October 10, 2026
Palm Springs
Dear Brody,
Yesterday I flew to Palm Springs to remember Art and Charlie. It’s hard to believe, but they died 20 years ago, so about 40 of us who were their friends are getting together.
You know that for over 20 years while I lived in LA, Art and Charlie were my friends, confidantes and mentors.
Although 30 years older than most of us, they gathered a tight circle of men who became their traveling companions , dinner partners and weekend visitors for barbecues and afternoon games of water volleyball.
Brody, you were there in the later years. I’m sure you remember.
Art had been the producer of “The Love Boat” and Charlie had been the executive producer of the Dinah Shore Show. As a young producer coming up in Hollywood I benefited from their experience and knowledge of the business. As a young gay man, I relished the make-shift family they had created with their friends.
Their relationship was a model for all of us. Forged in the 60s when same sex relationships were not tolerated or supported, they held tight to each other.
Almost as a testament to their love, Art died on his birthday twenty years ago. Charlie died three months later, on his birthday, of a broken heart.
Lately I’ve been sleeping in the Middle Room at Comfort where I’ve hung two paintings left to me from Art and Charlie.
The paintings are a diptych by Jim Morphesis. They are mixed media…and close up they look like a piled on amalgamation of paint and cardboard and scraps of wood. It’s not until you step back, give the paintings some distance and look at them a different way that they come to life as two figures, The Hunter and The Beast. I had always loved these paintings when they were hanging at Art and Charlie’s and am glad to have given them a good home.
We’re twenty years on…and 40 or so guys are getting together because of their love for this amazing couple. The time and distance hasn’t changed our appreciation for them. It has only made it clearer.
I wish you were here with me. They loved you dearly.
Dad