Alice & the Gayest Week in TV History
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- Опубліковано 1 жов 2024
- The gayest week in TV history happened in late September, 1976. It was the culmination of a year-long queer tidal wave that swept across the country, impacting music, film, theater, and particularly TV. We’re going to take a look at exactly how that happened, using the sitcom Alice as an example.
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MUSIC:
On My Way by Kevin MacLeod
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Crinoline Dreams by Kevin MacLeod
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I used to be the All-American boy, but then I got purple drapes.
LOL..gay or str8 that's probably not a good choice.
@@johniii8147 Depends on the shade of purple. Lilac isn't a terrible shade for drapes.
@@sonyamiller4853 or the occasional eggplant.
I laughed at that, too.
@@hennpaul Ohh, yes. :)
"if I were a straight man would you let me be alone with your 12 year old daughter?" "I guess I would."
Boy the 70s were a different time
So different. It would be irresponsible to let some guy you've known for a couple days take your kid on a fishing trip regardless of how he identifies. It's weird that he even suggested it.
@@manthony225 Right? I thought the exact same thing. It's creepy either way.
I expected Alice to say, “probably not…” cause that seems just as concerning as leaving your 12 year old alone with a practical stranger, especially a stranger who might be attracted to them. But I guess the lesson is “gay people shouldn’t be assumed to be child molesters.” Which is a good point. It’s sad that the stereotype was a thing, but if I were a parent I’d still prefer to take no chances.
Oh, definitely. The 70s was peak "creeping on young girls is NBD."
@@manthony225 actually it wasn't just the guy, it was the guy along with Alice's boss so I think it would have been fine
Alice would trust a straight man with her 12-year-old daughter more than she trusts her gay friend with her 12-year-old son. It speaks volumes about just how vicious the stigma surrounding homosexuals was in the 1970s, and just how little it's improved over the next 4-5 decades...
Actually, I think that line tells me how much more paranoid we've gotten. Because most people I know today would have answered, "Alone? Hell, no." Just him saying that immediately made me instinctively uneasy, and put it in a converse perspective to me. But back then, Girl Scouts still sold cookies door to door.
Her reasoning is why so many girls get hurt. I also don't think any stranger should be around her kids in that situation. That's too far away and on water.
@@lingeringquestions519 Most girls are hurt by friends of the family, relatives, and others who have some claim of authority over them (teachers, coaches, etc.). Statistically speaking, strangers and casual acquaintances are less of a threat, not more. But humans like to think that reason and perception are protection, so we're more focused on the unlikely but comfortable danger from strangers, rather than our much more likely but hugely uncomfortable danger from family, friends, neighbors, and adults we tell our children to obey.
Alice would have been too trusting for her daughter's good.
Actually she shouldn't trust on child whit a man she just meet. But I think that's the tv reality.
Easily the best use of that Marge Simpson clip I've ever seen.
If EVER there was a time for that line
Agree 100%, so damn good.
Desperate for a year of the 🚬 T-shirt
@@gioc3496 that's a good way to come out.
It was really clever
👏 I'm more MAN than you'll ever be and more WOMAN than you'll ever get👏
😳 I've found my new catchphrase and mantra in life
Same and it's perfect because I'm bigender and bisexual. xD
Such a powerful line
I've heard, and used, that line since the early '80s. It's not new.
Fun fact: this amazing line was first (to my knowledge) appeared in the 1976 classic film "Car Wash," uttered by Antonio Vargas (Huggy Bear in Starsky & Hutch. It was later used in another iconic little stage play (later film in 2005) you may have heard of: "Rent." Rent first appeared in an off-Broadway workshop in 1993, moved to off-Broadway in January 1996, then Broadway in April 1996.
@@jacklow9611 Don't go tryna steal their joy now, baby! Just because it's an older quote and you used it long ago should not, does not mean that others cannot! @Lucie @Terence Heesch.
“I knew guys were supposed to have some homosexual thoughts” has real “these kids out here trying to be straight” energy.
Right? I was like "sir I have some news for the guys"
@@morley364 and no one even mentions it… it’s just like “oh yeah, of course I fantasize about a conga line fuck in the shower room, and that’s typical guy stuff… but then I noticed I had purple curtains and I knew it was something else.”
@@pembrokelove The purple curtains were what got me too.
O
M
G
XD
It's a hell of a way to start a coming out
Some kids would see a gay character and say, "So what". Others would see the character in themselves and make it easier for them to come out.
And some kids wud see the gay chars and think all the bigotry theyve alrdy been taught far too young.
Or just make it through high school without killing themselves.
I shared this, with extremely emotional commentary, on my FB. The Family Hour kind of fucked up my childhood. I was born May of 1968. Seeing adults always act weirded out by gay characters, or being gay as the butt of jokes, limp wrist gestures, all the slang words I didn't understand until I was about 9, that hurt. Seeing news documentaries of drug addicted teen runaways, in San Francisco... their common thread? Their parents threw them out, and they ended up victims of chicken hawks. By 1978, I had drawn on maps, marking my route, with an emergency bag packed, because I thought that would happen to me. AIDS hit just as I was entering puberty, and by 14, I was cutting. I couldn't lie to girls anymore, and started coming out. By 16, when I ended up out to my family, I was being tortured daily at school, cornered in restrooms, followed home, assaulted. Senior year, one girl asked me, "Why are you even here? Why don't you just get AIDS and die?" But I didn't. I did end up with HIV, ten years later (a boyfriend who knew he had it lied to my face, then broke up with me). My first boyfriend did end up dying of AIDS, along with two dozen other friends and acquaintances over the next three decades. Now, I'm still here, with my current husband, ten years my junior, himself a victim of horrific sexual abuse as a child. We're damaged goods, healing each other.
