The Story Behd Gay Bob, the World's First Out-And-Proud Doll - Atlas Obscura

Contents:

• WHAT ABOUT GAY BOB?
• HOW GAY BOB, THE WORLD’S FIRST OPENLY GAY DOLL, CAME TO BE
• THE STORY BEHD GAY BOB, THE WORLD’S FIRST OUT-AND-PROUD DOLL
• THE OBSSIVE PHOTOGRAPHER BEHD AMERI’S FIRST GAY MAGAZE
• BIG GAY BOB
• THE PROFSNAL ATHLETE WHO CAME OUT AS A GAY MAN— 1989
• THAT GAY EPISO: ‘THE BOB NEWHART SHOW’ SHOWS STRAIGHT PEOPLE HOW TO STAND UP FOR GAY PEOPLE
• MEET GAY BOB, THE 1977 DOLL THAT URGED PEOPLE TO COME OUT OF THE CLOSET
• SO BOB BENSON IS DEFELY GAY, RIGHT? AN INVTIGATN
• BEG GAY WAS THE GRAVT S WASHGTON
• GENERATN QUEER: A GAY MAN'S QUT FOR HOPE, LOVE, AND JTICE HARDVER – JUNE 1, 1998
• KEV MAXEN BE FIRST MALE ACH A US MEN’S PROFSNAL SPORTS LEAGUE TO PUBLICLY E OUT AS GAY

WHAT ABOUT GAY BOB?

We had somethg to learn om the gay movement, jt like we did om the black civil rights movement, and the women’s movement and that is havg the urage to stand up and say, ‘I have a right to be what I am. He had a preprogrammed voice rerdg that played the earnt msage, “Gay people are no different than straight people… if everyone me ‘out of their closets, ’ there wouldn’t be so many angry, trated, ightened people.

HOW GAY BOB, THE WORLD’S FIRST OPENLY GAY DOLL, CAME TO BE

At the same time Gay Bob h the mail-orr adult-centric talogs (and a uple of biastal boutique shelv) sger and anti-gay rights activist Ana Bryant found Save Our Children, Inc, which opposed the gay rights movement. Acrdg to the anti-gay lobby group Protect Ameri’s Children, Bob was “evince of the speratn the homosexual mpaign has reached s effort to put the homosexual liftyle across to the Amerin people.

” Funny enough, Bob’s “g out” party cid directly wh the righteo prence of the “Save Our Children” mpaign, a movement led by sger and polil activist, Ana Bryant, that manufactured an atmosphere of hatred on the basis that gay people were recg children. “I thk every gay man was aware of Gay Bob, ” says Chris Byrne, a 30-year-pl veteran of the toy dtry, thor of five books on toy history, and a featured expert on Netflix’s h documentary, The Toys That Ma Us.

THE STORY BEHD GAY BOB, THE WORLD’S FIRST OUT-AND-PROUD DOLL

Though Gay Bob was certaly humoro—the doll was signed to be anatomilly rrect, and proment gay activists such as Bce Voeller told reporters that people should “al wh [the doll] lightly and enjoy ”—Rosenberg’s tentns seem to have been scere. When asked why he would pour $10, 000 of his money to the Gay Bob’s productn, he replied, “we had somethg to learn om the gay movement, jt like we did om the black civil rights movement and the women’s movement, and that is havg the urage to stand up and say ‘I have a right to be what I am. When Gay Bob h stor 1978, that right to be gay and equal was once aga unr attack, most notably om Ana Bryant, a sger and well-known brand ambassador who mobilized opposn to a Da County, Florida ordance that outlawed discrimatn on the basis of sexual orientatn.

And, turns out, those nsumers who feared the troductn of more “disgtg” dolls were partially rrect—Rosenberg soon gave Gay Bob a fay of his own, wh brothers Marty Macho, Executive Eddie, Anx Al, and Straight Steve (who lived the suburbs and wore blue sus), and sisters Fashnable Fran, Liberated Libby, and Nervo Nelly. I know that this is a crazy tle but as someone who lov readg gossip, and pecially om all the celebri om earlier s, i have noticed that almost every male celebry om that time has some bi/gay mors gog on, some of them nfirmed like that of Bowie, Mick Jagger, Marlon Brando wh Marv Gaye, Richard Pryor and Jam Baldw to name some exampl, but i have never ever read anythg on Bob. Although gays had long been si-eyeg the emblems of straight masculy, Mizer fed them wh new meang: the very men who had looked stoic and impassive the straight magaz seemed, unr Mizer’s directn, to be havg fun.

