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Saturday, April 05, 2008

Crushes QUESTION

Some blogger - I won't say who, but he appears on my blogroll - was expressing embarrassment about crushes he had on various famous people people when he was younger. I, apparently, have no such hangup. These are mine. Who were the people you had a crush on when you were 18 or younger, people who were at least semi-famous; i.e., not your teacher or your best friend's parent?
The first big crush, one which was de rigeur for boys of my generation and slightly older (I was watching repeats of the Mickey Mouse Club, I later learned) was Annette Funicello. Don't know why she became so iconic, exactly. If I ever saw her in her later movies with Frankie Avalon, it was quite by accident, but at the time, I would rush home from school to see her, quite probably on the one and only station we got at the time. There were two, but one was VHF (good reception) and one was UHF (not so hot. Isn't it strange how I can still remember Tuesday was guest star day on that show?

Mary Tyler Moore as Laura Petrie on The Dick van Dyke Show (CBS, 1961-1966). Must have been the dancing, and the perkiness. And the capri pants.

Inger Stevens was on a 1963-1966 ABC show called "The Farmer's Daughter". She had a Swedish accent, which I've only recently learned that she had to fake, because she had worked hard to lose it. The character Katy Holstrum was a governess to Congressman Glen Morley (William Windom), who was widowed with two sons. She also appeared in several movies, including Hang 'Em High with Clint Eastwood (1968). Inger Stevens died, a suicide by pills and booze, in 1970. I found that particularly depressing.

I knew Angela Cartwright from Make Room for Daddy/The Danny Thomas Show (first of two Danny Thomas connections); she started in 1957. Also from The Sound of Music (1965). But for some reason, it was during her run on Lost in Space c. 1965, that I developed a crush on her. She was my youngest crush, being only six months older than I.

Marlo Thomas, daughter of Danny. I watched That Girl pretty much religiously, and really liked it for much of its run on ABC (1966-1971), though it sagged at the end, when it added dopey lyrics to the theme song. (Thanks to GayProf for that information.) Marlo is probably of a physical type, like the MTM/Laura Petrie, and likely a personality model for shows with "independent women", such as The Mary Tyler Moore Show.

In the early days of the Supremes, the group shared lead vocals more often than in later times, when Diana Ross dominated. One of my favorite songs on Meet the Supremes was Buttered Popcorn, with the lead vocal by Florence Ballard. But I really got a crush from the cover of The Supremes Sing Holland-Dozier-Holland, with Flo looking particularly zaftig, in a good way. Of course, she died, broke, in 1976, which was wrong on so many levels, and was partially the inspiration for Dreamgirls.

I have no idea how I first became aware of Sophia Loren. I certainly never saw any of her movies until much later. But I thought she was the epitome of a beautiful woman when I was 16, and I'll stick with that.


O.K., people, I want responses, either here or in your own blogs.


ROG

7 comments:

Uthaclena said...

Ann Margaret
Was first smitten with this perky redhead on a hot-pink Life magazine cover in 1963 publicizing the movie "Bye Bye Birdie" (which was also the issue that they introduced a new technological wonder to the world, called a "laser" beam).
Annette Funicello and Sophia Loren, aye!

EM said...

Childhood/youth crushes: Burt Ward as Robin the Boy Wonder, Dorothy Hammill, Olivia Newton John and John Travolta in Grease, Lynda Carter as Wonder Woman

First celeb crush after coming out at 23: Johnny Depp

Anonymous said...

I will be posting mine soon on my site.

As for Johnny Depp, my wife is yet to grow out of her crush on him. Started with "21 Jump Street" and is still going strong (though she admitted he was looking rather rough and old in "Sweeney Todd").

Anonymous said...

Ok...Ok...I've been meaning to follow through and post my list...hopefully I can get it together for tomorrow.

Tom the Dog said...

You know I've been posting my celebrity crushes for ages now -- it's called Objects of My Affection. I'm totally with you on Mouse Club-era Annette!

Greg said...

I just realized that I completely ignored the qualification that you had to be under 18 when you had these crushes. I don't play by your rules, man! Can't we have crushes into our 20s or 30s! What are you, some kind of crush fascist!

Viva la Revolution!

Roger Owen Green said...

Mr. Burgas- You misunderstand. I wasn't saying one cannot have crushes in one's 20s or 30s (or 40s or 50s). I limited it so that it wouldn't exceed twice the length of Mr. Collins' OOMA. My list that includes Sela Ward will come some other time.