Trigger Please!

There was a long history of bestiality scandals rocking Hollywood. From the very beginning there was the sad case of Clara Bow with her Cocker Spaniel. Maureen O' Sullivan having sex with Cheeta which resulted in the birth of the simian Mia Farrow. Gloria Swanson and Joseph Kennedy. And of course the cautionary tale of Fay Wray that was later fictionalized in her most popular film.

Nothing was a pervasive and secret as the Hollywood subculture of pony boys. You see many of the stunt men and extra's in the Western serials were actual broken down cowboys from the salad days of the Old West. They were still alive in the beginnings of Hollywood and they had long turned to equine solace on those lonely days on the prairie. It became a cynical subtext in many westerns where the Hero was more in love with horse than the ingénue. The fact was they were trying to hide the truth in plain sight. It was the love that could not neigh it's name.



Nobody was as in love with his pony as the Singing Cowboy Roy Rodgers and his companion Trigger. He petted and stroked and groomed that horse to within an inch of it's life. His behavior alarmed the executives as he was always kissing the horse and grooming his long bushy tail and cleaning his tight pink balloon knot. He would kiss the horse and mummer "Trigger, trigger." It was most unsightly and really made his costars uncomfortable. So much so that whenever Roy would start to interact with his horse the director would shout out "Trigger warning" and the crew would give them their privacy. It was a small price to pay for the lucrative franchise that made so much money for the studio.
(Trigger Warning, The E True Hollywood Story of Roy Rodgers and his Lover)