Meredith Baxter A Lesbian

[dgriffin]

Actress Meredith Baxter Says She's a Lesbian

No, this post isn't really about Meredith. If you want to read about how she discovered she was a Lesbian, you can go here:

abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory?id=9229984

I bring this up only because when I discovered the "news" article while surfing, it brought to mind my grandmother and what might have been her thoughts on entertainment.

Grandma believed going the movies to watch Clark Gable was all right, but of course she would have never gone to a gay bar. Had anyone said the word "Lesbian" out loud in her presence, I'm quite sure she would have fallen over dead, or at least had a major stroke.

Grandma's secret entertainment ... and it wasn't much of a secret in a household containing five other people ... was watching wrestling on WKTV Saturday nights in the early 1950's. She was getting pretty old by then, but nothing could stop her from viewing half naked men parade around the ring, holding each other in aggressive embraces and hammer holds, and thwacking each other with body blocks. Enrique Torres, Don Eagle, and Whipper Watson were the idols of the time, but none was so glamorous as the redoubtable Gorgeous George Wagner. As the night wore on and we boys began to nod off in front of the tiny screen, Grandma kept her vigil, rocking her chair faster and faster until Gorgeous George appeared in the ring. Her enthusiastic clapping would bring us back up to the level of conciousness in time to see a walking refrigerator with a head of blond flowing hair enter the ring. Grandma would swoon and we would fall back to sleep.

Wrestling was about as risque as anything Grandma allowed herself. If you don't count the "cough medicine."

[chris]

Good story Dave. Reminded me of when Perry Como use to come on and my mother started to swoon. Other than that you had to check her pulse to see if she was still breathing. We use to tease her and tell her her boyfriend was on TV.

I heard about Meridth awhile back. Seems everyone is coming out of the closet these days. Maybe they feel times allow them to now although some annoucements come as no surprise.

[stoney]

I guess after one's 3rd husband one is bound to "discover" one is gay.

Hmmmm....I'm on my 3rd marriage; if this one were to fail, I'd become a thesbian.

[corner]

frankly i dont know why anybody needs to come out just do your thing whatever it is and leave me out of the loop dont advertise dont parade it around ... or im gonna star lobbying for hetero bars parades and recognition at work sites ... its about time people kept their love lives in the bedroom where it belongs.. i dont care if you hold hands going down the street want to live together or be on each others health insurance what i dont want is it beign taught in schools or paraded around the streets by a bunch of activist fluffs.

[stoney]

I don't think they want that either, Corner. They just ask for equal rights.

Baxter was "outed" by Perez Hilton, which is why she came out, I understand.

[dgriffin]

Dec 2, 2009 17:34:23 GMT -5 chris said:

Good story Dave. Reminded me of when Perry Como use to come on and my mother started to swoon. Other than that you had to check her pulse to see if she was still breathing. We use to tease her and tell her her boyfriend was on TV.

I heard about Meridth awhile back. Seems everyone is coming out of the closet these days. Maybe they feel times allow them to now although some annoucements come as no surprise.

Not all of us on Cornhill could pull in the Syracuse channel and Ed Sullivan in 1957. So to watch Elvis on that historical night when the cameras showed the star only from the waist up, we all crowded around the TV in the Orlando's living room on Brinckerhoff Ave. Halfway through Heartbreak Hotel, as Elvis ground away down there somewhere, Mrs. Orlando jumped up from the couch and ran to the TV. From the top of the television, she quickly grabbed the statue of the Infant of Prague and rushed it into the next room. Lest it be scandalized, I guess.

[Clipper]

We could get one Syracuse channel when we lived in N Utica in the late 50's along with Utica. When we wanted to watch something on the other Syracuse channel, my dad would go out the back door with his socket wrench to loosen the antenna mast bracket, and he would twist and turn until we got a good picture, with my mom hollering his progress from the living room. Eventually he would hear "whoa, right there" and we would all settle in to watch the program.

