My name is Michael Vaccaro. I’m an actor/writer/producer, and I have a sitcom, “Child of the ‘70s,” which can soon be seen on Dekkoo, a network devoted exclusively to gay content. And I am very proud to be a new contributing writer to Q Life Magazine! I chose for my very first interview another writer/actor/producer, Terry Ray, who happens to be one of the stars of “Chid of the ‘70s,” and who is in the midst of a huge success with his gay-themed play, “Electricity,” which has recently taken Los Angeles by storm! I sat down with Terry over many delicious cocktails in one of our favorite nightspots in West Hollywood, where we talked about, amongst other things, gay theatre, the horrors of Hollywood, Maxwell Caulfield, Loni Anderson and “MaryAnn” from “Gilligan’s Island.”
M: OK, Let’s start with “Electricity,” this amazing and powerful play you’ve written, which covers over four decades of American gay history, but in a very intimate setting. How did it happen? Why did you want to write this play? What did you want to say with this play?
TR: Well, thank you so much. “Electricity” is my first time as a playwright. I’d been writing a bunch of really cheesy TV movies, where they give you horrible notes that you can not stand! It kills you and crushes your soul.
M: OK, hold on. Can you give me an example of what a really terrible note is?
TR: Yes! OK, this is a terrible note. “This is a romantic comedy, but don’t make it funny.” Or, “I’m sorry, but the characters shouldn’t have flaws.” And I say, “But that’s the only thing that is interesting about the characters, the flaws.” “Well, just make a comedy without any funny or any people with flaws.”
M: Wait! Seriously, why would someone say that to you? Why would a person not want a comedy to be funny? I’m not going to say the name of the networks, but are they known for their comedies that aren’t funny?
TR: Literally, when I questioned that, they told me that their directors really weren’t very good at comedy.
M: But, they’re making comedies.
TR: Right, so I asked if maybe they should get a better director. Blank stare.
M: Are you usually there on the set when these unfunny directors are directing your comedies?
TR: No, not usually. When you do go visit, it is a freaky experience. You write something, and you know nothing about it. You haven’t seen the casting, you haven’t seen the sets, and they’re NOTHING like you think they should be. And the performances are NOTHING like you think they should be. And the tone is NOTHING like you think it should be. So, you just have to let it go. Say, “Well, OK, I got a credit. And they paid.” Some of them, you don’t even get a credit. I did eight movies as a ghost writer, no credit. Some of those times, I was doing a re-write, but I never actually saw the original script that I was re-writing! I would be given a title, and they’d say, “Oh, Frank Smith wrote this,” but I’d never actually read anything that Frank Smith wrote.
M: So, you’re essentially writing a brand new movie for them, given no credit, ‘cause the credit goes to the original writer, and you probably are getting paid less to do a re-write than the original writer did.
TR: Exactly. Soul crushing.
M: Can you tell me if the network you were writing for rhymes with either Schmallmark or Schmifetime?
TR: No. I can’t. So, after doing all that, I was thinking, what is the one medium where the writer is king and you don’t have to take anybody’s notes? I wanted to do something where no one was going to tell me what to do. So, I wrote “Electricity.” And I asked myself, what do I want to write about? It has to be something that’s important to me. I decided that I wanted to write about my journey as a gay man.
M: The play covers all the big political issues that have faced the Gay community over the past few decades in a major way. Are you particularly political in life?
TR: Yes! Now I am. I didn’t really want to write MY story, necessarily, but I wanted to write about my “journey.” I went to a seminary because I grew up in Ohio and I didn’t know anybody gay, and I thought that being gay was horrible and tragic. I thought the church would cure me. I didn’t want to be a preacher, I just was hoping that the church would get that gay thing out of my head. I did put a couple of things about the seminary in the play that are true, for instance, when you go to the seminary to not be gay, you realize that there are other boys who are there to not be gay, as well, and you find them! And then you end up wrestling with them.
M: Oh. So, was there gay sex in the seminary, or just wrestling? TR: Never sex, just wrestling, and some serious cuddling.
M: What religion did you grow up in?
TR: Church of Christ.
M: And how do they feel about homosexuality now?
TR: It’s... not good, except it’s evolved. I still go to church and I am out at my church, and I am the only person who is out, and if they didn’t treat me right, I would’ve left, but I feel like YOU have to be the change, so I am an out gay guy at a not particularly gay-friendly church, but they love me and they treat me right, and so I stay. So, I write this play about the journey that I took from growing up thinking it’s wrong to be gay to someone who demands their equal rights, and for that I needed time, I needed decades to tell that journey. So, I wrote a play, this two-character play, in which these guys meet up for their tenth high school reunion in a motel room, and they have this connection, and they end up meeting there once every ten years from 1983 to 2013, and you see that change. I’m more proud of this play than I’ve ever been of anything I’ve ever written.
