That time Little Richard & Liberace both appeared as guests on the same 1970s talk show
The Mike Douglas Show for a week. During his stint with Douglas, rock’n’roller Little Richard was a guest.Subscribe to our newsletter for your front-row seat to all things entertainment with a sprinkle of everything else queer.The clip is fascinating now to see how gay men in the entertainment industry often hid in plain sight.Watch below.A post shared by Peter Morley (@petermorley_sle)In the clip, Little Richard says he’d looked up to Liberace since he was a little kid.
He was always particularly taken by his “beautiful” clothes.Douglas compliments Little Richard, saying “Close up, you really are beautiful.” The comment moved some people online.“54 years later everything about this still looks and feels ahead of its time and way more than the sum of its parts,” said one person. “Especially a straight male white host having a very flamboyant gay black male guest, and cutting him off to call him beautiful, with no comedy or overcompensation to it, just admiration.”“It deeply touched me that Mike Douglas in all sincerity told little Richard he was really beautiful in person, said another. “I loved watching the Michael Douglas show when I was young… miss those days.”However, others missed “those days” for other reasons.
More than one commentator suggested it would be nice to return to entertainers like Liberace and Little Richard.“These people existed but did their thing and NEVER tried to jam it down people’s throats for attention or wanted to go after children.
Never,” whined one person.Others correctly pointed out that both Liberace and Little Richard struggled with their sexuality, and that living life in the closet came with a heavy price.Little Richard (Richard Wayne Penniman) was born in December 1932 in Macon, Georgia.
