THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, January 27, 1996 TAG: 9601250084
SECTION: TELEVISION WEEK PAGE: 1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LARRY BONKO, TELEVISION COLUMNIST
DATELINE: PASADENA, CALIF. LENGTH: Medium: 86 lines
WHEN DORIS DAY sang about her secret love in the film ``Calamity Jane,'' was her character sending a message to a lesbian in her life?
The producers of a Home Box Office documentary, ``The Celluloid Closet,'' believe that the Day film, and many others made in the ultra-conservative Hollywood era of the 1950s and early 1960s, had homosexual shadings and nuances.
Other movies with subtle homosexuality mentioned by co-producers Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman include the John Wayne classic, ``Red River,'' ``Ben-Hur'' and ``Gilda.''
These films were ``coded'' with a gay ``sub-text,'' the producers insist. However, when pressed by members of the Television Critics Association, Epstein and Friedman said they had no documentation - no director's notes or producer's memos - to support their theory that Wayne, Day, Charlton Heston and other big stars of Hollywood's golden era were winking at the camera and saying, ``There is homosexuality here if you know where to look.''
``The Celluloid Closet'' premieres Tuesday at 10 p.m.
``During those years when filmmakers were influenced by the Hays office, Legion of Decency and studio censors, the producers and actors were sneaking a gay sub-text in what were otherwise heterosexual stories,'' said Epstein. ``Gay audiences, who were hungering to see their images on the screen, constructed them out of what was given to them in the old films.''
That's a pretty shaky foundation on which to base this documentary, which features a narration but no commentary by Lily Tomlin. Once ``The Celluloid Closet'' gets past its speculations about hidden themes in he-man films, and others with a strong female presence, the documentary has merit. It shows viewers how filmmakers has matured in dealing with homosexuality, graduating from the ``sissy scenes'' in early black and white pictures to the gripping AIDS theme of Tom Hanks' ``Philadelphia.''
Hollywood had come far in its treatment of homosexuality, but will go no farther, speculates Epstein. Television of late has been all but obsessed with the subject. (Almost on cue, Bravo on Monday at 10 p.m. shows ``South Bank Show: k.d. lang,'' in which the singer speaks frankly about emerging from the closet, saying her first love was a female teacher).
Of late, there has been a lesbian wedding on ``Friends,'' homosexual references on ``NYPD Blue,'' the wedding of gay guys on ``Roseanne'' and the continuing homosexual storyline on ``Melrose Place.'' We've come a long way in 40 years, say the HBO producers, but there is still a ways to go.
``The Celluloid Closet'' is one of a handful of new HBO original projects previewed for TV critics here this week. Among the others is ``The Late Shift,'' a dramatization of Bill Carter's book about how Jay Leno and David Letterman mud-wrestled for Johnny Carson's seat on ``The Tonight Show.'' It premieres Feb. 24.
Do I have to remind you living-room jocks what Sunday is coming up? It is Super Bowl Sunday.
When the NBC executives met the TV press a few days ago, they were most happy to have the Dallas Cowboys in Super Bowl XXX. With the Cowboys bringing their glamorous image and large following to the Super Bowl, NBC is expecting 135 million viewers to tune in.
The network has sold all of its 58 commercial breaks for $1 million per break. And when Super Bowl XXX ends on Sunday - it's scheduled to start at 6:16 p.m. - NBC will break out two new episodes of ``Friends.''
To intensify the pre-game hype, NBC will trot off Leno's ``Tonight Show'' to the site of the game. Leno takes to the air from Phoenix Thursday and Friday night at 11:35.
The Peacock network promises to capture the ``National Football League experience'' by having Leno drop in on players and partygoers in Phoenix. Extra added attraction: Leno will present the yet-to-be-named cover girl on the 1996 Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue.
Among the sneak previews arranged for the TV press was ``The American Experience'' from PBS. An episode that deals with the life and times of Orson Welles - ``The Battle Over Citizen Kane'' - airs Monday at 9 p.m.
PBS makes it clear that ``Citizen Kane'' was Welles' vision on film of the life of William Randolph Hearst, a 76-year-old publishing magnate. Since this film is hardly a valentine, Hearst reportedly wanted to prevent its release.
``The American Experience,'' in telling the story of how the film was made and almost undone by its critics, also recalls the early life of Welles.
Want to escape the Super Bowl madness? Comedy Central has arranged the trap door - an ``Absolutely Fabulous'' marathon starting Sunday at 4 p.m. Wouldn't you rather have Patsy and Edina on Sunday night than Troy and Emmitt? ILLUSTRATION: Photos
by CNB