THE OBSSIVE PHOTOGRAPHER BEHD AMERI’S FIRST GAY MAGAZE

When David Hurl, the gay pornographer and Mizer protégé, was a teen-ager Ccnati, he glimpsed Physique Pictorial_ _at a newsstand and felt, as he put to Taschen, “stantly clud, as if the men were beckong him to look. ” Dpe such objectns, he reportedly ma a fortune the eighti by distributg so-lled “ssn vios, ” rerdgs of photo shoots that then veered to more recreatnal Mizer’s Greek-warrr fixatn, ’s temptg to thk of him as one early source of the “body fascism” for which ntemporary gay-male culture is often maligned. “He was pelled to share his appreciatn, but also his tth about his 57 years wh Roger and what they experienced over the s as gay men a society and culture that were not welg to LGBTQ+ intifyg folx.

Now, more than 25 years after g out of the closet, the former bodybuildg champ shar his thoughts on the ath threats he received after his announcement, the fate of his relatnship wh Rod and the untry's shiftg perceptn of homosexualy. Wrten by partners Patricia Jon and Donald Reiker and directed by the legendary Jam Burrows, Season 5’s “Some Of My Bt Friends Are…” featur some of the most direct talk of gay issu a s up to that pot.

” It wasn’t the first s to feature a recurrg gay character, eher; Vcent Schiavelli played a gay man 9 of the short-lived Corner Bar’s 16 episo n, and Barney Miller’s effemate Marty Morrison (Jack DeLeon) had already appeared 5 episos by this pot. And when the group charg mandg the gay man be removed, Bob plants his feet, tells his regulars they should all be ashamed of themselv, and untentnally quot the mil Funny Girl: “I’m not sayg you’re stuck wh him, I’m jt sayg that we’re people–different people, and people need each other. Edward Rowe, the executive director of Protect Ameri’s Children, was quoted a 1978 issue of the Ptsburgh Post-Gazette scribg Gay Bob as “another evince of the speratn the homosexual mpaign has reached s effort to put homosexual liftyle, which is a ath style, across to the Amerin people.

BIG GAY BOB

Seven years ago, on November 24, 2013, Bob’s Burgers released one of their bt episos ever, “Turkey a Can, ” which happens to be an excellent Thanksgivg Day episo and also a ol, gay-ish episo.

Anyway, Bob’s Burgers has many amazg Thanksgivg episos, but “Turkey a Can” is among the bt there is, not only bee of the who-done- aspect, but the ltle sprkle of gayns they gave our tular Bob. All of which might be a slow build to the g-out party of the show's send major gay character, some of which might speak to bigger issu about beg gay the '60s, a ltle b of which might be a preview of the Stonewall Rts to e, and none of which may mean much of anythg ncrete. ) Redd's Mad Men page has been havg a field day wh spy theori, and gay blogs and reppers got more than clue about his veiled homosexualy on Sunday night, when this happened:(via Redd)Y, wasn't jt that Benson hooked up Pete wh a whimsil male nurse named Manolo to take re of his mother.

"Of urse, " Bob says to Pete's nial, all broodg blank ser face on his way out the hear all sorts of reppers tell throughout the day today, the knei was or was not the ultimate sign that Bob Benson is gay. Gay s like Tom and Lorenzo emphasized a very un-Mad Men lack of romance wh Joan durg that beach getaway a uple weeks back: "Let's note that there is yet to be any physil ntact or affectn at all between Joan and Bob. So, we suppose you uld argue that asi om the knei wh Pete Campbell knei (we're gog to make this knei thg a thg), Benson hasn't really had a knei-level spark wh anyone, male or female, gay or, e on, Bob is supposed to be...

THE PROFSNAL ATHLETE WHO CAME OUT AS A GAY MAN— 1989

"Mad Men has a hab of brgg mor characters who signal the broar theme for the followg season, " Jaime Woo wrote at The Huffgton Post, addg that the gay reveal and "his sudn appearance Season 6 uld allu to next season's big theme.

"I'd argue, Bob has masterfully honed on and exploed Pete Campbell's greatt secury, " wr The Wrap's Tim Molloy, who sists that playg knei was merely a ol and lculated move on Bob's part: "He's psyched out a potential rival, and if Pete later acc him of proposng him, then Joan, for one, will attt that Bob sure don't seem gay to her, based on their prev history. "I wonr if 's possible that he really do feel a nnectn wh damaged or needy people, often at the moment of their greatt distrs, " Zoller Sez wrote his excellent rep today, suggtg that Bob might be g on to Pete not bee he's gay but orr to make Pete feel better about Pete's own reprsed homosexualy. Bergeron was as a therapist as well, always upbeat, somewhat ls foced on gettg to the root of his clients’ feelgs than alterg behavr patterns that were trimental to them: therapy om the the last , he built a thrivg private practice, treatg well-to-do gay men for everythg om anxiety to pg wh H.

