They were the Kardashians of the 70's - attractive, wealthy and dysfunctional. They were the Louds: Pat and Bill and their five children, ranging from age 14 to 20 - Lance, Delilah, Grant, Kevin and Michele. The Louds were the subjects of the first ever television reality show, An American Family, broadcast on PBS in twelve hour-long episodes beginning on January 11, 1973. The show took viewers up close and personal in the home of the Loud family of Santa Barbara, California. Parents Pat and Bill and their kids became household names living in front of the camera for seven months taped the year prior to the broadcast. A record ten million weekly viewers were riveted watching the Loud family's lives falling apart. On camera, Pat asked her husband, Bill to move out, and Lance, the oldest son, was the first gay to come out on television. Pat Loud, with the editorial help of Christopher Makos, is about to reissue reissued a collection of photographs, writings and personal papers of her son Lance for the book, Lance Out Loud, published by Glitterati Incorporated in conjunction with the acquisition of the private memorabilia by Yale University. The Originals: Pat and Bill Loud and their five children ranging from age 14 to 20 -- Lance, Delilah, Grant, Kevin and Michele - were the subjects of the first ever television reality show, An American Family, broadcast on PBS in 1973 . Keeping Up: The Kardashians have had their own share of scandals over the years. Keeping Up with the Kardashians was first broadcast in 2007. They are top row, from left: Brandon Jenner and Burton Jenner; middle row from left: Brody Jenner, Kourtney Kardashian, Bruce Jenner, Kris Jenner, Cassandra Jenner, Kim Kardashian; and front row from left: Rob Kardashian and Khloe Kardashian . Coming out: Oldest son Lance was the first person to reveal he was gay on television. Affectionate letters from friends honoring the memory of Lance describe him as loving Warhol, wind chimes, thrift shops, yard sales, Latin men, talking on the phone, cats, riding on his motorcycle and every taco stand in LA. Special contempt was directed at Lance for his 'flamboyant, leechlike, homosexuality'. The New York Times described him as 'camping and queening about like a pathetic court jester, a Goya-esque emotional dwarf'. Voyeuristic eyes were mesmerized by the watershed cinema verité event - viewing unscripted moments in the family's life that the press described as exhibitionist and as 'affluent zombies'. Special contempt was directed at Lance for his 'flamboyant, leechlike, homosexuality'. The New York Times described him as 'camping and queening about like a pathetic court jester, a Goya-esque emotional dwarf'. Lance Loud, who died of complications from AIDS in 2001, stated: 'Television ate my family.' He believed the documentary series fulfilled 'the middle-class dream that you can become famous for being just who you are'. He didn't shy away from coming out on television but reveled in the positive feedback he received from the gay community. He became a penpal of Andy Warhol and flamboyantly embraced his own role as a gay icon. He moved to New York to be close to Warhol's Factory, the artist's studio that became a magnet for artists, socialites and hipsters. Lance needed a new landscape that gave him the freedom to be gay --- and to escape northern Californian hippies. Lance was 'pursued by his own demons and turned to drugs to keep them at bay', his mother Pat writes . Affectionate letters from friends honoring the memory of Lance describe him as loving Warhol, wind chimes, thrift shops, yard sales, Latin men, talking on the phone, cats, riding on his motorcycle and every taco stand in LA. It was the time of Free Love when sexuality was celebrated. 'If it feels good, do it' trend swept the country and Lance right along with it. He wanted to live art, live music, be in the music. 'Lance loved movies, food, music, fashion and anything with a horizontal stripe', his sister Delilah writes. 'Never seduced by fame, he wore it as a loose garment. 'Many considered him an icon for coming out on TV. Those who believe that have it backwards; Lance was too impatient to wait for the rest of us, so he ran ahead and scouted the rapids to tell us that the water was fine.' But Lance was 'pursued by his own demons and turned to drugs to keep them at bay', his adoring mother Pat recalls. Author and book editor Ellis Amburn, a friend of Lance wrote, 'In a world that could be cruel and catty, I never heard Lance say an unkind word about anyone, and I always found his blithe spirit contagious.' American Family wasn't anything like the family thought it would be. Pat Loud, now 89, discussed the show and revealed that there wasn't anything negative brewing in their family until the camera and the producer arrived . She told the New York Times in 2013 that the Public Broadcasting Network and the New York affiliate, WNET, viewed the family as California airheads and coerced her into asking her husband for a divorce on camera. She is now happily living again with her ex-husband, Bill, who is 94. The couple has their own Facebook account under the Loud Family. Lance holding a photo of himself in drag. 'Television ate my family,' said Lance. American Family wasn't anything like the Louds thought it would be . An American Family was a premonition of reality TV, an unrehearsed voyeuristic eye, unlike the reality shows of today. Craig Gilbert, the creator of An American Family, never worked again after the documentary aired in 1973. He spent subsequent years avoiding the notoriety that came with the show and charges that he had exploited the Louds and betrayed their trust. 'It was pretty damn tumultuous, and I don't want to go over it again', he told the New Yorker in 2011 when he was 85 and recovering from an accidental overdose of the cough suppressant Mucinex. Rumors swirled at the time of filming that Gilbert had an affair with Pat Loud that both parties denied. The married couple, Alan and Susan Raymond who were hired to record sound, 'balked at capturing several of the series's rawest moments', according to Dennis Lim's story in the New Yorker. Pat Loud is now happily living with ex-husband Bill again . Susan Raymond told Lim that 'Gilbert had a 'Svengali hold' on Pat Loud' and 'Craig destroyed that family'. Gilbert got a late-night phone call from Pat after the show began broadcasting ranting about the negative stories in the press about her family. 'What have I done? What do I do? He asked himself. 'I never resolved it. I don't know what I had wrought. I still don't'. Lance Out Loud by Pat Loud and published by Glitterati Incorporated is available on Amazon.
In Lance Out Loud, Pat Loud, now 89, celebrates her son Lance, who died of complications from AIDS in 2001 . Yale University will acquire the original Loud and Lance Loud memorabilia on Wednesday . Pat reveals there was nothing negative brewing in their family until the cameras arrived . She says PBS viewed the family as California airheads and coerced her into asking her husband for a divorce on camera . Pat is now happily living with ex-husband, Bill - again!