And Ms. Linda Lavin? She's got a role in a show that is reminiscent of AIDS dramas, a comedy about a man needing to liver transplant, called, "B-Positive." They wrote her part bigger second season, because she is still amazing.
Please, don't forget stories like mine. We gays don't grow up like other minorities, in supportive families who share our struggles. We grow up in straight families, who not only don't know our history, but often add to our misery. Share our stories, like Matt Baume is doing here.
The comfort we all have now was built on the bruises, cuts, broken bones, and bodies of the gays who went before us. Can I get an Amen?
I was born in 1968 too and i don't really remember any of that. I either wasn't interested at the time or spent more time reading. And, i wasn't in a household that censored what i watched. But that continues even today, TV just isn't a big thing for me usually. What i do watch, i prefer the edgier content of originals on Netflix. The mindless sitcoms don't do it for me.
I grew up hilariously unaware of my own queerness - but once I was out to myself I started understanding just how much easier my life would be because of the millions of people who came before me and fought ruthlessly to make my life easier and have either died or bear gnarly scars. I'm so grateful and horrified by all of it that every video Matt makes brings me to tears, as does your story. Thank you for sharing and you tell your hubby to give you a huge hug from a random lesbian on the internet ❤️
Your perseverance is inspiring. Glad things are better now :)
Im so sorry all that happened to you / my daughter came out to me about 5 yrs ago and said at the same time she was going to move in with her girlfriend . It broke my heart more that she was moving out lol. I was more upset because she never introduced me to this person . I was more upset that she would even think that this would change the way I felt about her . I love her so much and her partner . You take care of yourself .
Whew, thats brutal dude. I'm in Canada and basically just grew up oblivious. I remember my dad saying 'don't wrestle boys like that, people will think your funny', but I had no idea what he was talking about. What I'd like to see this guy talk about is some shows from the eighties, because from what I can see, the networks scrubbed out all the single moms but Kate and Allie and apart from once a year allowing a "very special whatever" it was pretty much like the fifties all over again. I was born in 1968 and people my age are dealing with this stuff online, its like a generation from the fifties trying to admit that not everybody is the same. Sadly those kids are still out running, and society still thinks its because they want to party all the time and are irresponsible. But you ask any kid on the street and its pretty rare they will say "yeah I have great parents, a nice life, but I really want to hang around on the streets all the time".
At least the seventies started dealing with this stuff which was then brushed away. I was so oblivious, probably still am, but I remember taking a girlfriend to see Four Weddings and a Funeral, and at the beginning one gay guy wipes the shaving cream off his partners face and I remember my friend actually had to tell me they were gay. I was like "no, come on, they're italian maybe". And I remember the city I grew up in had a spot along the river where apparantly gay people went for pickups, one day I had a book there and a guy stopped next to me and for about half an hour tried fixing his bike in front of me and engage me with conversation. Finally he said 'thanks for wasting my time' or something like that, and I told a friend and they told me about why the guy probably thought I was gay. Sadly enough I think the only time somebody tried to pick ME up was a guy.
But don't worry, even in the eighties we'd hear about AIDS and we knew what we were being told was bs. Angela Lansburty told us so:)
I love the rehabilitation of the word "queer." My mother used to refer to me as her "homosexual" son. When I told her the word was "gay," she said, "I know, dear, but that word makes you sound so frivolous." I was in my 20s in the 1970s; I had to reach my 70s to begin using the Q word, but I'm glad I'm here. Mom would be so proud! Thanks for your excellent vids!
Matt, thank you SO MUCH for covering this. That episode of Alice was the first time I’d heard the word “gay”-or at least the first time I noticed it. At the commercial break, I marched straight to my mom and asked her what it meant, and she replied, “Oh, ‘gay’ just means ‘different’” (which was pretty progressive for Mississippi in the 1970s). For the next couple of years, gays were everywhere, and although I hadn’t really figured out that *I* was gay, it definitely felt like something was afoot, something was changing for the better. It makes you wonder what might’ve happened, what we might’ve achieved if AIDS hadn’t reared its head in 1981, forcing so many onscreen gays to play the role of “noble victim” into the 1990s.
I was actually around 1976 HIV started spreading like wildfire. We just didn't know it yet or what it was.
We must be about the same age. I could tell a similar story from Texas. Many thanks to Matt!
Wow, that was also the first time I heard "gay" used that way and found out what it meant! Too funny. "Alice" must've been groundbreaking.
