That time Mark Twain and the The President raised a son together

March 23, 2023 8:04 PM

From Matt Baume comes the story of The First Gay TV Movie: The Battle Over "That Certain Summer" [27m], a 1972 made-for-television movie starring Martin Sheen and Hal Holbrook as a gay couple struggling with the ramifications of trying to bring Holbrook's son from his marriage into their lives. Developed by the team who had created the recently successful Columbo, it made it onto television just a few years after the Stonewall Revolution.
posted by hippybear (18 comments total)

I managed to catch this one a few hours after it came out! Matt Baume's channel is one of my favorites.

I know Hal Holbrook is known for his Mark Twain, but I always think of him as Abraham Lincoln
posted by The Underpants Monster at 9:01 PM on March 23, 2023 [3 favorites]

Wow, that was great, hippybear, thanks. I'd heard of That Certain Summer but knew very little about it. The rest of the channel looks fab too. Excellent find!
posted by mediareport at 10:39 PM on March 23, 2023 [3 favorites]

They look so young.
posted by JanetLand at 5:39 AM on March 24, 2023

Imagining Martin Sheen (at an age) and Hal Holbrook as a loving couple is making my brain ache: the most I can see is a gruff nod while briefly gripping each other's forearms. Maybe a lingering look before one gets in the car to go to work?

TV used to have a much wider range: my teen daughter is getting into musical theater, and I got to explain how there used to be live performances of plays on TV like every weekend.
posted by wenestvedt at 6:27 AM on March 24, 2023 [7 favorites]

The brief clips in the video actually make the relationship seem believable, wenestvedt, despite the network's idiotic and homophobic standards and practices consultants refusing to allow any physical contact at all between Sheen and Holbrook, including "lingering eye contact." According to Matt's well-documented piece, they also made sure to insert new self-loathing dialogue for Holbrook at key accepting moments.

The scene discussed starting at 16:16 with Holbrook and Sheen talking off-camera about quitting smoking while we hear it through the ears of the teen son is an interesting workaround, demonstrating the emotional intimacy between the two in a necessarily elliptical way.

The movie looks like a fascinating time capsule; I love period stuff like this.
posted by mediareport at 7:38 AM on March 24, 2023 [4 favorites]

I remember watching that on TV when it aired (probably because of all the promotion ahead of it.) What I got out of it was that I fell in love with Scott Jacoby who played the son.
posted by ThatCanadianGirl at 7:42 AM on March 24, 2023 [3 favorites]

And just think, Martin Sheen turned homophobe parent for the 1985 TV film, Consenting Adult, which I always jokingly blame for making me gay (when, in reality, it was a chance childhood meeting with Julie Andrews that did that).

Sheen covered a lot of territory on the subject, and did it well.
posted by sonascope at 8:12 AM on March 24, 2023 [9 favorites]

And Martin Sheen's been in a gay married couple again recently in Grace and Frankie.
posted by jenfullmoon at 8:34 AM on March 24, 2023 [1 favorite]

(when, in reality, it was a chance childhood meeting with Julie Andrews that did that)

Wait, wut? I need the rest of that story, sonascope!
posted by mpark at 9:16 AM on March 24, 2023 [3 favorites]

"Julie Andrews Turned Me Gay"

Usually that sentence starts with Barbra or Liza....
posted by hippybear at 9:22 AM on March 24, 2023 [5 favorites]

You might want to check out the podcast Gayest Episode Ever that looks at either explicitly LGBTQ-themed episodes of TV shows or examines shows/episodes with LGBTQ subtext (e.g., the episode of Home Improvement where Tim had to move in with Al for a week).

It's interesting because in doing the show they've found that 70s TV had a remarkable amount of open LGBTQ content like the movie in this FPP, and really emphasizes how conservative TV and media in general became in the 80s and 90s that I'd guess most MeFites grew up with.
posted by star gentle uterus at 9:31 AM on March 24, 2023 [7 favorites]

Imagining Martin Sheen (at an age) and Hal Holbrook as a loving couple is making my brain ache: the most I can see is a gruff nod while briefly gripping each other's forearms. Maybe a lingering look before one gets in the car to go to work?

Seconding jenfullmoon's comment that Martin Sheen plays Sam Waterston's husband in Grace and Frankie and is wonderful.

Yes it's better for gay actors to play gay characters, but it's also heartening to see actors who put a lot of humanity into characters who are different from them.
posted by Ben Trismegistus at 9:34 AM on March 24, 2023 [1 favorite]

Not sure how many gay actors their age would actually be alive today, what with the plague and all.
posted by hippybear at 9:37 AM on March 24, 2023 [3 favorites]

Young Martin Sheen's voice...holy moses. This is super cool - thanks for bringing it to my attention.
posted by docpops at 10:37 AM on March 24, 2023

Hal Holbrook rules.
posted by kirkaracha at 1:00 PM on March 24, 2023

Wow, I had never heard of this. Fascinating post, thank you!
posted by Saucy Possum at 5:51 PM on March 24, 2023

This had a huge impact on me. I had a small crush on Sheen and seeing the movie opened my lil 12-year-old eyes to something I was only the vaguest bit aware of at the time. Thanks for posting this—I would love to revisit it.
posted by kitten kaboodle at 11:40 AM on March 25, 2023 [2 favorites]

Mark Twain and the The President

The Unlikely Friendship of Mark Twain and Ulysses S. Grant

Two of the most famous Americans of the 19 century, Mark Twain and Ulysses S. Grant’s formed a surprising friendship. On paper, the outgoing, personable author and the quiet, reserved general-turned-president couldn’t be more different, but their close bond led to the publication of a landmark work of autobiography — with both men racing against the clock as Grant neared death.

posted by kirkaracha at 6:18 PM on March 25, 2023 [1 favorite]