In Febary, Magn Books, a publisher specializg gay lerature, was schled to prt a self-help gui he had wrten, “The Right Si of Forty: The Complete Gui to Happs for Gay Men at Midlife and Beyond.

THAT GAY EPISO: ‘THE BOB NEWHART SHOW’ SHOWS STRAIGHT PEOPLE HOW TO STAND UP FOR GAY PEOPLE

And, certaly, among gay men the cy, is not unual to hear of an acquatance who has taken his life, often someone the later stag of AIDS who didn’t want (or uldn’t afford) to wa around for the bter end. (A 2002 survey by rearchers at the Universy of California, San Francis, found that 12 percent of urban gay and bisexual men have attempted suici their lifetime, a rate three tim higher than the overall rate for Amerin adult mal.

Here was a man who end his life at the exact moment he seemed to be nearg a profsnal peak, one that volved the upbeat story of a mature gay man facg the send half of his life wh enthiasm, hope and an endls array of tight T-shirts. ”But somethg was clearly roilg below the lm “Dancer From the Dance, ” the semal 1970s novel about gay life New York by Andrew Holleran, the protagonist, Anthony Malone, walks to the bay on Fire Island rather than facg gettg olr and watchg his bety Mr. From World War II until the end of the Cold War, untold thoands of gay men and women were eher purged om ernment service or nied employment altogether, solely bee of their sexual the same time, some of the most important prerequis for succs the natn’s pal—the abily to work long hours on a low ernment salary, a willgns to travel at a moment’s notice, prrizg reer over fay—are more easily attaed by those whout a fay to support, a set of circumstanc that ma Washgton an pecially attractive place for gay people, gay men particular.

The cy has long attracted the archetypil “bt ltle boy the world, ” the thor Andrew Tobias’s term for a certa type of gay young man who diligently channels the adversy engenred by his secret to amic pursus, so many of whom have ma their way to Washgton bee of s peculiar appete for the skills that secret Kirchick: The stggle for gay rights is overBob Waldron was one such man. Waldron’s experience, ptured now-classified ernment rerds and told full here for the first time, reveals jt how much the gay Amerins sacrificed—and how even someone unwavergly loyal to one of the untry’s most skillful policians was vulnerable to the fall of 1963, Johnson had cid to brg Waldron onto his executive-branch staff.

MEET GAY BOB, THE 1977 DOLL THAT URGED PEOPLE TO COME OUT OF THE CLOSET

Phillips seemed to take the matter stri, as evinced by his cisn to stay at Waldron’s home, and sleep Waldron’s bed, for the rt of the A glimpse to 1970s gay activismIn reuntg the experienc to the ernment vtigator, though, Phillips imbued them wh a forebodg he had not seemed to feel when they occurred.

“I believe that he is very much a loyal Amerin cizen, and even though he has homosexual tennci, I would still remend him for a posn volvg natnal secury on the basis of his past rponsible ernment work and other personal characteristics. But while he was helpg Johnson assume the rponsibili of lear of the ee world, a group of men a buildg a few blocks away were pilg a report that would throw his life to the urse of nductg s background check, Space Council Executive Secretary Edward Welsh told the longtime Johnson ai Walter Jenks, the CSC disvered that Waldron had participated “homosexual activi. The “Lavenr Sre, ” the purge of gays and lbians om the feral ernment that had begun the early 1950s, was still grdg on well to the followg ; jt a few months after Waldron was jettisoned om the Whe Hoe, the State Department announced that had fired 63 people as “secury risks” the prev year, 45 of them on acunt of a wele prence Washgton’s most exclive salons and at the apex of Amerin polil power, Waldron was now persona non grata.

Scerely, Bob WaldronIronilly, the man rponsible for rryg out Waldron’s dismissal, Walter Jenks, himself beme the subject of a gay sndal when, three weeks before the 1964 electn, he was arrted for solicg another man for sex the basement bathroom of the YMCA around the rner om the Whe Hoe. Jt a few months later, nnectn wh a Senate Internal Secury Submtee vtigatn that lled more than 100 wns and generated some 20, 000 pag of ttimony, a senr State Department official asserted that “homosexualy is the most disturbg secury problem” the agency faced.

