How the Homosexuals Saved Civilization - Cathy Crimmins [52]
Is there a gay sensibility among television writers that makes their scripts different, even when they are writing about straight characters? “Yes and no,” says Philip Gerson, who has written for Murder, She Wrote, Christy, and Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman. I spoke to him at an OTF (Out in Theater and Film) benefit in Hollywood.
“I’m Jewish and gay,” says Gerson. “Both factors contribute to an outsider experience, especially when working on shows with Christian backgrounds and themes. And writing a television show is very much a team effort. It’s all about putting out slices of bread, and the bread has to be pretty much the same from week to week. There has to be a consistent voice, but occasionally you can slip things in.”
Pressed further, Gerson says he can remember a few specific instances in which his homosexuality influenced his scripts. He believes that there is a gay sense of humor that can show up even on dramatic shows. In terms of content, though, he cites two Dr. Quinn episodes. “One of them wasn’t my idea, but I worked on it. Christine Berardo, another writer, had discovered that Walt Whitman visited Colorado Springs during one of the years the show took place. So there was an episode that portrayed him reading and teaching poetry and meeting up with his male partner while he took a rest cure in Colorado Springs. Dr. Quinn even had to confront her own homophobia as her adopted son became close to Whitman.”
“Another episode I wrote,” continued Gerson, “was specifically a metaphor for AIDS. I told the other writers that I was approaching it that way. It involved a woman who had leprosy. She came to visit the town and no one knew what she had, but after they saw her leprosy, they shunned her. Remember, I was writing about 1872, so it was pre-germ theory. It fit the AIDS model perfectly. It captured the type of fear that was around in the 1980s, before we knew what was going on.”
Big Numbers, Envelopes, and Snow White
The stylishness on all those 70s variety shows, seen as
Hollywood glamour, was not just glamorous; it had a gay
sensibility.
—Stephen Troppiano
Variety shows and awards ceremonies have always been the television formats that most resemble parties. Not surprisingly, gay men have made major contributions.
Once, when I was writing a spoof of Gone with the Wind, I decided to canvass people and ask them what they remember about the original book or movie. I was very surprised that the one Gone with the Wind moment most people remembered best was not from the movie. It was the famous Carol Burnett sketch in which she comes down a grand staircase as Scarlett O’Hara, dressed in a ball gown made of curtains. Yet there’s one difference: Burnett’s Scarlett is wearing a dress that still has the curtain rods in it. The jerry-rigged garment makes her look huge. The effect is hilarious as Burnett tries to move from side to side with large metal rods inhibiting her motion.
I’d never thought of where the idea came from until I saw Carol Burnett interviewed for a Bob Mackie tribute. Mackie is the talented gay designer who is famous for his over-the-top Oscar gowns, especially those worn by Cher. He also dressed Cher in her outrageous dresses for The Sonny and Cher Show. Burnett said that she was struggling with what her curtain dress should look like. She knew that she wanted it to be “over the top,” but how? Bob Mackie suddenly blurted out the curtain rod idea, and a classic sketch moment was born.
Viewing the sketch recently, I was struck by how much Burnett looked like a drag queen at the top of the stairs. It was a moment that would have played well in a dingy gay bar, but which also worked great in a prime-time television show in the 1970s. Gone with the Wind, like The Wizard of Oz, was one of the last great films that went into our culture as both straight and gay camp.
I wonder if most of straight America realizes that most award shows are very gay. The reign of gay writer Bruce Vilanch at the Academy Awards ushered in