![\"Doris](\"http:\/\/itsnotaboutme.tv\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/J7A1743-e1434584524404.jpg\")
<\/a>Doris Roberts, addressing the assemblage. Photo by Bill Dow.<\/p><\/div>\n
[Sidebar: I have to share one of my favorite stories from those days, told to me by one of those fans.\u00a0 He bumped into his next door neighbor in his apartment building, and she asked him how his \u201ccute little girlfriend\u201d is.\u00a0 Being gay, he could not imagine why she thought he had a girlfriend!\u00a0 When he told her that he didn’t have a girlfriend, she queried, “Then who’s that funny girl who’s always over at your place talking about where to go eat?\u00a0 Boy, can she talk!”\u00a0 He then realized that he always turned the volume on my show all the way up, so that he could walk around his apartment and still hear me!\u00a0 (That differs from what straight<\/em> guys sometimes told me they did– they watched my show to look<\/em> at me, while turning the volume down<\/em>! Lovely.) ]<\/p>\n Okay, let’s talk about the exhibit, and opening fete, shall we?\u00a0 It’s in the Hollywood Museum, which is itself in the historic Max Factor Building, at the corner of Hollywood and Highland. I had hosted a show about Los Angeles on the Travel Channel many years ago, and my first piece for them was on the Max Factor Museum. I hadn’t realized that it has changed names and focuses. But I was very pleased to see that\u00a0it’s just as fascinating now as it was then.\u00a0 We guests all got to explore the Max Factor area, on the ground level, after the party, while this current exhibit is on the third. (Never in my life did I expect to write the words \u201cMax Factor\u201d three times in one paragraph! Oops\u2014make it four<\/em>!)<\/p>\n Iconic movie star Margaret O’Brien, standing next to one of the displays in the exhibit. Notice those pointing-straight-out ear adornments! Photo by Bill Dow.<\/p><\/div>\n Reel to Real: Portrayals and Perceptions of Gays in Hollywood<\/em> is billed as “an entertaining and informative retrospective of LGBT images in film and television throughout the decades.”\u00a0 It features photos, costumes, and props from the olden days (including an outfit that Nathan Lane wore in one of my mother’s all-time favorite movies, The Birdcage<\/em>,) through now (such as Jessie Tyler Ferguson’s and Eric Stonestreet’s wardrobe from Modern Family<\/em>.) With all the hubbub the night I was there, I didn’t get to see it all, so I’m definitely going back!<\/p>\n We began the evening by mingling on the ground floor, accompanied by cocktails and hors d’oeuvres.\u00a0 Then we did the most fun thing–we were taken up to the party on the fourth floor by an elevator the size of which I’ve seen only at Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion attraction!\u00a0 It came complete with a long bench to rest on, and–ready for this–a bar!\u00a0 It’s a party elevator! (I’m pretty sure it’s really designed for moving the exhibits in and out, but it sounds so much more glamorous the other way, doesn’t it?)<\/p>\n Once up there, we were treated to many speakers, foremost of whom was Everybody Loves Raymond<\/em>‘s mom, Doris Roberts.\u00a0 A long-time supporter of the gay community, she said that she wishes a gay guy would marry her already!\u00a0 The guests were also interested in what female Deputy Chief Beatrice Girmala, and the exhibit’s primary sponsor, Councilman Mitch O’Farrell, had to say.<\/p>\n Photo by Karen Salkin.<\/p><\/div>\n Of course, as super-foodies, my friend Alice and I could barely tear ourselves away from the delicious and beautiful buffets. The first one featured cheeses and veggies on sticks, (which were designed to look like flower bouquets,) the second had caviar and the trimmings, (which, being the cheap date that Mr. X always says I am, and then adds, “And you don’t cost much, either!,” ba-dum-bum, I didn’t try,) and the third was our favorite–the freshly-sliced-on-site beef tenderloin table!\u00a0 On toast, with the au jus, there was nothing better!<\/p>\n And I loved the special touch of all the napkins and cutlery being multi-colors.\u00a0 It’s right up my<\/em> alley because I’m a color freak, (the guest room in my house is affectionately called the “The Crayon Room.”)\u00a0 But I think the caterers did it at this one because rainbows are a symbol for the LGBT community.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/a>