I know this is months later just had to comment? I was reading Virus Mania by doctor's all over the world The book states that the CDC Pharma etc are lying about isolating a virus and actually according to the book they don't exist There was a recent protest last month Jan23 2022 about the mandated vaccine and a handful of Dr's were at a podium saying 17,000 other Dr's knew the virus didn't exist 2 Yrs ago But they couldn't get through and remain doctor's Anyway HIV HepC etc all of them don't exist they've been making a mint at our expense for a long time lying to us since the latter 60s
This episode was the first time I heard it and realized it meant something other than “happy.” So I, too, asked MY mother what it meant. My mother explained it very plainly and clearly. (I’m from Minnesota).
Strange how perspectives change: I wouldn't trust an adult man with my 12 year-old daughter on a fishing trip. I don't know if I'd trust that guy with my son or not, but the thought doesn't send me into a near-panic like the other hypothetical situation does. No idea why that is.
More publicized stories about children being abused by the adults in their lives. It was almost certainly happening more often then than it is now (like most crimes), but it's far more publicized these days. Which means we all worry about it a lot more.
She literally just met the guy and said it was okay to put her kid in an isolated boat with him without her supervision. Regardless of his proclivities that’s something or that would make any modern parent cringe.
@@Nightman221k yeah that was my thought, gay or straight - she barely knows that guy!
@@nah....6151 Mel going too is a very important part of this consideration
@@emjayay whenever I remember that fact it always makes me feel queasy as hell, and it's the same with other abuse as well. Wish the school curriculum educated on more important things like that because it could probably save a lot of people!
This is exactly the season I began coming out in Las Vegas. Saw : "The Ritz" [bought the sweatshirt with the bath house logo] and "Norman, Is That You?" at the movies, watched all the sitcoms on TV. By February 1977 I was OUT and on my way!
This channel should be required viewing for heterosexuals. I’m learning so much about LGBTQ+ culture. Love it!
Same, love the channel and another perspective.
Oh, im learning much here, and i not speak english. It a great channel!!
Likewise, I do find it fascinating how open the 70s was before Reagan and thatcher ruined everything. Coming from the 80s and section 28, we lost decades of progress on lgbt rights
Videos like this remind me....
That however stressful and godawful modern life can be....and however much I may sometimes fantasize about living in the "cool good times" .......in all honesty, I would HATE to be who I am now...back then.
With all I know and understand and have learned. And I'm straight. And white. And a man. Despite all that, I'd feel SO constricted and overwhelmed by the norms of society back then.
It would be fun to visit no doubt.....but if I had to pick a time to permanently live in.....it would always be NOW.
Congratulations for the compliment, Matt! It’s well deserved.
Great episode, Matt! As a former standup comic, "grits" is a much stronger punch word than "honeydew". It's shorter and instantly implies a vaguely naughty body part without any thought.
Also, the short "i" sound in "grits" matches the one in "kiss", which makes it saucy and flippant.
As someone who has eaten grits since childhood, I had *never* thought of it that way. For people who didn’t grow up with it, though, I guess I can see it.
There was one episode where Flo shouted, "Kiss my couscous!"
That also explains why most profanities have very few syllables - “kiss my honeydew” is more “sentence” than “interjection.”
Kiss my honeydew is definitely much more naughty than kiss my grits. Honeydew is perhaps TOO evocative to be funny here
im dying at the close captions: "STARES IN HOMOSEXUAL" XD
Thanks UA-cam 🤣🤣🤣🌈🌈👀
@@Qdelilah I’m here for it tho; that’s me all the time 😭😂
Glad someone else caught that.
There's a UA-cam couple who have related channels, and one of them (José) does the subtitles for the other's videos (Max) each Sunday evening. I always love spotting José's editorializing in the subtitles when it happens!
@@wildsheepc I’m gonna have to check them out as well
I would love to see more episodes about Barney Miller. I think that show had more gay content than any other show I saw in the 1970's. There were three recurring gay characters including a gay cop and a character who appeared in both the first and last episode. It covered outing, how you could be fired for being gay, custody, gay bashing and was very nuanced for the time. The portrayals got better and better as the series went on. It wasn't perfect but it was better than many shows that happened decades later.
I very much agree. Barney Miller was such a progressive show. I’m grateful my mom introduced the show to me.
I personally wouldn’t trust my hypothetical child with a straight or gay man or woman I barely knew in the wilderness without me. I know the way we do things changes over time, but... 😬
Yes I was thinking the same thing. Straight or gay, I don’t think I’d allow my child to go with someone without me.
@@phatpharm06 not with someone I didn't know, no...
If I knew them for a long time maybe. But for just a little bit? Helll nooo
Yeah they've known each other for like a week and she's encouraging her son to hang out with the guy alone in the woods?? The 70s were wild.
@@FrenkTheJoy Mel was going along, too.
I'm sitting here with my purple drapes feeling very called out, lol.
My purple satin sheets say Hiya.
im sitting on my purple chair feeling like a queen
When I heard that, I looked at my Venus flytrap curtains and had to smile.
Fabulous screen name, your purple Majesty. I'm enjoying some Purple Kush 💜💜💜
"now, he has purple drapes" oh America. just can't handle literally anything, can ya?
to this day apparently we still cannot.
