Thursday, March 30, 2006

Damn it!

Damn! I've been trying to post photos of the items I got when I joined the Joseph Butcher Fan Club. I'll bet most people didn't even know that Joseph - aka Wildboy from Kroffts Bigfoot and Wildboy show - had a fan club. Who knew? Who'd guess? Sure as hell not me, except for the fact that I was in it. But blogger keeps giving me an error when I try to upload photos. Damn it!! It's making me mad... mean mad....triple dog dare mad!

Anyway, stay tuned for the wonderful world of the Wildboy fan club!

Thursday, March 23, 2006

Teen Idol Incorporated

One thing about being a teen idol, someone - and it ain't you - is making a ton of money in merchandising. Here are ads for Jack Wild's first single and album.



I really wish I had Jack's Private Photo Album. The cover claims the photos were personally selected just for me! The implication is that Jack personally selected them, but would he really sit around picking out just the right 100 photos to use in a teen mag photo album? Surely he had better things to do. But it's not good marketing to say they were personally selected by a member of the Tiger Beat staff.



Still, I would love to have seen it. I have Leif Garrett's private photo album, and it's, um .....fascinating, in a teen idol sort of way.

Monday, March 20, 2006

A Tribute to Jack Wild, R.I.P.

As a child I faithfully watched Pufnstuf every Saturday morning. My favorite character was Jimmy, played by Jack Wild. I was so enthralled by the show, that I talked my parents into ordering the Pufnstuf soundtrack from the back of a Kelloggs cereal box.
My six year old eyes were so dreamy over Jack that I also convinced my parents to get a back issue of a teen mag featuring Jack on the cover. I really wanted to buy all the back issues showing Jack's picture, but my parents weren't insane so I had to narrow it down to just one.

This issue featured the exciting article, "Jack and Arthur's Brother Feud!" Good god! I wish I had a career writing lines for the front of teen magazines. I'd up the excitement level by going a step further with blurbs like, "Jack and Arthur - you are no longer my brother" or "Jack and Arthur's Battle of Blood."

Rivals? Oh no! Jack thought Arthur was avoiding him since he'd gotten back from filming Pufnstuf. But it turned out Arthur was with a girlfriend who insisted that they spend all their time alone. With her noose of affection ever tightening around his neck, Arthur decided to dump her. Brotherhood saved, rivals no more! A collective sigh of relief was breathed by all. I'm sure as a child, I was pleased that Jack and Arthur were getting along, but as an adult, I am more of the train of thought of "uhhhh... okay."

I ripped out this pinup and hung it on my wall. My guess is I stared at it dreamily, but I really don't remember.


Here a reader said she would cherish anything Jack gave her. So lucky Debbie Campbell got a gift of a locket and Jack's first single - from Jack (aaaaiiiiieeee!!!). The puzzler is, where are these items now? Does Debbie still have them? Does she hang onto them as a memento of her innocent youth? When she got older, did she forget where she got them? Or did she just callously throw them out thinking they were kids stuff?


Damn, when the teenage stars you liked when you were a small child die, it makes you feel not only old, but sort of like part of your childhood is gone.