M: How did you get “Electricity” produced?
TR: Well, I got invited to be on a cruise ship where a TV series that I had created was being shown, called “From Here On Out,” I was invited to be a guest speaker... a free cruise to Alaska with a free drink package included... Yes, please! I met a man on the cruise, Michael Darner, and I happened to tell him about this new script I’d written, and he seemed interested in it, and asked to read it, and miracle - it turns out the play is almost exactly his story! He told me right then and there that he had to produce this play! We ended up having a great 11 week run here in Los Angeles, very successful, and then we did it again as part of The Hollywood Fringe Festival, and next, we’ll be taking it to a theater in Columbus, Ohio, where the play takes place. And, we’re even thinking about doing something very experimental with it, we’re thinking about doing it in motel rooms across the country, with small audiences, maybe 10 or 20 people at a time. We’re hoping to start that in Palm Springs.
M: Immersive gay theater! And there’s nudity in it! I love it! You mentioned “From Here On Out.” Let’s talk about that. It can be seen on the HERE TV! network. Did they approach you, did you go to them, how did that work?
TR: I was at the TV Academy, and I really suck at networking, but I happened to be talking with David Millbern, who works with development at HERE TV...
M: HERE TV did “The Lair” and “Dante’s Cove,” both not comedies.
TR: Right. They didn’t really do comedies, but he’d seen my short film, “Gaydar,” which is a comedy, and asked me to come in and meet. They pitched this idea to me: what if you wrote a show about us? Like a “30 Rock” kind of thing, spoofing our network, a show about making a show. Well, I said OK, but I got very nervous, I wasn’t sure how far I could take it, but I just jumped in, and I really, really spoofed every single thing I could think of, and every single time they laughed, and they thought it was great.
M: They never said, “Oh, you can’t say that!”
TR: Never! They never said no. They had shows that included full-frontal nudity, and I didn’t feel that was right for my sitcom, but they told me I had to have full-frontal, so I came up with this idea. I’m in the show, I play the writer of the show-within-the-show, so I gave that dilemma to my character, how to give the producers what they wanted but not interfere with his artistic vision. The show-within-the-show is called “Guy Dubai, International Gay Spy,” and it’s about a really hunky detective, and every episode takes place in a different country, and somebody dies in every episode, and however they die, wherever they die, they wind up as a beautiful, naked corpse!
M: And the show stars Juliet Mills, who is the iconic star of “Nanny and the Professor,” and is married to the super-hot Maxwell Caulfield, who we all loved in “Grease 2.”
TR: Yes! Juliet is amazing! We were at a cast party and she was telling me that there’s a 20 year age difference between the two of them, and in the beginning, everyone said that it wouldn’t work, but they’ve been married now for thirty-something years, and she told me that there has not been a day where he hasn’t left her a surprise love-note somewhere.
M: That’s wonderful. Well, since we’re sort-of talking about nudity, let’s talk about “Child of the ‘70s,” which is my series, which you star in. We’ve been doing it for four seasons now, and we’re about to begin season 5. And I actually got you to do a nude scene!
TR: Crazy! You asked me to do this scene, and my first thought was, NO! And you said, YES! And I said, NO! And we went back and forth doing that for a while. I was worried about it. I’d never done that before. But I finally said yes. I do the scene with Chuck Saculla.
M: Another total hunk.
TR: Yes!
M: And I convinced him to do a nude scene for me, as well.
TR: I’m wearing a sarong in this scene, I answer the door, and it’s hunky Chuck, and my sarong falls off, and I have nothing on underneath. You also talked me into putting a big dildo down my pants.
M: Well, you’ve done it, and now you’re fearless, and I imagine you’ll be doing it all the time now.
TR: Why haven’t you done a nude scene in your show? M: No one has ever asked me.
TR: Well, I’m asking!
M: Done! You also have yet another show, you’re the hardest working man in show business, apparently, it’s called “My Sister Is So Gay,” and it can be seen on Tello Films, which is an online subscription network, kind of like a lesbian Netflix.
TR: I seriously am busy. I co-wrote it with Wendy Michaels, who I met when we were both studying with Charles Nelson Reilly.
M: I studied with Charles, too, back in the day! I met him through Karen Morrow, an amazing Broadway actress who for many years was my teacher and mentor.
