Donnie's Gay Sex Party with Jack Wild and Sid Kroft

Jack Wild (1952-2006) was the teen star of the Saturday morning life action show H.R. Pufnstuf, about a boy trapped in a distant magical land with a friendly dragon and a cranky old witch.  Gay subtexts abounded, and Jack, short, slim, androgynous, and cherubic-cute, became every gay boy's fantasy boyfriend.

After Pufnstuf, Jack's star quickly faded.  His later years were plagued by poverty, depression, alcoholism, diabetes, and finally cancer.  He was apparently heterosexual, with two long-term marriages and no gay hookup or dating stories, until this one, which is really about Sid Krofft:

Born Sydas Yodas in Greece in 1929, Sid became interested in puppeteering at an early age, and by 1948, he was touring with a  one-man puppet show, "The Unusual World of Sid Krofft," across Europe and the United States.  In 1957, while opening for Judy Garland, Sid found that he needed another puppeteer, so he enlisted his younger brother Moshopopulos or Marty (born 1937).

Soon they were busily working their puppeteering magic in film and on tv.  Given an opportunity to develop a Saturday morning children's series, they decided to make antagonists of H.R. Pufnstuf, a "friendly dragon" they introduced at the 1968 World's Fair, and the zany witch Witchiepoo from their stage play.  The two forces, good against evil, would be fighting over control of a lost boy and his...um...magic flute (Sid was a big fan of magic flutes).

Watching a rough cut of the movie version of Oliver! (1968), Sid decided that Jack Wild, the Cockney child actor playing The Artful Dodger, would be perfect as the young boy.  But how to get him to move to America for an extended commitment?

"I'll be his guardian in America," Sid offered.

"Not a chance!" Marty exclaimed.  "Your pad is not a suitable place for a young boy."  Although Sid was 39 years old, he had fully embraced the youth counterculture.  His four-bedroom "pad" in West Hollywood had psychedelic posters, strobe lights, and lava lamps, and it was constantly crowded with long-haired, tie-dyed Cute Young Things of both sexes.

Marty didn't ask which, if any, Sid was shacking up with.  He loved his brother, of course, and he had a live-and-let live attitude toward sexual oddities, but...he didn't need the details.

"I'll be his guardian," Marty offered.  "I have a wife and young children.  It will be a stable family environment."

Marty lived to regret that decision.

The 16-year old arrived in Hollywood in the summer of 1969, moved in with Marty, and proceeded to raise hell.

Jack was cheerful, energetic, and very cute, but a handful.  He came and went as he pleased; on the night of his 17th birthday, he skipped his party and stayed out all night!  He never followed house rules.  Marty had young children in the house, and he didn't like Jack bringing his hippie friends in to drink and smoke pot.

Hollywood, December 1969

Donnie was a 19-year old UCLA student, working as a gopher for the Kroffts: he got coffee, delivered scripts, and acted as best friend/handler to Jack Wild.

Today Jack would probably be fired for multiple instances of  sexual harassment.  He put the moves on everybody, male and female, young and old -- he even kept "accidentally" groping the H.R. Pufnstuf puppet, with a mortified Roberto Gamonet inside.

"You and me, yeah?" Jack said once, putting his arm around Donnie's waist and "accidentally" hitting his butt.  "Two mates, a little snogging.  Nothing wrong with that."

"You're only 17.  I'm in college. Besides, I'm not queer" Donnie said.  He was gay but not out, and he didn't want to get outed by tricking with the unpredictable star.

Jack flew back to England for Christmas, but returned on the 28th -- Donnie had to pick him up at the airport.  The next day, he dropped in to Sid's house to get his approval on something or other, and the Cute Young Thing who answered the door directed him to the master bedroom.

It was well after noon,so Don assumed that Sid was working in bed.  He thought nothing of it -- he knocked once and went in.




The room was semi-dark, light coming from a flashing strobe light.  All the sheets and blankets were torn off the bed, leaving a bare mattress.  Sid was lying on his back, between two Cute Young Things. One was going down on him -- Donnie could see only the back of his head.  The other was beating off while Sid cuddled him -- Jack Wild, the star of the show.

"What the hell!" Donnie exclaimed.

Jack looked up, grinned, and held out his penis. "Welcome back party, right?  Room for one more."

Donnie was a little worried that if he didn't demonstrate he was "cool" by participating, Jack would get him fired.  But to be honest, he was majorly turned on. Ever since the proposition, he had been fantasizing about the young star and his equipment -- a very hard 6-incher.  So after a moment of thought, he walked forward, knelt, and went down on Jack.

"That's it," Jack said.  "Do it like that, mate.  You're good, man...bloody good, you know that?"

After a few minutes, Jack pushed his head away.  "Too much for me, man.  Do Sid, while I watch."

