Boob Tube
Not so long ago, if an actor played a gay man on the silver screen, or on TV, it marked the end of his career. Things have certainly changed. Nowadays, taking on the role of a gay man, may well be an express ticket to an Oscar or an Emmy.
Trey Curry (real name: Tomas Carriochi) was just such an actor. He was young, handsome, straight, and married to a beautiful one-named Italian model, Franca (real name: Francine Gravi). He had enjoyed a moderate success in secondary roles in a few romantic comedy films, but he was getting somewhat discouraged, because his career seemed to have inexplicably come to a total impasse.
When his career faltered, so did his marriage. Sweet, endearing Franca suddenly turned into a shrew. She was constantly nagging him about anything and everything. He hated her pretentious friends from the fashion industry, and that caused problems in their social life. They would have discussed divorce, but their sex life was just too good. Trey was the only man who had ever brought Franca to orgasm with his cock or his tongue. She was a bit frigid, but Trey had little tricks that aroused her passion quickly.
When Trey's agent sent him the script for the pilot episode of a new sitcom, `Out and Out', he almost laughed his sides off. It was funny enough, but he couldn't see himself playing a gay man. The plot concerned a gay couple trying to fit into an upscale suburban neighborhood. One of the men was very fey, and the other was a retired football player. Trey thought he was going to read for the macho role, and he agreed to audition.
He was stunned when he found out that the role of the athlete was filled, and he was to audition for the flamboyant partner. He asked for a few minutes to read the script again, so that he could get into character. When he was ready, the director introduced him to Leroy Johnson. Leroy was a retired football player, who came out after he announced that he was leaving the game, and he then turned to acting. Leroy was also black, a fact Trey thought that he had missed when he read the script. He found out later that the script was altered after Leroy was cast.
Trey was belted with shock after shock, but he was, after all, a true professional. He read his lines with a comic flair, but did not get so effeminate that a macho football player would shun him. He was able to strike a happy medium thanks to his acting ability. To make matters even better, he and Leroy had great chemistry between them. Trey never knew, but it was Leroy's influence that got him the part. During the filming of the pilot, Trey and Leroy had breakfast and lunch together every day. Trey even invited Leroy to dinner one night, and Franca fawned all over him.
During the initial rehearsals, something happened to Trey. He got so immersed in his role, that he felt sexual tension toward the man who was supposed to be his partner, lover, and bedmate, on screen. This tension was more than sexual. It was creating confusion in him that he could not explain. He could not keep his hands off Leroy, but everyone believed that he was just acting.
In one scene Leroy had to remove his tee shirt. The entire cast and crew gasped at this perfect specimen of manhood. Trey could barely finish the scene. He was fighting getting a hard-on, and his brain was more confused than ever. He kept forgetting his lines.
The producers were never sure if the public would accept a gay comedy, much less a black and white couple, so they contracted with Trey and Leroy for only six episodes, in addition to the pilot. The sitcom was an instant success, and they ended up making thirteen episodes for season one, and contracted for thirteen more for season two.
Trey became a household name overnight. Wherever they went, he and Franca were pursued by paparazzi. Trey hoped that his wife would now become the sweet, loving Franca he had fallen in love with and married. Alas it was not to be. She became even more shrewish and demanding. He hated coming home after a long day of filming. He and Leroy got into the habit of having a late supper together. Trey did everything he could to delay going home. Even though Leroy became his best friend, Trey never discussed his unhappy home life with him.
One evening toward the end of filming for season one, Leroy asked Trey if they were on for dinner that night.
"Not tonight, pal," Trey said. "I have an appointment." Leroy was disappointed. "Maybe tomorrow," he said and left.
Trey didn't want him to know that he had an appointment with a therapist, who agreed to meet him after hours.
"There's something really weird happening to me, Dr. Burns. I hope you can help me."
"Relax. Take a deep breath and tell me all about it."
First Trey told the doctor about his unhappy home life. "She won't even consider divorce. She says that there's nothing wrong with our marriage, and acts like the problems do not exist."
The doctor was making copious notes on a legal pad. "Yes, yes, go on," he encouraged Trey.
"We're filming our last episode this week. A couple of episodes back a strange thing happened to me."
"Aah," the doctor murmured, realizing that Trey was finally getting to the point. "And what was it that happened?"
