I’ve always been fond of the name, “The Male Box” for a gay bar. The Men’s Warehouse sounds like a name for a place they sell “trendy” suits and business clothing.......... Oh, wait.
The bit about using the term "lover" reminded me of a heartbreaking moment. I was working maintenance, and a man was locked out. It was heartbreaking because I couldn't unlock the door for him. He was in tears and let me know the man on the lease was his lover. I knew he stayed with the tenant. I knew they were lovers. I wanted to let him in. However, he wasn't on the lease. There wasn't a even a note that he could be let in. And I looked through the papers for something that could indicate that I could unlock the door for this man. If I had let him in, and lets say the tenant kicked his partner out, then I could have lost my job, or been held responsible for any missing valuables. I felt so bad for this guy. I told him he could sit in the lounge room until his partner came home, or until we could reach him by phone. So, please... let the office know that your partners are allowed in the house.
Matt Baume I love you soooo much and you're my hero cuz every time I watch one of your videos I feel prouder of being a gay man in America. You offer amazing insight to the dark, turbulent yet rich history of the brave queers who've come before us. Please keep up the GREAT work!
As a promiscuous person, who gets sick on boats immediately, I feel very comfortable being adressed as a land ho, but I see how that might feel differnt to other people.
Do Always sunny in Philadelphia!!!!! Their reaction when they found out that their friend is gay they just say: “Well, Mac’s gay” (it turns out that it was a misunderstanding but the character did turned out to be gay), now the most recent episode had Mac come out to his dad and it is a really spectacular episode
The clueless straight thing actually reminds me of something my mother told me about my grandmother, apparently, when my grandmother was younger, her best friend was a lesbian, but didn’t tell my grandmother until they were adults, when she told her, my grandmother reacted with a face shocked expression before immediately replying that she obviously knew the whole time. Honestly that would have been a good subversion in one of these old sitcoms.
I once took a prominent conservative Republican political operative to a gay kareoke bar. (We are allies on precisely 1 bipartisan political issue, which is what we had gotten together to discuss.) He delivered an epic rendition of an obscure song by the Who. I have it on video. It was amazing.
MY FRIEND: Your favourite UA-cam channel, Matt Baume, is a gay UA-cam channel. ME: Don't be ridiculous, look at these playlists. Oh, oh my. _I pull shocked face, cue laugh track._
As a lover of sitcoms and clueless straight, I am so happy to have found your page. Maybe you do that episode of Malcom and the middle where the baby sitter tricked Malcolm and Reese into thinking the other was gay?
Please never EVER stop doing this series!! These videos are in my top 5 favourtie YT video/series/channels and I get so hyped everytime I see a new ep up!! Keep up the good work!!
OK Matt.... first off: I love you and your commentary. It's really fun and refreshing and well done. I do have one bone to pick with you, however: you make 1994 sound like 1394. I came out at age 17 in 1977. I was head of a gay group at my college from 1979-1981. I was part of a thriving gay religious group beginning in 1982. Many of us were out to everyone and not just in the confines of a bar. While certain things are certainly easier now, 1994 was hardly a remote past where gay men dared only congregate in bars. Remember: we had been through Anita Bryant, Phyllis Schlafly and tens of thousands of our brothers dying of AIDS by then!!! But keep up the good work, brother!! Hugs from Chicago.
Loved that episode. Sorry to hear that Charles Kimbrough has passed on. Was Tony-nominated in the original cast of Sondheim's "Company". What a great voice!
Where he met his wife, Beth Howland, Vera from the long live tv series "Alice." In Company she performs the classic, challenging "Getting Married Today"
These are among my favorite UA-cam videos and I always look forward to them. And I hope you do Sunny and the decade long journey of Mac before he took his own cruise. 😊
I love that you used a clip from the 1952 short "Young Man's Fancy". Something that everyone should check out if they're in the mood for ol' fashioned unintentional gay subtext.
@@MattBaume well she never seemed to have luck with men. First Will left her and years later she "married" an already married man Miles who as stated was married to his true love a women.
The use of the Vauxhall station sign in the set is a clever touch - the Royal Vauxhall Tavern in Vauxhall, South London, is one of the oldest and most famous gay venues in Britain.
Kudos, MB, for knowing about B Britten & Somerset Maugham -- and double kudos for discovering SM's description himself as being 3/4 this, and 1/4 that!
Pride month is a big deal in my hometown. Being a sometime old-fashioned prude, and always an old-timey movie romantic, I remembered this old Murphy Brown episode when I saw on the Tonys' In Memoriam segment that actor Charles Kimbrough, who played Jim on Murphy Brown, had died, I looked for this segment that taught his character "Jim," and a younger me, a known fact but did so with clever humor, giving us viewers a deeper realization, as well as sorrow for a cruel past, and a genuine lasting acceptance and appreciation. Thank you, writers on Murphy Brown for your great wit and hail and farewell talented Charles Kimbrough!
In defense of the "clueless heterosexual trope" -- it is important to keep it out there. While you are right that it is becoming increasingly dated, it most definitely exists. I encountered this episode of Murphy Brown (1994) when I was 19, having grown up in a very red part of a very red state. I thought the episode was incredible. I remember it better than any episode of Murphy Brown. I'm straight. But the ability of the writers to effectively communicate to me -- to meet me where I was coming from -- is probably what made it so memorable for me. I still live in the same state -- and it has sadly become redder. But I am cognizant of the trope and educating my kids to not be the way I was. Still, this episode and many more like it will find an audience that will discover something that their daily lives will have failed to prepare them for -- that gay people exist. I like that your take on the subject isn't whole negative, so keep finding the upside.
