June 1, 1978: Charles Nelson Reilly Comes Out of the Closet -- and No One Notices

Left to right: Richard Dawson, Charles Nelson Reilly,

Brett Somers and Gene Rayburn

June 1, 1978: The episode of Match Game, taped on April 29, where Charles Nelson Reilly unintentionally came out of the closet, airs on CBS.

Even though they were nowhere near October 31, Halloween, this clue was given: "Did you hear about the Jolly Green Giant's Halloween party? He invited all the other giants out to the ocean. They all stuck their heads in the ocean and bobbed for (blank)!" The Jolly Green Giant is the mascot of Green Giant frozen foods.

The contestant, a woman named Linda, said, "Whales." Host Gene Rayburn thought it was a difficult question. The 1st panelist was David Doyle of Charlie's Angels, said, "It was difficult, but the beauty and the beast both answered the same: Whales." So that was a match. The 2nd panelist was actress and Match Game regular Brett Somers said, "Sharks."

Gene said, "I suppose anything that's found in the ocean would be a response." Sure, if it was big enough for giants. Upon hearing this, on the cable TV network Buzzr, about 40 years after the fact, I thought of "Shipwrecks."

But the 3rd panelist, actor and Match Game regular Charles Nelson Reilly, as he often did, went another route. Using his normal voice, said, "There's only one answer that's correct: Watermelons."

Gene didn't get the joke. Taking his voice up an octave, he asked, "What do you bob for on Halloween?" Gene, correctly, said, "Apples." And Charles, knowing that these were giants, looking for a fruit bigger than an apple, said, "All right, so what's the biggest fruit you can get?"

This was the 1970s. A performer such as Charles, and Paul Lynde when he occupied the center square on the game show Hollywood Squares, and pianist Liberace on any show he was on, and a few years earlier Alan Sues on Laugh-In, could use a funny voice, wear outrageous clothes, and otherwise drop hints that he was gay, and pretty much do anything but actually say it, and it wouldn't hurt his career.

But if it was revealed, it could destroy him. It wasn't quite as bad for rock stars Elton John and David Bowie: They were British, not American. But such entertainers as Rock Hudson, Raymond Burr, and the already-dead Montgomery Clift went out of their way to take macho roles to hide it. Charles made no such pretensions. Well, maybe not no such: Sometimes, he dropped his voice an octave, and took on the personality of "Chuck," a more assertive and confident version of himself.

This time, though, he blew it, because "fruit" was a slur for a gay man. And he'd said, "All right, so what's the biggest fruit you can get?" The studio audience, who knew, laughed nervously. Realizing what he'd said, Charles added, "Present company included!"

We should all have a friend like Gene Rayburn, who had starred along with Charles (and also Lynde) in the original 1960 Broadway production of the musical Bye Bye Birdie. Gene was willing to take the heat off Charles.

He did an imitation of Kingfish from the old Amos & Andy radio show, hoping that people would remember that instead. He would rather have people think he was guilty of what we now call "casual racism" than have people who didn't know Charles was gay remember his line. Gene said, "My question, Mr. Bones, is, Who put the watermelons in the ocean?" Eating watermelons was an old stereotype of black people. Brett, catching on to what Gene was doing, dropped her normal antagonistic banter with Charles, and said, "We're gonna get letters!"

The 4th panelist was actress Elaine Joyce, and she matched Linda by saying, "Whales." The 5th panelist was Richard Dawson, host of the game show Family Feud, and formerly part of the casts of Laugh-In and Hogan's Heroes. An Englishman, he made a pun on the other "nations" in Great Britain: "I said Scotland. Nor, I said Whales." So that was 3 matches, a good haul.

The 6th and last panelist was actress Betty White, and she said, "I was so hung up on the Jolly Green Giant, I said they were bobbing for niblets!" As in corn kernels. They'd be too small to be seen in the ocean. Richard said he explained that to her, and said that her response was, "Who needs ya?"

So, after all that, did anyone have to worry about what was said? After all, CBS decided to air the episode anyway, without editing out Charles' explanation for "Watermelons," or Gene's response to it.

Neither man needed to worry: Airing in the morning, when most people were at work, and when housewives couldn't immediately go on social media and ask, "Who's worse, gay Charles or racist Gene?" most of America didn't even know it happened.

The show ran until 1982, and, to the end, Gene was the host, and Charles was a regular panelist. Gene got away with a lot of things, some of them worse than the watermelon reference. Charles came out of the closet in 2000. Gene died in 1999, and Charles in 2007, both still beloved figures in show business.

Today, Alec Baldwin hosts a version of Match Game, with openly gay panelists, and the line would just be silly, and not need any deflection.

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June 1, 1978 was a Thursday. The World Cup got underway in Argentina, at the National Stadium in Buenos Aires, nicknamed "El Monumental." The opposing teams were the defending Champions, West Germany, and their neighbor Poland. The game ended in a 0-0 draw.

Before you ask the question, "Gee, I wonder who the Argentines were rooting for?" hinting that there were ex-Nazis in the crowd, let me remind you that Poles are the second-largest ethnic group in Buenos Aires, behind Italians. The huge multicultural city really is the New York of South America.

The NBA Finals was between Games 4 and 5. The Washington Bullets went on to beat the Seattle SuperSonics in 7 games.

And these 4 games were played in Major League Baseball, all of them in the American League:

* The New York Yankees lost to the Baltimore Orioles, 1-0 at Yankee Stadium. Jim Palmer pitched a 2-hit shutout, outpitching rookie Jim Beattie. The only run came in the bottom of the 5th inning. With Billy Smith (not to be confused with the New York Islanders goaltender) at bat, Larry Harlow tried to steal 2nd base. But Cliff Johnson, filling in as the Yankees' catcher in place of the injured Thurman Munson, threw the ball away, allowing Harlow to reach 3rd, and Doug DeCinces, who was on 3rd, to score. Eddie Murray went 1-for-4. Reggie Jackson did not play.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 4-3 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. Robin Yount went 0-for-2, but had an RBI on a sacrifice fly. Rookie Paul Molitor went 1-for-4.

* The Kansas City Royals beat the Seattle Mariners, 10-0 at Royals Stadium (now Kauffman Stadium) in Kansas City. Dennis Leonard pitched a 6-hit shutout. George Brett went 2-for-5 with 3 RBIs.

* And the Texas Rangers beat the Minnesota Twins, 10-7 at Arlington Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas. Toby Harrah went 1-for-4 with 4 RBIs. Richie Zisk went 3-for-4 with 2 RBIs. Rod Carew did not play.