Thursday, December 27, 2012

The Courtship of Eddie's Father ... in a 'Steambath'


Talk about an incredible hulk hunk!

Had never even heard of "Steambath" until 10 seconds ago (thanks, Auntie Dasch!). But when you see this delightful number, "The Fabulous Fags of the Steambath," you'll be as stunned as I was that it's from a TV adaptation of Bruce Jay Friedman's off-Broadway play.  
Tandy (Bill Bixby), Merideth (Valerie Perrine) and assorted others unexpectedly wake up in a steambath with no easy exit. After spending some time there, it becomes clear that the steambath is a sort of Afterlife, where indifferent souls come to tell their stories to God who happens to be the attendant picking up the towels. 
Watch the clip and know this: If I ever saw a young Bill Bixby in the steam room, I would be doing a lot more than prancing around him! (Available on DVD HERE!)

  


8 comments:

Anonymous said...

There was a short film on Logo based on the same principle, but considerably darker, balancing the homosexual desire of the two male characters against a surprising fact about one of them, revealed at the end.

uptonking said...

This is an absolute find! I didn't even know it existed. Thanks for posting. Happy Holidays. - Uptonking from Wonderland Burlesque

alguien said...

i saw it when it came out (around 73 or 74, i think). it was done on PBS so they could get away with a lot more than on network TV.

Larry J said...

I saw this -- it MUST have been on public television, which is in itself pretty amazing -- in the 1970s. The play as a whole is profound, though often funny as in this clip. Never knew it was available.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for that. I remember this from ages ago. I had such a crush on Bill Bixby and him running around in a towel was a treat at the time.

KR said...

I actually produced a production of this play at Johns Hopkins University in the late '70s, when I was an undergrad there. I had my high school acting coach direct and we were very well received. Interestingly, we didn't have any problem casting, except we couldn't really do nudity onstage in a collage production, so the female lead had to shower behind a shower curtain. It was Bruce Jay Friedman's version of "No Exit," and was very '70s. Interestingly, pre-AIDS and pre-rise of the religious right, sexual attitudes and mores were, in a way, much more relaxed back then.

Anonymous said...

Remember this when people try to tell you that "it's too soon" for gay rights. This country was leading the world on the issue until St. Reagan and the cherubic Falwell.

curious said...

Bill Bixby was quite delectable back then (shame he's gone). I recall an episode of "It Takes a Thief" where he and an equally dishy Robert Wagner got into a pillow fight (by that, I mean they just wrestled around a little in a hotel room). A little later Bixby tied Wagner up. I recall wanting to watch the episode again immediately -- it would be a while before I understood why ;o) At any rate, great find!