The Boys of Lassie 1: Jon Provost

As a kid, I liked Flipper and Skippy the Bush Kangaroo, but I wouldn't be caught dead watching Lassie (1954-73).  The soppily sentimental theme song, the collie's maudlin whines, the heart-tugging plotlines, the nauseatingly cute boy-owners -- I thought it was fit only for grandmothers and little girls.  I'd rather watch something a little more macho, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Land of the Giants, The Young Rebels, even Wild Kingdom if I had to.

But some gay boys liked the boy owners -- their cuteness, their lack of any perceptible interest in girls -- and, as they grew into adolescence, their hunkiness and the frequency with which they took off their shirts.  There were three of them, but the most famous was Jon Provost (born in 1950), whose Timmy lived with the dog from 1957 to 1964.

Timmy started out a blond kewpie doll, saying things like "golly-gee" to his adopted parents.  But he didn't stay a kewpie doll long.

When his stint on Lassie ended, Jon was 14 years old, well into his adolescence, and gay boys and heterosexual girls were starting to take notice.

He hung around with other teen idols, such as Davy Jones (left), Kurt Russell, and Kevin Schultz. No boyfriends, but according to his autobiography, Timmy's in the Well, gay buddy Sal Mineo once got a little too grabby during a three-way with his girlfriend.

Jon tried his hand at singing, and starred in some movies:  This Property is Condemned (1966), The Secret of the Sacred Forest (1967), and The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes (1970), starring Kurt Russell.

The teen magazines responded with swimsuit and extra-tight painted-on-slacks photos.

But he was too typecast as Timmy to get the full teen-hunk treatment, so Jon retired from acting, except for a recurring role on The Adventures of Lassie (1989-92). He got his degree in psychology, and settled down to a civilian career.  He still attends fan conventions, and is gracious to the boomers, both male and female, who had crushes on him as kids.

See also: Katts and Dog

The Boys of Lassie 2: Tommy Rettig

The Boys of Lassie 3: Skip Burton

The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes

A decade before Escape from New York transformed him into action hero beefcake, Kurt Russell played a hunky, fresh-faced teenager in eight Disney movies, from The Horse in the Gray Flannel Suit (1968) to The Strongest Man in the World (1975).  Only The Secret of Boyne Castle (1968) was an adventure, designed to demonstrate the masculinity of American youth during the Cold War.

The others were comedies with a far different goal, to mollify adult fears of hippies during the era of Woodstock and Kent State by presenting a harmless, good-natured youth rebellion (and one limited to white, middle class, hetero kids).

So there are plenty of muscular male actors, but no beefcake shots, and lots of buddies, but not a lot of gay subtexts.

The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes is the first of Kurt's three forays as Dexter Riley, a mild-mannered misfit vaguely studying science at Medfield College -- essentially the same role that Tommy Kirk played as "scrambled egghead" Merlin Jones a few years before.  Tommy, recently out and outed, was obviously miserable and struggling, and his co-stars hysterically overacted to keep him in line. Kurt and his costars are relaxed and confident, having fun with the goofy plot (something about Dexter being struck by lightning, turning into a human computer, and thus helping his friends win an all-important academic competition).

Dexter's friends are played by former teen idol John Provost (top photo); Frank Webb, who enjoyed a few years of teen idol stardom but died tragically at age 26 (center photo); and cute redheaded Michael McGreevey, who specialized in goofball characters.  There's also a girl, but she doesn't have much to do besides say "Be careful!"

Gay actor Caesar Romero played the mob boss who kidnaps Dexter so his friends can mount a daring rescue.