A project is underway in Staunton, Virginia to honor William ‘Billy’ Haynes, who was born and raised in Staunton and became an openly gay Hollywood movie star in the 1920s and early 1930s. Haynes hid her sexual orientation, refused requests to end her relationship with a male partner, and ended her acting career around 1934.
Mr. Haynes left the film industry around that time and started a very successful interior design and furniture business in Los Angeles, which he led until his death in 1972 at age 72, and which is still in operation today, according to the Staunton-based nonprofit Arcadia Project.
Arcadia Projects announced in a statement last month that it is working to revitalize a long-vacant movie theater in downtown Staunton and plans to rename it after Haynes. The theater says a fundraising campaign is underway to support efforts to reopen the theater and the larger building it houses as a “dynamic mixed-use cultural center.”
According to the statement, Haynes left Staunton at age 14 and lived in Hopewell, Virginia, and New York City’s Greenwich Village until 1922, when he was “discovered” by a talent scout and sent to Hollywood.
“From 1922 to 1934, Haynes appeared in 54 films during his illustrious and highly successful career,” the Arcadia Project statement continues, noting that he transitioned from silent films to talkies and was fully openly gay. “However, when the moral oppression of 1930s Hollywood required him to end his relationship with longtime partner Jimmy Shields, Haynes refused,” the article states.
“For LGBTQ people, then and now, Haynes’ choices resonate deeply. Rather than deny who he is, he reinvented himself as an interior designer to the stars,” the statement reads.
He helped invent the so-called Hollywood Regency style of housing, and designed homes for Hollywood legends such as Joan Crawford, Gloria Swanson, Carole Lombard, George Cukor, and Jack Warner, as well as politicians such as California Governor Ronald Reagan.
“Since Mr. Haynes’ hometown of Staunton, Virginia, does not have a monument, marker, or public profile, Arcadia Project aims to work with Staunton’s LGBTQ+ community to memorialize Mr. Haynes within a new cultural center,” the statement said.
The magazine quotes Pamela Mason Wagner, executive director of the Arcadia Project, as saying, “Naming a movie theater in Haynes’ honor is not just an act of historical recognition, but a powerful statement of visibility, belonging, and that Haynes’ story is valued in our community.”
Project leaders hope to open the cultural center in early 2027 and are conducting a fundraising campaign to raise $250,000 to renovate the theater, according to a statement.
“If the full goal is not met, a small space within the building will be named after Haynes, depending on the amount of funds raised.” “We sincerely hope that friends and fans of Billy Haynes around the world will want to join us.”
Donations to this project can be made at: www.thearcadiaproject.org
Post-gay 1920s Hollywood star honored in Staunton, Virginia appeared first on Washington Blade: LGBTQ News, Politics, LGBTQ Rights, Gay News.
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