Long before that musclebound hunk of plastic Billy first appeared, the late seventies brought us Gay Bob. He's much more rugged than Billy. Aside from the drawstring belt, I suppose. At least he comes with his "fully illustrated fashion calatogue" so you can dress him up like the rest of the Village People or other gay stereotypes. What's absolutely fabulous about this guy is that he comes with his own closet. And it's obviously just a cardboard box, so it's not like you're supposed to hang his clothes in it. No, this is meant to store the doll, so every time you "play" with it, you're bringing him out of the closet. So clever...

I also love the descriptions of how to "enjoy" Gay Bob. I'm sure he'd be a conversation piece at parties, but would you really want to bring it to the office? I doubt very much the boss will go for that. Well, unless he actually does go for that, if you know what I mean... And "Take me home to meet your folks, your Mom will love me"? That's rather presumptuous to say the very least. I mean, I understand that they're trying to make this doll more of a social statement (even if he comes with "private parts"), but let's be realistic. Can you imagine using a doll to come out to your parents? Yikes!

Surprisingly, the company was based out of New York City instead of San Francisco, but calling it Out Of The Closet, Inc. was a stroke of genius. I wonder what else they sold!