Good Morning, World: Gay DJs in Pre-Stonewall Los Angeles

I don't remember a single moment of Good Morning, World (1967-68), even though it starred Ronnie Schell  (left), who I had a major crush on from his role as best-buddy Duke on Gomer Pyle, USMC.

Let's pause for a moment to relive those pre-erotic, preteen crushes.  Isn't  Ronnie the cutest thing?

Good Morning, World aired for a single season, on Tuesday nights at 8:30 Central time. Most likely I never watched because my bedtime was 8:00.

Ronnie and Joby Baker play Lewis and Clarke, hip, with-it djs at a morning patter radio program in Los Angeles.

They each have romantic partners (Julie Parrish, Goldie Hawn), who happen to be best friends, providing boys-against-girls plotlines.

Their snooty, uptight "what about these expense reports?" boss is played by perennial sitcom swish Billy DeWolfe (who was gay in real life, but died in 1974, before even the swishiest Hollywood actor would Say The Word.

One expects a workplace comedy like WKRP in Cincinnati, or at least a balance between home and work, but the plot synopses on Amazon Prime are mostly about home: visiting relatives, dinner with the boss, returning a defective sweater to the department store.

I watched the episode where the boys do a remote show from a dude ranch, without realizing that it's a nudist dude ranch.  No nudity except for the ranch director, briefly, at a desk, and the guys at the dinner table (top photo), where they discover that nudists dress for dinner.

That makes sense. You don't want to spill hot soup onto your lap without a fabic barrier.

But in 1967, even five minutes of shirtlessness would have been shocking, and in spite of the fade-out boy-girl hug, the guys' interactions are so physical that they come across as a quasi-gay couple.

Gay subtexts in 1967? No wonder it only lasted one season..