I wanna like but.... 69
It’s never really been about “protecting kids.” ☹️
If it were, hollywood wouldn't be run by sexual predators today, many of them pedophiles abusing kids. It was allowed to take hold exactly like shown in this video and most here in the comments seem to think it's wonderful. The world needs a purge.
@@imnotabotrlyimnot It needs a purge of bigots and homophobes, agreed.
it never is...
This video shows how much more queer issues and characters appeared in the 70s than I had remembered -- I was 12 in 1976, so I'm sure I saw a lot of this stuff, though I don't remember specifically. I really loved Alice -- it was a great show. But as a previous video showed, all this disappeared very quickly in the 80s. If the "Family Hour" in 1976 flopped, nevertheless the forces of repression would go on to win a much bigger battle when we were faced with the combined onslaught of AIDS and the Reagan administration. Seeing these changes in these videos makes me think a lot about my own development. I was too young in 1976 to fully grasp what any of this might mean for me. By the time it became personal, AIDS was just about to appear. And when Reagan was elected, I felt much the same way I felt in 2016 when Trump was elected. It's such an odd feeling to be old enough to see with detachment how trends in the culture damaged me on a very personal level.
The only show I recall back in the 80s with a lead gay character was the show called ''Love, Sidney'' with Tony Randall and he played a closeted man. I don't think that show lasted too long on the air.
@@turntableone4356 Love Sidney lasted 2 years 81-83, the show could never seem to make up it's mind if Sidney was gay or a asexual bachelor, Matt you should do a video on this show
The movie “Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore” also has Jodie Foster in a small role!!!
And a clip from it was in Howard Jones's song "Look Mama"
You featuring that Gay Deceivers movie line snatched me in another episode. We just had a small movie night with friends to watch. It was fantastic! Thank you.
how and where did u watch it? its super famus on tumblr but I dont know how to watch it
It's available to stream on Amazon! amzn.to/2Xx7DG9
Yes. On Amazon!
@@aleks-33 it's also on UA-cam!!
One other movie that jumped immediately to my mind was Dog Day Afternoon. If it wasn't a true story there's probably no way that the gay angle to the whole thing would have been included, but it was, and the filmmakers did quite an impressive job for the time of keeping our major sympathy with this guy who wants his pre-op lover to have that operation, even if he has to break the law for it.
In his defense, Sidney Lumet was a very political director that never shyed away from controversial topics, I'm pretty sure if anyone tried to censor his film, the film wouldn't even exist today. I would even guess he wouldn't even want to film it if it wasn't something for people to think long and hard about.
Al Pacino realized early on that filming with a moustache to create a different persona from his previous film didn't work, and they re-shot the scenes.
The first characters that jump to my mind is the Tin Woodsman, the scarecrow, and the Cowardly Lion.😘
Yes, I am also a friend of Dorothy ❤️
It's so funny to see this, because I was one of those young kids during this time that they were supposedly protecting, and I remember these shows. And I was oblivious to all this talk and concern and even of this relative explosion of gay content. It's like Matt is describing the cultural water I was actually swimming in, and like that goldfish, couldn't recognize that I was even in it.
I'm glad it happened and that those smart, topical sitcoms existed. I know something probably registered with me unconsciously and may have helped my coming out in the 80s. I like to think so, anyway.
Going to be honest, sex, violence and homosexuality seems like a list of things I demand of my movies!!
(I prefer it to include at least one of the list)
Gay violent sex sounds like a great premise for a movie. 10/10 I'd watch.
I prefer 2 out of 3 at least.
Thanks for this, Matt. As a 43 year old, the early 70's are a total cultural blind spot, as it was too early for my parents to be aware of (they were pre-teens) and minimal residual was left in mainstream media by the time I was around. I've always been fascinated by queer culture in the early 70s (pre-disco) because it's the one slice of time I see the least archives of.
Agreed. I love this channels content. It's popular to demand LBGT content, but nobody talks about how it has already existed for a long time in coded forms.
I'm ten years older than you. The 1970s were a horror show, and being a teen during AIDS was worse. Be glad you missed it, and so many wonderful people stood up for themselves, and me, and I did for you. Please, keep reminding younger gays, they get to be comfortable, because we suffered. A lot. At 9, I was planning my route hitchhiking to San Francisco, believing my parents were going to Theo me out any day, and I'd end up a drug addicted teen prostitute, victimised by chicken hawks. By 10, I had drawn my route out on maps, and had bags packed. I came out at 16, though other kids knew before then. I was psychologically tortured at school daily, cornered, followed home, assaulted. One girl asked me, "Why are you even here? Why don't you just get AIDS and die?" I had been cutting since 14. You were 4. My current husband is your age. He was raised in backwoods TN, raped often by several uncles and boyfriends of his mom. We're still here, and we're going to be okay. Just remember us. We've stood up to hate. We have fought it. I am so tired now. I see younger gays, happy and free, and I'm good with that, until they act like they have no worries, as if it has always been this easy, and shit on what others have been through, as if it couldn't ever have been that bad. This channel is amazing. Thank you for being here, and sharing in our shared story. It's your story too.
Wait your parents were pre-teens in the early '70s, and you're 43? How old were your parents when you were born?!
@@barshafoxman4169 Out of this entire topic of discussion I’m disappointed that your takeaway was my parents age at the time of my conception. I’m sorry, but be better.
