Fall 1980: Billy Budd: Gay Sailor Romance

In the fall of my junior year in college, just after I cruised the Miracle Mile and bought my first gay book, I took a class in "The American Renaissance," the burst of creative energy in the mid-1800s: Emerson, Thoreau, Hawthorne, Whitman, Melville.

Our professor (not the one who taught the execrable class in Modern American Literature) admitted that Melville was "a little light in the loafers," but he tried to heterosexualize the texts as much as possible, so he merely claimed that Billy Budd (1888) was about a Christ figure destroyed by the world's evil.

The book cover tried to heterosexualize Billy Budd, too, conveniently placing a woman in the background.  But how could you miss the same-sex desire?  During the Napoleonic Wars, a young cabin boy, described over and over as stunningly handsome, draws the wordless longing of Captain Vere ("Truth") -- and the homophobic ire of Claggart, who falsely accuses him of conspiring to mutiny. While being interrogated, Billy accidentally strikes and kills Claggart, so under British naval law he must be hanged.

Billy forgives the Captain; his last words are "God bless Captain Vere."  But carrying out the sentence destroys Vere; his dying words are "Billy Budd."  I couldn't help but think of Aschenbach, destroyed by his obsession for the beautiful Tadzio in Death in Venice. 

TV adaptions of the novella have appeared twice, in 1955 (with William Shatner) and in 1959 (with Don Murray).


 There's also a 1962 feature film, with Billy played by Terence Stamp (later in Meetings with Remarkable Men and Priscilla Queen of the Desert). 

In 1951, gay composer Benjamin Britten produced an opera version, with libretto by gay novelist E.M. Forster.  It  has Vere survive to old age, when he reflects that once he knew what true beauty was.  It has been filmed in 1988 (with Thomas Allen) and 1998 (with Dwayne Croft), and remains a staple of the theater.  

Recent productions feature a shirtless, muscular Billy, such as those performed by Nathan Gunn (above) and Simon Keenlyside (left).

Also see his gay-subtext filled Benito Cereno.

More 1970s Saturday Morning Beefcake

During the late 1970s, I watched several live-action Saturday morning tv programs, like Space Academy and The Kids from C.A.P.E.R., but the 70s Live Action Kid Vid website gives some details about many that I never heard of.  They vanished quickly, and left little trace on DVD, though you may be able to find uploads on youtube.  Here are the four that look most interesting:

1. Ark II (1976-77): a sort of futuristic trucker show about Jonah (Terry Lester) driving around in a post-apocalyptic world solving people's personal problems, accompanied by his teen sidekicks Samuel (Jose Flores) and Ruth (Jean Marie Hon), plus a talking chimp.  Terry Lester, who was gay in real life, went on to become a soap opera hunk on The Young and the Restless.

2. Dr. Shrinker (1976-77), a segment of the Krofft Supershow: the teens Brad (Ted Eccles) and BJ (Susan Lawrence), plus their goofy friend Gordie (Boomer MacKay), are trapped on a desert island with a mad scientist who shrinks them.

Child star Ted Eccles starred in In Cold Blood (1967) and My Side of the Mountain (1969), and muscled up to hug James Coburn in The Honkers (1972) and get terrorized by Scott Jacoby in Bad Ronald (1974).

3. Bigfoot and Wildboy (1977-78), another segment of the Krofft Supershow: Bigfoot (Ray Young) and his teen sidekick Wildboy (Joseph Butcher) roam the Pacific Northwest, solving people's personal problems.  Sounds like some interspecies buddy-bonding occurred.

The Krofft Supershow was a very busy program. It also featured musical groups like The Bay City Rollers and Michael Lembeck (center) as Kaptain Kool (with the Kongs).

4. Jason of Star Command (1978-81): Jason (Craig Littler) and his assistants (including James Doohan, Scotty on Star Trek) work to keep the evil Dragos from taking over the galaxy in this Space Academy spin-off.

Craig Littler performed in many movies and tv programs, including Blazing Saddles (1974) and Laverne and Shirley.  In the 1990s, he became the voice of Grey Poupon mustard in tv commercials ("Pardon me -- do you have any Grey Poupon?").

