i certainly hope this doesn't offend anybody because it sure entertained me...
i've been watching the late 1968 episodes.i just watched the episode(614)where joe is attempting to strangle barnabas with a drapery tieback and is interupted by mrs.johnson at clarice blackburn's histrionic best.it's too good for words.
the episode moves on to scenes with mrs.j.,her son harry,roger and liz and of course joe.something about the tone of this episode struck me...perhaps that it's gayest episode ever!
it positively oozed lavender.
jonathan frid only appears in the first few minutes so the rest of the episode is dominated by actors we now know to be gay:louis edmonds,joel crothers (i don't know about frid so we'll leave him out of the conversation).while it's doubtful any of them were publicly "out" at the time("such things" were not openly discussed)i was wondering if they were quietly out with each other.if there existed something of a backstage camaraderie between them on this point.a "sisterhood" so to speak.i imagine that after lifetimes spent on stage and screen both joan bennett and clarice blackburn were faghags of the highest order.was this an atmosphere in which they felt "safe" to be themselves?
i'm imagining some dishy backstage chat.crothers is shirtless for much of this episode and perhaps edmonds and slocum exchanged approving glances.maybe mostoller and vinnie loscalzo stopped by to chime in on how hunky that new don briscoe is.
actors aside the way that mrs.johnson and harry interact is very much the classic mother/gay son relationship.the stereotypical byproduct of the absent/dead father and the domineering mother(and mrs.j. was nothing if not overbearing).i know it's all a cliche but that's the subtext i read into it even if "such things" could never by spelled out in specifics back then.
on a totally different note what also struck me here was that,in the midst of the madness that was 1968,nothing supernatural happens in this episode.there was something vaguely "1966-ish" about it.it included much of the original cast and the big "cliffhanger" was roger calling the sheriff.it sort of had a naive charm in that the police were the biggest threat being posed here.
anyways i in no way mean this as a mockery.please know that it comes from a place of love for my spiritual forbearers.
(edited by admin)