When adapting John van Druten’s stage play Old Acquaintance for the big screen in 1942, Lenore Coffee created the character of Randolph Barnes (aka Randy) as the main protagonist’s (gay) best friend. He’s described in the screenplay (dated April 4, 1942) as ‘A combination of Alexander Woolcott and Clifton Fadiman. A critic, connoisseur, and general man-about-town in an intellectual sort of way. Attractive, urbane and enormously popular. Probably in his late forties.’ He has some great scenes in Coffee’s screenplay, making his entrance at a New York party where the central character (Kit Marlowe) announces that she has a book contract and her best frenemy (Millie Drake) declares that she’s pregnant. It’s here that Randy ridicules Millie for her poor taste in theatre, inspiring her enmity. Randy’s vicious sideswipes at Millie follow in quick succession during several subsequent scenes. Yet Randy never actually made it to the screen, being cut out by Edmund Goulding and John van Druten when they developed the final version of the screenplay in October 1942. This paper attempts to reinstate a queer character back into the film version of Old Acquaintance, restoring his rightful place in Hollywood history, while considering the reasons behind his expulsion in 1942.