"I began to believe that the script, and the set, and Leroy, were all my real life, and that in fact, my life with Franca was merely a sordid TV drama about an unhappy marriage. At home, at night, when Franca was haranguing me for something or other, I kept waiting for the director to yell, "Cut." I literally had to pinch myself back to reality. The problem, doctor, is that it's getting worse. I've lost any sense of which of my lives is real and which is fantasy."
"Yes, yes, go on. This is very interesting."
"Every day the urge grows stronger in me."
"What urge?"
"I want to break my contract with Franca, walk away from her, and spend the rest of my life in suburbia with Leroy, and with my funny neighbors who live on my street. Worse, every day my TV life becomes more real to me, and my other life becomes more surreal. Doctor, I am losing touch with reality. The other day, when I was informed that I was nominated for an Emmy as best actor in a comedy, I became confused and disoriented. I couldn't figure out whether the honor was for Out and Out', or Life with Franca and Trey'. I must have gone into some sort of trance, because when I came out of it, Leroy had placed me on a cot in his dressing room, and he had put a cold compress on my forehead."
"What happened next?"
"When I got home, Franca wanted to go out to celebrate my Emmy nomination. It was late, and I was tired, and still confused. I told her that I didn't want to go out, and she began one of her tirades. Suddenly she grabbed my chin and turned my face toward hers. She accused me of not looking at her when she was talking to me. Then I realized I was looking at the cameras and not her. Of course, there were no cameras in the house, outside of my imagination. I wanted this to be the end of the filming. I wanted desperately to go `home' to Leroy."
Trey stopped talking. He was concerned that he had not explained himself well enough, and that Dr. Burns would not `get it'. He remained silent. He hoped that the doctor would ask the right questions so that he could explain himself better.
Trey didn't expect the question that the doctor finally did ask. "Will you have any time off before you start filming next season's episodes?"
"Yes, three weeks, and I'm not looking forward to it."
"Why not?"
"Franca wants to go to France and Italy, and all I want to do is stay in bed and rest. I keep dreaming of lounging in my back yard in Clarkstown. That's the town in the show. The thought of resting in my apartment in the city disturbs me so much that I think I might as well go with Franca to Europe."
"I'll tell you what I'd like you to do. I think you should go to Europe with your wife. Put your real life back in perspective. See me when you get back home, and if the squares and circles have not been pegged back in the right slots, we'll decide on a course of action."
Being away from the set, and spending full time with Franca, including lots of fantastic sex, did snap Trey back to reality. He never did make a follow up appointment with Dr. Burns. He was still miserable, but he was handling it.
During the first season, Trey and Leroy's characters never touched. The most intimate they ever got was to smile at each other. The show was such a success that the producers and writers decided to get bolder. At the end of the first episode of the new season, the couple would be seen climbing into bed together to go to sleep. They would both be wearing pajamas so that they were fully covered. They would give each other a quick chaste kiss, and...... blackout. They would do nothing bolder, until they could gauge viewer reaction.
During the filming of the scene, when Trey kissed Leroy, a terrible thing happened. Trey reverted back into his near schizophrenic state. Once again Clarkstown became real. When the director yelled, "Cut!" Trey went right on kissing Leroy. He was no longer a straight man married to one of the most beautiful women in the world. He was the gay partner of a retired football player. In his head, he could already picture himself sucking Leroy's cock. It was huge and uncut. He could actually taste it, and all the precum that Leroy was producing.
Leroy was shocked, but he responded to Trey's amorous behavior, and he continued to kiss Trey. Instinctively, the two men parted their lips and allowed their tongues to caress. The director yelled cut several times and finally, he screamed, "Get a room, you two, and for God's sake, cut. It's late and I wanna go home."
Leroy pulled away. He was still in a state of shock. "Come with me," he whispered to Trey. Trey had not yet come back to reality.
"I'll follow you anywhere, honey," he said foolishly.
Leroy pulled him into Trey's dressing room, and Trey objected. "Let's get out of here. I want to go to bed and make love."
"There's nothing I'd like more, but something is wrong with you. I'm going to call a doctor."
"In my wallet," Trey said, "you'll find a card, Dr. Jeffrey Burns. He's my doctor."
"Where's your wallet?"
"On my dressing table." Leroy retrieved the wallet and found the card.
"Dr. Burns is a psychiatrist," he noted. Somehow that snapped Trey back to reality.
"I'm OK, really I am. I'll call the doctor myself if I need him. Please don't call him."
"Promise me you'll call him in the morning, but right now, I'm taking you home."
Franca was surprised to see the two men at her door. "He's not feeling well," Leroy said. "I think you should get him right to bed."
