Movieland and TV Time - November 1969 (typed by Carol R.)

The Fan Letters I Answer First

You almost can't miss when you write Bobby Sherman...he's interested in everything.

I love to answer a fan who believes life's an enormous do-it-yourself project," Bobby confesses. "Sure, it shakes us up! But that's a reminder we've a lot to learn. Tackling another exciting challenge makes me happy again. If you tell me you're going all out on something that thrills you, that proves we have a lot in common.

When your imagination is as persistent as mine, that's a special bond between us. On my fourteenth birthday, my parents took me to Disneyland for the day. I spent my spare time in the following seven months building a miniature one in our garage. There was no room for cars when my replica stretched 23 by 35 feet. I reproduced everything I remembered including my favorite rides. I made tiny street lights I could switch on as a final touch. Girl and boy scouts came by in troops to see it. A head designer at Disneyland appeared one Saturday and predicted I'd be an architect.

Helicopters fascinated me next, so I built one that took up our whole back yard. A calamity ended that chapter. It wouldn't go up. When I couldn't get my jewel off the ground, I had to take it apart. Still, I recall the fun in the effort more than that disappointment

Are you athletic in some way? Say so, and I'll want to reply because I've always been on a health kick. I went out for football at Birmingham High in Van Nuys, California. My size put me on the B squad, but as a senior, I made the All City Team in that category. Luckily, my parents let me have open house for my friends every Friday after a game. My mother fixed plenty to eat and my dad passed out cold drinks for the team and often a hundred other kids. No liquor was ever served. I didn't drink and I've never taken up smoking.

We danced those evenings in my music room alongside the garage. That's where I practiced playing a number of instruments - I began with my trumpet, went on to the drums, piano, organ, trombone, base, baritone, French horn, harmonica and the Greek bouzooki. I started to sing in jam sessions there.

I'm attracted by what you're studying and why. Our education is a lifetime project. I began to be interested in singing professionally when I was 17, but first went to Pierce College in nearly Woodland Hills for two years. I enrolled in theatre arts classes, but I didn't try to be in plays - I don't know why I didn't! Classes in basic electronics intrigued me because I wondered how singers recorded. Psychology was my major. Understanding other people is so important. I was considering a future as a psychiatrist.

Do you count on magic when you're really ready for it? I do. One evening, a girl I'd been dating invited me to a party. I knew several guys playing in the band there since I'd sung with them at other parties. When they asked me to do a couple of numbers, I stepped up and sang. To my amazement, four people who came over to me afterwards asked if I was being represented by an agent. When I said no, each one offered to help me by sending me to an agent they thought might do something for me. You can guess what a jolt it was to be told, "If you have the talent, there's always room at the top!" The four people were Jane Fonda, Natalie Wood, Sal Mineo and Roddy MacDowell, and the agent I reached that way set up appointments to audition that led to my being signed for "Shindig" four months later. I left college then to work regularly in it for two years. During that period, I turned my music room into a fully equipped professional recording studio. I made all the equipment by experimenting and combining what seemed best. I recorded The Monkees and other groups and singers, and now I'm doing the singing for my own records there.

While I love music - writing songs is another project I enjoy - I sympathize immediately with a fan who's frustrated because I was for the year after "Shindig" went off. I wanted to become an actor. When people said that was an impossible dream, I wouldn't accept their verdict. I kept trying until a test for 'Here Come the Brides' won me the role of Jeremy Bolt. I always admired classic cars, never wanted a sports car, so my one splurge has been buying the midnight blue Rolls-Royce I expect to drive the rest of my life.

I've lived alone for two years now, a step I felt I should take, although I see my parents often because we're close friends. They set an example of goodness I'll never forget. Besides being loving, they made me aware of other people's feelings, and taught me to value business sense, too.

On my 24th birthday this summer, I took Patti Carnel out to my folks' house for the afternoon and evening. My mother prepared a marvelous dinner for the four of us. Later, I showed them some new ideas I'm developing in my recording studio.

Patti's a pretty 18-year-old brunette. I'd want to know how a fan is doing romantically, so I don't mind being frank. Patti and I met eight months ago when a girl I was dating then brought her along one time. I wasn't going steady, knew it wouldn't be upsetting if I called Patti. What appeals to me most where she's concerned? She isn't a phony! She's sincere, never affected. She's not in show business, hasn't decided what she wants to become. She was completing her senior year in high school when we started seeing each other.

We're not going steady. I have much to accomplish before I'm ready for the marriage and children I want eventually. I want to act in movies next, be respected as a versatile actor. Jeremy Bolt is me in different circumstances. I'd like to prove convincing in a totally contrasting role in my first movie lead, want to play a killer who quietly destroys anyone who makes the older woman he's crazy about miserable. How about that as a test of acting ability?

Eventually, I want to direct and produce. That's why I'm mentally taking note of everything that goes into a show. There are many fine craftsmen behind the scenes. The performers take the bows, but theirs is the easiest job!

I enjoy flying out on weekends for 'in person' concerts. An audience I can see and hear is so stimulating! And I love to talk to fans wherever I go. When I return, I'm not much of a goer-outer - I get up at 6:30 a.m. to begin work on a set at 8 o'clock, five mornings a week. But I revel in what I'm working at, can't get enough of it!

A letter gets to me when a fan isn't afraid to write from the heart. Depend on this. I mean it.