Studio infrastructure was still around to give these feckless young guys crash courses in acting to go with their easy to remember, spiffy new names....(Tab Hunter, Rock Hudson, Guy Madison, Ty Hardin....)...or at least how to delivers lines of dialogue without tripping over their own feet......
Some of them flourished, some of them disappeared.........some of them had to struggle mightily, with the help of studio public relations, to stay closeted and maintain their masquerade as heterosexuals........
Tab Hunter, the blindingly blonde All-American boy, went through all of these experiences......and survived, prevailed and even found the love of his life.......in whose arms he died at 86.....
Hunter and his fellow hunks faced rockier roads as they moved into the 1960's and beyond.....
The studio system began slowly crumbling........and movies stars who looked more like the guy who delivered your pizza were popping up........the dazzling Pretty Boys found themselves in the same position as the dinosaurs after the big meteor slammed into the earth......
Tab and his cohorts drifted into drive-in drivel from American International.......or wandered over to Europe for some spaghetti westerns and secret agent spoofs......by the time the 70's rolled in, the Golden Boys left still standing hopped in and out of TV episodes to eke out a living.....
And like a few of his contemporaries, Tab enjoyed something of career revival as a campy, nostalgic figure, in films like "Polyester" and "Grease 2".......
For the BQ, he'll forever be Joe Hardy in the musical "Damn Yankees", the young, fresh-off-the-farm amazing baseball phenom who's actually a middle-aged shlub who's signed his soul away to the Ray Walston's devilish 'Mr.Applegate'.......
A fascinating life......and body of work that's as perfect a historical record of the changing film industry as you'll ever find. Rest In Peace, Tab Hunter.
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