University of Virginia Library

'Straight' Roommate

While Harold's friends rush
around Manhattan buying presents
or getting ready to the tune of
"Anything Goes," Alan (Peter
White) plans to visit Michael. White
underplays the role of Michael's
"straight" roommate from college
who has quarrelled with his wife.

The "gay crowd" arrives, joking
and laughing, ready to have a gay
time. Alan startles them by his
appearance, and their antics, in
turn, surprise him. Later he
becomes outraged at Emory (Cliff
Gorman), whom he calls a faggot
and unconvincingly busts in the
mouth.

At the moment of chaos,
Harold, excellently portrayed by
Leonard Frey, arrives, describing
himself as a "thirty-four year old,
ugly, pock-marked Jew fairy." The
party becomes less and less
controlled, and less and less a party;
the guests drink heavily and pass
the joints. They talk openly and
freely about themselves and then
begin to criticize each other.

Michael leads them in a
dangerous game called "The Affairs
of the Heart." He forces others to
suffer shame and embarrassment
for his own satisfaction.