Friday, February 24, 2012

Teen Celebrity Crushes

We've all had them, those crushes on the famous and oh-so-unattainable guys we saw on the Ed Sullivan show, whose movies we swooned over at the Saturday matinee, or whose records we listened to over and over again. You know the guy I mean.

At various times I had several teen crushes. James Darren as Moondoggie in the Gidget movies. I was too young to have a crush when the movie came out but when I saw it on TV in the '60s, I was in love! George Harrison, my favorite Beattle, and Herman from Herman's Hermits.


We lived in a small town in 1967 and I remember begging my parents to let me and a girlfriend go a Herman's Hermits concert in the city. I might as well have asked to go to the moon.

Instead I had to settle for listening to their records, over and over again. I knew all the lyrics, and I used my babysitting money to buy Tiger Beat magazine so I could pour over all the tantalizing details of Herman's life.

Last year, almost forty-five years after surviving the disappointment of missing the Herman's Hermits concert, my mother and I went to see Peter Noone (Herman) perform.


It wasn't the concert I so desperately wanted to see in the '60s but it was fun, and I even got my old LPs autographed.





I haven't played these records in years, but I did have a look inside the covers before I went to the concert. I'm so glad I did, because look what I found.

Two drawings I made of Herman when I was about thirteen.



They were drawn on looseleaf paper, no doubt while I supposed to be doing homework. Peter/Herman was a good sport and signed them for me, asking if I'd become any better at drawing over the years. Sadly, no! But I did discover that while I got over my crush, I'll always be a fan.

Okay, now it's confession time. Who was your teen crush?

Until next time,
Lee
www.leemckenzie.com
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12 comments:

kris said...

Oh, what fun to find those drawings!!! I got to see Davy Jones a couple of times in concert in the past few years, but my rue teen crush - actually, I think I was more of a preteen - was Bobby Sherman. My money also went to WAY too many issues of Tiger Beat, just to get more pictures of him for my wall. I made quite an idiot of myself over him - but I'm always a bit proud to see that he is now an EMT. As opposed to, you know, David Cassidy. Grrr :-)

Lee McKenzie said...

lol, Kris! I used to get in trouble for taping things to my walls because the tape took the paint off!

I still have most of my LPs from back in the day. Now I wish I'd kept all the 45s. I played "Rag Doll" by The 4 Seasons over and over and over. I'm surprised I didn't wear it out.

Alexis Morgan said...

The first band I had had big time crush on was the Association. I did get to see them on concert when I was in high school. We got there early and they were still doing their sound tests. The drummer had his shirt off . . . oh, my! 8-D

Lee McKenzie said...

Shirtless drummer....

Their hit "Cherish" was one of my all-time favorite songs.

Alexis Morgan said...

Mine, too. I loved their harmonies. And yeah, the drummer looked just fine.

Lee McKenzie said...

Shirtless drummers aside ;), I loved the music back then. Seems to me it was more about the voices, the harmonies, and the band members' abilities to play real instruments. When they sang, I could actually understand the lyrics. So much music today is electronically altered and it's hard to know what's real and what's been "enhanced." I think this officially makes me old!

linda s said...

I vote for Herman. I saw him on Ed Sullivan when I was small singing Henry the 8th. I didn't understand a word but my father killed himself laughing and translated. We didn't have records and magazines but we did have radio. More to imagine.

Marin Thomas said...

Lee, I love the photos in the blog! Makes me feel old though when I think back to listening to that music...even though I was very, very young at the time...lol!

Joanne said...

What a neat post!
My crush was Donny Osmond - big time! Even now when I see pics of him when he was in his teens, I still think he was just so gorgeous.

Lee McKenzie said...

Linda, thinking back, "I'm Henry VIII, I Am" is an unlikely hit song!

Lee McKenzie said...

Thanks, Marin! It's always fun to take a stroll down memory lane!

Lee McKenzie said...

Glad you enjoyed it, Jo! I wonder how many millions of women share your celebrity crush? lol