"The Happy Time" stuff

So this was slightly awesome!  I ran across a picture of this old poster for The Happy Time that was actually in color!  Who guessed that suit was blue?  Or, well, probably gray.

There's just really not enough of Bobby in color to tell us much about his coloring and for us to get the full effect of how his hair matched his eyes, and other things, particularly as an adult.  We can tell from collecting the pictures and screenshots we do have that his hair was about medium brown, and his eyes were probably hazel-ish.  As far as whether or not he was fair-skinned, rosy-cheeked, slightly tan, etc., I'm not sure we will ever know!  Though if anyone reads this who has either seen a highly detailed colored portrait, or better yet, saw Bobby in person at one point, please feel free to speak into the situation.  I'd love to know.

And by the way... I say the coat must have been blue because of this colored poster, but the color may have been added later and just done in whatever hues the illustrator wanted to use at the time.  I do know that one such poster I saw of The Window renders Bobby's eyes blue, which I do happen to know from word of mouth that they weren't.

Speaking of The Happy Time, I found this little blurb in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette from Oct. 19, 1952:

Young Bobby Driscoll, who plays the role of Bibi in "The Happy Time," spent much of his time manipulating a player piano. It was called for by the script, but Bobby became so entranced with the foot-pedalled contraption that between scenes he continued giving the mechanical piano a work-out.


Bet we can just guess how annoying that must have been for everybody else :)  But it has to make you smile.  What a kid thing to do!

Bobby Driscoll Website

Hi all.  I made a mistake with this entry by starting in on telling people what happened to remove bobbydriscoll.net from us... but then I realized it isn't my story to tell, and even if it was, I don't know all the details anyway.  But I accidentally hit some kind of "hot key" on my keyboard that published while I was still on the first paragraph and didn't have a chance to back out of posting about it...

So here it is, and it's all I'm going to say.

I just want to tell the author of the site that the comprehensive collection of Bobby's works -- particularly the radio programs most of us will never be able to find again -- was priceless.  I know this person must have poured time and resources into the project, and I hope they are able to find peace and move on from any hard feelings.  When blogging about or sharing information on a public figure, there's often bound to be some controversy.  I'm not here to expound on any of that, because it isn't my business.  I only wanted to thank you for what you did give to us for a time.  It will not be forgotten.

But I do want to say one last thing to everyone:  please be kind.  Always.  People can make mistakes with content, facts, etc., but I don't feel it's usually done with malicious intent.  If you ever have questions or concerns about what someone posts, the best thing to do is send them a private email and just have a discussion.  Even if things look a certain way to you, please don't accuse without just talking first.  The internet is a tricky place, and even though I comb my stuff regularly to be sure I haven't posted anything private that belongs to anyone else, I could always overlook something.  It could literally happen to anybody.  That being said, DO be careful, any time you're posting about a public figure, to check and double-check copyrights just so nothing slips up on you.

Also:  for those who wonder if the website was mine, because I do believe there's been confusion about that before... it wasn't.  I have neither the skill nor resources to take on such a big project.  Therefore, you all have to settle for some good ol' subjective blogging out of me!

And that's all.  I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas, and has a Happy New Year.

Pic from "Laughter Is A Boy"

So this morning a dear friend sent me this precious thing:

This is a still of Bobby from the "Laughter is a Boy" episode in Medic.  Isn't the 50's hair great?  :)

The person who supplied me with this also told me how the young actor portraying Bobby's younger brother -- Peter Votrian -- had nothing but good things to say about working with him.  I've actually heard this from just about everybody, but Tommy Kirk also gave them when he played a youngster in "Ah Wilderness!" alongside Bobby.  It goes to show one of the ways in which Bobby seemed to have a big heart.  Alot of us know about being "bullied by the older boys."  But he was no such one.  A wonder, when you think about it and recall that he himself was bullied in high school.  It would have been typical for him to try to take his rage out on a younger set, but he didn't. 

As far as anyone knows so far, he never did.  The one and only time I've heard of that he let his rage at another human being get the best of him was in the case of the car washing heckler.  And even then, it sounds like what started that whole thing wasn't as much the names the guy was calling Bobby as the lewd comments he was making toward Suzanne.  Not that I'm saying Bob still shouldn't have taken the high road here, but my point is, most accounts tell of him being loving and accepting versus moody and unforgiving.  One of the many of dozens of reasons he is my favorite.

Wonderful Screen Shot "Artist"

Good morning All!  I hope everyone's holiday season is shaping up nicely.  I'm quite sorry for having not been very active lately.  While always and forever inspired by Bobby, I struggle sometimes to know what to blog about that's related to him.  I'm working on a post about DiDi, but I've failed to locate some of the sources I was going to use for it... so it's still a work in progress!  I'm also hoping to do some commentary on a couple more of my shows.  That takes sitting down and doing it, however, and I've clearly not been great about that either...

But I will! 

For now, however, I want you all to go look at this girl's Pinterest board, because she has taken some gorgeous screen shots of our guy.  I will post just one here as a teaser:

Go look at the rest of them!  They're beautiful.  I wish I could be half as good at grabbing screenshots as she is, but I'm thankful I at least have access to them! 

https://www.pinterest.com/morganbridges32/bobby-driscoll/

In other news, anyone want me to do a Bobby Short Fiction for Christmas?  If I get response and know that it would be something people would want to read, I shall do it!  Please comment and let me know :)