The Matinee Idol

by Owen Keehnen

In 1925, Raymond leaves Iowa to come to Hollywood to become a silent film star. At a wild beach party, he meets Brick, the ruggedly handsome Montana cowboy of his dreams. The two quickly fall in love and move in together. When his career takes off, Raymond must choose between stardom and Brick. Ambition trumps love, but Ray’s regrets undermine the career he sacrificed Brick for. A decade later, Raymond is reunited with Brick in the most unlikely of ways and must make that difficult choice once again.

Genres: M M Romance

183 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 7, 2016

About the author

Writer and historian Owen Keehnen has had his fiction, essays, erotica, reviews, columns and interviews appear in dozens of magazines and anthologies worldwide. Keehnen is the author of the humorous gay novel Young Digby Swank (Wilde City Press, 2013), the gay novel The Sand Bar (Lethe Press, 2012) and the horror novel Doorway Unto Darkness (Dancing Moon Press, 2010). He also recently released the reference book The LGBT Book of Days (Wilde City Press, 2013). Along with Tracy Baim, he co-authored Leatherman: The Legend of Chuck Renslow (Prairie Avenue Productions, 2011) as well as Jim Flint: The Boy From Peoria (Prairie Avenue Productions, 2011). Over 100 of his interviews with various LGBT authors and activists from the 1990s have been collected in the book We’re Here, We’re Queer (Prairie Avenue Productions, 2011). He recently finished editing For My Brothers, the Mark Abramson memoir about life and love in San Francisco during the height of the AIDS epidemic. He co-edited Nothing Personal: Chronicles of Chicago’s LGBTQ Community 1977–1997 (Firetrap Press, 2009), was a contributor to Gay Press, Gay Power (Prairie Avenue Publications, 2012) and wrote ten biographical essays for the coffee table history book Out and Proud in Chicago (Surrey/Agate, 2008). Keehnen was on the founding committee and executive board of The Legacy Project and is currently a contributing biographer for the LGBT history-education-arts program focused on pride, acceptance, and bringing proper recognition to the courageous lives and contributions in LGBT history. He was the author of the Starz books, a four-volume series of interviews with gay porn stars. He has had two queer monologues adapted for the stage and served as co-editor of the Windy City Times Pride Literary Supplement for several years, was a co-founder of the horror film website RacksAndRazors.com, and a featured poet in Wilde City’s 2013 collection Falling Awake. He lives in Chicago with his partner, Carl, and his two ridiculously spoiled dogs, Flannery and Fitzgerald. He was inducted into the Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame in 2012.

Reviews

[CrabbyPatty · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Matinee Idol is a fictional look back at Hollywood of the 1920s when many would-be stars left their small towns with dreams of making it big in silent pictures. Brick comes to Hollywood from Montana while Ray leaves the cows and cornfields of Iowa and from the moment they meet, Ray senses something magical, something that feels like destiny.

But Ray chooses his career over Brick and before too long he's a box office star taking doctor-prescribed opiates "to help [him] relax and give a more natural performance” and amphetamines "to give his performance 'pep' and to keep him working eighteen-hour days." When he falls from his matinee-idol pedestal, Ray falls hard ending up destitute and willing to do anything to survive and at this point in his life, Ray reconnects with Brick.

The plot is an intriguing mix of melodrama and Hollywood gossip plus sizzling chemistry and hot sex, but what really gives the story its heart is the love between Ray and Brick and the strength to forgive and heal.

“Falling down is just a part of life. The wrong part comes from not getting back up."

I give The Matinee Idol a solid 4 stars and recommend it especially to anyone interested in vintage Hollywood stars in the era of the Big Studios.

I received an ARC from Wilde City Press in exchange for an honest review.

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[Misty · Rating 3 out of 5]

** 3.5 Stars **

I just love '1900s Hollywood glamour' but I found Raymond and Brick rather two-dimensional characters and the story a bit melodramatic but I enjoyed it anyway!