[chris]

Ha the good old days. All I remember are my programs Saturday morning. Then my dad loved Bob Hope so we got to stay up past 9p to watch along with him. Otherwise lights out no ifs and or buts. Christmas was the Night Visitor which I hated ...year after year. There was no channel to turn. But when we moved here to Rochester we had 3 channels. ABC, CBS & NBC...wow big time!!!! When I moved back to Utica they had cable but Rochester didn't get cable till much much later which I never understood because I thought Rochester was so much bigger and had more dollars than Utica why were they so behind. (its a very conservative town)

[Clipper]

I would think maybe the reason for Utica having cable first was that the infrastructure was much easier to build on the smaller scale. Harron Cable originated in Utica in 1964. When the technology developed and got less expensive and more in demand, bigger markets such as Rochester were a safer bet than in the early days of cable. It takes a lot of equipment, miles of cable, and a huge physical plant to bring a cable tv operation on line.

Harron Communications originated in Utica NY, but over the last 40 years has grown and expanded into several states and several different arenas of the communications business.

Harron Communications was just one more Utica NY success story. Those were the days, huh?

[dgriffin]

Cable companies tied up the process as they fought for the monopoly of a city or town's cable franchise. In Syracuse, Newhouse fought tooth and nail before finally winning the right to provide cable. I imagine the politicians just sat back lining their pockets with graft while the process took place. Also, the FCC was trying to work out the legal niceties. For example, at that time there was a rule that a single corporate entity could own only 7 TV stations and 7 radio stations in the US in total, and only 3 electronic and one print media in each market. And then there were a host of exceptions the FCC would entertain, if it could be shown the exception would better serve the citizens. So the question became, what is a cable franchise? Does it count the same as a TV station, for example? Today, all of that is out the window, of course.

Syracuse still didn't have cable when I left in 1974, although I believe it was just about to happen. We really didn't miss cable. At that time all it provided was a selection of network stations you couldn't get over the air, and possibly the low power local PBS station so you could watch Sesame Street. There was no "cable programming" as there is today.

[dgriffin]

By the way, back then WKTV was a unique station. Because it was the only television station in the Utica-Rome market, the FCC forced the networks to allow WKTV to choose their programming from among multiple networks. So, for example, on Tuesday night, the 8-9 spot might be from NBC, and then 9-10 from CBS, etc., etc. A constant thorn in the side to the management up on Smith Hill were the complaints from people who wanted Gunsmoke instead of Ben Casey, or Walter Cronkite instead of Huntley-Brinkley or dead air instead of Lyle Bosely.

[fiona]

Does anyone remember Twist-O Rama? How about Bozo??? I was watching the day some kid tossed his milkshake into Lyle Boseley's face.!!! Never forget it!

[chris]

I remember Twist O Rama and Bozo. Don' t remember watching it regurally. Probably was watching Dick Clark Show. My brothers prpbably had Bozo on.

If I remember correctly I think one of our mutual friends (Tony from the Patio) was a regular on there. He was a good dancer.

[stoney]

Hell, yes, Fiona! But actually Bozo was Ed Wittaker (sp?), not Bosley even though many people thought it was. I was on that show as a girlscout.

You're right about WKTV being a multi-network station, Dave. They were just talking about that the other day on WKTV, which is where I heard about Wittaker, Fiona.

Wasn't Hank Brown the host of Twist-A-Rama? He's still alive & well, too.

[bobbbiez]

Stoney, my sons were on the Bozo Show to, as Boy Scouts. One of my boys won the blowing the ping pong ball contest on the show and won a big box of Durr's meat products. He thought he was pretty cool after that.

Tony wasn't alone on Twist-O-Rama. I was also on the show for a while dancing my fool head off with the pony-tail flying around. God, "those were the days my friend." ;D

Hank brown is still around and doing well. Talked to him a few months back when he visited my little man I care for who is also a radio celebrity.