A Date That Will Live in Infamy

So Trump gets FDR's quote wrong ... 

and Melania screws up the date. 

But it's the thought that counts, right? I'm sure if Mr. and Mrs. Obama had done something similar no one would have said a thing ...

From HERE.

How Joe Gerard Turned a Generation of Gay Boys Into Chest-Hair Queens

Damian and I are knee deep in the much-analyzed third season of "Rhoda.” It’s definitely not for the faint of heart -- a beloved TV couple splitting had never been done before -- so it's understandable why viewers were so unhappy and fled. (I was a kid the first time I saw it, so its darkness was a bit lost on me then.) Although it's difficult to watch our more-assured heroine flirt with being an insecure wreck again, scenes like this one at Joe's "bachelor pad" go a long way toward explaining why she had her occasional weak moments. (Joe Gerard is undoubtedly the source of my weakness for hairy chests.)

Not sure if it was my age or that reruns of the later seasons ran more often, but I totally remember Rhoda's "single" apartment -- with Gary Levy always stopping by -- more than the one on the top floor with Joe. And I also always think of her working with Jack at the costume shop, which hasn't even happened yet.

Will be equally interesting to re-watch "Phyllis," which I just bought bootleg DVDs of. I remember it fondly -- "growing up" with Bess and my whole family gathering around to watch Mother Dexter's wedding. But a reader tells me the recasting of Phyllis's colleague Julie -- originally played by Barbara Colby, the same actress who shared a jail cell with Mary Richards, until she was murdered three episodes into the series (a case that has never been solved), tainted things for him. (If I remember correctly, Phyllis quits working in the photo studio in Season 2 anyway.) Will be curious to see if I feel the same way. (You know how I am about "fakes"!)

David Groh died of kidney cancer in 2008 at age 68.

A few more pictures of dreamy Joe HERE.

Valerie Harper Turns 78

Thanks to Greg in Hollywood for making note of Valerie Harper's birthday (I'm a day late!). Damian and I have been on a "Rhoda" kick thanks to MeTV recently picking up the beloved spinoff. The show was never as funny or well-written as "The Mary Tyler Moore Show." But the relationship between the three female leads -- Rhoda, Ida (Nancy Walker) and Brenda (Julie Kavner) -- was so endearing and rang so true that it was always a pleasure to watch. (And Joe's HAIRY CHEST helped me blossom into a young woman back in the day.) We're only on Season 2 now. But I watched the show as a kid and am already dreading -- as is Damian, for the first time -- the impending separation from Joe, although Rhoda's post-marriage life definitely had some memorable moments.

Her memoir, "I, Rhoda," made me fall in love with her even more.

Happy birthday, Valerie! I know you're been through your share of health struggles in recent years. But here's hoping you're surrounding by people who love and adore you in real life as much as your TV fans love and adore you from afar.

I was so devastated when I heard about Valerie's brain cancer that I bought this issue of People. Four years later, Valerie is still around and the magazine is long since lost!

Any Gay You Can Get It

Growing up gay in the '70s and '80s meant getting your acknowledgement -- that wasn't being called a "fag" in the hallway at school -- where you could. The Decider remembers one of those nascent television moments, the infamous "My Brother's Keeper" episode of "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" that originally aired in 1973, where Phyllis's dream of setting her brother Ben up with Mary unravels when he finds Rhoda more engaging. While more subtle than the "Judging Books by Covers" episode of "All in the Family" -- Richard Nixon even got angry when Archie learned his macho football-playing friend is gay -- or any of the episodes about his relationship with Beverly LaSalle (the female impersonator on whom Archie performs mouth-to-mouth resuscitation), Robert Moore's turn as Phyllis's brother was just what a gay boy from Michizona needed at the time (in reruns) to not feel so alone in the world. 

Jodie Dallas (Billy Crystal) and Donald (Philip Charles MacKenzie) -- who first played Jack to Cliff's (Paul Regina) Will on Showtime's "Brothers" -- were also a nod, even if they used to make me sweat whenever they came on the screen. 

... and don't get me started about Stephen Strucker from "Airplane"! Although I was so naive when I first saw it I thought he was imitating Mister Rogers, of which you can make what you will. 

And does anyone remember when Mel tried to fix Alice up with a football-player friend (played by Denny Miller) who turned out to be light in the loafers?

