William Haines and Jimmy Shields - the happiest marriage in Hollywood.

William Haines and Jimmy Shields, openly flaunted their relationship in Hollywood for almost 50 years.

Jimmy Shields, on the left, husband of actor/decorator, William Haines, second on left. Joan Crawford, (in the middle,) and the two men maintained a lifelong friendship, and Joan called them "the happiest married couple in Hollywood." Haines and Shields were together 47 years.

William Haines' career was cut short by MGM Studios due to his refusal to deny his homosexuality. Haines never returned to film and instead started a successful interior design business with his life

partner Jimmy Shields.

Harlow in Hollywood, authors Mark Vieira and Darrell Rooney (middle); Cafe Trocadero 1935: Edith Gwynne Wilkerson (wife of Trocadero owner Billy Wilkerson), Jean Harlow, William Powell, William Haines' lover Jimmy Shields (standing), Anderson Lawler, unidentified man (standing), William Haines, Edith's sister Marge (bottom)

Billy Haines.

Billy Haines, fell in love with his stand-in, Jimmy Shields, and they moved in together in 1923, a move that destroyed his acting career.

                       Billy Haines and Clair Windsor.

 Although the Hollywood system at the time put pressure on gay actors to provide an 'acceptable' public image by marrying, Haines turned down an offer of marriage from Joan Crawford who was then still hoping to be a rising star. In 1930 Haines and Jimmy Shields bought an antique shop and developed their interest in interior design by giving free advice to their Hollywood customers and friends.

Jimmy Shields, committed suicide a few months after William Haines, death after almost 50 years together.

Joan Crawford, a close friend of Tom Lyle Williams and Emery Shaver, as well as William Haines and Jimmy Shields, introduced the two couples.  Tom Lyle opened an antique store in Beverly Hills, for Emery, where he could meet celebrities, outside the Villa Valentino.  Tom Lyle, preferred a secluded life inside the Villa.  Haines and Shields had a hand in decorating The Villa Valentino, after it's remodel in the late 1930's. 

William Haines and Joan Crawford - Spring Fever, Real life besties William Haines and Joan Crawford share a cute scene in 1927's "Spring Fever".

William Haines, Hollywood's First Openly Gay Star, talks about his 45 year relationship with Jimmy Shields

Tom Lyle Williams founder of Maybelline cosmetic company and Emery in 1937  Calif

Read more about William Haines and Jimmy Shields friendship with Tom Lyle and Emery, in The Maybelline Story. 

William Haines, Hollywood's First Openly Gay Star, talks about his 45 year relationship with Jimmy Shields

 

William Haines and Jimmy Shields - the happiest marriage in Hollywood. 

Celebrating GAY PRIDE MONTH 

William Haines and Jimmy Shields, openly flaunted their relationship in Hollywood for almost 50 years.

Jimmy Shields, on the left, husband of actor/decorator, William Haines, second on left. Joan Crawford, (in the middle,) and the two men maintained a lifelong friendship, and Joan called them "the happiest married couple in Hollywood." Haines and Shields were together 47 years.

William Haines' career was cut short by MGM Studios due to his refusal to deny his homosexuality. Haines never returned to film and instead started a successful interior design business with his life

partner Jimmy Shields.

Harlow in Hollywood, authors Mark Vieira and Darrell Rooney (middle); Cafe Trocadero 1935: Edith Gwynne Wilkerson (wife of Trocadero owner Billy Wilkerson), Jean Harlow, William Powell, William Haines' lover Jimmy Shields (standing), Anderson Lawler, unidentified man (standing), William Haines, Edith's sister Marge (bottom)

Billy Haines.

Billy Haines, fell in love with his stand-in, Jimmy Shields, and they moved in together in 1923, a move that destroyed his acting career.

                       Billy Haines and Clair Windsor.

 Although the Hollywood system at the time put pressure on gay actors to provide an 'acceptable' public image by marrying, Haines turned down an offer of marriage from Joan Crawford who was then still hoping to be a rising star. In 1930 Haines and Jimmy Shields bought an antique shop and developed their interest in interior design by giving free advice to their Hollywood customers and friends.

Jimmy Shields, committed suicide a few months after William Haines, death after almost 50 years together.

Joan Crawford, a close friend of Tom Lyle Williams and Emery Shaver, as well as William Haines and Jimmy Shields, introduced the two couples.  Tom Lyle opened an antique store in Beverly Hills, for Emery, where he could meet celebrities, outside the Villa Valentino.  Tom Lyle, preferred a secluded life inside the Villa.  Haines and Shields had a hand in decorating The Villa Valentino, after it's remodel in the late 1930's. 

Read more about William Haines and Jimmy Shields friendship with Tom Lyle and Emery, in The Maybe

lline Story. 

William Haines and Joan Crawford - Spring Fever, Real life besties William Haines and Joan Crawford share a cute scene in 1927's "Spring Fever".

William Haines, Hollywood's First Openly Gay Star, talks about his 45 year relationship with Jimmy Shields

Wisecracker: The Life and Times of William Haines, Hollywood's First Openly Gay Star by William J. Mann

Amazon.com Review

William Haines was one of MGM's biggest stars in the late 1920s, playing cocky but sympathetic wise guys in movies such as Brown of Harvard. He was as self-assured in real life: 

dropped by the studio In 1933 because he refused to hide his homosexuality, Haines became a successful interior decorator. Journalist William J. Mann perceptively links Haines's story to shifting attitudes in the movie industry, the gay community, and America as a whole. 

