Will Waspe on a world suddenly less gay
It cannot, of course, be said that with the deaths of Hugh (Binkie) Beaumont and Sir Noel Coward the whole edifice of homosexual domination of the British theatre will come tumbling down, but with the loss of these two pillars the structure begins, inevitably, to look a little less secure. You will have noticed the absence of conjecture along these lines in the Obituary columns and even Waspe feels constrained to proceed delicately.
Nevertheless this aspect of the theatre's bereavement deserves remark, as does also — and at once — the difference in the Influence wielded by the two men, the man of acumen and the man of talent, which did not at all accord with their public reputations. They were friends of long • standing, professionally associated for over thirty years, moving in the same social-showbiz circles and within the network of homosexuality that covers so Much of theatrical life; Sir Noel's last ' Public ' appearance in London was at one of Binkie's parties (one of those gatherings of which it might be said that there were more fag-ends walking around the room than there were in the ashtrays); and by sad coincidence they died within a few days of each other. But to link them beyond these superficial facts, as has been done elsewhere, is to invite misleading inferences.
Coward was a public figure who flaunted his personality and gave pro digally of his wit, but whose influence in the theatre never extended beyond the range of his own enormous talent. Though a great deal of mincing and wristflapping went on .around him, and though unquestionably there were 'boy friends' Who figured in his shows, their presence was incidental and the 'casting couch' Was never the seedy factor it is with many heterosexual producers. Coward was too much, and instinctively, the professional. Beaumont was hardly known to the general public, his name never appearing bb playbills and rarely in the press; but his shrewdness was legendary, his suavity unrufflable — and his influence pervasive. He was the managing director of H. M. Tennent Ltd, sat on the boards of other managements who owned theatres and presented plays (including the National Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Theatre), and for a lengthy post-war period Came closer than anyone before or since to establishing a theatrical monopoly in the West End, not only by the number of theatres directly or indirectly within his control but by the number of important authors, directors, actors and actresses under contract to him. His power was immense, and for that reason — for that reason only — his homosexuality was important.
In a book about Broadway called The Season (1969), William Goldman wrote baldly that " Arthur Miller is the only major American playwright since World War II who has not been associated with homosexuality." In England we might make more exceptions (though heaven knows 1 can't be sure), but that may be simply because we have more playwrights. Much the same might be said of directors, and actors. At theatrical parties it isn't only the girls who call each other, "darling ". Inevitably the off-stage ambience has been reflected on the stage.
The majority of the directors employed by Beaumont were homosexuals, though there have been, of course, some notable exceptions. One of them was Tyrone Guthrie, who has put on .record the crucial fact which everyone else knew but didn't say: " More than any other single individual he [Beaumont] can make or break the career of almost any worker in the British professional theatre." Another was Peter Cotes, noted early in his career by Beaumont as a promising young director, who found out with numbing speed the truth of Guthrie's "make or break" contention. Engaged to direct a Tennent production, Cotes had a disagreement over interpretation with the leading actor (an American and, unknown to him, a homosexual) on the second day of rehearsals. Evidently the disagreement was instantly relayed to Beaumont. Within hours, Cotes was taken off the production, being politely told that his approach was "unsuitable."
Not only did Cotes never work again for H. M. Tennent Ltd, but _he found thereafter that door after door was closed to him. Even when producing plays under his own management he did not find it easy to rent West End theatres in which to present them — for most were controlled, one way or another, by Beaumont. As Guthrie also said, "The iron fist was wrapped in fifteen pastel-shadad velvet gloves, but no one who has known Binkie can for a moment fail to realise that there is an iron fist." Beaumont was always polite. The smile never left his grey eyes when he blandly told one young actress, who had withdrawn from a Tennent production on a point of principle, "My dear, the last actress who opposed me like this has not worked in London since."
The sexual proclivities of actors would not seem to be of concern to the public, and there is no reason why a homosexual should not be as good an actor as one who has women lining up down the block. But rampant homosexuality in the upper echelons of the theatrical ' establishment ' is certainly of concern to actors. At the height of the Beaumont influence, many a young actor eager to get on pretended to be bent even when he wasn't. Noel Coward might easily have written another, if rather different, piece of advice to Mrs Worthigton: "Don't put your son on the stage Beaumont's theatre auditions (not to mention the unoffical ' auditions ' at the house in Lord North Street, where Binkie held court often, reclining in pastel-silk pyjamas in black silk bed sheets) were famous for young things hopefully camping it up. One of the more familiar stories was of a good-looking young actor, ' up ' for a juvenile role, who completed a successful audition, much approved by the watchers in the stalls. When the lights went up he stepped down and said, "I think I ought to tell you, Mr Beaumont, that I'm not queer — but it doesn't show from the front." The chances are the yarn is apochryphal — or, if you'll pardon the expressicfh, just a fairytale — but the fact that it has been so long in circulation. is indicative of the general feeling about those auditions.
No one in this age (permissive or enlightened as you choose) will condemn men ,for the mere fact of their homosexuality; but their numbers and influence ir the theatre is absurdly disproportionate to their numbers and importance in society generally.
The opportunity is now there for a change in the picture. While at least one of the successful newer managements is headed by a homosexual, neither he nor any of the others, in the circumstances of today, is likely ever to achieve the power of Hugh Beaumont.
There is ineffable sadness this week in the twee coteries. Elsewhere in the theatre there are audible sighs of relief. It has all gone on a little too long, a little too dangerously for the good of the art — or even the trade. When the West End theatre lights are dimmed as a mark of respect for Binkie, who had so many of them under his aegis or in his pocket, they may be dimming too, at last, for the cheatre's third sex.
Previous page
