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Post by flossieskid on Aug 14, 2021 4:53:01 GMT -5
I mentioned in my last post how being a parent and dealing with fans can be challenging. When my Dad starred in the TV series “National Velvet”, his character “Mi Taylor” was adored by every 10-13 year old girl. I think they all loved the fact that Mi helped “Velvet Brown”, the adolescent girl on the series, take care of her horse. He was always her friend, confidante, teacher, mentor and, in general, a guy every young girl wanted as their friend. All the girls in that age group would have loved to own a horse. I know I sure did! I liked the fact my Dad was on such a terrific series, but I got a bit jealous when these young girls would interfere with my time with my Dad.
The one time I found it really upsetting was on a Saturday afternoon when my Dad took me to a roller skate rink. The skating craze was in full swing and, as a twelve year old, I embraced the whole scene and had my own beautiful white skates with red toe stops. It wasn’t the popular trend of the late ‘70’s and 80’s, but we sure had huge crowds each time we went to the rink.
On this particular Saturday, I was skating with my Dad, when another young girl, around my age, recognized him from the show and she got on the other side of my Dad and just grabbed his hand and joined us. As we started to circle the rink, another young girl around the same age skated right past me and grabbed my Dad’s other hand and off they went. My Dad was in a quandary: does he seem rude and tell the girls to leave him alone or does he humor these fans for a couple of laps around the rink? He chose to let the girls hold his hand and they skated for a bit. But, slowly more and more girls appeared - holding the hand of another girl in the row that expanded out from my Dad. They didn’t look in a straight line like “The Rockettes”, but it was surely noticeable!
They were, literally, pushing me to the side so they could form a human chain on either side of my Dad. Suddenly, there were 5 girls on each side of my Dad and I started to just skate directly behind him, trying to be close. He was trying to be so nice to the group of girls and let them enjoy themselves. Plus, he was an excellent skater - which is why I wanted to be with him that day!!
Finally, after about 5 laps around the rink, my Dad stopped and said to the girls,”Thank you so much for wanting to skate with me - or with “Mi Taylor”, but I promised my daughter, Tracey, I would spend my time with her, today. I hope you all understand.” After his short speech, he let go of the hand of the girl on his left, then the girl on the right. All the girls were not thrilled he was breaking up the line, but they seemed glad they had a small connection to him. Then he turned around and he took my hand and we began to skate - together! While I endured an equal blend of nasty looks from the girls who didn’t get a chance to skate with my Dad to the looks of envy given to me by the girls who HAD skated with him. Unlike the Mr. Michael Learner, who couldn’t care less about his fans) my Dad was gracious to all his fans and made them feel special on that Saturday afternoon.
Perhaps, my Dad is the only actor they have ever run into and their memory, I hope, will be one of excitement or joy. “Mi Taylor” skated with them! In the end, I was happy that so many girls thought my Dad was cute, but even happier in the knowledge that he was going home with me!
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Post by Easton on Aug 14, 2021 6:58:48 GMT -5
That's a difficult age. They are old enough to recognise a celebrity or, at least, a character from a television show, but too young to know celebrity etiquette. In their minds, I expect that they were skating with Mi Taylor with little or no idea who James McCallion was. I doubt if your father would have been as tolerant if they were older teens or young adults who should know better.
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Post by JessicaGirlSpy on Aug 14, 2021 11:05:09 GMT -5
That's a difficult age. They are old enough to recognise a celebrity or, at least, a character from a television show, but too young to know celebrity etiquette. In their minds, I expect that they were skating with Mi Taylor with little or no idea who James McCallion was. I doubt if your father would have been as tolerant if they were older teens or young adults who should know better. I probably be a giddy teen fan if I want back in time and met Beethoven or Mozart!😃🎼🎵🎶 or Charles Dickens or William Shakespeare.
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Post by ellaroo on Aug 14, 2021 14:11:37 GMT -5
That's a difficult age. They are old enough to recognise a celebrity or, at least, a character from a television show, but too young to know celebrity etiquette. In their minds, I expect that they were skating with Mi Taylor with little or no idea who James McCallion was. I doubt if your father would have been as tolerant if they were older teens or young adults who should know better. I probably be a giddy teen fan if I want back in time and met Beethoven or Mozart!😃🎼🎵🎶 or Charles Dickens or William Shakespeare. That would be such a cool experience. I would love to go back in time and meet the actors of classic old shows during their prime time.
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Post by patriciaanne on Aug 14, 2021 18:37:24 GMT -5
What a beautiful story, Tracey. I think your dad handled it perfectly!
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