@@injunsun Thank you for this. I definitely feel like I entered the world a couple of hours late to the party. The first gay man I knew about was dead before I had the chance to meet him. I was 6. He was the younger brother of my stepdad at the time. He was in the peace corps. From all accounts a vibrant man full of love. They showed me photos, and told me stories.He died of AIDS, and it wasn’t something spoken of with shame, just deep heartbreak. It was always in the next house, or on the next block, but I didn’t have direct knowledge of the crisis other than the evening news. I always keep him in my heart, even though I never knew him. But I wish I had known him so much because of how much everyone loved him. Thinking about how many men his age just aren’t here now is.. it’s hard. I’m so sorry you endured, but I am glad you’re here to share.
I graduated high school in 1977. In 1976 I was in the 11th grade and saw the first episode of Alice wow.! These shows had an enormous effect on me in accepting myself since I grew up in a highly religious backgroundI I am deeply indebted to the mid 70s television shows and Norman Lear
Sylvester is an under appreciated treasure.
I'm a straight dude from Ireland who was born in 1995, so I'd absolutely never heard of them, but now I know I'm gonna binge them
@@justbeyondthecornerproduct3540 He was also the mastermind behind the Weather Girls of "It's Raining Men" fame.
@@justbeyondthecornerproduct3540 I highly recommend the song Over And Over, it's one of my favorites!
@@ironicdivinemandatestan4262 I think I remember Paul Sheiffer (I can't spell for squat) mentioning it in his autobio (he played on that single)
I love Sylvester. I was lucky enough to see him perform at the San Francisco Gay Pride Parade. I remember the last time he was in the parade, in 1988, he was pushed in a wheelchair with the PWA contingent. I think he passed before the 1989 parade.
I think "kiss my grits!" is funnier because it *almost" rhymes. It also sounds a lot more like "kiss my ass" than "kiss my honeydew" does, so it's got the humor of a minced obscenity mixed in.
"Kiss my honeydew " sounds way obscene to me.
@@manthony225 Honeydew is sometimes used as a euphemism for breasts, large ones in particular.
@@v1de0gamr23 oh. I was thinking something else.
When I saw clips of the show I thought it was supposed to be a censor for “Kiss my Tits.” 🤷♂️
@@v1de0gamr23 I've not heard ""Honeydew" as the euphemism, but I have heard "melons"
I grew up 70s television and really enjoyed this video. I missed that alice episode so i wonder if my local affiliate didn't air it. I'm so glad alice had a change of heart. I can't imagine linda lavin would have had it any other way.
She's in the current show, "B-Positive," a comedy about a guy needing a kidney transplant, with heavy reminders of what it was like living during the AIDS crisis. She's golden on this show. They expanded her role in season two.
Quite possible depending on where you lived.
Bicentennial, or BI-centennial? ......I'll show myself out
😂
Well I was going to make that pun, but since you've already used it....
Please do an episode on the aftersxhool special "the truth about alex"
I think that was first time I saw a guy character/story line on tv
"[Stares in homosexual]"
I love jokes hidden in the subtitles.
Love the content, I was born in the early 70's so saw all this as I became a young boy, and my reaction was "whatever" Kids don't get all riled up about things they aren't interested in yet, they largely brush it off.
"I'm more man than you'll ever be and more woman than you'll ever get" Holy shit! That's a massive burn.
"If I were straight and you had a 12 year old daughter, would you let her go ..."
DAMN NO!!
And, to be honest, I wouldn't be comfortable letting Tommy go fishing with Jack - who is, essentially, a random stranger.
Very bad parenting here. But, I suppose, good parenting wouldn't fit the src of the storyline.
You Americans have a weird sense of priorities in the 70s.
Funny I thought that too. I’d never let my daughter or son go with a stranger of any sex gay or straight. I was child of the 70s and remember having probably a slightly unhealthy amount of freedom. In the summer I left the house on my bike in the morning and didn’t return till dinner time half the time. Id chat with total strangers at the park, it’s a wonder I wasn’t kidnapped. What was my mother thinking… but alas it was a very fun time.
Not a stranger
@@bryanj7063 Yes. I'm a child of the 60s and 70s too. We did hVe great freedom - much more so than kids do these days. But what we had deilled I to us was "stranger danger." We were taught not to be trusting of adults we didn't k ow - they even had adverts on children's TV in the UK promoting wariness of strangers.
These things together made us a more resilient and resourceful cohort of children, I think.
Of course, back in the day, people looked out for children in the community - even those that were not their own. I can still remember my mother wRninf us not to get into trouble be Use there would always be someone to tell her what we'd done
@@fluuufffffy1514 I disagree. Just because Jack has been introduced to to Tommy by hid mother forest make Jack any less a stranger. After qll, Alice didn't know something fundamental about Jack.
And for the avoidance of doubt, I'm sure that I'd Tommy went on the fishing trip, nothing would happen to him. The vast majority of people - male or female, gay or straight- would never consider harming a child. But can a patent the that risk with her most precious thing on somebody that she barely knows?
@@emjayay Okay, that changes the calculation of the risks somewhat but I would still be concerned letting my child go off on such a trip without my, or a trusted family member's, supervision.
