousin was gay? - Mr. Skeffington (1944) Discussion

[–] cookiela2001 13 years ago

Mmmm...I didn't pick that up. I'm so used to seeing prim, "effete" males in old movies (especially period pieces), I don't draw anything from it, anymore.

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[–] dmnemaine 13 years ago

I didn't find Walter Abel to be particularly effete in his portrayal of Fanny's cousin George, but I do think that one could draw the conclusion that the character is perhaps meant to be gay. I think it's left purposely ambiguous because any even slight hint of a homosexual character would have been immediately shot down by the Breen Office. The character that Walter Abel played would have been a whole lot less subtle if the film had been made prior to 1934. The way the character is written and performed, it is entirely plausible to make whatever you want to out of the sexuality of the character.

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[–] gribfritz2 12 years ago

Please direct me to one scene, action, or line of dialog that makes you think the cousin is gay. I didn't pick up on anything at all; gay or straight.

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[–] henryeather 12 years ago

I came to the same conclusion because he never had a girlfriend or a date and he always hung around Fannie.

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[–] Alix1929 11 years ago

I never thought he was gay. I thought he was just a confirmed batchelor. If he married, he couldn't wait attendance on Fannie and escort her everywhere.

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[–] moosefeathers 11 years ago

er, confirmed bachelor is a term used to describe a gay man.

Swing away, Merrill....Merrill, swing away...

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[–] Alix1929 9 years ago

I didn't know that. Okay, shall I amend my comment to be that I thought he was single? I did not get any gay vibe from this character in any way.

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[–] dollvalley 9 years ago

I am not surprised that I find a thread about this topic here.
I immediately thought that Georgie was gay after a few minutes on screen.
Please keep in mind you need to observe this with having seen a number of old movies and not with today's standards, although some still apply because they are still alive today.
Georgie arrives, has known Fanny since childhood, but his interaction with her is very best friend, and usually best friends man and woman are unlikely to be between a straight woman and straight man.
He is also severely good looking, quite trendy (and if you look at how every other man in the movie is dressed and groomed, they are all the same, only Georgie seems to be wearing grey, a different tailoring, or hey, maybe he is just the best looking in the movie?).
He also still acts like the companion all through her life, and while his part could be viewed too minor to warrant a backstory and a love life that would identify him as straight, he clearly plays the part of the best gay friend. And it's not the only movie where Bette Davis has such a co-star, she has the same in Winter Meeting.
It's not a bad thing at all, I actually find it funny to find this kind of character in a big movie from this ago, I love it!

I don't know what kind of gay vibe people would expect to see. This was still a movie from 1944, you could not have any reference to gays, and as he was a minor character it did not even warrant an implied hint of being an outcast of any kind.

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[–] kenny-164 10 years ago

always hanging around Fannie means he was gay???

They were first cousins and grew up together. She was like a sister to him, and he was a better brother to her than her real brother.

Never had a girlfriend shown is the better argument, but I must object to him being close to his cousin as grounds for seeing him as homosexual. Some people really go out of their way to find the gay.

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[–] butaneggbert 7 years ago

As dollvalley mentioned above, gay characters - except in stereotyped bit parts - had to be well disguised. Finding gay people in old movies is kind of like Where's Waldo. Some people see it, some people don't. But they had to be coded, so it's always fair game to discuss whether a major character is meant to be a sub-rosa.

You HAVE to go out of your way to find the gay, or you'd think there weren't any in movies with big casts. Everyone in Hollywood knew that wasn't realistic. The dimensions a normal LGBT person (as opposed to the deliberately caricatured screaming queens) can bring to a story are worth including them, even if it had to be an open secret.

I can absolutely see Fanny having a close gay friend, whether or not it happened to be a relative. And I can see George, as a gay man, seeing through Fanny's artifice and even enjoying it.

The complete lack of women in his life - we see so much of him, over so many years, with no even temporary female partners mentioned - combined with the Hollywood knack for hiding gay men in plain sight make a good case that he's gay.
_______________

Nothing to see here, move along.

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[–] scarletto_hare 10 years ago

I think the main point that hasn't been grasped here is that Fanny is a selfish, vain person just like George tells her at the end. When George enters her life at any point in the movie it is only about her. She never asks him how is and to her, frankly his personal life doesn't mean squat to her.

He may be gay, I don't know but as far as the movie is considered it is about Fanny and nothing more

The only Abnormality is the incapacity to love

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[–] mdudnikov 10 years ago

This is absolutely moronic. So now according to the mentally challenged here anyone who fails to marry must be homosexual. And to the idiot who said confirmed bachelor is a code term for a gay man, only in your fevered imagination.

Apparently there is a coterie of clowns who seem to wish to insert gay characters in any movie at the drop of a hat. Have fun, but please to not waste the time of the rest of us who are looking for serious and interesting discussions here.

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[–] smurky 8 years ago

" Mentally Challenged " ??? " The Idiot " ??? " Coterie of Clowns " ???
You don't need to be calling these people names just because they don't happen to agree with YOU ....The purpose of a Message Board is to share ideas and that is all they were doing. You should show a little class and apologize.

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[–] mark-1589 10 years ago

I don't agree that her cousin was necessarily a gay character. There are films of that period with blatantly gay characters (Peter Lorre in The Maltese Falcon, Clifton Webb in Laura, the male nurse in The Lost Weekend), so I am not suggesting that you didn't find gay characters in the movies then, but I fail to see why you think this character was.

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