Jimmy Shields and William Haines

In 1933, Haines was arrested in a YMCA with a sailor he had picked up in Los Angeles' Pershing Square. Louis B. Mayer, the studio head at MGM, delivered an ultimatum to Haines:

 choose between a sham marriage (also known as a "lavender marriage") or his relationship with Shields. Haines chose Shields and they remained together for almost 50 years. Mayer subsequently fired Haines and terminated his contract.  Haines and Shields, remained a couple

 from 1926 until Haines's death in 1973. 

Jan Antaya shared this very telling letter from her collection of Jerome Zipkin's personal letters.  Jan read my book and was moved by the accounting of William Haines and Jimmy Shields story as it relates to Tom Lyle Williams and his partner, Emery Shaver, in The Maybelline Story.

The letter was written by William Haines, to his friend, Socialite Jerome Zipkin, in 1971, two years before Haines death.  Haines refers to Shields as JS and remarks about their 45 year Anniversary.  He calls Zipkin by the nickname, HEM and goes on to mention many famous friends including

 Estee and Joe Lauder (Estee Lauder Cosmetics.)
 Doris Stein of the Stein Eye Institute.)
 George Frelinghuysen, Socialite.
Eadie Goetz, LB Mayer's sister
 Louie B. Mayer, Head of MGM
 and many more.  

Haines signs the  letter... 
cona·mo·re [Italian: con, with + amore, love,] Hattie Mc Daniels mother, Willee. Hattie Mc Daniel was MGM's Gone with the Wind Star and the first African American to win an Oscar. (Maybe Haines was refering to him being as excited as Mc Daniel's mother must have been when her daughter won the Oscar.)

Jerry Zipkin with Nan Kempner at an AIDS benefit in 1990. Mr. Zipkin was the confidant of many grande dames including First Lady Nancy Reagan.  People Magazine review of Zipkin

Estee and Joe Lauder with Helen Gurley Brown
 Photo By: irv Steinberg/Globe Photos, Inc Esteelauderretro

Jules and Doris Stein (center) are shown in an early photograph with their grown children (from left), Lawrence Oppenheimer, Susan Stein, Gerald Oppenheimer, and Jean Stein.

Gstaad 1973 ( l. to r.:) — George Frelinghuysen, Mary-France Pochna, Cecil Everley, Ann Rapp, and Gordon Taylor

Louie B. Mayer with his wife, Lorena Mayer

Bill and Edie Goetz,(Louie B. Mayer's sister,) known as the Diamond Duchess  (according to William Haines letter.) 

William Hines home at 601 Lorna Lane, was built in Brentwood - 1942 - and is owned today, interesting enough, by the Lidia Rubinstein  Trust.
(Helena Rubinstein Cosmetic family?)

Haines and Jimmy Shields were a devoted couple for almost 50 years.....Jimmy Shields, committed suicide a few months after William Haines, death. 

Tom Lyle Williams and Emery Shaver were together for close to 50 years and after Emery's unexpected death in 1964, Tom Lyle sold the Maybelline Company in 1967. Unlike Haines and Shields who openly flaunted their relationship, Williams and Shaver lived a very private life.

William Haines and Jimmy Shields - the happiest marriage in Hollywood.

William Haines and Jimmy Shields, openly flaunted their relationship in Hollywood for almost 50 years.

Jimmy Shields, on the left, husband of actor/decorator, William Haines, second on left. Joan Crawford, (in the middle,) and the two men maintained a lifelong friendship, and Joan called them "the happiest married couple in Hollywood." Haines and Shields were together 47 years.

William Haines' career was cut short by MGM Studios due to his refusal to deny his homosexuality. Haines never returned to film and instead started a successful interior design business with his life

partner Jimmy Shields.

Harlow in Hollywood, authors Mark Vieira and Darrell Rooney (middle); Cafe Trocadero 1935: Edith Gwynne Wilkerson (wife of Trocadero owner Billy Wilkerson), Jean Harlow, William Powell, William Haines' lover Jimmy Shields (standing), Anderson Lawler, unidentified man (standing), William Haines, Edith's sister Marge (bottom)

Billy Haines.

Billy Haines, fell in love with his stand-in, Jimmy Shields, and they moved in together in 1923, a move that destroyed his acting career.

                       Billy Haines and Clair Windsor.

 Although the Hollywood system at the time put pressure on gay actors to provide an 'acceptable' public image by marrying, Haines turned down an offer of marriage from Joan Crawford who was then still hoping to be a rising star. In 1930 Haines and Jimmy Shields bought an antique shop and developed their interest in interior design by giving free advice to their Hollywood customers and friends.

Jimmy Shields, committed suicide a few months after William Haines, death after almost 50 years together.

Joan Crawford, a close friend of Tom Lyle Williams and Emery Shaver, as well as William Haines and Jimmy Shields, introduced the two couples.  Tom Lyle opened an antique store in Beverly Hills, for Emery, where he could meet celebrities, outside the Villa Valentino.  Tom Lyle, preferred a secluded life inside the Villa.  Haines and Shields had a hand in decorating The Villa Valentino, after it's remodel in the late 1930's. 

William Haines and Joan Crawford - Spring Fever, Real life besties William Haines and Joan Crawford share a cute scene in 1927's "Spring Fever".

William Haines, Hollywood's First Openly Gay Star, talks about his 45 year relationship with Jimmy Shields

Read more about William Haines and Jimmy Shields friendship with Tom Lyle and Emery, in The Maybelline Story.