The Family Hour, although declared unconstitutional, remains policy, although now largely ignored. What is striking is when I show family shows to my Gen Z coworkers, they are shocked that those shows have content for the whole family ranging from sexy ladies for dad and big bro to social commentary for mom and jokes for kids. Yep. The whole family. Not just for kids.
Would you ever consider doing a video on Mr. Humphries from 'Are You Being Served?'? I'm was always surprised how it became popular and mainstream in the US. The idea that a flamboyant and (though never out) gay character would be accepted at a time when there wasn't any (that I know of), is amazing.
Wow, the week discussed in the beginning of the introduction was just 2 weeks after I was born. I remember watching Alice when I was little. "Kiss my grits" is still iconic. I always enjoy these fabulous history lessons. Edit: Also, all hail Norman Lear for that lawsuit. He has been such a trailblazer in defense of diversity, equality, and civil rights.
Oh, my. 'Boy Meets Boy.' That's one from the keepsake album.
"Welcome home. How are the boys in Barcelona?"
"Broken hearted!"
I’m so disappointed you left out the cry of despair he does after he says “I may not know my flowers” line. 😂😂😂
This explains everything! I was 10 years old in ‘76 and watched most of these shows. This must be what turned me gay! 😂😂😂🏳️🌈
@California Dreamer Must be a Californian thing. 😂
I remember that week very well..I was 15 years old, fully aware of my love of men, and terrified my family was aware of it...while watching television with the family, and a gay plot would appear, I'd find a bizarre reason to change the channel..it was exhausting...😅
I was 17 then. Same exact feelings!
@@pxn748 I'm reminded every time I watch that Alice episode.. And those were the days when there was one TV per household..the huge console in the living room..lol
34th.....Gees I was 16 in 76....a Confused / 3 of 4 boys in a family of 8 kids....trying to Navigate the 70's and my under-lying Gayness ...now 61..married to my hubby 11yrs ..together 21
Gosh comments like this make me so happy! I wish you all the best!
I actually remember people questioning why my gay cousin became a pediatrician back in the 90s. He was and is a fantastic doctor and father.
And here I am wishing I could find a gay therapist, instead of the Terf I just got finished dealing with.
I was about Tommy's age when the episode aired. The thing from that episode that stayed with me was when he told his mom that Jack had done something, and the tension built, and it turned out Jack had let him try beer.
This video was so well done! Loved how you weaved the narrative of the Alice tv show and what was happening in TV/media history at the time!
The 70s were very progressive, much more so than today. Nixon had to resign for doing far less than Trump did. The wealthiest individuals and corporations were not allowed to dodge paying their fair share of taxes. Homosexuals, Latinex and LGBTQI+ culture were celebrated in disco, rock, funk, movies, TV and best selling books.
3:27 "sorry honeydew" sounds like a great bandname. Maybe because I'm too used to that font being on Weezer albums.
I remember when I moved to San Francisco in 1976, the city would close down Market Street (the main boulevard in the city) and a stage would be set up right at Castro and Market Streets. Sylvester and his back-up singers "Two Tons O' Fun" would sign and dance their hearts out. I remember a police car pulled up next to me and the Cop rolled down his window and gave me his phone number. I literally thought I had died and gone to heaven. I did not die and I am still here with all these memories of the 1970s.
Must have been the Castro Street Fair.
Thank you for mentioning Mr. Driscoll and Marty; I do hope that one day you will take a closer look at these two characters, who, for me, growing up and watching "Barney Miller" religiously, was one of several introductions to the concept of homosexuality. I very much liked the character of Marty, who I thought was funny and brave, and his partner, the more refined and reserved Mr. Driscoll, who was, by contrast to his persona, more vulnerable to attacks. They are likely problematic today, but on first viewings, during first runs, I welcomed them on episodes and liked them very much.
That announcement at the end. I had NO IDEA Matt Baume was gay!
Wow, this really brought me back. I had just turned ten that week, and I had only been aware that homosexuality existed for about a year (although when an older cousin explained to me what the word “homosexual” meant I immediately knew that this described me- almost a relief really), so I remember this gay week very well. All except, for some weird reason, the episode of “Alice” featured here which I don’t remember at all. I remember the “family hour” and how it was a constant source of ridicule on The Tonight Show and other late night TV shows (even thinking about it now makes me chuckle). What’s really remarkable is that I didn’t really realize at the time how gay all this really was, as I was just starting to explore this aspect of myself. Thank you for bringing me back, Matt, and for making me think through, ponder, re-live my earliest memories as a self identified gay kid.
I see you wearing that Ziro the Hutt shirt, and I like it!
And then we had that pedophiles in daycares scandal in the 80's (which turned out to not be true) and the paranoia about all men bring predators regardless of orientation has just gotten worse and worse.
It wasn't pedophiles, it was Satanic Ritual Abuse, and baby killings in the daycares.
@@visaman Yep, I do believe Martin was the name of one daycare, the firat perhaps, or the name of the family who ran it.
@@debbieomi McMartin. Yes. I followed this closely, as I was listening to Bob Larson's radio show at the time. He is now an exorcist!
