Ignoring the utterly obvious

HOLLYWOOD — OK, I tried to resist. I really did.

But I couldn't. During an interview that featured both the cross-dressing star of the Style Network's "Brini Maxwell Show" and Finola Hughes, the ex-soap opera diva ("General Hospital," "All My Children"), who hosts "How Do I Look?" on the cable/satellite channel, I just couldn't help being a smart aleck.

Maxwell, if you haven't seen her show (and I know most of you have not), is sort of a cross between Martha Stewart and June Cleaver. Except that she's really a he — although she (or is that he?) is always in character.

Which made this particular press conference sort of surreal, because that fact was never addressed. Not by network executives, not by Hughes, not by Maxwell, not by the critics gathered to do the questioning. Maxwell (the alter-ego of Ben Sanders) was entirely unflappable, answering every question with the same cool, cultured demeanor.

But the fact that "she" is really a "he" was like a giant purple elephant sitting in the room while everyone tried to ignore it. It was the one overriding fact that underlies "The Brini Maxwell Show" — there would be no show without it — and it wasn't being acknowledged by anyone.

So I did, albeit rather indirectly.

"Finola," I asked, "would you care to address the rumors that you're really a man?"

Maxwell pursed her lips and tried not to smile. (Or, perhaps, she pursed her lips and thought venomous thoughts about me.) But the ever-charming Hughes didn't hesitate for a moment. She stood up and said, "I just want to say that I wore these pants (because) they really hide my (male anatomy). Don't you think they do? I always shop carefully."

SCARY: My impertinent question drew laughter from my colleagues and some attention from the Hollywood trade press, not all of it good. Although I know the writer for one publication was kidding when he wrote that I was "confused" when I asked it.

One longtime friend and fellow critic did scare me a bit the next day when she asked, "Was it you who asked Brini Maxwell if she was really a man?"

I explained what had really happened, but then I got worried. Did she really think I had to ask if Maxwell was a man? Did she think I couldn't tell?

Yikes.

GOOD ANSWER: Brini Maxwell answered every question in the same calm, unruffled fashion.

Asked what she thinks of "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy," Brini replied, "Oh, well, you know, those boys seem so nice and ordinary it's hard to imagine they're gay."

WHOOPS: A reader — one who was actually paying attention, imagine that! — called my attention to a boneheaded mistake I made in last Friday's paper.

(Yes, I do make mistakes. Just ask my children.)