Way before the L-Word, LA was already home to an elite group of famous and infamous lesbian actresses. Who’s gay in Hollywood? Well, these included some of the most well-known actresses at the time. Collectively, they fondly referred to themselves as “Sewing Circles”, to serve as a sort of code, and would meet frequently in private lesbian parties.

The 1930s-1960s was particularly harsh to gay celebrities. The studios adopted the Hays Code (also known as the Production Code) which introduced a strict moral law to the movie industry. Among others, it forbade references to alleged “sex perversions” such as homosexuality. Worse, this code was not limited to film productions, but delved into the personal lives of movie actors and other studio workers as well. A lot of the stars were forced into “lavender marriages”, or marriages of convenience, just to appear heterosexual and avoid being publicly exposed. However, these sham marriages didn’t stop some of them from continuing their exploits in secret.

Some of those believed to be included in the the Sewing Circles are:

Alla Nazimova. One of the highest paid actresses during the 1920s earning $13,000 a week from Metro Goldwin Meyer (Mary Pickford earned only $3,000/week). She was a Russian stage actress before moving to Hollywood for a career in films. Her bisexuality was fairly common knowledge. Nazimova’s relationships with women include writer Mercedes de Acosta, stage actress Eva Le Gallienne, film director Dorothy Arzner, and Oscar Wilde’s niece Dolly.

Greta Garbo. Named by the Guiness Book of World Records as the “Most Beautiful Woman Who Ever Lived”. Garbo is famous for her mystique, shunning publicity and almost never granting any interviews, as well as her low sultry voice. She is originally from Sweden and brought to America by MGM in 1925. She remained single throughout her life, living in a seven-room apartment in New York. Some suggest that this was because of an unrequited love for her drama school sweetheart, the Swedish actress and director Mimi Pollak. Garbo’s personal letters recently released to the public indicate that she remained in love with Pollak until the end. When Pollak announced she was pregnant, Garbo wrote: “We cannot help our nature, as God has created it. But I have always thought you and I belonged together.”

Marlene Dietrich. Born in 1901 as Marie Magdalene Dietrich. With the public’s fascination for exotic beauties, Paramount got her as Germany’s answer to Sweden’s Greta Garbo. Funny thing is that Dietrich and Garbo, who were supposed to have a rivalry, was actually rumored to have had a brief affair. Dietrich was openly bisexual, unconcerned with gossips and even flaunting it in her movies (like cross-dressing and kissing a girl in “Morocco”). Her manner of dressing has been imitated by pop legend Madonna on several occasions.

Mercedes de Acosta. She had been called “the dyke at the top of the stairs” and “a lover to the stars” (sort of like Jenny Shimizu, but on a grander scale). De Acosta was a Cuban-American poet, playwright, costume designer, and socialite. Her memoir, Here Lies the Heart, was published in 1960 and detailed her lesbian affairs with Greta Garbo, Marlene Dietrich, Alla Nazimova, Tamara Karsavina, Eva Le Gallienne, Isadora Duncan, Katharine Cornell, Maude Adams, Ona Munson, Adele Astaire, and others. This created a stir, and she was quickly branded as a liar by some of the people she outed, most notably le Gallienne.

Eva le Gallienne. A well-known theater actress, producer and director of French and Danish descent. She was open about sexuality within Hollywood circles, for it was acceptable behind the scenes. However, she did not want it to be known to the public, and reportedly struggled with it inwardly. Among her lovers were Alla Nazimova, Mercedes de Acosta, and Josephine Hutchinson, who was married at the time. Their affair caused Hutchinson’s husband to sue for divorce, citing le Gallienne as the reason. Naturally, it created a scandal. Nevertheless, after the incident, she still enjoyed a successful career on stage.

Reading their biographies, I’m tempted to do a chart like Alice’s connect-the-lesbians in The L-word. Seems like a very small circle, indeed. The joke about lesbians always hooking up with an ex of an ex of their ex seems to have a long rich history, doesn’t it? If only online dating sites existed then, maybe they wouldn’t have had fallen prey to the cliché. At least they could meet new people.

OK, I admit. I’m guilty of the same thing before. Are you?