@@visaman Geraldo rivera did a really sleazy documentary that implied day care centers were really places for satanatic rituals. It got a lot of airplay because most people only had a limited amount of channels to watch back then
@@visaman wasn't it also child molestation(supposedly)?
Yes, 1976 was an awesome year. I was a kid in the 1970's and a teen in the 1980's and I think it was the perfect time to grow up. I think the 1970s were far more free and liberal and things sort of went backwards in the Reagan era.
Dude. I've been a viewer for a while now, and it's been so amazing to see your channel grow, and your content just getting more and more amazing by the week. It has been so good to learn more about queer pop culture, and I'm honestly finding a stronger connection to our amazing little rainbow community. 😊 You are a superstar!
Thank you for that clip-
"I may not know my flowers, but I know a bitch when I see one!"
A new favorite line~
Thank you! I watched the clip several times and couldn't figure out that one word (flowers).
I recall the movie "Is That You, Norman?" as horribly homophobic and misogynist. Its story line was, all it takes is one heterosexual woman willing to "do her duty" and sleep with a gay man to "cure" him of his gayness. That aside, this was a fine look at that era.
It's also noteworthy that NBC lagged on inclusion of gay characters, as the other two delved into social issues via Maude, Barney Miller and Alice, while the Peacock network relied on Father Murphy and Little House.
"He used to be the all American boy. Now.....he has purple drapes."
LOL!!! Oh wow....that was the best sentence I've heard in ages.
Oh no purple drapes
That episode of Alice is how I was able to self identify as Gay. It was the first time I heard a real explanation of what “Gay” meant.
Perhaps you could review "The Andy Griffith Show." Among other things, it's famous for “Opie's Piano Lesson” (1967). It’s the only episode where a Black American ever had a speaking part in all 248 episodes of the series. Rockne Tarkington played Flip Conroy, the cool, new football coach, and an ex-NFL player. Opie is ambivalent because he wants to continue with his piano lessons. Conflict arises when Andy pushes Opie to join the team. No son of his plays the piano. Andy's objection is never overtly expressed. The true objection is so bad (that deed without a name), that Andy can’t even bring himself to say it. At moments, his behavior borders on the irrational. Very uncharacteristic!
Tbh, when I first found out that gay people existed my first thought was more of an "Oh, that's what I am."
I wouldn't trust my kid with someone I barely knew, man woman gay straight. Even a new partner would be gradually introduced
Agreed. But those were different times.
@@johniii8147 it’s probably why stories like the one in the Netflix documentary “Abducted in Plain Sight” (little girl gets groomed and abused by a family friend for years right under her trusting parents’ noses) seem to have happened to plenty of baby boomer kids and they only talk about it in adulthood.
@@Nightman221k that whole documentary is absolutely bananas for so many reasons.
Matt. This is a fantastic report as usual. You are always fully detailed. Thanks for the work you do.
Fantastic episode! I saw this when it first aired. In my living room. With my parents. And when Tommy says "From the way kids talk, I thought you could always tell. I don't care, though" my little 8-year old, I'm gay but not sexually active self looked over at my Mom and Dad and they both gave me that knowing look. They knew - they almost always do. And they really didn't care. I thank heavens I had it that good - I've heard far too many "coming out" horror stories from friends.
I graduated from High School in 1976 in Oklahoma City. Lots of gay folk in Oklahoma City, but we were all so closeted and if you weren't of age, you were on your own. You had to be very quiet and careful. If you went to a park, you were likely to get arrested, whether you made advances to a cop or were just walking in the park. At one of the bars, a young man was run over (and they backed over him after driving over him). The police refused to do anything even though there were about 50 witnesses and people who followed the driver to his house and came back to tell the police where he was. He was well known by the cops. My husband and I are happily considering how we want to celebrate our 39th anniversary in February (along with our birthdays, I'm the 10th and he iw the 17th) , so we celebrate everything on St.Valentines day or the day after--his birthday is also the day we became a couple. He was 27, and I had just turned 25. We were so young and now we are old, but still crazy about each other. I still miss the 70s though. They were fun and they were also pretty much hell for under age queers.
Another thing that has changed since 1976: in 2021, there is NO WAY that a mom would let her 12 year old daughter go on a fishing trip alone with an adult man (9 times out of 10 - YMMV).
there is no way a non pedo would dare offer to let a 12yo girl be alone with you for any extended time either.
I remember watching Alice when I was a kid that episode was special to me.
The announcement at the end alone is worth watching the video for
“I knew guys were supposed to have homosexual feelings” mmh?
That was a standard concept in pop psychology of the period. Because young boys tend to homosocial and avoid girls in their childhood interactions, it was believed that most boys had latent homosexual urges, but that most "grew out of it" by the time they had reached adulthood. Or that society had successfully conditioned them to suppress those desires and "perform their expected duties" as straight men.
@@dngillikin ahh this makes much more sense
@@dngillikin ooooooohhhh Today I learned
@@colinray4186 Consider the following: It's the mid-seventies to early eighties and you're an intellectually curious nerdy young person who'd probably get beaten up for even broaching the subject behind the woodshed and there's no Google. What do you do? Well, for some of us, you hang out in the public library reading the sexual development chapters of various health and psychological texts, some current and many decades old.