Or femme burglar Marty (Jack DeLeon) and his lover, Darryl (Ray Stewart), on "Barney Miller"?

In Valerie Harper's sweet 2013 memoir, "I, Rhoda," she recounted an interesting detail about the episode:

Though [creators] Jim [Brooks] and Allan [Burns] were firmly in charge, they also welcomed our input on how we would deliver certain lines. We were able to offer our emphasis and intention, and if it was funny, the guys welcomed it. After all, we were the ones who had gotten to know each of our characters intimately. This was particularly interesting in the episode when Phyllis tries to set up her brother, Ben, with Mary, only to discover that he's more interested in hanging out with Rhoda. Naturally, this horrifies Phyllis. At the end of the episode, Phyllis tells Rhoda in her own spectacularly condescending way that she's OK with her brother marrying Rhoda, to which Rhoda replies, "Phyllis, I'm not going to marry Ben."  

"Why not?" Phyllis says defensively. "My brother is successful. He's handsome. He's intelligent." 

"He's gay," Rhoda says. 

Before filming, Jim, Allan and I had a discussion with [director] Jay [Sandrich] about how Rhoda should deliver the line. Should she break the news to Phyllis gently? Should she whisper it, to be discreet? I felt Rhoda would be matter-of-fact and not tiptoe around the issue. We all agreed that Rhoda didn't think Ben's being gay was a bad thing. It just made marriage impossible. As in, he's a priest. He's married. He's moving to Tibet. 

The audience didn't see it coming. They roared. The laughter went on so long that Cloris and I had to keep on acting silently until she could deliver her rejoinder. "Oh, Rhoda, I'm so relieved." Anything was better to Phyllis than her brother marrying "dumb awful" Rhoda. 

Dick Clair and Jenna McMahon as seen on "The Funny Side" in 1971. McMahon died in 2015.

Incidentally, the guy who played Ben -- who first made a name for himself by directing the landmark play "The Boys in the Band" -- must have struck up a real-life friendship with the thoroughly modern Valerie (her book reveals her to be a lifelong champion of civil and LGBT rights) because he ended up directing 27 episodes of her "Rhoda" spinoff. The Decider piece makes a point of noting that the "My Brother's Keeper" episode was written by a male-female duo (Dick Clair and Jenna McMahon) that were likely a real-life Will and Grace. (They also wrote for "The Carol Burnett Show" and co-created "The Facts of Life," "It's a Living" and "Mama Family.") But it's also worth (sadly) mentioning that both Robert Moore and Dick Clair died of AIDS -- Moore succumbed to AIDS-related pneumonia in New York City in 1984 and Clair died in 1988 after multiple AIDS-related infections, which was the other side of the coin of knowing about anyone gay back then. (RIP: Rock Hudson, Robert Reed, Lance Loud, Perry Ellis, Freddie Mercury, Anthony Perkins, Ricky Wilson, Brad Davis, Halston, Nureyev, Peter Allen, Liberace, Leigh Bowery, Tony Richardson -- and sassy airport employee Stephen Strucker, who was just 38 when he died in 1986.)

The article also talks about the "Cheers" episode called "The Boys in the Bar," which I need to track down. (I was curiously not that big of a fan of the show.) But while writing this piece I looked it up and guess what? The baseball player who inspired it, Glenn Burke, also died of AIDS, in 1995. What a very dark, dark time in our collective gay history. How fortunate we are that the current generation of LGBT kids have healthy role models from all walks of life, and are often in a better position to be living their lives openly, unashamed and without the constant fear of impending doom hanging over them.

Read HERE.

Song of the Day: 'Who Is It?' by Carlton the Doorman (aka Lorenzo Music)

Although we still haven't been able to see every episode from its seven-year run together, Damian finally saw the brilliant finale of "The Mary Tyler Moore Show," so felt emotionally equipped to begin watching "Rhoda." (What's up with neither Hulu nor Netflix having the complete series run of either of these classic shows?) In trying to explain to my guy just how HUGE Valerie Harper's spinoff started out -- more than 53 million Americans tuned in to watch Rhoda marry Joe, which at the time was the second-highest rated sitcom episode to date, surpassed only by Lucy Ricardo giving birth to Little Ricky -- I stumbled upon some other indicators, ones so mortifying I'm glad I don't recall. Apparently Lorenzo Music, the celebrated sitcom writer and co-creator of "The Bob Newhart Show," "Taxi" and "Rhoda," who played Carlton the doorman, not only released a single ("Who Is It?"), but also filmed an animated spinoff  called "Carlton Your Doorman," which you can watch below. 