Well it's Miles, so I think if any of his co-workers brought someone home with them and was making out around him as he gave them a ride home he would be freaked out by that. He was always super uptight and neurotic.
Yes, I agree. It was a crucial part of his character design and part of what made him lovable in the series. I feel like many people tend to forget these characters are written with specific personality quirks and one of Miles' quirks is that he's a neurotic fruit cake who would stub his toe and panic, go to the ER and insist he needs his leg amputated and would go from hospital to hospital until he found a quack doctor who would agree lol All part of his charm in my opinion. I can totally agree with the annoyance of these tropes seeping back into culture and sitcoms today, but we must remember that, at least in this particular case, these characters were written in the 80s and this 'reboot' is actually a continuation of that series with the same established characters with the same personalities. While they may have subtle changes, they are still the same characters at the core and this is just who Miles is. Unfortunately I missed out on this season and still haven't had occasion to see it, but as how Murphy Brown is to date one of my favorite series ever, I can easily say all of the episodes with gay representation, however buried in tropes, were some of my favorites.
I see where Matt is coming from, but for me it just draws attention to the fact that these people sleep together. Now, I'm a mature individual, but that's not what you want during a first introduction.
Agreed. I have a very complicated love/hate relationship with the term, myself. I absolutely hate the term being used, because it's almost like telling people "hey I'm gay and fucking this person" whenever it's used, and I'm in the pool of the community that feels that, in general conversation, it's really kinda silly to just introduce yourself as gay for no particular reason. It would be like walking up to a stranger and saying "By the way, I'm Italian/Spanish/Asian/Caucasion/Whatever" without any kind of context. Kinda feels like a "oh, really? That's nice, but I don't care" moment for me. If someone asked if you were together or something, I mean sure, it would make sense to say something like "Oh, yes, we're lovers. He's my cuddle-bunny," but to just introduce someone as a lover immediately just feels odd to me. Perhaps it's because it's generally used to indicate sexuality, I suppose? Not sure, but it just rubs me wrong to use the term lol However, when I hear a hetero couple using the term "lovers" my head will spin, vomit pea soup and shout "BUT THAT'S OUR WORD! YOU CAN'T USE THAT WORD! NO FAIR!" lol Guess the grass really is greener for me haha
You're right. There are still those of us who, short of the proverbial miracle that has a zero chance of happening in reality, will never be able to live somewhere modern and safe and out.
Haha thanks, James came up with that one. I just LOVE the idea that The Rusty Anchor is a straight bar where men gather around to listen to Bea Arthur croon.
I'm three year's late to this party, but I remember watching that Murphy Brown episode when it first aired and at the time (and being reminded of it now) it brought to mind something that happened to my father back in the 50s. He was a German emigrant to Canada, almost fresh off the boat. He was 20, an amateur boxer, and worked in a factory. My mother said she was drawn to him because he had "Hollywood" looks. Anyway, new to the city, he stopped by a bar. It was summer after work, so he probably looked exactly like some sort of 50s rough working class stereotype. He ordered his beer but as he drank it he felt weird, like everyone was watching him. Bars were men-only at that time so the lack of women wasn't a clue. It's just that the men were a little too close to each other, whispering and smiling at him. He was from a small village in southern Germany and was clueless about this sort of thing. He drank his beer and left. The next day he told a co-worker about this "strange bar", who then filled him in on what kind of bar it was, complete with homophobic jokes at my father's expense. To my father's credit, he was mostly ok with it, treating it as funny rather than threatening, but, no, he never went back to that bar. Or at least that's what he told us.
Matt Baume. There is this show called "SKAM" which is a Norwegian television production that went nternational via the internet giving it a worldwide fandom. This happened during its 3rd season which featured a story about a gay teen coming to terms with his sexuality. It also got a write-up in the NYT of Dec. 2016. Episodes are on Dailymotion.com. Have you ever heard of it? It's a social media phenomenon.
@@MattBaume I heard they have an accurate portrayal of a person living with bipolar disorder, which is as almost as rare as getting the gay life right on screen.
To be fair, we Hets can be pretty oblivious. I remember one time, back when I was young and cute, I went with some work buddies to have a beer and shoot some pool after work. They took me to a leather bar in the Virginia-Highland neighborhood of East Atlanta and, after we had been shooting pool for a while, Bear whispered in my ear, "You might want to tuck that red bandanna all the way down into your back pocket; you've got some of the boys wondering if they're stocked up on rubber gloves and Vaseline."
Quentin Crisp has a book, "How to Go to the Movies," it's a collection of his articles on film that were published in the magazine Christopher Street. It is sublime.
And another nod to the community in the scene was that Congressmen Barney Frank's name was mentioned. Since he was an openly gay democrat at the time, having come out in 1987.
I love watching your videos where you analyze shows. I find them pretty darn entertaining! I had never see this episode and found it funny. I like the point that was made about how you can't re-create something that simply doesn't exist anymore. Some things are part of a certain time and place. I admit I am not fully out to everyone I know, or I choose to simply not discuss it most of the time. Though watching videos like this do help me to feel better and more comfortable with myself. Keep up the good work man! ☺ 😊 😀 People really do appreciate it! Best, Marvin 😀
Not much help here two years later, but hope you're doing well. It's not easy being green, but it is your life and not for others to judge how you choose to present yourself. I do admire that just as much as those who are "fully out." Wherever you are in your journey now, best wishes!
