SAY WHAT?

Noel Coward (l); Humphrey Bogart (r)

He [Noel Coward]  and Bogie were guests of Clifton Webb one weekend. Bogie and Noel were assigned to the same room and Noel was gay, as everybody on Earth knew, but nobody cared, because he was so great. Just to be in his presence was quite enough. And at the end of the evening one night, they were changing into their pjs to hit the sack. Bogie was sitting on the edge of the bed, and at one point put his hand on Bogie’s knee. Bogie said: ‘Noel, I have to tell you that if I had my druthers and I liked guys you would be the one I’d want to be with. But, unfortunately, I like girls.’ And from that moment on Noel never mentioned it, and Bogie never mentioned it. Class behavior! And they became fast, fast friends," chats up Lauren Bacall to writer Matt Tyrnauer in Vanity Fair (March 2011).