"Yes I will. Thank you so much for bringing him home."
Trey wanted to yell, "I'm not home. He took me to work by mistake," but he managed to remain silent.
Franca took Trey to the guest bedroom. "I think you should sleep here tonight," she said, "until we find out what's wrong with you." She helped him undress and brought him a pair of pajamas. She left for a moment and came back with a set of DVDs. "I have a surprise for you," she smiled. "It was just released today; season one of `Out and Out'."
She got Trey in bed, propped him up on several pillows, and put the first disc in the DVD player. She left quietly and closed the door behind her. Trey smiled. He was watching the pilot episode.
He and Leroy (Max and Sander) are unpacking boxes in their new home. The door bell rings and their next door neighbors are standing there and smiling. They are a young, all American, white couple, grinning from ear to ear. Marion hands them a tray of cookies, and welcomes them to the neighborhood. Jack tells them that it's great to have a gay couple and a Negro (Negro?) in the neighborhood. This is intended to make Max and Sander feel more comfortable, but of course it has the opposite effect. They can't wait for Marion and Jack to get out.
"I guess they meant well," Max comments.
As Trey stared at the TV screen, it suddenly seemed to be getting larger and larger. He cowered under the covers in fear. The TV set began to consume the entire room. Soon there was no TV set. Instead, he was with Sander in their new living room, unpacking.
"Let's take a break," Max says (Trey says).
They sit down on their sofa. They sit close to one another, but never touch. Sander (Leroy) pushes a button on the remote and the TV set comes to life. A beautiful dark haired beauty is screaming and yelling at her contrite husband. The husband looks like Max, but his name is Trey.
"I hate this show," Max says. "Let's take a real break." He stands up and pulls Sander with him. They go to their bedroom and strip rapidly. "Make love to me," Max commands.
They fall on the bed in a sixty-nine position. They suck each other to glory and fall asleep in each other's arms.
Franca did not bother to knock. She walked right into the guest room expecting to see Trey watching the DVD. He was not in the bed. Where did he go? There was no en suite bathroom in this room. Wherever Trey had gotten to, he had left the TV on. She glanced at the TV. Max and Sander are fast asleep in bed together, and they are naked. Franca could not remember ever seeing a scene that graphic on any of the episodes. The censors would surely have cut it right out. Maybe it was an uncensored DVD version. Still she couldn't believe that Trey would have consented to film it.
She shut the TV and ejected the DVD. Then she went about searching for Trey. She never found him, the police never found him, and the private detectives that she hired never found him. She was able to declare him legally dead, and his estate was released to her.
Trey was replaced on `Out and Out' with another actor, but Leroy's heart could not embrace his new co-star. There was no chemistry between them, and the show was cancelled in mid season.
Leroy missed Trey terribly. He finally admitted to himself that he had fallen in love with Trey. Or was it Max he fell in love with? He was confused. One night he was lying in bed watching a re-run of an episode of `Out and Out'. His tears would not stop flowing. Even though he had never had a love scene with Trey, that's all he thought about when he was alone. As he watched the screen, his cock began to harden and he began to stroke himself. He fantasized that he was in bed with Trey. They were naked and their cocks were crushed together. Trey (or was it Max?) turned him on his back and began to suck his cock. Ah, that felt so good. His stroking got swifter, and he came all over his hand, his abdomen and his chest. Leroy was still crying, wondering where in the world Trey could have disappeared to.
Suddenly the TV started to grow. It grew larger and larger until it engulfed his entire room. He was no longer watching the show. He was in it.
"Don't you kiss me any more when you come home?" he heard Max's voice ask.
"Of course, I do Baby. But I'm not leaving again. I'm home to stay."
"We're both home to stay, Honey. Nothing is going to separate us again."
Max and Sander embraced and held each other so hard, they could have broken some ribs.
"I love you," Max said.
"I love you more. Let's make love."
"Not now, Sweetie. Marion and Jack have invited us to dinner."
"I guess that means we'll have to invite them back here next week."
"Yes, Love. We really should ask the writers to give us a few more friends."
"We don't need the writers anymore. We're in charge now. This is our town, our home, and our life. We'll live it as we write it."
"That sounds good to me. Can we write about lots and lots of love making?"
"This could be the beginning of a great literary collaboration," Sander said, laughing. He kissed Max, taking his breath away. They rushed to the bedroom to change for dinner, and squeezed in a quickie in the shower.
I dedicate this story to Rod Serling. Hankste