TR: Oh, my gosh! I loved Charles. He was the best. So, there’s the part of my mother in the show. Loni Anderson popped into my head. I’d worked with her many years ago on a sitcom called “The Mullets,” and she was also friends with Charles Nelson Reilly.
M: Wait... “The Mullets?”
TR: Yes, it lasted for maybe 11 or 12 episodes. Loni is married to John O’Hurley on it, and he’s a famous game-show host, it’s her second marriage, and she has these two sons from a previous marriage who have mullets.
M: Wow! Fascinating. I’ll have to youtube it. (I found the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7p3R-PrsJlA)
TR: I wrote a note to Loni’s agent, and sent the script. Literally, the next day, the agent calls, Loni remembered me, had read the script and loved it, and said yes!
M: See, I always say that you should just ask for what you want. The worse that can happen is people say no. When I was casting “Child of the ‘70s,” my dream was to work with Donna Pescow, from “Angie” and “Saturday Night Fever,” so same as you, I called her agent, sent the script, and she said yes! And you also have Debra Wilson, from “MAD TV,” in the show.
TR: She’s amazing. Loni is a delight! The show is directed by Sam Irvin. We’re hoping to do a second season soon.
M: And now... Dawn Wells!
TR: I love her!
M: I love her, too. “MaryAnn” from “Gilligan’s Island.” You’re working with her now.
TR: I met her through Steve Wishnoff, who has a show of his own, called “Life Interrupted,” which Dawn is in.
M: And Steve Wishnoff is also in “Child of the ‘70s!”
TR: Yes! I went to a screening of “Life Interrupted,” and I meet Dawn there, and again, terrible at networking, but I just jumped right in and pitched her this idea, and she loved it! A short film where “MaryAnn” is still on that island, and I play a guy who has fallen off a cruise ship, and I wash ashore, and there she is. It’s called “She’s Still On That Freaken Island,” and it’s up online, and we did a second short film, continuing that story, and we have a third one in the works. She’s doing a production of “Steel Magnolias” right now in Florida, so we’re waiting for her to get back into town. She’s a really fun lady. You know, you’ve hung with her.
M: And next? you must have something else, I’m certain.
TR: I do! Next, I’m spoofing the series “Family Affair,” with the original “Sissy,” Kathy Garver.
M: WOW! It is a very small world, Terry Ray. Kathy’s son, Scott Travis, and I created a men’s fragrance together, called “Proteus,” which we launched the end of 2016!
TR: This spoof, this new version, is called “Aunt Sissy,” and I play Mr. French’s nephew, “Frenchie.” I love the script, and I’m very excited about getting this done.
M: I can’t wait. This is all fantastic. Do you have a really terrible Hollywood story? You must have one! I have a million. What’s the worst thing that’s happened to you here since you moved from Ohio?
TR: Really? OK... I actually do have a terrible story, and it happened right as I got there. My very first job in Hollywood. I got cast in a Vietnam prisoner-of-war movie, I was super excited, and I’m sure I got cast as a prison-of-war because I was skinny, and I was skinny because I was poor, and my audition was just, “Take off your shirt.” And I did, and they could see my ribs, so I got the part! We shoot in the woods in Riverside, California, and my costume, my military outfit, they take a board with a rusty nail in it, and rip it to shreds - while I’m wearing it! And for makeup - they took a bottle of motor oil, and poured it over my head, and told me to roll in the dirt!
M: NO!
TR: Yes! They took me to a tree in the woods, and tied me to the tree, by my neck, and my arms were behind my back. I am literally tied to a tree, covered in motor oil, and there were big fuzzy caterpillars and they decided to crawl all over me, and I can’t do anything. I’m tied there for hours. And then... they all go to lunch, and they forget me!
M: NO!
TR: Tied to a tree in the woods, while the cast and crew are at lunch. They finally come back, and a PA said, “Oh, we forgot you.” But the funny part is, I’m still super excited because I’M IN A MOVIE! They put me in a hotel overnight, because we were on location, and I shared the room with another actor, who ordered hookers! I’m in my little twin bed, scared out of my mind, and he’s in the next bed with hookers!
M: Welcome to Hollywood.
TR: And then they didn’t pay me.
M: NO!
TR: Yeah, I never got paid. It’s called “Night Wars.”
M: Oh, my God! I’m going to find this, I want to see you tied to a tree covered in motor oil and caterpillars! I don’t think I’ve ever heard as awful a story.
TR: Well, I have another horrible story with Edie McClurg. This one is even worse.
M: No, we can’t! Maybe if we do a second interview!
