Tiger Beat - February 1971 (typed by Cindy M.)

At last! Patti Carnel Reveals:
The Bobby I Know - Part 1

THIS IS PATTI CARNEL - Patti Carnel, at just 19, is a very ambitious young lady! Though she is constantly being mistaken for a photographer's model, and rightly so, Patti has never done any professional modeling. She is currently enrolled at San Fernando Valley Junior College taking a number of courses, her favorite being those in Interior Decorating. She is also fond of her classes that deal in Psychology. In her free time, Patti enjoys trying her hand at gourmet cooking and takes modern dance and ballet classes, which she has been studying for six years. Two years ago, quite by accident, she met Bobby Sherman. Since that time, they have dated many times and in this exclusive Tiger Beat interview, Patti reveals what it's like to date Bobby.

HOW DID YOU FIRST MEET BOBBY?
Well, the first time was when my girlfriend was living in the same apartment building as Bobby. This was two years ago. She kept telling me that Bobby Sherman lived up stairs.

DID YOU KNOW WHO HE WAS?
I recognized the name, but I thought that Bobby Sherman was the host of "Shindig." The host was really Jimmy O'Neil, but I thought it was Bobby Sherman, so I kept saying to her, "What do you see in him?" Well, my girlfriend, Diane, really wanted to meet him, and get to know him, so I said, "Why don't you just go up to the door and introduce yourself?" I wasn't excited about the idea because I was going out with someone rather steadily then.

Then I got an idea. I told Diane, "I'll go up to the door and say we were locked out of our apartment upstairs and our roommate is asleep and we can't wake her up to open the door. Could we please use your phone?" So, that's what we did! We knocked on the door and Bobby opened it and I told him our story. So we used Bobby's phone and called Diane's roommate and she didn't know what we were talking about!

Then Bobby invited us up the next day, so we went up and he was just really nice. He's just so intelligent and has such a good sense of humor that you can't help but like him. So after we visited him the next day, he dated Diane a couple of times. Then after a while, he asked me for a date.

WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST IMPRESSION OF BOBBY THE FIRST TIME YOU MET HIM?
He looked very familiar to me when he came to the door that first afternoon, but I still didn't realize who he was because he looked so different with his hair combed back like he wore it on the "Shindig" show.

SO YOU DIDN'T REALLY ASSOCIATE HIM WITH THE GUY ON "SHINDIG?"
I remember looking at Bobby and thinking "I know him from someplace." I knew of a Bobby Sherman from "Shindig," but I thought he was the host and when I looked at Bobby, I knew he wasn't the host. So when I asked him he told me he was the guy that played the guitar and sang everybody else's songs!

WHEN DID YOU COME TO REALIZE THAT BOBBY HAD A CURRENT TV SHOW?
Well, I can remember my little brothers and sisters watching "Here Come The Brides" and as I'd walk past the TV they'd say, "Isn't he cute?" pointing to Bobby. That first afternoon we met, Bobby mentioned something about the show and then I put two and two together.

WHAT DID YOU DO ON SOME OF YOUR OTHER DATES WITH BOBBY?
Sometimes he would pick me up from school and all the kids would go "Wow!" because he'd drive up in his Rolls Royce. He used to take me to his parents' house a lot and I'd listen to his recordings and the things he had produced on other artists.

I can remember once he called and said, "Would you like to go out Friday" and I said yes, so he picked me up after school and when we got out in the car, he said, "Where do you want to go? Are you hungry?" I said, "Not really," so he asked me again what I wanted to do and I said, "I don't know, why don't we just drive." So we just drove around and had a great time.

So it got to be around 11 at night and we were down at the beach and Bobby pretended he lost his keys in the sand. So we looked all over the beach for his keys. It was so funny! Then later he said, "Oh, my goodness, they've been in my pocket all the time!" So we just drove around some more and really got to know one another by just talking and teasing one another.

HAVE YOU GONE ANYWHERE ELSE ON DATES?
Once he took me to a party for his booking agency, and it was a big party in Bobby's honor. There were lots of people there, and it was really crowded and that's the last party we went to. After a while we couldn't really go anyplace special where we could have a good time because Bobby gets mobbed. He'll be signing autographs, which he digs and I'd just be standing there like a bump on a log. So we really had to confine ourselves to his parents house or my parents house. Recently, we decided it would be better if we went our separate ways for a while until this part of his career has died down a bit. Now we're just really good friends and Bobby calls from time to time.

SO DO YOU REMEMBER YOUR IMPRESSION OF BOBBY AFTER THAT FIRST MEETING?
I liked him. I really liked him. I thought he was a very sincere person. He was so nice, he has a lot of charm, and he knows how to treat a person. He's a ladies-man, definitely!

WHERE DID YOU GO WHEN BOBBY ASKED YOU OUT THE FIRST TIME?
It was two days before Easter that Bobby called and asked me out. One movie magazine printed that we went to see the play "You're a Good Man Charlie Brown" on our first date, but what we did was go to Charlie Brown's restaurant in the Valley with Bobby's parents!

SO ON YOUR FIRST DATE, YOU DOUBLE-DATED WITH BOBBY'S PARENTS?
Yes! I thought his parents were really sweet and we got along beautifully, except I was pretty quiet that night. I was just 17 then and I hadn't graduated from high school yet and I was a little shy. When Bobby came to pick me up, my parents were totally impressed with him. He's the type of guy that every father would like to see his daughter go out with. He's very respectful.

BECAUSE YOU KNOW BOBBY SO WELL, WHAT TYPE OF PRESENTS DOES BOBBY LIKE TO RECEIVE?
He thinks that a gift that is made by a fan is something much more sentimental and much more meaningful, because she put her all into it . There's so many things that Mrs. Sherman receives from fans that are incredible. You can see all of the work that was put into it and Bobby is really impressed by those.

WHAT ARE THE TYPES OF PRESENTS BOBBY LIKES TO RECEIVE FROM PEOPLE HE KNOWS VERY WELL?
It s so hard to buy something for a guy like Bobby because he's got everything! But I think he likes funny little things - something with a sense of humor is really what he likes best. He also likes clothes because he can always use them. He likes medals, like he got a silver peace dove on a chain that he wears.

WHAT KIND OF PRESENTS DOES BOBBY LIKE TO GIVE? SOME OF HIS FANS HAVE WRITTEN IN ASKING IF BOBBY GAVE YOU THE DIAMOND RING YOU WEAR ON YOUR LEFT HAND?
Bobby has given me a ring, but that's not the one. I have two rings that I wear. One Bobby gave me, which is a 14 karat gold ring with a peridot on it, which is my birthstone. He gave it to me on my birthday. The other ring, that I wear on my left hand is a ring that my father gave me when I was 13 years old that he bought in Mexico. Bobby likes to give jewelry for presents and he's really generous. One time we were walking past a dress shop and I said, "Isn't that gorgeous?" and do you know he went in and bought it for me!