Gay Teens in Deep Space: Arthur C. Clarke

When I was a kid in the 1960s, juvenile science fiction was great, all about boys falling in love as they fled from the tripods or zapped through the solar system.  But then I became a teenager and started reading science fiction for grown ups, which was -- and still is -- heterosexist, mostly about men and women falling in love:


A. E. Van Vogt, Two Hundred Million A.D. (1943): L Onee was waiting. Together they closed and sealed the door. Together, they went up out of the darkness into the light.

Raymond Jones, Man of Two Worlds (1951): "I want to marry you] more than anything else in the world,” Elta said. She drew close and laid her head against his shoulder.

Michael Moorcock, The Wrecks of Time (1966): She winked at him. He grinned and winked back. They walked into the house.

John Brunner, Interstellar Empire (1976): She came down the steps to Ordovic, and put her arm around his waist, smiling.

R. M. Meluch, Wind Dancers (1981): “ Shall we go to bed together, get drunk, or start a fight in a bar?"  Roxanne hooked his arms. "One of those.‟”

But then at a garage sale in the mid-1970s, I stumbled upon two books about muscular boys bonding as they explored the Indian Ocean.  By Arthur C. Clarke, whom I knew as the inspiration for the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey.  Surely his science fiction would not be obsessed with feminine smiles.

So I began reading.  And kept reading.

The Sands of Mars (1951), A Fall of Moondust (1961), Imperial Earth (1975): no heterosexual romance.

Against the Fall of Night (1948): Alvin is a teenager living in the distant future city of Diaspar.  He becomes the first person to leave the city in countless milennia, explores the savage world outside, and buddy-bonds with a boy named Theoron.  At the end he decides to take a spaceship and explore the stars, and Theoron goes with him.

When Clarke revised the novel into The City and the Stars (1956), he gave Alvin a girlfriend in Diaspar, like the Hardy Boys have girlfriends in regular time, but she is completely forgotten once he begins the adventure.

Childhood's End (1953): Galactic overlords land on Earth and transform all of the children into a new, advanced species, another entry into the "threatening gay kid" genre.

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968): a homoromantic idyll with two astronauts, Dave and Francis (played by Keir Dullea and Gary Lockwood in the movie) jetting out toward Jupiter in the Discovery One, until the computer Hal gets jealous.

Arthur C. Clarke was well known in the science fiction community as gay, although he never came out publicly (when asked by a reporter, he always gave a coy response like "Why? What have you heard?").

In 1956 he moved to Sri Lanka, which being gay was legal  (Britain didn't decriminalize homosexuality until 1957).  He stayed there until his death in 2008.

"Get Even": Riverdale Light

Didn't we just see a Mexican tv series about  students in a posh high school being blackmailed by a baddie who knows all their secrets?  Get Even seems to be a clone, except now the secret-revealers are the good guys.  Or rather, as the first line states, "I don't know if we're victims or villains."

Scene 1: Girl rides her bike through a quaint English village to a huge Gothic high school with its own flag.  At a start-of-school assembly, we are introduced to the main players:
Narrator (Asian) had a lot to prove
Olivia (white, blond hair) wanted her secrets to stay secret
Margot (black) wanted to survive
Bree (white, black hair) wanted the world to think it couldn't hurt her

Two rugby players, Rex and Romy, introduce a video praising the beloved Coach Creed (Jack Dergas, top photo).  But suddenly a new video plays, of the Coach humiliating his players: "You disgust me!  You're pathetic!  Pathetic!  Pathetic!"  And they can't turn it off!

The abusive coach has been revealed, courtesy, of DGM (Don't Get Mad).  The students all cheer.  That was fun.  I had several abusive teachers and coaches in school that I'd like to see get their comeuppance.

Scene 2:  On the roof, the DGM girls discuss their latest victory: another nogoodnik bites the dust.  They go their separate ways: they're not friends. They don't hang out.  The come together only for vengeance.

Scene 3: At soccer practice, Narrator listens to the girls speculate about who DGM is.  They assume a single guy, like Zorro.  There's also a party tonight, "the party of the year," even though it's only the first day of the term.

Meanwhile, Margot (the one who wants to survive) talks to fellow outsider Ed (Dylan Brady, left, playing a gay character on Coronation Street).  She has to pick an extracurricular.  He suggests Debate Club, but she's not into people or talking.

