I am not a big TV awards show watching kinda person. I enjoy them occasionally but don’t go out of my way to watch them and last nights Emmy’s were no different. I watched the opening because Jeanna was laughing at some of what was going on so I came to the living room, but other than that I kept up to date by the hashtag conversation on twitter.
One thing that struck me though is the amount of ‘gay folk’ at the awards, nominated for Emmy’s (either as gay individuals or playing the role of gay people in a TV show) and of course hosting the awards – Jane Lynch.
Modern Family did it’s fair share of winning – a TV show with a gay brother and his flamboyant partner along with their adopted child.
Also there were numerous references to gay or being gay/lesbian – in the intro in Mad Men – Jane Lynch saying that people wonder why she’s a lesbian, etc. All in good humor and I think they were taken that way by those in attendance.
Of course I’m sure that soon some church, priest, rabbi, or some other idiot (aka Bachmann) will say that Jane Lynch hosting the Emmy’s is the reason for the next natural disaster, just as when Ellen hosted the awards, and of course the latest hurricane to hit the east coast were blamed on the fact that the homo’s can marry in those states. Nonetheless, the awards seem to have gone well, it appears there is more openly homosexual friendly TV shows as well as openly gay/lesbian actors, directors, writers, designers, etc. etc.
I found the article below, and I thought I had to share it. It covers just what I was thinking about the award show last night but it’s taken from a personal viewpoint of someone in the business. I found the article at this LINK, from the NY Times, written by Normal Sunshine.
Before the Emmys Were Gay
Norman Sunshine is an artist and the co-author, with Alan Shayne, of the forthcoming “Double Life: A Love Story From Broadway to Hollywood.”
Jane Lynch of “Glee,” an openly gay actress, will host this year’s Emmy Awards.
FOR a few years now, I have watched the Emmy Awards with a mixture of amazement and envy. Did that actor really kiss the guy next to him when his name was announced? Did that composer really say I love you to his male partner in his acceptance speech? Looking forward to tonight’s Primetime Emmy awards, hosted by the openly gay actress Jane Lynch, I can’t help but think how far we’ve come since my own encounter with the awards show in 1976.
I was painting in my studio in downtown Los Angeles when the phone rang. Not surprisingly, it was my “friend” Alan Shayne (we used the word friend in those days, even though we had lived together for 18 years). He sounded terribly excited. At that time, Alan was the president of television at Warner Brothers. Before becoming president, he had persuaded me to create collages for four holiday specials he had produced for CBS. Now he told me that he had secretly put up my name for an Emmy in graphics for the 1976 Valentine special “Addie and the King of Hearts,” and I had been nominated. I couldn’t believe it.
That night we talked about the show and the two tickets I would receive. We had been told of Warner Brothers’ hesitation in making Alan president because of our relationship, and had been advised by helpful friends not to rub it in people’s faces. So Alan always attended business parties with women, never with me. But this was the Emmys, and I was nominated for Alan’s show. Shouldn’t we be together?
We went back and forth but finally decided it would be better if I went with a woman, and that was the end of it. In any case, I didn’t think Alan would miss much. I was up against serious competition: the graphics for “The New, Original Wonder Woman.” For “Addie,” I had taken scenes from the show and turned them into bright, childlike paper collages that had appeared at the beginning and end of each act. I was very proud of the work but it didn’t compare in technical virtuosity, and I was sure I wouldn’t win.
The day of the awards ceremony, I took my art dealer, Margo Leavin. The room was filled with flowers, music and elegantly attired people. Margo and I were escorted to a table right next to the stage and for a moment I thought a mistake had been made, but there was my name on a place card. Waiters immediately appeared with bottles of California chardonnay.
The awards seemed interminable. Margo and I whispered. I couldn’t wait until the event was over. After the awards, I planned to splurge on a small private plane to fly out to Palm Springs to meet Alan at a friend’s place. In the meantime, the wine kept being poured and I figured, why not have a good time.
Suddenly I focused on the word “graphics” coming out of the loudspeakers. “The Emmy goes to Norman Sunshine for ‘Addie and the King of Hearts.’ ” I just sat there, wondering if I had heard correctly. Margo kissed me and gently pushed me out of my chair. I somehow managed to get up on the stage where another woman kissed me and handed me the gold statue. I made a rambling speech thanking everybody on the show whose name I could remember, and especially the producer, Alan Shayne. Later I barely remembered a word I’d said.
In a daze, I put Margo in a cab and took another to the airport. Instead of feeling excited, I felt angry. Why wasn’t Alan there with me to share this? Why did we always have to hide? Then it turned out there was a technical problem with the plane, and the flight was canceled. I found a pay phone and dialed the Palm Springs house. I shouted at whoever answered, “Give me Alan.” And when he came on I yelled, “The plane can’t fly and I’m stuck here and it’s all your fault!”
“What happened at the awards?”
“What happened? I won and you weren’t there.”
“It’s just as well,” Alan replied, “I would have cried.”
I choked up. “I know,” I said. And then we were laughing.
I suddenly spied a Hertz counter down the hall. “Hold on,” I said. I rented a car, ran back to the phone and shouted, “I’m on my way.”
How I got to Palm Springs I’ll never know. I did the two-hour trip in an hour and a half. When I got there I honked the horn and everyone came running out yelling their congratulations. Alan just looked at me and said, “I’ll never let anything like this happen to us again.”
Many years later, when Alan was up for an Emmy of his own for producing the miniseries “The Bourne Identity” with Richard Chamberlain, we sat side by side at the awards show. He didn’t win, but I know that if he had, he would have stood up there and openly thanked me as his life partner.
