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22 April 1977: A few facts about California to temper my initial rapture: it has a higher suicide rate than any other state. One Californian in three is employed in the manufacture of weapons. (The GNP of California places it fifth among the countries of the world: it produces 46 per cent of America’s missiles and space systems, 44 per cent of military building supplies, 33 per cent of military research and development; 27 per cent of petroleum products for the Department of Defence; etc. etc. (Statistics from Kenneth Lamott’s book, Anti-California.)
14 July 1977: Party at [Irving “Swifty”] Lazar’s…[Gregory Peck], rather drunk, is very defensive since he has just starred in an idolatrous film about General MacArthur and, as a one-time liberal turned conservative, is hyper-sensitive to accusations of being a reactionary. He plunges into unprovoked explanation of how MacArthur brought democracy and agrarian reform to Japan. I suggest that he is protesting too much. He complains that people treat him as if he had played Richard Nixon. “That’s different,” I say. “Nixon only conspired to pervert the course of justice. MacArthur conspired to pervert the course of history.” “I see I’ve fallen into a hot-bed of liberals,” says Greg.
He goes on to tell me the astonishing story of MacArthur’s son and only child, who was encouraged by his parents (from infancy) to dress up in his mother’s clothes. At dinner parties, when aged seven or eight, he would be told to put on Mom’s things to entertain the guests. “What a cute little fella!” they would cry. The result is that he became a full-time transvestite and now lives in Greenwich Village, a middle-aged drag queen. The bizarre thing is that MacArthur seems not have objected, and would visit him in apartment, imperially sipping a drink while a throng of transvestites cavorted around him. The tableau reminds one of a typical brunch with Tiberius at Capri.
Was MacArthur (a) too innocent to know about transvestism and homosexuality or (b) too tolerant and sophisticated to care? Fascinating question for some other film to answer: needless to say, Greg’s movie avoids the whole subject.
--Kenneth Tynan, Diaries
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