Midnight (1939)

Rex O'Malley plays the queer-coded gay best friend Marcel in queer director Mitchell Leisen’s 1939 screwball comedy MIDNIGHT.

In this take on “Cinderella,” written by Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett, Eve Peabody (Claudette Colbert) arrives penniless in stormy Paris with only the golden evening dress she wakes up in. She is hired by a wealthy man named Georges (John Barrymore), who acts as a sort of “fairy godmother” figure, to breakup his wife Helene (Mary Astor) and her boyfriend Jacques (Francis Lederer). Georges pays for her stay at The Ritz, buys her a new wardrobe, gives her a spending allowance, and goes along with her story that she is the Baroness Czerny.

Their scheming is jeopardized when Helene and her coded gay best friend Marcel (Rex O’Malley) begin to suspect she may in fact be a poor showgirl from Monte Carlo. Further jeopardizing their plan is the handsome taxi driver Tibor Czerny (Don Ameche), from whom Eve borrowed her surname, who has fallen in love with her and is attempting to track her down with the aid of every taxi driver in Paris.

To “code” Marcel as gay, he is depicted as the “sissy” sidekick who shows no romantic interest in the film’s leading ladies (or any other woman for that matter). Further, stereotypes are also used as Marcel thrives on gossip and describes himself early on in the film as a “telephone worshipper” who sits around all day praying to be invited to lavish events. Like many queer-coded characters of the era, the actor playing him was gay in real life.

During filming, O’Malley was also asked by the film’s director to tone his performance down – probably to help get around Hays Code censorship, which banned queer characters at the time. Additionally, this wasn’t his first “GBF” role – he plays Greta Garbo’s queer-coded bestie in CAMILLE (1936).

Interestingly, according to film historian Richard Barrios in his book “Screened Out,” the director’s boyfriend Billy Daniel was also cast in the film; he plays a small part as real-life gossip columnist/actress Hedda Hopper’s queer-coded friend Roger.

Rex O'Malley as Marcel, Helene’s (Mary Astor) GBF in “Midnight” (1939).

Billy Daniel, the director’s boyfriend, plays Hedda Hopper’s GBF in Midnight (1939).

Unfortunately MIDNIGHT isn’t currently streaming, but it is available on DVD.

MIDNIGHT

1939. USA.

Director: Mitchell Leisen

Screenplay: Billy Wilder & Charles Brackett

Starring: Claudette Colbert, Don Ameche, John Barrymore, Francis Lederer, Mary Astor, Elaine Barrie, Rex O’Malley, Hedda Hopper, Monty Woolley, Armand Kaliz & Billy Daniel