Donnie wasn't attracted to old guys, and Sid had a very thick 8", bigger than he had ever been with before.  So after licking the head for a few moments, he tore off his shirt and pants and went down on the Cute Young Thing -- thin, short brown hair, a couple of tattoes, ruddy uncut 7".

Sid had his arm around Jack and was beating him off.  Donnie thought it odd that they weren't kissing; to give them an example, he raised up, pushed the Cute Young Thing down on the bed, and kissed him.  Soon they were doing the Princeton rub.

"Oi, a coupla lover-birds," Jack said.  "But you forgot the job I gave you.  Sid needs some attention, right?"

 Donnie reluctantly left the Cute Young Thing and went down on Sid.  The 8" gagged him; he started to cough. He resorted to sucking just the head while masturbating the shaft.  After a few minutes, Sid unexpectedly spurted down his throat.

Donnie ran down to the bathroom to spit out his load and wash his mouth out, and returned for his clothes.  Jack had finished and was wiping off with a sheet. The Cute Young Thing, still aroused, was smoking a joint.

"Give me a ride to Spiro's, that's the bloke," Jack said.  "And maybe there'll be some naughty bits waiting for you later."

But Donnie didn't hook up with Jack again, or with Sid.  He was too worried about being arrested -- gay sex was illegal in California until 1976 -- or losing his job -- or being outed as "queer" to his family.  And a couple of months later, after finishing the last episode and cobbling together the H.R. Pufnstuf feature film, Jack Wild was back in England.

Donnie stayed with the Kroffts during his last two years at  UCLA, through the Bugaloos and Lidsville, and he sometimes dropped in to say "hello" when they were working on Sigmund and the Sea Monsters, and Land of the Lost.  He noticed with some amusement that all of their tv series starred cute gay or bi boys.

Was Donnie Telling the Truth?

This story is actually from a friend of my friend David in San Francisco, who dated Donnie during the 1980s.  So it's third hand, and fifty years after the fact.

Sid Krofft has never been linked with any romantic partner, male or female.  He's probably gay: in 2006 he opened a nightclub on the corner of Santa Monica and Larrabee, the heart of West Hollywood (where the Different Light Bookstore used to be), featuring muscular go-go boys in cages.  

But an orgy with the 17-year old star of his tv show, basically his employee, is another matter.  Jack Wild's autobiography says nothing about any same-sex activity.

Could it have been someone else, transformed into Jack Wild through years of retelling?  Or did Jack's wild past involve sex with the boss?

See also: Pufnstuf

The Backsliders at the Ponderosa Steak House

When I was growing up, my church had a huge number of prohibitions.  We discussed them and memorized them for prizes in Sunday school class, heard sermons about them on Sunday mornings, heard testimonies about them on Wednesday nights, and received our own black-bound copy of them when we became members of the church at age 12.

Some were harder to follow than others, and therefore caused more guilt when we backslid:

1. No restaurants or stores that sold alcohol.
2. No movies.
3. No work on Sunday, including homework.
4. No buying anything on Sunday, including eating out.

It seemed that my unsaved friends were constantly trying to get me to go to Dewey's Candy Store for ice cream or Schneider's Drug Store for comic books on Sunday afternoons!  Sometimes I gave in, only to feel a combination of intense guilt and fear, as if God was about to strike me dead and fry me in the Lake of Fire for all eternity.

My parents found the rule difficult, too.  On vacation, we usually rented a cabin or stayed with friends so we didn't have to drive far or cook on Sunday.

And at home, Mom usually put a roast beef in the oven to slow-cook while we were in church. If she didn't have time or was out of roast beef, we had to wait until around 2:00 pm for her to cook something else (cooking didn't count as #3).

One Sunday morning in the spring of 1969, when I was in third grade, Mom was out of roast beef, so she said she would make a tuna casserole when we got home.  My brother and I griped and complained, but what could we do about it?

She didn't realize that this Sunday was the start of the Spring Revival!  Instead of Brother Tyler, our usual preacher, who let us out at 11:45 sharp,  we got Brother Smith, an evangelist, who screeched and stomped about how we weren't meeting our Christian obligation to save souls until well after noon, and then led us in endless choruses of :

Faith in God can move a mighty mountain.
Faith can calm a troubled sea
Faith can make the desert like a fountain
Faith will bring the victory.

Repeat, then repeat again, 3,241 times, until you have thought of at least 12 ways to make fun of the lyrics.

THEN he had the audacity to hold an altar call!

By the time we got out of there, it was 12:45!  By the time we got home, it was 1:00.

We changed into our street clothes, and then Mom and Dad pushed us into the car again.

"Wait -- where's dinner?" I asked.

Mom turned around to the back seat.  "We're going to Ponderosa Steak House.

I liked the Ponderosa Steak House.  We usually went on Tuesday nights for their special -- a ribeye steak, baked potato, dinner roll, and salad.  But...

