The Aviator

On Sat, 1 Jan 2005 08:25:43 -0800, "C J Campbell"
wrote in
::

"Howard Hughes, the Secret Life" by Charles Higham. Several of the movie
reviews mention it also. For example, OC Weekly describes Hughes'
bisexuality as now proven, but they seem to question whether Hughes ran into
as many "dark handsome men" as Higham alleges. Some of the reviews mention
Hughes' relationship with Cary Grant.

Thanks.

Some of the reviews even go so far as
to suggest that Hughes' death was AIDS related.

Given the fact that Hughes died in 1976*, and AIDS wasn't discovered
until 1986**, that is an unlikely cause of his death.

One reviewer goes the other way -- saying that Hughes' germ phobia must have
prevented him from having sex with anyone, ever, which seems unlikely.

Perhaps 'effeminate' is the wrong choice of words. (What is 'effeminate,'
anyway? Any definition of it must be subjective.) Perhaps I should have said
"decadent."


In a word, 'swishy' is the one I would use. However Merriam-Webster
has this to say:

Main Entry:1effeminate
Pronunciation:-n*t
Function:adjective
Etymology:Middle English, from Latin effeminatus, from past
participle of effeminare to make effeminate, from ex- + femina
woman more at FEMININE
Date:15th century

1 : having feminine qualities untypical of a man : not manly in
appearance or manner
2 : marked by an unbecoming delicacy or overrefinement *effeminate
art* *an effeminate civilization*


Your revised word choice seems more appropriate.



* http://www.retroplanet.net/3hughes.html
... but the ultimate downfall of Howard Hughes was self-inflicted.
When he finally died in 1976, the billionaire recluse had spent
decades shooting up morphine with hypodermic needles that he never
bothered to have sterilized. Some fragments of the needles Hughes
injected over the years were found still lodged in his arms after
his death!


** http://hivinsite.ucsf.edu/InSite.jsp?doc=2098.3cce