A Secret Voice

Advise and Consent, 1962

I had fond memories of Advise and Consent as a livelier-than-usual political drama notable for one thing only: Hollywood’s “first official gay bar,” Club 602. A Mormon senator visits the club late in the film, right before committing suicide. He’s about to be outed to his wife and his colleagues. As Frank Rich explains in 2005, “for a public official to…