SO BOB BENSON IS DEFELY GAY, RIGHT? AN INVTIGATN

He unted among his clients a diplomatic register full of ambassadors, the Organizatn of Amerin Stat, the Johnsons after they left the Whe Hoe, and numero other proment Washgtonians and storied stutns—a tribute to his genuy and perseverance, perhaps, but also a utnary tale for any gay person wh polil ambn. In 1995, at age 68, Waldron died of AIDS, another agent of stctn agast gay his anguished 1964 letter to Phillips, Waldron explaed that, once intified, homosexuals were “marked by our society—which do not perm a return.

BEG GAY WAS THE GRAVT S WASHGTON

A homosexual was forever weeks after the 1964 electn, savorg his historic landsli victory, Johnson discsed Waldron’s fate wh Deke DeLoach, the puty associate director of the FBI and the bure’s liaison to the Whe Hoe. We’ve always felt like, wh the posts, we were jumpg to the nversatn and offerg the fashn and cril analysis that uld only e when two gay men, one wh a fashn background and one wh a film gree, get together to talk about the show on their predomantly fashn-oriented se. We’re tellg you this bee wh this week’s episo, we’re feelg a ll to arms to be the big ol’ mouthy gays that we are; a ll to help give a ltle si perspective on the qutn that seems to be plagug all of mankd this week.

After almost an entire season of poppg up the background or sudnly showg up to offer help to var members of the SC&P fay, Bob disappoted a whole bunch of people who were hopg he was any of a number of wild thgs, om Don’s illegimate son to an actual ernment spy, by revealg the mundane tth of himself: he’s gay and he’s hot for Pete Campbell. We look around at many of our fellow reviewers and reppers, as well as the onle fans, many of whom are still askg this week if Bob Benson is really gay, and seems to that a whole lot of people – possibly most of the on who watch the show – are kd of missg the pot.

Here is what we surmise about Bob Benson, based on the above: He’s an upper-middle class over-achiever om a fay of them but he’s more than likely tranged om them bee he’s gay, which partially explas why he don’t work for the fay firm and also explas why he n be so flexible about whether his father is alive or not. Like a lot of over-achievg well-closeted gay men, Bob is operatg unr “Bt Ltle Boy the World” syndrome, a term which om the semal g-out tobgraphy of the same name, published 1973, and so well scrib a certa type of middle-to-upper-class gay man that ’s nsired an hont-to-god measurable syndrome today. There almost always had been one New York Cy, but the years followg the war, the numbers of tached men and women who migrated to the cy and joed what would later e to be lled the “gay muny” expand tremendoly.

GENERATN QUEER: A GAY MAN'S QUT FOR HOPE, LOVE, AND JTICE HARDVER – JUNE 1, 1998

This is largely why the Stonewall Rts of 1969 happened when they did;P bee the gay muny fally had the numbers and the munally-fed anger need to do somethg about the stutnalized harassment they were receivg om the police. Anyway, we ma a pot our ial review of this episo that Bob across “culturally gay, ” which is to say, he’s closeted work and many areas of his life, but he likely has some form of gay social life, given that he knows Manolo well enough to remend him for jobs. We would also highly remend Edmund Whe’s “A Boy’s Own Story” and “The Betiful Room is Empty” for an extremely tailed and well-drawn pictn of whe gay male life NYC prr to and around this perd.

The ia that Bob might be socializg and havg some form of gay life, however limed that may be by today’s standards, sets him drastilly apart om the show’s other notable gay male character, Sal Romano, who was such a eply entrenched good Italian Catholic boy that he was livg wh his mother and apparently a virg (he ran like hell om that Belle Jolie guy like he was on fire) well to his middle age.

KEV MAXEN BE FIRST MALE ACH A US MEN’S PROFSNAL SPORTS LEAGUE TO PUBLICLY E OUT AS GAY

This don’t seem to be referred to much anymore, but back the Sal Romano days, you equently heard reviewers and reppers talk about how obvly gay he was and how hard was sometim to believe that no one around him ever spected. ” He was liberately signed to throw the viewer off and not immediately get them to gus that he was gay, total opposn to Sal, who loudly signaled his gayns to the 21st Century dience the first time he opened his mouth.

Bob also serv to allow the show to ntue s examatn of the changg stat of gays, much the same way Dawn replaced Carla, the Drapers’ maid Ossg, who was the primary Ain-Amerin character on the show for the first three years. Gay men did, fact, do this sort of thg and do, fact, still do this sort of thg; riskg the closet based on very ep fatuatns (or even dangero obssns) or jt an obssively close readg of another man to see if he’s sendg out signals. It was actually illegal for gay people to socialize wh each other, which is at least partially why so many gay male assignatns at the time happened back alleys and tea rooms and why plited signalg like Polari and the hanky were ed to munite everythg om sexual posn and act preferenc to basic gay social ncepts (“butch, ” “drag, ” and “queen” are all Polari slang).