Just found this channel and it’s awesome. I try to be a good ally to all LGBT+ people (or Rainbow folks, a term I just heard and love) I am learning a lot from these video, they are so well made. So I just wanted to say thank you to the creator and hi to all of the rest of you 😊 Together we are strong! 🤘😀🤘🇩🇰 🏳️🌈 🏳️⚧️ 🌈
I of course am gay but I admit, I've been brought to laughter many times by the "clueless straight person" making the discovery. Lol. Somehow is just funny to me. Gene Hackman in the birdcage is one of the funniest ones to me. Lol
Over the years you've done such terrific stuff with gay subjects on sitcoms and TV comedies (which I suspect is more your wheelhouse plus they get repeated a lot more), but rarely touched on dramas it seems. I'd love you to tackle some of the more interesting, and less talked about, "gay episodes" of various dramas. One that rarely gets discussed but always feels surprisingly progressive to me is the first year episode of "Family" that aired on Dec 28, 1976, "The Rites of Friendship". It features a lot of now familiar tropes of such storylines--a character connected to the main cast but who we've never heard mentioned before (and won't again later) shows up, much to everyone's surprise it turns out he's gay (as he's shown to be a very straight acting jock--although he is a good dancer...), etc--but I was impressed and surprised at the dialogue especially between Willie and his father. UA-cam has the episode (it's also on the one box set released) here. I don't remember any controversy ever coming up about it even if the show was largely seen as a family show. There was at least one other "gay" episode on Family in 1977 when Buddy (who of course is played by gay actress Kristy McNichol) has a crush on her teacher (played by Blair Brown) who is a lesbian--"We Love You Miss Jessup" which is also on YT Rites of Friendship: ua-cam.com/video/jj_YkWZNxZk/v-deo.html
Benjamin Britten had a longterm partner, the tenor Peter Pears (I love the alliteration of their names lol). Britten also wrote a lot of excellent tenor roles in his operas, like the titular character of Peter Grimes, specifically for Pears 🥺
Hi Matt, I love tuning into your culture cruises. They are very informative and I love watching clips from classic TV shows as well as seeing US shows I've never seen before (Im from Northern Ireland), such as Murphy Brown. I found your comment about the use of the term "lovers" interesting. I have found the term problematic as I have never heard a straight person use the term to describe their partner. I find the use of the term has a sexual connotation rather than a romantic one thus lending to the idea gay people are only driven by sex and not love. However, I take your point that 'lover' contains the word love but I dont know if the audience (especially audiences of the past) would pick up on the connotations of love, reducing a significant relationship to just sex. Glad to hear another opinion on this though, perhaps im jaded! Anyway, looking forward to seeing more from you.
Gay bars really are better. The only places I could get into before I turned 18 were gay bars (I'm a straight woman). They were a lot of fun and super friendly. A lot more drug dealers openly trying to sell you drugs though.
@@MattBaume I always have been a bit of an outcast in my community, never fit in, too artsy and nerdy maybe? Haha. Maybe that's why I got along so well with that community :)
Ever think about doing a video on the late 80s Showtime series Brothers? I know there aren't many good quality video sources, but a show that was ahead of it's time and worth mentioning. I love your vids!
Clearly the writers have never been to a gay bar if they're saying there's no one in the ladies room and how it looks like it's never been used... everyone knows that's where the gays go to hook up and do coke. ;)
That one's on my list! They come SO CLOSE to showing the inside of the place and then ... never mind. Also, the title of that 1973 episode of Sanford & Son is "Lamont, is that You?" -- a reference to the 1970 play "Norman... Is That You?" which, oddly enough, would be made into a movie in in 1976 starring Red Foxx ... star of Sanford & Son! Such a weird connection.
What I learned from this episode: *Gay bars are better than straight bar* Also, ending on that Golden Girls clip made flood with happiness. Mr.Baume knows how to entertain.
I, for one, miss gay bars when only gays went there. I never could stand breeder looks-loos. They were special in a way because other safe spaces were hard to find. You would walk in and you were part of a whole that I never felt other places.
I thought that James Bond was partially based on Christopher Lee. Huh. Learn something new every day.
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Another great and informative video. I remember. That Murphy Brown episode very well. It was at the fledgling stage of my activism. I was so thirsty for information on gay culture...this episode was amazing to me. Again, another great episode.👍😃
Aw thanks! Glad you liked it, and that Murphy Brown helped activate you!
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@@MattBaume it was. I was in my teens and by my 20's I was marching along the rest of my fellow brothers and sisters for more HIV/AIDS education and funding. Marriage Equality and LGBT youth and elderly care. It was a wonderfully amazing period in my life. To be part of the very first national pride theme for marriage equality back in '95. Holding a section of the original rainbow coalition flag that ran Miles long in NY just prior (which was cut into sections and they were sent world wide). That is one Pride I will hold dear to my heart always. And it's all thanks to Murphy Brown.😊
What I notice was in the first two episodes, homosexuality was the focal points of both stories. While for the third one, it's only a side story. Now is that good thing or a bad thing? Homosexuality is more common now that it doesn't need to be the center of the story. I'm gonna go on it being a good thing.
Great episode! Can’t wait for you to do other media in this series. Sit coms are fine and all but something besides that would be a breath of fresh air.
I have some non-sitcoms too! Rocky Horror: ua-cam.com/video/xSgK6d8DZEc/v-deo.html&list=PLKw13hcK-XrVSdA4C8UceHyS3WNNOipMv And Deep Space 9: ua-cam.com/video/2p4ARhYRJSQ/v-deo.html&list=PLKw13hcK-XrVSdA4C8UceHyS3WNNOipMv
"Barney Miller" had Marty and Mr. Driscoll, a gay couple, and recurring characters throughout the series. I remember enjoying both the more flamboyant Marty, and the more restrained and refined Mr. Driscoll, both of whom were very open about their sexuality and their attachment to each other.