Scene 4: Bree (the one who wants the world to think it can't hurt her) listens at the door as the Coach is suspended.  Next, the Headmaster asks why she's skipping class. Her father's hefty contributions don't excuse her from everything; she has to at least show up, or she will be expelled.

Outside, Bree and fellow slacker John discuss how lame school is.

Scene 5:  In a mansion, Olivia (the one with secrets) and her friend are putting on makeup, flirting ("You're the most beautiful girl I've ever seen!), and discussing their boyfriends, Rex from Scene 1 and Donte, who have been acting weird.

Ok, we have the girls'  personalities, and we've met their boyfriends, except for one who has a secret girlfriend. Let's get on with the story.

Scene 6: Whoops, one girl left.  In an awful rowhouse, Narrator is looking at her wall-full of trophies and awards, and her overbrimming calendar of activities.  The girl is busy!  She talks to her family (Dad, Mom, Sister). They give her permission to take a break from her 15 extra-credit projects, 18 extracurriculars, and memorizing the biographies of 300 college admission committee members to make a brief appearance at the party.

Narrator arrives at the party.  Kids dancing, drinking, taking selfies, playing foosball. Seems rather tame -- this ain't Riverdale!  She nods or waves to all the characters introduced so far, and zeroes in on Mika, the hostess. They discuss romantic prospects. Ronny from Scene 1 wants to hang out with Mika, but she gets nervous around boys, so Narrator promises to stay with her.

Bree and fellow slacker John gape at hot hunk Logan (Kit Clarke), "a solid 8 out of 10."  I'm not sure, but I think they both like him.

Scene 7: Margot is in her room, playing six video games at once on her row of computers and eavesdropping on party guests.

Back at the party, they're now in the indoor pool (no beefcake) discussing whether John and Bree are DGM.  Donte, the boyfriend of Olivia (the one with secrets, like being a lesbian) is not into a party (too fake), so he and Narrator decide to get takeaway (food to go) and call it a night.  Olivia sees them leave together.  Drama!

Time for something BIG to happen.  A sexual assault?  A drug overdose?  A masked killer?

Scene 8:  Bree and fellow slacker John head home.  If they turn out to be a couple, I'll be mad.

She goes in the house with a "bye!"  He gazes longingly.  In love, stuck in the friend zone, got it.  No gay guys here, just a secret lesbian.

Scene 9: Morning.  Narrator arrives at school to see everyone checking their smartphones and gossipping furiously. Ronny stole a sexy photo of Mika (last night's hostess) from her phone and posted it on the internet for everyone to laugh at.  Mika blames Narrator for leaving her alone, even though she gets nervous around boys.

Ok, DGM powers, activate!

Scene 10: Soccer  practice.  Narrator doesn't make team captain. She's upset -- how will she ever get into Oxford?

At the horrible rowhouse, the family eagerly awaits the news: Did you make team captain, or have you destroyed all of our lives forever?  Of course she lies and says she made it.  Sister, who is negotiating her own "Get an A-, and we will disown you!" nightmare, seems suspicious.

Narrator goes to her room and tears down her wall-full of appointments for the week.  It's all useless now!

Scene 11:  Taking a momentary break from feeling sorry for herself, Narrator sends out the bat-signal to the rest of the DGM squad.  They drop what they are doing and rush to headquarters.

They usually wait six weeks between capers, but Mika's photo is too important. Time to destroy Ronny!  They link hands and recite their superfriends pledge: "We don't get mad -- we get even!"  The end.




Huh?  I was expecting a murder.

Beefcake: None.  There are some hot guys in the cast.

Other Sights:  The school looks like a medieval castle.

Gay Characters: Olivia is obviously a lesbian.  Some same-sex couples,both male and female,visible at the party.

Heterosexism:  Not even a kiss. It's rather interesting to see girls who are "shy around boys," when across the pond in Riverdale, girls the same age spend half their time having sex and the other half performing pole dancing.

Plot:  Ham-handed character development. Too much teen angst, not enough gettng revenge.  There should have been at least three revenge plotlines in the first episode, to whet the audience interest.  Then spread out the girls' backstories instead of just dumping it all at once.

Will I Keep Watching: Probably.  I want to know what other revenge schemes the Super Friends come up with. Maybe they'll chain Ronny naked in the hot tub. Oh, wait -- they already did that on Riverdale.