George Maharis

I don't know why but as I was checking e-mail and finding out who today's Hunk-of-the-Day was (I forget) I suddenly remembered George Maharis who, in the late 60's was on a TV series called "Route 66". I had a crush on him then -- of course I didn't know why at the time -- and with all the very different and divergent ideas people have of what a "hunk" is, I guess I still do, in a way. He was gay (which I didn't know at the time, though apparently all of Hollywood did) and very manly in a kind of "deep", non-threatening way. Not plain by any means, but not exactly the boy next door, either.

I found a tribute of sorts to Maharis at a blog called "gayspecies". It's sort of all over the place and I have only been able to skim the rest of the blog, so if anything there offends, upsets or confuses you, don't blame me. While I don't think Maharis necessarily deserves his own chapter in the Gay History of America -- whatever that would be -- he was a pioneer of sorts when all the other Hollywood "hunks" were "dating" women and almost getting married every other week. I'm sure there's much more on the Net. (A Google search turned up a picture of a tuxedoed Maharis apparently singing with Judy Garland on her TV show. Not surprisingly, I guess, considering that somewhere along the way he released an album called "George Maharis Sings!" Where the hell was I that night?)