It didn't get picked up -- and didn't feature Ruth Gordon as his mom this time -- but Music did go on to provide the voice of Garfield, which is ironic given how poorly Carlton treated his cat (Ringo) in the pilot for his eponymous show. (I'm still reeling.) The show aired as a "CBS Special Presentation" on May 21, 1980 -- a year and a half after Rhoda went off the air -- and has (shockingly) never been rebroadcast! (Lorenzo Music died in 2001 at 64.)

"Who is it?"

And speaking of little-known "Rhoda" details: Just learned that David Lloyd -- of "Chuckles Bites the Dust" fame -- had written a script for the series called "Your Old Friend Phyllis" that would have reunited the Minneapolis frenemies after Mrs. Lindstrom gets stranded in NYC sans wallet. The idea was for the fourth season, which was right after "Phyllis" ended its run after two seasons, but ultimately never came to be for reasons that are not clear. (I always loved "Phyllis" but realized having your breakout stars being an octogenarian and a nonagenarian(!) wasn't a recipe for a long-running show. Would it kill Hulu to get those two seasons?)  

Read the script for "Your Old Friend Phyllis" HERE.

Page 1 Consider (02/20)

(Mary 21, 1939-Feb. 12, 2008)

A Rose by Any Other Name: What do you get when you take one part Rosie, one part Oprah (only feminine) and a sprinkle of curry powder? Rose, India’s first transgender talk show host. (NYT)

Inquiring Minds Want to Know: Was the real reason Mitt Romney's campaign never caught related to his Dick Swett problem? (AC)

Merit Badge in Counterfeiting: OK, those Thin Mints are pretty damn good. But this might be going a little too far. (AP)

Malignant Romance: If you can really tell that someone has cancer by their breath, then I must have been dating a string of terminally ill guys before I met my Mikey. (MSNBC)

Master Detective Work: Police in Switzerland have recovered artworks stolen earlier this month in a daring heist at a Zurich museum, Geneva police said Tuesday. (CNN)

And Now for Something Completely Different: Are fall television premieres going the way of the dinosaur? I guess it makes sense -- God knows half of the shows don't start till closer to Thanksgiving than September -- but it does sort of change the way we've spent our whole lives watching the boob tube. (Reuters)

Chequered Love: Does the white trash factor ever simmer down over at the Big Brother house? While the intended love match between Neil and Joshuah didn't pan out (go figure, they were both gay, isn't that enough?), now it turns out one of the straight guys -- the ominously named "Crazy" James -- has a gay porn past. (And don't let the above photo fool ya -- it was definitely a gay film.) (Gawker)

Conn. Job: Jason Bartlett, a 41-year-old Connecticut state representative, announced Tuesday that he is gay. Bartlett said that while he has been out to his family, he decided to finally speak publicly about his sexual orientation after growing tired of years of rumors about him. As is often the case, however, this story would be a lot more interesting if he were more attractive. Kudos, though! (Advocate)

Hitting the High Notes: I've never watched "American Idol," but Queerty has the low-down on which contestants scream "Queen." (Queerty)

School of Thought: In the wake of the hate-crime murder of a 15-year-old student in Oxnard, Calif., an assemblyman says he will introduce a bill to require all students throughout the state to receive courses in tolerance. Sounds like a good idea to me, although if we truly want to leave no child behind, perhaps a nationwide plan should be enacted. (365Gay)

Everything's Bigger: Good news for all of you kinky boys down in the great state of Texas. (AP)

RIP: And last but not least, I forgot to mention the death of David Groh. If you were gay and alive in the 1970s, then you remember Groh, who played Joe Gerard, Rhoda Morgenstern's hunky, hairy-chested hubby on the '70s Mary Tyler Moore hit spinoff, "Rhoda." Their romance and subsequent split really touched a nerve at a time when divorce was finally coming out of the shadows in America (fans sent condolence cards to the characters!). But it was the sight of Joe in those skin-tight pants that touched my, uh, nerve. Groh was 68 and died of kidney cancer. He will be missed. (AP)