The Corner Bar: A Historic, But Forgotten Sitcom

Bill Fiore, Vincent Schiavelli, & Gabriel Dell

Chances are very good that not many remember or have even heard of the sitcom The Corner Bar. It was a summer replacement series that debuted on ABC on June 21 1972. After running for 10 episodes during the summer of 1972, it was retooled for its second season of six episodes in the late summer of 1973. While the show was not successful and is not well remembered, The Corner Bar is historic in featuring the first recurring gay character.

The Corner Bar was created by comedian Alan King and veteran television writer Herb Sargent, who had previously worked on such shows as The Steve Allen Show That Was the Week That Was. Among its producers was Howard Morris, veteran of Your Show of Shows and Ernest T. Bass on The Andy Griffith Show. By 1972 Mr. Morris had already directed many hours of television. The Corner Bar starred Gabriel Dell as Harry Grant, who bought a bar in New York City called Grant's Tomb. Its premise was much like the classic radio show Duffy's Tavern or the classic sitcom Cheers insofar that it centred on the various patrons of Grant's Tomb, although it tended to be much more topical.

Among the patrons who frequented Grant's Tomb was Peter Panama, Broadway set designer who dressed flamboyantly. Peter was played by Vincent Schiavelli, who would go on to appear in the movies One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) and Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982). Peter Panama was the first recurring character to appear on an American television show who was openly gay. The Corner Bar could have then been said to have been a step forward in representation for homosexual characters except for one thing. Quite simply, from all reports Peter Panama was an outright stereotype.

Indeed, the character was not at all well received by the Gay Activists Alliance (GAA), then the most influential gay activist organization. The group referred to Peter Panama as an "effeminate, inaccurate stereotype of the male homosexual." Richard Wandel, then president of the GAA, said of Peter Panama, "However, we cannot accept this ludicrous stereotype. No more than the Black community would accept a watermelon-eating, tap-dancing stereotype of a Black man."

When The Corner Bar returned for a second season on August 3 1973, Peter Panama was no longer part of the cast, although it is doubtful that his absence was due to any controversy over the character. Quite simply, The Corner Bar had been almost completely overhauled. Grant's Tomb was now owned by Mae (Anne Meara) and Frank Flynn (Eugene Roche). Only the characters Fred Costello (J. J. Barry), Phil Bracken (Bill Fiore), and Meyer Shapiro (Shimen Ruskin) were retained for the second season. Retooling The Corner Bar ultimately failed to help the show in the ratings. It did not return for a third season.

While The Corner Bar was a failure and Peter Panama was rejected by the gay community, the Seventies would see gay representation improve throughout the decade of the Seventies. It was later in 1972 that the television movie That Certain Summer aired on ABC, considered by many to be the first sympathetic portrayal of homosexuals on American television. On The Mary Tyler Moore Show episode "My Brother's Keeper," which aired on January 13 1973, Robert Moore, guest starred as Phyllis's brother Ben, who just happens to be gay. Like That Certain Summer, it would also be a sympathetic portrayal of a gay man. While homosexual stereotypes would continue to appear on American television well in the Eighties, as the Seventies progressed there was also an increase in more realistic, more sympathetic portrayal of homosexuals.

Today The Corner Bar remains largely unavailable. At only sixteen episodes it was never rerun. It also seems unlikely to ever appear on streaming services. Currently, it would appear that the UCLA Film and Television Archive, which has one episode each from the two seasons, is the only place anyone can see even a portion of The Corner Bar. Regardless, while largely unavailable and forgotten, The Corner Bar was historic.