"We can't eat out!  Today is Sunday!"

"There's not enough time to cook," Mom explained.  "Your little brother and sister need to eat."

"But it's a sin!  God will strike us dead!  We'll spend eternity in the Lake of Fire!"

"Just be quiet.  It's an emergency."

Seething in righteous indignation, I was silent all the way down 38th Street to 7th Avenue.  I was Daniel going into the Lion's Den.  They could bring me into that house of abomination, but they couldn't make me eat.  No drop of food, no sip of water, nothing.  I would starve before I disobeyed a law of God!

We parked.  I trudged across the parking lot, so slowly that they told me to hurry up.  Into the jaws of doom.  Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death...

It was cafeteria style: you paid, got a tray, and grabbed what you wanted from steam tables.

And just ahead of us, waiting to buy on Sunday, was Brother Tyler and Brother Smith, and their wives.

It was like seeing your priest in a meth lab.  It was like Young Goodman Brown, who discovered that all of the good churchgoers in his village were really witches.

Brother Smith didn't recognize us, but Brother Tyler did.  He looked down at his feet, heavily embarrassed.

No specific gay content in this story, but it did allow me to see that sometimes people don't exactly practice what they preach, which made it easier to reject the Nazarene rules later on.

No nudity, either, but here's a naked man to tide you over.

Pedro's Hookup with Philip McKeon

Since putting out the call for celebrity hookup stories, I've had three guys approach me claiming that they hooked up with Philip McKeon.  None before.

Here's the most detailed.  He didn't give a name, so I'll call him Pedro.

His story has been modified for grammar, pacing, and style:

Hollywood, 1986 or 1987

I've been in the business since I was five years old, but one of my favorite jobs was the horror comedy Return to Horror High (1987).  Scott Jacoby, George Clooney, Maureen McCormick -- we were all wild and crazy kids.  We had a blast.

I wasn't out yet, but everybody knew, and I got a lot of offers.  I'll tell you about George Clooney sometime. But the one I really wanted was Phil McKeon.

22 years old, this incredibly tall, incredibly hot Nordic god, with a smile that wouldn't quit, not to mention the huge bulge shifting around in his pants when he walked.  He never talked to a girl off-stage, and no girl picked him up after work -- he must be gay!  So one day I decided to find out.  I asked "Hey, Phil, can I talk to you about something in private?"

I led him to a secluded spot on the set.

"So, what's the big mystery?"

"Just this." I pulled his head down and kissed him without even groping him first!

We kissed for a minute, and then he broke away.  "Every guy in Hollywood has done that," he said, rather belligerently. :What do you have that's so special?"

"Eight inches of primo Latino meat," I said, pressing his hand against my aroused cock.

He scoffed.  "Just eight inches?  Why don't you take on a real manwich?"

That;s right, he said manwich.

I fell to my knees.  He unbuttoned his pants and pulled out a ten incher -- I swear, it was like a garden hose -- pale, cut, with a thick mushroom head.  I opened my mouth as wide as I could, felt the head push past my teeth, but it was all I could do to keep from gagging.  I grabbed his buns to steady myself and let him do all the work, thrusting back and forth.

Finally I beat him off with two hands while sucking his head. That got him off -- he spurted a nice sized load.

Then he buttoned up and pulled me to my feet.  I thought he wanted to kiss again, but instead he said "You got what you wanted, ok?  If you tell anybody about this,  I will have you fired."

And he just walked away.

He was kind of cool on the set after that, as if I had offended him in some way.

Plains, October 2017

You're probably wondering 2 things.

1. Who is Phil McKeon?

Alice (1976-1985) was a "single woman making it on her own" sitcom in which aspiring singer Alice Hyatt finds happiness and fulfillment working as a waitress in a small-town Arizona diner.

11-year old Broadway actor Philip McKeon was selected to play her son Tommy.

As he entered his teen years, Phil's blond-haired, blue-eyed, androgynous good looks made him an ideal teen idol candidate, so he honed his singing talent and sat for a few shirtless and semi-shirtless photo shoots in Tiger Beat.  

But the competition from Leif Garrett, Shawn Cassidy, and Robbie Benson turned out to be too intense.  After starring in a few horror movies, he dropped out of acting, although he still hits Hollywood on occasion to produce or direct.















2. Is Pedro telling the truth?

I have never heard any Phil McKeon hookup stories before, although many people point out that he "acts gay" or they get a "gay vibe" from him.

Phil, who died in 2019, never married or been linked romantically with a woman.  He spent his last years in Hays, Texas, a suburb of Austin, where he hosted the "Breakfast Taco" radio program.

According to his Facebook page, he liked the New York Yankees, Van Halen, Fox News, Sean Hannity, and Westerns.

He was a devout Roman Catholic who goes to confession and participates in "prayer chains"

What do you think?

See also: Philip McKeon after Alice