Love this series. Gotta ask again: you gonna do an episode about the 80s Showtime series Brothers? I believe it was the first sitcom to ever center around a gay lead character.
It's at times like this when watching certain videos or TV shows or movies that I wonder why kissing ever started. I mean, someone had to think of that first, but how and why would that occur to someone? There are certain.....activities....that make a lot more logical sense than kissing, I think.
Okay, I love that you included the brother and his friend coming for a visit from college in the delightfully tacky commercial "Young Man's Fancy"! Alexander Phips is quite a woman hater, afterall, and has NO time for girls!
@@MattBaume Ahhh! I'm so glad I wasn't the only one who saw that in that film. I adore old 40's and 50's "educational" films. Thats one of my all time favorites for its sheer... ridiculousness. Also this is gonna sound so... corny but you have really inspired me to be more open about my sexuality, Matt Baume. :) Thank you so much for what you do.
Somerset Maugham was more a novelist than playwright. Quentin Crisp was a writer too, and a very entertaining one. Sadly, most of his books are out of print now.
"It looks less like a gay bar than an ad for Men's Warehouse."
To be fair Men's Warehouse would be an excellent name for a gay bar.
I think that's true of all after-work bars in downtown DC!
I know that's right! Awesome idea for a name!!!! 🤣🧔
I’ve always been fond of the name, “The Male Box” for a gay bar. The Men’s Warehouse sounds like a name for a place they sell “trendy” suits and business clothing.......... Oh, wait.
My favorite gaybar name is "Your Father's Mustache"
Better than the anchor man?
"I am one of the stately homos of England" I know that isn't what this episode is hinged on but I am deceased
If you don't know about Quentin Crisp, the film of "The Naked Civil Servant" is an excellent place to start.
Every one of your culture cruses is full of the positivity the world needs.
Aww thank you! Glad you like 'em, these days we could all use stuff to feel good about.
The classic sort of gay we can all appreciate.
Yet bi’s remain invisible in his vids
Matt Baume could you do an ep on bisexuals on tv, there was a lot of bierasure in this tv ep
The bit about using the term "lover" reminded me of a heartbreaking moment. I was working maintenance, and a man was locked out. It was heartbreaking because I couldn't unlock the door for him. He was in tears and let me know the man on the lease was his lover. I knew he stayed with the tenant. I knew they were lovers. I wanted to let him in. However, he wasn't on the lease. There wasn't a even a note that he could be let in. And I looked through the papers for something that could indicate that I could unlock the door for this man. If I had let him in, and lets say the tenant kicked his partner out, then I could have lost my job, or been held responsible for any missing valuables. I felt so bad for this guy. I told him he could sit in the lounge room until his partner came home, or until we could reach him by phone.
So, please... let the office know that your partners are allowed in the house.
1993 was the Gay Rights March on Washington! I was there and it feels like we are back to square one again today!
If we are not strong we will be!!
Matt Baume I love you soooo much and you're my hero cuz every time I watch one of your videos I feel prouder of being a gay man in America. You offer amazing insight to the dark, turbulent yet rich history of the brave queers who've come before us. Please keep up the GREAT work!
at the end of all these culture cruises i want to say "who you callin' a land ho, sea witch?"
🤣👍😎
What's that from? All I can think of is the Simpson's episode where Homer yells "Land ho!!" and Marge goes "what did you call me?"
@@KingofCrusher I don't think it's "from" anywhere, just a joke.
As a promiscuous person, who gets sick on boats immediately, I feel very comfortable being adressed as a land ho, but I see how that might feel differnt to other people.
Do Always sunny in Philadelphia!!!!! Their reaction when they found out that their friend is gay they just say: “Well, Mac’s gay” (it turns out that it was a misunderstanding but the character did turned out to be gay), now the most recent episode had Mac come out to his dad and it is a really spectacular episode
Oh man that scene where he comes out to his dad gives me chills. I love it. Definitely have that on my list to talk about!
@@emjayay he's a cookin something up
The clueless straight thing actually reminds me of something my mother told me about my grandmother, apparently, when my grandmother was younger, her best friend was a lesbian, but didn’t tell my grandmother until they were adults, when she told her, my grandmother reacted with a face shocked expression before immediately replying that she obviously knew the whole time. Honestly that would have been a good subversion in one of these old sitcoms.
I once took a prominent conservative Republican political operative to a gay kareoke bar. (We are allies on precisely 1 bipartisan political issue, which is what we had gotten together to discuss.) He delivered an epic rendition of an obscure song by the Who. I have it on video. It was amazing.
MY FRIEND: Your favourite UA-cam channel, Matt Baume, is a gay UA-cam channel.
ME: Don't be ridiculous, look at these playlists. Oh, oh my.
_I pull shocked face, cue laugh track._
Huh
I love it, but I read the "oh my" in George Takei's voice...to me it seemed so much better
As a lover of sitcoms and clueless straight, I am so happy to have found your page. Maybe you do that episode of Malcom and the middle where the baby sitter tricked Malcolm and Reese into thinking the other was gay?
Ooooh that's a great idea! I'm adding it to my list right now. Thank you!
Written by George Gershwin (Music) and Ira Gershwin (Lyrics)! It's important not to forget the lyricists for songs! History often overlooks them!
