"THE UNCAGED BIRD STILL SINGS"
A local icon with worldwide notoriety, Robin Byrd has always been there for us
NEW YORK BLADE - 5 June 2009
- By Dustin Fitzharris
Robin Byrd (right) with Lady Clover
Honey at the May 2009 New York
Blade mixer at East of Eighth
restaurant.
(Photo: Iestyn Fairchild)
The Empire State Building. The Statue of Liberty. They’re iconic figures in New York. And another comes to mind ... Robin Byrd.
Since 1977 Robin Byrd has turned on and tucked in New Yorkers on the show that bears more than just her name. To this day it still airs seven nights a week on New York’s Channel 35, despite the fact that Time Warner New York has tried unsuccessfully to scramble the show over the years.
But with the advent of the Internet and sex being just a mouse click away, is Robin Byrd still relevant? After all, it’s been over three decadessince she first gained notoriety by playing Mrs. Hardwick in the legendary porno flick VDebbie Does Dallas,V which included scenes filmed at Pratt Institute and Brooklyn College. The production values on her show are best matched by those that anyone can upload to YouTube. But make no mistake, this icon just keeps coming and coming.
"I live in the now. I’m a chameleon," says Byrd. "Who knows what’s going to happen tomorrow—if there is a tomorrow—and yesterday was yesterday, and I did that already."
I ask, "You want some of this?” As she sips her onion soup she replies, "No thanks." To show her this is a serious interview, I clarify, “I was talking about my food.” With that spontaneous wit that has charmed audiences for years, she laughs, “That’s why I said no!"
Quickly I learn that the Robyn Byrd on TV is exactly the same in person. At 52, the self-professed VOrgy QueenV is not looking to reinvent herself or her career.
VI believe in what I do,V Byrd says. VI haven’t branched out into anything else. Even though I show repeats, the message is still the same, and that message is if you don’t have a loved one, you always have me and always have safe sex.V
Byrd’s show, which has been spoofed twice on VSaturday Night Live,V was, in fact, a pioneer for safe sex years before AIDS came onto the scene. In 1977, to raise awareness she held a contest to guess how many condoms were in a fish bowl. She also stopped doing adult films because of her belief in safe sex; VPink LadiesV in 1980 was her last.
"Adult films were supposed to be educational, but no one wanted to use condoms,V Byrd says. VWith AIDS I saw a lot of sadness. It was terrible. I lost friends and watched them deteriorate.V
Enduring the effect that AIDS has had on the community isn’t the only thing Byrd has witnessed, and that’s why she doesn’t look at Pride events as an excuse to celebrate.
"I think every month—every day—should be Pride,” Byrd says. "I know a lot of people who were in Stonewall who fought really hard for our pride. "Now it’s become so commercial. I see a lot of people partaking because of the commercialization of it and not for the pride of it, and I think everyone should be proud of who and what they are."
Byrd is very much aware of who she is. "I’m trisexual. I’ll try everything sexual—except for animals," she adds. “I believe ‘if it feels good, it’s okay;’ whether it be with a man or a woman or a machine.”
What feels good to Byrd is accomplishing the mission she set out on after dropping out of Baruch College as a marketing major with just months to go until graduation.
"I wanted to change the look television. I got tired of seeing television at night that wasn’t good television to watch before you went to sleep,"
Even Joe Franklin, host of the first television talk show in 1951, once acknowledged that Byrd succeeded in changing television.
But there was more to Byrd’s dream. This dream is perhaps the reason that she first stepped in front of the camera. "I set out to be loved," she admits.
It’s a quest she’s been on since she realized her lot in life. "My destiny is to have things taken away from me," Byrd says playfully, but with an undertone of sadness. "My own biological mother had me taken away."
Adopted at childbirth and raised on 50th and First, she was given the name Robin Cohen. She describes her adoptive mother as "Mommy Dearest," but adored her father. He, however, was "taken away” from her when she was 8 after suffering a massive heart attack. At 13 she ran away from home to Florida and recalls losing her virginity to a pizza chef.
After years of experimenting with both men and woman, she finally found love while playing volleyball nude on Fire Island in 1974.
“It was love at first sight,” Byrd says while talking about the man she refers to as “Mr. Head Go-For.” “He’s the woman I always wanted to marry, but he had a penis, and I thought it was great.”
It was "Mr. Head Go-For" who gave her the name Byrd after always referring to her as “El Seńorita Bird.” It was also his curiosity that led Byrd to search for her biological mother in her early thirties. She believes she found her too, though the woman denied her.
After 35 years Byrd and "Mr. Head Go-For" are still in love, but don’t look for a wedding invitation. She doesn’t believe in marriage.
“My adopted mother and father’s marriage was sucky. I just thought, "Why bother?" If you’re with someone, you’re with that person because you love him or her,” Byrd says. "It’s society that has to have that little piece of paper, but that’s not going to keep me together with my partner."
But she does believe marriage should be there for all those who want it and should be a core focus in the LGBT community.
"Gay marriage better pass in New York, goddamnit! It’s 2009! What the hell is wrong with them? Don’t they know church and state should be separate, and it’s really the church that’s putting the pressure on the state? It’s sick what happened in California."
Lowering her voice, as the older, subdued customers look her way she says, “I can’t be serious like this on my show or they’ll take me for being smart!”
And they may also take her for being a unique voice in our overstimulated world. As others in the adult entertainment industry have faded away, Robin Byrd still has something to say.
"There is always someone new who is watching for the first time," Byrd says, “So it’s all new to them.”
Though she may no longer be the "Orgy Queen," confessing that she hasn’t seen anyone who is worthy of her "orgyness," she continues to provide a positive message for anyone who takes the time to listen.
"I’ve been there for so many people during breakups or losses, and they always knew they could just come home, lie back and get comfortable, and I was there," Byrd says.
Without a doubt, Robin Byrd is one icon that keeps standing—just like the Empire State Building and the Statue of Liberty—and that’s something that can never be taken away from her.
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