This evening I enjoyed a pop culture “game of trivia” card game with some good friends. I was impressed by the command some people had of really obscure pop culture.
I had only two moments that I considered to be triumphs. The first came when the question was which actor played Robin Williams’ brother in Mrs. Doubtfire. It took me a little time to remember the gravelly voiced actor’s name, but eventually I got it: Harvey Fierstein.
But my real moment of triumph came when the question was “Who played Captain Stubing on The Love Boat?” I thought long and hard about that one.
After about a minute, I found myself exclaiming “Gavin MacLeod!” Even I don’t know how I got that right. It turned out that nobody else in the room had ever heard of him.
I am happy about this for several reasons. For one, it means that Gavin MacLeod, a wonderful actor, is managing to remain in our collective cultural consciousness.
For another, it shows yet again that the human mind is a strange and mysterious thing.