You should do a discussion about how Hollywood glamorizes and fetishzises Lesbian bars.
Matt Baume you mean steel mills don’t turn into gay dance parties after 5:00pm?
@@DoloRoboto No. It's a safety hazard.
Could start a fire there.
Please never EVER stop doing this series!! These videos are in my top 5 favourtie YT video/series/channels and I get so hyped everytime I see a new ep up!! Keep up the good work!!
OK Matt.... first off: I love you and your commentary. It's really fun and refreshing and well done. I do have one bone to pick with you, however: you make 1994 sound like 1394. I came out at age 17 in 1977. I was head of a gay group at my college from 1979-1981. I was part of a thriving gay religious group beginning in 1982. Many of us were out to everyone and not just in the confines of a bar. While certain things are certainly easier now, 1994 was hardly a remote past where gay men dared only congregate in bars. Remember: we had been through Anita Bryant, Phyllis Schlafly and tens of thousands of our brothers dying of AIDS by then!!!
But keep up the good work, brother!! Hugs from Chicago.
“ just look around “ this is me in theatre ( before coming out )
Heh yup, me too -- in my high school Drama Club was basically the GSA before we had a GSA.
Loved that episode. Sorry to hear that Charles Kimbrough has passed on. Was Tony-nominated in the original cast of Sondheim's "Company". What a great voice!
Where he met his wife, Beth Howland, Vera from the long live tv series "Alice." In Company she performs the classic, challenging "Getting Married Today"
2:12 I call character partners lovers in my d and d campaigns. I have no idea why, I just started doing it and didn’t stop.
This is one of your best, and that's saying a lot.
Aw thanks, glad you like it!
Buddy Cole: “I still refuse to believe that Liberace is gay.”
Austin powers didn't see that one coming either
These are among my favorite UA-cam videos and I always look forward to them. And I hope you do Sunny and the decade long journey of Mac before he took his own cruise. 😊
That's on my list! It's just a biggish project, since that's a coming out that spans multiple episodes.
I'm offended by how cute that sailor outfit is... but in all seriousness, as always, thanks for the education!
Heh thanks! One of these days I'll get a set big enough to show off the bellbottoms that go with it.
Nerdcoresteve1, I'm sorry to hear it. Hang in there!
It's not the sailor outfit... it's the guy wearing it.
Matt Baume: so funny. You silly boy! :). Can't wait to see them.
Yet again, I can't thank you enough for this tour through gay history, some of which I remember but a lot of which I missed the first time around.
0:45 Dang it Matt you missed a golden opportunity- “The Gays(tm) are here, we’re queer and we’re having a beer.”
I love that you used a clip from the 1952 short "Young Man's Fancy". Something that everyone should check out if they're in the mood for ol' fashioned unintentional gay subtext.
Corky went from clueless to gay history expert by the end of the episode.
It is QUITE the shift for her, yes. I'm not sure her position on homosexuality ever really comes together???
@@MattBaume well she never seemed to have luck with men. First Will left her and years later she "married" an already married man Miles who as stated was married to his true love a women.
"Oh you got a husband?....I've got a LOVERR (husky voice)" I'M STEALING THIS!!
The use of the Vauxhall station sign in the set is a clever touch - the Royal Vauxhall Tavern in Vauxhall, South London, is one of the oldest and most famous gay venues in Britain.
Oh wow I didn't notice that! Someone knew what they were doing.
Kudos, MB, for knowing about B Britten & Somerset Maugham -- and double kudos for discovering SM's description himself as being 3/4 this, and 1/4 that!
The term lover is one many people used in the fifties. Hello lover. Yes lover. Not often used as this is my lover but in other ways.
Pride month is a big deal in my hometown. Being a sometime old-fashioned prude, and always an old-timey movie romantic,
I remembered this old Murphy Brown episode when I saw on the Tonys' In Memoriam segment that actor Charles Kimbrough, who played Jim on Murphy Brown, had died, I looked for this segment that taught his character "Jim," and a younger me, a known fact but did so with clever humor, giving us viewers a deeper realization, as well as sorrow for a cruel past, and a
genuine lasting
acceptance and appreciation.
Thank you, writers on Murphy Brown for your great wit and hail and farewell talented Charles Kimbrough!
In defense of the "clueless heterosexual trope" -- it is important to keep it out there. While you are right that it is becoming increasingly dated, it most definitely exists. I encountered this episode of Murphy Brown (1994) when I was 19, having grown up in a very red part of a very red state. I thought the episode was incredible. I remember it better than any episode of Murphy Brown. I'm straight. But the ability of the writers to effectively communicate to me -- to meet me where I was coming from -- is probably what made it so memorable for me. I still live in the same state -- and it has sadly become redder. But I am cognizant of the trope and educating my kids to not be the way I was. Still, this episode and many more like it will find an audience that will discover something that their daily lives will have failed to prepare them for -- that gay people exist. I like that your take on the subject isn't whole negative, so keep finding the upside.
"oh, you're gay? GOOD FOR YOU." You win the #1 Gay of the Day ribbon for being the only gay today!
Well it's Miles, so I think if any of his co-workers brought someone home with them and was making out around him as he gave them a ride home he would be freaked out by that. He was always super uptight and neurotic.
