Do you remember the broadcast?

I remember it. I was in high school, so Ms. Perrine made a most definite impression.

Oh, yeah, the play was good, too.

"Dadoo4050: and who, disguised as a mild-mannered schoolteacher. . ."

I was just 12 or 13 and it definitely made an impression on me. This was the time when PBS was dedicated to bringing culture to America (such as culture was), and was not afraid of nudity. Now, after the right wing revolution debagged it, PBS is stuck running "Dare to be Rich" shows. What happened to the days when they tried to show the best of the American theater?

Anywho: I just bought the DVD over 30 years later and enjoyed it thoroughly.

I remember it was the summer between my 9th & 10th grade years--I was amazed to see nudity on PBS and loved every minute of the play. I was (and still am) a big theatre geek so it was very special to me. I have since bought the DVD and shared this play with my students (I teach high school theatre arts)

I was 12 when this first aired...

Funny thing is I had already seen Ms. Perrine even more nude in Slaughterhouse-Five previous to this (to make a long story short, I had an older friend who worked for a 16mm film distribution company and could bring prints home and screen them in the evening).

The play was great though--I was already familiar with The Twilight Zone, and this was like a 90 minute, comedic version of that.

But here's the sad and depressing part of this...after watching this 3 times during the '70's, it seemed to disappear from PBS for about over a decade, and when it finally aired again and I tuned in...they censored the (brief) nudity, and muted the sound for the cuss words! I couldn't friggin' believe it! Of course this was either during or shortly after the whole nightmare epoch of Reaganstein and his moral majority ass-wipes, so looking back it seems very indicative of those times <shudder>. Sigh...it's sad that you can't even show a glimpse of tit on broadcast TV these days without the watchdogs of public decency screaming outrage and how much it corrupts our youth...

But anyway, I'm glad this finally showed up on DVD so I could replace my faded-out home VHS tape recording that has to be about 15 years old now...



-->Looking to trade films with other DVD collectors--PM me if interested!

That was always the highlight of my local PBS station's pledge drive.
I could count on them showing Steambath.

I know I saw "Steambath" on PBS, but can't remember if it was in 1973 (in which case it would have been on KERA in Dallas) or a few years later.

The early '70s saw a number of experimental theatrical pieces on public television. "Steambath" was probably the most enjoyable, thanks to Ms. Perrine's lack of hangups about nudity, but there was "The Cube", and several others I can't quite place. (I'm thinking of a play called "Manny", a satirical update of the medieval morality play "Everyman"; I know I saw it on stage, but I think it was also shown on PBS at some point.)

"The truth 24 times a second."

Yeah, I do. KCET PBS, Los Angeles. I was so glad to discover Netflix had a copy to rent (and copy). I hadn't seen the original on TV for 30 years.

I was fifteen and remember reading about this controversial play that was going to be broadcast. Growing up outside of Boston, I figured "how bad can it be? Boston stations will never air anything even remotely risque". That was over forty years ago and I still recall how my jaw dropped when Valerie Perrine dropped her towel and gave us all a free glimpse of her perfect buns. When she flashed the nipple, I think my heart briefly stopped.