Yesterday, the world learned the sad news about the tragic deaths of Rob Reiner and his wife, Michele. And today, we learned that on that same day, December 14, the world lost Anthony Geary, who had been living in Amsterdam with his husband, and remained best known for playing Luke, one half of soapdom's most famous couple on General Hospital decades back. But most people may not realize that Geary had one of his very first acting roles on All in the Family, playing Mike Stivic's possibly gay friend, Roger.
The episode featured one (or possibly two) of the earliest depictions of a gay character on network television, and still holds up to day for its bravery and strong message -- and of course its comedic genius.
I'm devastated by the loss of both Rob Reiner and Anthony Geary on the same day, and can't help but think of this episode from All in the Family's first season, "Judging Books By Covers." I'm sharing here the full writeup about the episode for the book, All in the Family: The Show That Changed Television, that was published by Rizzoli in 2021. I urge you to check it out, as we remember these two greats taken from us tragically and too soon.
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| L-r, Rob Reiner, Anthony Geary and Sally Struthers in the historic fifth episode of All in the Family's debut season, "Judging Books By Covers" |
Season 1, Episode 5
“Judging Books By Covers”
Written by: Burt Styler
Directed by: John Rich
Guest Stars: Anthony Geary as Roger
Philip Carey as Steve
Bob Hastings as Tommy Kelcy
Billy Halop as Barney
Billy Sands as Nick
Linn Patrick as Jerry
Original Air Date: February 9, 1971
Synopsis: After incorrectly declaring an effeminate friend of Mike and Gloria’s to be gay, Archie discovers that one of his old bar buddies, his football idol, is himself homosexual.
Norman Lear: Gay people were then and are now a part of everyday life, which is why we did this episode. It’s not that we were looking for subjects that would startle or stun an audience. We just wanted to look at real life, and deal with subjects that mattered. So while in 1971 this story may have been something new to television, it wasn’t new in the neighborhood. You didn’t get to be as old as I was and not know someone who was gay.
Now, what could be better dramatically and comedically than Archie, after going on and on about Mike’s friend at the bar, then not only learning that a guy he admired for years as a great football player and a strong male is gay, but to learn it as they were arm wrestling, right there in their moment of “double maleness?”
Steve is a big guy who could easily slam Archie’s arm down, and boom! He did. I like that Steve was very matter-of-fact about his sexuality, and didn’t hate Archie for his attitude. He had long since learned to live his life.
In arguing about Roger, Archie says, “I never said a guy who wears glasses is a queer. A guy who wears glasses is a four-eyes. A guy who's a fag is a queer.” I’ll never forget that line. I don’t remember having trouble with too much of the language in this episode from the network – but I do remember being surprised that not everybody knew the expression “four eyes.” There had been a time when if someone wore glasses, it was socially more noticeable, enough to elicit comment. At that time, a guy who wore glasses was a “four eyes.” Apparently later, that wasn’t an exceptionally well-known expression.
There’s another memorable bit in this episode, too: the “trick” Gloria and Mike show Archie and Edith, involving trying to step back from the wall, lean down over a chair, pick it up and stand up straight. It’s something that women can do, and men can’t, based on balance. It had been something that was going around at the time, and I remember someone showing it to me. When I tried to do it myself, and had a difficult time, I realized how well it would work on the show for our characters.
Anthony Geary: I had just left college in Utah and come to L.A. in a play. Then I got this script, and was really shocked and excited about it. In those days, to be gay, you would hear everything in terms of negative reactions. It might make you not want to get out of bed in the morning, because it was so oppressive, and so minimizing as a human being. I know because I am gay, and I had to face some fear about this role, but then I realized I had to do it, because it was just too good, and too special. This show was new, and was already jumping into deep water.
I hadn't done that much television or film, but even though the TV process was new to me, it felt very comfortable to have a few days to rehearse, and then have the audience there and get their immediate reactions. The episode happened to tape on the very day that All in the Family was premiering on TV. And I do remember how on that day, everybody was really nervous, because they didn’t really know what they had. But then, just as we were about to shoot the show, some reactions came in from the show’s airing in New York, and everyone was thrilled, and after the show went out to an after-party.
But that also meant that I was appearing on this show knowing nothing about it. What style was it? The characters seem to be acting realistically, but it’s obviously a farce. But a farce with societal statements? As iconic as the Bunkers later became, I knew nothing about them. And it was hard to figure out how to fit in.
I remember a little tension early in the rehearsal process, because I tried some things that weren’t appreciated. For one thing, just to watch Jean Stapleton being the dingbat was so much fun! I would be constantly laughing, and so I tried to make it part of the character, as if I wasn’t suppressing myself. They didn’t like that, and that makes sense. But Jean, then can you stop being so goddamn funny?! Jean would be very comforting, and would take my hand when she saw things going a little rough in rehearsal.
I had to figure out exactly how gay Roger would be, although I loathe saying that, because any of us who is gay or knows gay people knows that there’s no one way to be gay. But in that script, Roger had to elicit strong feelings from Archie. So I tried to make him just the friendliest kind of guy imaginable, flamboyant, with lots of gestures, excited about life, a younger-than-springtime kind of guy. I asked from the wardrobe department to give me a longer scarf than they had initially provided, so that when I came through the door and started talking with my hands, I could really get that thing flying. I figured Roger was going so fast and having such a good time with his little life that he didn’t even hear the negative kinds of things like Archie would say. It was silly, and cartoony in a way, but it seemed to work.
After a while in rehearsal, Norman called me aside and said, “I love what you're doing. It's absolutely perfect. Don't change a thing. There are a lot of feelings around this episode from the network all the way down. We're taking a big risk here, but you're being very courageous.” That relieved me of all my fear, and then I was able to go forward. It ended up being an extremely positive experience for me. This episode has turned out to be an iconic piece, and I’m proud of it. I quite like “Roger the Fairy.” He is precious to me.