.....and so easily conquered. He just needs to meet up with the right dude. 🤣
Yes, I agree. It was a crucial part of his character design and part of what made him lovable in the series. I feel like many people tend to forget these characters are written with specific personality quirks and one of Miles' quirks is that he's a neurotic fruit cake who would stub his toe and panic, go to the ER and insist he needs his leg amputated and would go from hospital to hospital until he found a quack doctor who would agree lol All part of his charm in my opinion. I can totally agree with the annoyance of these tropes seeping back into culture and sitcoms today, but we must remember that, at least in this particular case, these characters were written in the 80s and this 'reboot' is actually a continuation of that series with the same established characters with the same personalities. While they may have subtle changes, they are still the same characters at the core and this is just who Miles is. Unfortunately I missed out on this season and still haven't had occasion to see it, but as how Murphy Brown is to date one of my favorite series ever, I can easily say all of the episodes with gay representation, however buried in tropes, were some of my favorites.
Uhg. The word “lover” weirds me out.... unless it’s between the words “meat” and “pizza”.
Kinky!
I see where Matt is coming from, but for me it just draws attention to the fact that these people sleep together. Now, I'm a mature individual, but that's not what you want during a first introduction.
Agreed. I have a very complicated love/hate relationship with the term, myself. I absolutely hate the term being used, because it's almost like telling people "hey I'm gay and fucking this person" whenever it's used, and I'm in the pool of the community that feels that, in general conversation, it's really kinda silly to just introduce yourself as gay for no particular reason. It would be like walking up to a stranger and saying "By the way, I'm Italian/Spanish/Asian/Caucasion/Whatever" without any kind of context. Kinda feels like a "oh, really? That's nice, but I don't care" moment for me. If someone asked if you were together or something, I mean sure, it would make sense to say something like "Oh, yes, we're lovers. He's my cuddle-bunny," but to just introduce someone as a lover immediately just feels odd to me. Perhaps it's because it's generally used to indicate sexuality, I suppose? Not sure, but it just rubs me wrong to use the term lol However, when I hear a hetero couple using the term "lovers" my head will spin, vomit pea soup and shout "BUT THAT'S OUR WORD! YOU CAN'T USE THAT WORD! NO FAIR!" lol Guess the grass really is greener for me haha
Very heartwarming moments in the bar piano scene, and then in the car, I got tears lol.
Thanks for this and all your insightful vlogs. I love how you gaysplain this stuff.
the Matt Baume Agenda: Bring Back "Lovers"!
Love is the gay agenda!
My ex and I called each other lover. It's the best term!
I have to disagree. It's fine to use among ourselves, but in the hetero world it implies something illicit.
@@larryf2821 That's true! Even when gay couples use it, people often jump to it meaning primarily sexual relationship
How about paramour?
In rural Idaho, i'm still in the closet.
I'm sorry:( Its such bullshit that this still has to happen in 2018.
You should move to Massachusetts, no one really cares here.
Dunkleosteus Sometimes you just have to live where you live 🙂
I understand. 😎
You're right. There are still those of us who, short of the proverbial miracle that has a zero chance of happening in reality, will never be able to live somewhere modern and safe and out.
“Local heterosexual newsman’s bar” you fucking kill me, oh my god.
Haha thanks, James came up with that one. I just LOVE the idea that The Rusty Anchor is a straight bar where men gather around to listen to Bea Arthur croon.
I'm three year's late to this party, but I remember watching that Murphy Brown episode when it first aired and at the time (and being reminded of it now) it brought to mind something that happened to my father back in the 50s. He was a German emigrant to Canada, almost fresh off the boat. He was 20, an amateur boxer, and worked in a factory. My mother said she was drawn to him because he had "Hollywood" looks. Anyway, new to the city, he stopped by a bar. It was summer after work, so he probably looked exactly like some sort of 50s rough working class stereotype. He ordered his beer but as he drank it he felt weird, like everyone was watching him. Bars were men-only at that time so the lack of women wasn't a clue. It's just that the men were a little too close to each other, whispering and smiling at him. He was from a small village in southern Germany and was clueless about this sort of thing. He drank his beer and left. The next day he told a co-worker about this "strange bar", who then filled him in on what kind of bar it was, complete with homophobic jokes at my father's expense. To my father's credit, he was mostly ok with it, treating it as funny rather than threatening, but, no, he never went back to that bar. Or at least that's what he told us.
"Ugh 'Lover', that word bums me out unless it's between the words 'meet' and 'pizza'." Liz Lemon
Matt Baume. There is this show called "SKAM" which is a Norwegian television production that went nternational via the internet giving it a worldwide fandom. This happened during its
3rd season which featured a story about a gay teen coming to terms with his sexuality. It also got a write-up in the NYT of Dec. 2016. Episodes are on Dailymotion.com. Have you ever
heard of it? It's a social media phenomenon.
Yes I'm familiar with that one! Hoping to do a video about it in the future -- there's just a lot of episodes to study!
@@MattBaume I heard they have an accurate portrayal of a person living with bipolar disorder, which is as almost as rare as getting the gay life right on screen.
That bar has way too many undimmed lights on for it to pass as gay.
Pretty sad to see how excluded lesbians are from the straight idea of a gay bar
Wow! Great segment!
To be fair, we Hets can be pretty oblivious. I remember one time, back when I was young and cute, I went with some work buddies to have a beer and shoot some pool after work. They took me to a leather bar in the Virginia-Highland neighborhood of East Atlanta and, after we had been shooting pool for a while, Bear whispered in my ear, "You might want to tuck that red bandanna all the way down into your back pocket; you've got some of the boys wondering if they're stocked up on rubber gloves and Vaseline."
In the current (2017) Murphy Brown, there’s also an openly Gay character and he’s my favourite.
