The Girls: Sappho Goes to Hollywood

An exploration of lesbian and bisexual women in Hollywood's Golden Age, focusing on the secret community that thrived behind the scenes. McLellan uncovers the hidden world of female lavender marriages and same-sex relationships among Hollywood's elite.

McLellan documents how women like Marlene Dietrich, Greta Garbo, Barbara Stanwyck, and others navigated Hollywood while maintaining both public marriages (some lavender, some not) and private same-sex relationships. The book reveals the complex strategies women employed to survive in the studio system.

The book provides crucial insight into the "sewing circles"—secret social networks pioneered by Alla Nazimova where Hollywood's lesbian and bisexual women could be themselves away from public scrutiny. These circles included actresses forced into lavender marriages like Jean Acker (Rudolph Valentino's wife). McLellan shows how lavender marriages provided essential cover that allowed women to maintain their careers and social standing while living authentic private lives.