Can you remember a time when there was no Grindr, no Lil Nas X music videos, notability to gather in gay spaces, and know that a queer community not only exists but thrives? If you said yes, you remember the importance of the Sears Catalog of other publications that showed… well men. In the long-ago American past of the 1950s, male friendships were abundant, rainbows were everywhere, and nothing was more exciting than the gift of a new set of pajamas. At least, that’s what certain vintage ads for the 50s menswear brand Textron would have us believe. Often illustrated by cartoonist Fred Siebel, these visions of Americana give us a strangely familiar taste of a fantastical homoerotic world. Podcaster Drew Mackie points out that it’s hard to understand the original context for these ads unless the original concept was 100% gay. We don’t know much about Siebel’s sexuality, but there’s more to the Fred Siebel story. In addition to accidentally creating homoerotic art, Siebel was the man who created the first designs for Mr. Clean. That’s correct, Mr. Clean himself—butch, bald, and sporting one earring for extra panache, was also a Siebel creation. Our queer history is important to preserve. #Queer Up Gay Culture