Quentin Crisp has a book, "How to Go to the Movies," it's a collection of his articles on film that were published in the magazine Christopher Street. It is sublime.
And another nod to the community in the scene was that Congressmen Barney Frank's name was mentioned. Since he was an openly gay democrat at the time, having come out in 1987.
Fabulous work. Nice ending, too - I laughed out loud! (And, yes, I still have a crush on Miles.)
Haha awww Miles is, I think, well meaning if not always ENTIRELY correct in his approach to things.
Hands off Miles Silverberg is my crush.
@@Audrey-p7i - Mine though.
I didn't really notice until watching all your videos how often "You're gay? :O " happens on tv.
I love that a clip of "Young Man's Fancy" was in this-- probably the most LGBT+ coded short I've seen on MST3K...
...except maybe Mr. B Natural...
I love watching your videos where you analyze shows. I find them pretty darn entertaining! I had never see this episode and found it funny. I like the point that was made about how you can't re-create something that simply doesn't exist anymore. Some things are part of a certain time and place.
I admit I am not fully out to everyone I know, or I choose to simply not discuss it most of the time. Though watching videos like this do help me to feel better and more comfortable with myself.
Keep up the good work man! ☺ 😊 😀 People really do appreciate it!
Best, Marvin 😀
Not much help here two years later, but hope you're doing well. It's not easy being green, but it is your life and not for others to judge how you choose to present yourself. I do admire that just as much as those who are "fully out." Wherever you are in your journey now, best wishes!
Just found this channel and it’s awesome.
I try to be a good ally to all LGBT+ people (or Rainbow folks, a term I just heard and love)
I am learning a lot from these video, they are so well made.
So I just wanted to say thank you to the creator and hi to all of the rest of you 😊
Together we are strong!
🤘😀🤘🇩🇰 🏳️🌈 🏳️⚧️ 🌈
This is priceless! Laughed out loud at Miles wearing the same suit as Murphy's in that other episode.
I of course am gay but I admit, I've been brought to laughter many times by the "clueless straight person" making the discovery. Lol. Somehow is just funny to me. Gene Hackman in the birdcage is one of the funniest ones to me. Lol
Over the years you've done such terrific stuff with gay subjects on sitcoms and TV comedies (which I suspect is more your wheelhouse plus they get repeated a lot more), but rarely touched on dramas it seems. I'd love you to tackle some of the more interesting, and less talked about, "gay episodes" of various dramas. One that rarely gets discussed but always feels surprisingly progressive to me is the first year episode of "Family" that aired on Dec 28, 1976, "The Rites of Friendship". It features a lot of now familiar tropes of such storylines--a character connected to the main cast but who we've never heard mentioned before (and won't again later) shows up, much to everyone's surprise it turns out he's gay (as he's shown to be a very straight acting jock--although he is a good dancer...), etc--but I was impressed and surprised at the dialogue especially between Willie and his father. UA-cam has the episode (it's also on the one box set released) here. I don't remember any controversy ever coming up about it even if the show was largely seen as a family show. There was at least one other "gay" episode on Family in 1977 when Buddy (who of course is played by gay actress Kristy McNichol) has a crush on her teacher (played by Blair Brown) who is a lesbian--"We Love You Miss Jessup" which is also on YT
Rites of Friendship: ua-cam.com/video/jj_YkWZNxZk/v-deo.html
I just had this weird idea, that Matt Baume himself might actually be GAY.
Love this series. Very insightful.
Benjamin Britten had a longterm partner, the tenor Peter Pears (I love the alliteration of their names lol). Britten also wrote a lot of excellent tenor roles in his operas, like the titular character of Peter Grimes, specifically for Pears 🥺
Hi Matt, I love tuning into your culture cruises. They are very informative and I love watching clips from classic TV shows as well as seeing US shows I've never seen before (Im from Northern Ireland), such as Murphy Brown. I found your comment about the use of the term "lovers" interesting. I have found the term problematic as I have never heard a straight person use the term to describe their partner. I find the use of the term has a sexual connotation rather than a romantic one thus lending to the idea gay people are only driven by sex and not love. However, I take your point that 'lover' contains the word love but I dont know if the audience (especially audiences of the past) would pick up on the connotations of love, reducing a significant relationship to just sex. Glad to hear another opinion on this though, perhaps im jaded! Anyway, looking forward to seeing more from you.
Somerset Maugham was a spy, too? Man, I just loved his writing. (It does explain why he portrays spies the way he does in his short stories, though.)
Maugham's book "Ashenden: Or the British Agent" was made into the movie "Secret Agent" by Hitchcock in 1936.
@@ThreadBomb Neat!
Gay bars really are better. The only places I could get into before I turned 18 were gay bars (I'm a straight woman). They were a lot of fun and super friendly. A lot more drug dealers openly trying to sell you drugs though.
That's true -- at their best, gay bars welcome everyone, but particularly folks who aren't comfortable or welcomed or safe in other social spaces.
@@MattBaume I always have been a bit of an outcast in my community, never fit in, too artsy and nerdy maybe? Haha. Maybe that's why I got along so well with that community :)
Oh boy.. Its me. Im the clueless straight-
Mostly because i dont get context clues or social cues... At all...
That backseat scene is👌🏽
Speaking as a straight man, it’s sometimes hard to spot a gay man, mostly because I usually don’t need to know.
the portrait of the Queen is nice touch!
Matt. You provide an important study of pop culture.
Ever think about doing a video on the late 80s Showtime series Brothers? I know there aren't many good quality video sources, but a show that was ahead of it's time and worth mentioning. I love your vids!