In some cases, this "he'll eventually grow out of it" language seemed to be in the spirit a assuaging parental fears and, in extreme cases, trying to convince certain parents that, no, you don't have to beat your six year old because he and his best friend hold hands on the playground.
I grew up watching Are you being Served in the UK which had Mr Humphries as a lead gay character long before any of the US shows . It is still one of the funniest shows ever with some of the best double entendres.✌❤
So was the Alice episode a deliberate commentary on the Family Hour or merely a coincidental commentary on the Family Hour?
It was what Anita Bryant deemed to be The Gay Agenda. Schools hiring gay teachers to recruit children into the Gay Lifestyle. This is what the Village People meant when they sang,
They want you, they want you
They want you as a new recruit!
In the song, In The Navy.
@@visaman Ok but that wasn't what I was asking.
Matt, this is an excellent presentation. I grew up in the 70's and I remember all of this. But, you have provided historical information that is so necessary to understand what was happening then and why. Thank You so much for offering this vid. Great job.
16:15 Ah, Robin. Awakening generations of kids to being gay and/or a furry. Thanks, Disney!
that's okay, matt, we're all a little gay for foxy robbin hood ;)
🌟😉🍀😉🍀😉🍀🌟
My middle name is Gay..
no.. really ..
It's Julie Gaye ..but that's okay everybody knows I was born that way ...Happy!!!
Thanks for sharing this as it brought back a lot of memories. Gay men over 50 are living proof that "Family Hour" didn't have it's intended effect--and for that, I'm eternally grateful. This also is a none-too-subtle reminder that it's not a new or novel thing, but rather that being Gay is as old as Human society itself.
The reaction of Tommy in "Alice" to learning someone is Gay just shows that then or now, kids don't care about such things.
When I was about 4YO, (early 1960's) I was mesmerized by a much older woman (probably in her late 50's) in my neighborhood, who dressed and presented herself as a man. Tiny gay me really found her fascinating, and to this day, I credit her with my being confident about my sexuality. Thanks, Rosie.
💜🍍 💜🍍💜🍍💜🙄
N I just got purple curtains with pineapple and flamingo's on them.
Huh....?!?!
..
Did... did Matt just announce he's a furry?
The smart thing about the 1976 flood of gay content is that it made me less suicidal from inside my closet in a hostile house of incest and corporal punishment. It was at least a somewhat integrated future...once I became famous and or infamous. 45 years later, not having become either, I am out and virtually invisible. I planted historical artifacts on various sites for some enterprising historian to uncover. My hope for a world that works for everyone still springs eternal. Hopefully and hopelessly ROMANTIC RAINBOW ARTIST 🌈💥🖤👍🖖🖤💜💙💚💛🧡❤🌠
I was a 9yo 'pre-out' gay boy then,....I don't recall any of this, other than Alice. I'd love to go fishing with him! Now I can say.... HI GAY!! 🏳️🌈👍😁. OH BE NICE.😋🧸
I know this isn't about the actual video, but I want to ask:
Have you stopped doing "Weekly Debrief" completely?
I am gay and proud of it. No pun intended. Homosexuality is nothing to be ashamed of. I have swish in my walk and acceptance of being gay in my talk. I am not prejudiced against gay people and I don't criticize them for who are.🏳️🌈
I grew up in the theater community, so I have known people in the LGBTQ+ almost all my life. My mom was fine with me spending time alone with gay men. When I finally was old enough to understand what being ‘gay’ meant, my reaction was…… my mom had very few straight friends lol. Please note my mom is straight and has been married to my dad for nearly 40 years. She taught me what it means to be a true ally
Comparing Alice to taxi it's like comparing steel magnolias to Sweet Seymour's badass song
Ive been binging your videos lately and I love every shirt you wear, but this bisexual icon ZIRO THE HUTT shirt takes the cake. Amazing :3
I was 13 in 1976. I don't remember any of this gay exposure. What baffles me is that this "exposure" was going on in the 70s and here we are in 2024 and the same stigma, hatred and fear exists.
A like for teaching me where ‘kiss my grits’ is from
Lavin got the "Alice" gig after a short run on "Barney Miller" as a (GASP!) female detective. Shocking stuff.
OMG, maybe now I know why I'm gay... I was indoctrinated at 6yo. I hope someone got a toaster for my conversion... Lol
I was 16 in 1976 and it was a great time to grow up. The general culture was very liberal, very open. And a whole lot of fun!
As an old gay man, what straight people thought about us back then was a real burden. Imagine constantly having to dispel assumptions from what straight people thought with regards to being gay. To this day I'm horrified that some family and friends thought that any part of the "gay methodology" applied to me. Fortunately they now know better.
Matt, your production value on these videos gets better and better. You're using more clips compared to the vids from a couple years ago and it looks good. Keep up the great work!
I always love your videos, but I wish I could give multiple likes just for the Ziro tee-shirt!!
In 1975 I knew the word gay, but I didn't know what it ment until 1984. Boy was I sheltered. 😁🌈
I think this is one of my favorite episodes if it's not my favorite. I think it's because it's about TV shows from the 70s/80s.