Bobby in Eric Morris's Book

I found this today, and it made me smile... and nearly cry.

"... I auditioned at the Ring and got a small but nice part in Girls of Summer.  It was my first job since I had left the army, and I was thrilled to be onstage, instead of backstage stage-managing.  The leading roles were being played by Mike ("Touch") Connors -- whose nickname came from his having been a football star at UCLA -- Carole Matthews, and Bobby Driscoll.  Mike was at the beginning of his acting career.  Later on he became fairly successful on television as the lead actor in two diferent series, "Tightrope" and "Mannix."  Carole Matthews was a busy working actress in B films, while Bobby Driscoll, as a child actor, had done such films as Song of the South and several other big ones.  A great guy, always smiling and seemingly happy, he was then in his early twenties and was attempting to carve out a career as an adult.  I really liked him, and we established a close relationship during the run of the play.  Almost every night during the intermission, Robert Blake and Dean Stockwell would visit Bobby, and the four of us hung out in the dressing room backstage.  I listened to them talk about the old days -- the people, the other actors, the directors, and some of the gossip that wasn't written about in the newspapers.  I was fascinated by their conversations.  They had grown up in the studio classes, taught by teachers the studio brought in." -- Eric Morris, The Diary of a Professional Experiencer:  An Autobiographical Journey Into the Evolution of an Acting System.

It seems to be almost unanimous among people who knew Bobby that he was friendly and open, and usually willing to engage and to make new friends.  I feel this is the part of his spirit that was able to shine through most of the time, even past the muck and mire of the drugs that wore at the frayed edges of his brain.

Of course, no doubt he also probably knew how to "shuck and jive" even when he wasn't feeling like it to satisfy social purposes.  But I think the bright light part of his personality was, for the most part, authentically his.