I realizes in the first episode of the new Murphy Brown that the newest (and most tech savvy) character was gay. I absolutely adored him!
My favourite episode of Murphy Brown.
"How did you not know I was gay." FUCKING MOOD
Clearly the writers have never been to a gay bar if they're saying there's no one in the ladies room and how it looks like it's never been used... everyone knows that's where the gays go to hook up and do coke. ;)
You should do a video on the Sanford and Son episode where they go into a gay bar
That one's on my list! They come SO CLOSE to showing the inside of the place and then ... never mind. Also, the title of that 1973 episode of Sanford & Son is "Lamont, is that You?" -- a reference to the 1970 play "Norman... Is That You?" which, oddly enough, would be made into a movie in in 1976 starring Red Foxx ... star of Sanford & Son! Such a weird connection.
Didn't The Jeffersons do a transgendered episode? I think they might have done one back in the very early 80s.
What I learned from this episode: *Gay bars are better than straight bar*
Also, ending on that Golden Girls clip made flood with happiness. Mr.Baume knows how to entertain.
I know that I'm years late with this, but I'm surprised that Ian McKellen, Alan Bennett and Nigel Hawthorne didn't turn up in Jim's bar.
Damn, I apparently watched more Murphy Brown in the 90s than I remembered.
I, for one, miss gay bars when only gays went there. I never could stand breeder looks-loos. They were special in a way because other safe spaces were hard to find. You would walk in and you were part of a whole that I never felt other places.
FYI, Sting's song "I'm an English Man in New York" was written about Quinan Crisp.
I thought that James Bond was partially based on Christopher Lee. Huh. Learn something new every day.
Another great and informative video. I remember. That Murphy Brown episode very well. It was at the fledgling stage of my activism. I was so thirsty for information on gay culture...this episode was amazing to me.
Again, another great episode.👍😃
Aw thanks! Glad you liked it, and that Murphy Brown helped activate you!
@@MattBaume it was. I was in my teens and by my 20's I was marching along the rest of my fellow brothers and sisters for more HIV/AIDS education and funding. Marriage Equality and LGBT youth and elderly care. It was a wonderfully amazing period in my life. To be part of the very first national pride theme for marriage equality back in '95. Holding a section of the original rainbow coalition flag that ran Miles long in NY just prior (which was cut into sections and they were sent world wide). That is one Pride I will hold dear to my heart always. And it's all thanks to Murphy Brown.😊
What I notice was in the first two episodes, homosexuality was the focal points of both stories.
While for the third one, it's only a side story. Now is that good thing or a bad thing?
Homosexuality is more common now that it doesn't need to be the center of the story.
I'm gonna go on it being a good thing.
Great episode! Can’t wait for you to do other media in this series. Sit coms are fine and all but something besides that would be a breath of fresh air.
You hush. Nobody explores sitcoms in an intelligent and thoughtful manner except Matt Baume.
I have some non-sitcoms too! Rocky Horror: ua-cam.com/video/xSgK6d8DZEc/v-deo.html&list=PLKw13hcK-XrVSdA4C8UceHyS3WNNOipMv
And Deep Space 9: ua-cam.com/video/2p4ARhYRJSQ/v-deo.html&list=PLKw13hcK-XrVSdA4C8UceHyS3WNNOipMv
You are rocking that sailor outfit!
"Barney Miller" had Marty and Mr. Driscoll, a gay couple, and recurring characters throughout the series. I remember enjoying both the more flamboyant Marty, and the more restrained and refined Mr. Driscoll, both of whom were very open about their sexuality and their attachment to each other.
Love this series. Gotta ask again: you gonna do an episode about the 80s Showtime series Brothers? I believe it was the first sitcom to ever center around a gay lead character.
Yes! That's in the works. It's just a LOT of episodes to watch & analyze!
Please do a segment on Kenny from "the war at home". It reviews homeless lgbt teens and the Trevor project
I hope somewhere in this big, wide world, there's a Gabriel Rodriguez or somesuch who opened "Gabe R's Gay Bar"
Loved your video!
showing that kissing over and over? you doing god's work
It's at times like this when watching certain videos or TV shows or movies that I wonder why kissing ever started. I mean, someone had to think of that first, but how and why would that occur to someone? There are certain.....activities....that make a lot more logical sense than kissing, I think.
Okay, I love that you included the brother and his friend coming for a visit from college in the delightfully tacky commercial "Young Man's Fancy"! Alexander Phips is quite a woman hater, afterall, and has NO time for girls!
It's such a weird artifact! As difficult as it was to be queer in the 50s, being straight seems like a lot of work too.
@@MattBaume Ahhh! I'm so glad I wasn't the only one who saw that in that film. I adore old 40's and 50's "educational" films. Thats one of my all time favorites for its sheer... ridiculousness. Also this is gonna sound so... corny but you have really inspired me to be more open about my sexuality, Matt Baume. :) Thank you so much for what you do.
love the homer screaming clip
Jim probably "accidentally" fell into The Prince of Wales in SoHo (London).
Matt Baume, PLEASE. Which Video has the Clip of Joan Rivers being Interviewed by Dick Cavett from 1969 ?? Sincerely, Michael Labine
Great video
Somerset Maugham was more a novelist than playwright. Quentin Crisp was a writer too, and a very entertaining one. Sadly, most of his books are out of print now.
What do you say to those of us who were out at work and at home, cruising around Salt Lake City during the early Seventies and on?
Mazel tov!
Matt Baume Oh, and with the same guy for over 38 years, twenty of which were spent as an openly gay actor in Hollywood.