January 15, 2011

Doug

Doug, age 8
Port Washington, Wisconsin (1976)

I think I'm about 8 in this family picture, circa 1976. As you can see, I'm holding my beloved Jamie Sommers ("The Bionic Woman") doll. My younger brother got the more macho Six Million Dollar Man, of course.

"A Very (Gay) Bionic Christmas"
Growing up in Port Washington, I adored action figures and dolls of all types. But damn if I didn't love playing with my aunt's Barbie collection.
They had such great clothes!

In all fairness, my parents never made a big deal about buying me the Bionic Woman stuff. I remember asking for Charlie's Angels dolls as well, and got a couple of those.

Around the same time, I had a Miss Piggy puppet. I even took her out to restaurants with the family.  When the host asked, 'Table for four?'
I'd reply (in my best Piggy voice), 'No, FIVE!'  (God, was I a ham!)

I used to sing showtunes at family gatherings - although I eschewed traditional diva-esque numbers for songs like "76 Trombones."

My Grandma used to have a basket of Avon sample-sized lipsticks in her bathroom - and she once caught me applying a nice shade of rose to my lips.

All she said was, 'Isn't it fun to try on lipstick?'

Perhaps my family should have known my orientation, when at about age 4,
I confronted a man at the mall, asking: 'Mister, do you have a penis?'

I'm still curious about those to this day, I suppose...

Doug's first, famous-person same sex crushes:
Billy Mumy (Will Robinson on "Lost In Space")
Ike Eisenmann ("Witch Mountain")
Gil Gerard ("Buck Rogers In The 25th Centurty") *
* This is weird, since I am so NOT into that type of man in my adulthood...
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7 comments:

CJ on Isabella said...

Your mention of "76 Trombones" just brought back a memory of me marching (or was I prancing) around our basement while that song was playing on the old record player. :o)

coulrophobic agnostic said...

I'm laughing so hard reading your bio. Bet you kept your parents on their toes. Bless your hammy little heart!

Heather said...

How awesome was your grandma, seriously :D

Anonymous said...

i loved buck rodgers!

robbibub said...

I too had a crush on Will Robinson and Ike Eisenmann. Very cool to find someone else who liked both of them, and Ike was a bit more obscure. I got to meet Bill though - very cool. My third would be Wesley Eure from Days of our Lives and Land of the Lost.

Anonymous said...

Doug - Billy Mumy is going to be at The Hollywood Show signing autographs and chatting with his .... um ... FANS! Feb 12 & 13 www.hollywoodshow.com

Tip: If you buy your tickets online and use the code FB5OFF you only pay $15 for the ticket.

You should GO and meet him and tell him that you had a crush on him. He'd get SUCH a kick out of it!!

Emily said...

Too cute! And that just warms my heart that your family was so supportive of you, especially Grandma. Great story!