What's the Matter with... Lesbianism

Now, it goes without saying that the film "What's the Matter With Helen?" has a gay appeal... all of the films in the Grande Dame Guilgnol genre do. This movie includes gay icons Debbie Reynolds, Shelley Winters, Agnes Moorehead -- and to boot, there's classic Hollywood references, a handful of songs and numerous dance numbers. But what makes the film interesting is that there's some pretty blatant homosexuality lurking below the surface. Nowadays no one would bat an eyelash over it, but it's rather unusual for a film from 1971.

To begin with, there's Helen and Adelle's convicted sons, Wes and Lenny. This barely touched upon plotline was intended by the filmmakers to bear a similarity to the case of Leopold and Loeb, two men who set out to commit "the perfect crime" in the 1920s but botched it by leaving a piece of evidence behind. The duo claimed to be lovers, though this aspect of their lives has generally been glossed over in the numerous Hollywood films that they inspired (with the exception of the artsy 1992 independent film "Swoon" which almost exclusively focused on their relationship). Their lawyer was the high-profile Clarence Darrow (whom Adelle mentions she wants to get for the appeal of their sons), but even Darrow wasn't able to secure a "not guilty" verdict.

But back to Wes and Lenny... The boys were raised by widowed, working mothers. Though a male raised without a father figure certainly doesn't preordain their sexuality, a fairly accurate generalization is that gay men usually have a strong, dominant mother figure, which Helen and Adelle each were. The crime that they commit is the murder of Ellie Banner, a lunchroom proprietor. Late in the film, Helen speculates that the murder of Ms. Banner is a substitute revenge -- the boys would have rather killed their own mothers but they sought out a woman who resembled them. The motivations for matricide are wildly diverse, but again generalizing, gay men frequently have a love/hate relationship with their moms. Adelle also makes a comment that Helen took away one man in her life, which had led some to presume she was implying that her son, Wes, was intimate with Helen's son, Lenny. Although little attention is given to the story of Wes and Lenny, it's not much of a leap to speculate that the characters may have been gay -- though director Curtis Harrington later stated that there was no intention by the filmmakers to have made the sons appear to be homosexual.

Moving right along, we have Mrs. Helen Hill (Martin), played by the zaftig Shelley Winters. Although never once stated aloud, the lesbianism of her character appears pretty blatantly -- even director Curtis Harrington referred to her as "a latent lesbian" during a 1971 interview, and Winters later admitted that the powers that be didn't want her too play the lesbianism "too directly, but I did." It was unusual in that era for an actor to willingly or knowingly take a gay role, for fear it would ruin their career, but the outspoken Winters was never one to shy away from a part -- even one as uncharacteristic for the actress as the role of Helen was.

Helen is wholly uncomfortable around men. "I couldn't stand for him to touch me," she says of her husband, whom she pushed off of a plow to his death. During each encounter with the flamboyant Hamilton Starr, Helen is fearful -- often uncharacteristically screaming at the sight of him. When encountered with Ellie Banner's calm but vengeful ex, she again wildly overreacts.

During the murder trial of their sons, Helen and Adelle were hounded by the press and, having no one else to relate to, the pair became unusually close. In Adelle's mind, this friendship was merely that, but Helen seems to long for something more. Over the course of the film, Helen grows increasingly jealous of Adelle's budding romance with Lincoln Palmer. When Adelle reveals that Linc is funding a lavish production for Adelle's school, Helen irrationally cries, "But it's our recital!" When Adelle reveals her plans to marry Linc, Helen's mind completely snaps and she's driven to murder.

One of the most telling moments about their relationship occurs after Helen and Adelle quarrel and Adelle demands Helen to move out... Helen wanders into Adelle's bedroom, picks up her negligee, holds it to her face and caresses it. This scene was scripted and is rather touchingly played out by Winters, who was clearly aware of her character's motivations.

There was one unscripted scene that was filmed, and deleted, that pushed the envelope quite a bit further. According to director Curtis Harrington:

"Shelley said, 'What I want to do is let the lesbian thing really come out for a moment, after they've gotten rid of the body and returned to the dance studio.' She wanted to grab Debbie and kiss her on the lips. We shot it, but, of course, it couldn't be in a PG-rated film. So it was cut."

Finally, there's Helen's religious fanaticism. Through the film it's revealed that indulging in alcohol is "against" her religion, the only movie she's recently been to see is the 1932 epic "Sign of the Cross," and she tunes into a radio show each evening hosted by Sister Alma, a radio evangelist. Bear in mind that I'm not attacking anyone's religious beliefs here, but it's not unusual for people who are insecure over an aspect of their life to turn to religion for compensation. It's frequently seen with people who land in prison, but it's also fairly common in people who are struggling to stifle their 'sinful' sexual feelings. It's only after she decides that she's "damned" and she tosses away her cross that her mind snaps and her feelings for Adelle finally bubble to the surface, culminating in the final scenes of the film.

Next up, we have the eccentric Hamilton Starr, who's affectionately referred to as "Hammy" by Adelle. It's true that there's a fine line between British and gay, but Hamilton walks the tightrope in that regard. "Even for this town, you're a special kind of ham," Adelle quips about the Hollywood elocution teacher. Very little about Hamilton is revealed in the movie -- his character basically exists to be a red herring. However, he seems to be a bachelor who spends his days coaching little girls, he wears a ginormous ring on his ring finger that one would hardly presume to be a wedding band, he's a self-professed snoop, well spoken and groomed, and he wears far too much rouge. Okay, that last one may be a stretch. In defense of Hamilton's sexuality, he does go out of his way to present Helen with a rose and help her up to bed (though he abruptly vanishes from the movie before it's revealed whether or not he intends to join her).

I may merely be perpetuating tabloid fodder here, but I can't in good conscience end this page without mentioning Agnes Moorehead. Because of her appearances in "Bewitched," "Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte" (also penned by "Helen" screenwriter Henry Farrell) and other classic films, she's developed a loyal gay following. However, it's also alleged that she was a lesbian. As a matter of fact, Debbie Reynolds' ex-husband, Eddie Fisher, claimed in his first autobiography that Reynolds and Moorehead had an affair. While Reynolds never denied having a close friendship with Moorehead, she denied claims of their affair and threatened legal action -- this passage was subsequently removed from the book. This may have put Reynolds' sexual orientation in the clear, but it did little to dissuade people from continuing to question Moorehead's. For example, in the 2004 period comedy "Straight-Jacket," Veronica Cartwright denies being a lesbian, so Matt Letscher jokes, "Yes, and Agnes Moorhead is just a tomboy." Moorehead had many, very close, strong-willed female friends, she was reported to be very devout in her religious beliefs (see the passage about Helen's character above), and she's been referenced in countless books about celebrity lesbians, so it's certainly not unthinkable that she may have been gay. Either way, doesn't really matter but was worth mentioning.