Bobby's Girls (Part 1 - The Early Years)

Bobby, from what we can deduce from letters, songs he loved, things he said in his handful of interviews, etc., was quite the romantic.  He never went long, from the time he was an adolescent onward, without being in a serious relationship.  I've never heard of or read any evidence claiming that he was a "lady's man," however, or a philanderer.  He was known to be flirty at times, but it doesn't seem he really used it as a means for an end, grabbing up all the girls who would have him.  Rather, it seems to me he was most interested in finding that one person who would be his forever.

This, as we know, didn't work out very well for him.  I don't want to call him a serial monogamist, as having gone through three relationships by the time he was thirty-one seems pretty standard for alot of guys.  But he did continue to try to find that person, despite the ending each of his relationships had.

So!  I'm going to talk a little about this in my post today.  Mind you, my blog is for me, as an admirer of Bobby's, to simply discuss parts of his life as I see them and feel them, not to shed any disrespectful light on either him or anyone involved with him.  Therefore, I don't intend in the least to tear any of these women down.  Bobby had his own faults and baggage he brought into each relationship that, I'm sure, helped to bring about the demise of each.  I adore the man, but he was not perfect.  I also want to say that the reason I feel comfortable doing this is because Bobby himself, while always being tasteful and discreet about his relationships, never seemed bothered by making them known to the public.  If he'd been ultra-private in this regard, I'd feel more trepidation touching on this topic myself.  But since I feel he'd be okay with the way I'm going about this, I'm going to dive right in here.

Okay, so we know that in his teens he was involved with (at least) Patricia Nolan, Susan Strasberg, and Louise Kane.  I won't go into the adolescent relationships so much, as we don't know much about them, and what kid with Bobby's looks and charm didn't do some playing the field?  I'm not really sure how serious any of these relationships were.  We've all run across his letters to Pat Nolan when he was in the first half of his teens (if you want a refresher, you can find them at bobbydriscoll.net as well as tons of other places).

We know about Louise Kane only because Bobby mentioned her in an interview he did just after he began his stage run of "The Boy with the Cart" (Tucson Daily Citizen, 2/5/54).  And that's all we know about her.  Maybe this one didn't last long.

According to a would-be biographer, he met and dated Susan Strasberg, daughter of Lee Strasberg, when he visited New York a couple times as an older teen.  The biographer states that Susan confirmed the relationship, as well as the fact that she had great difficulty talking about Bobby because the subject broke her heart.  I have wondered if this is the girl from "the movie colony" that Bobby's mom mentions in the interview she did after revealing his death back in 1972.

These are only a few of the relationships Bobby had before his marriage to Marilyn, and there were quite possibly a few more.  He mentioned in his 1961 interview that he'd dated Connie Stevens briefly, and we may know more about that here shortly when the documentary is released, as Stevens is one of the people interviewed.

So now we get to Marilyn.  We get the best glimpse we ever get into this relationship in Bobby's 1961 interview, which you can also find on bobbydriscoll.net.  It seems they were both young, lonely, and vulnerable in their own way.  I tread very lightly here, because Marilyn is the mother of Bobby's children, and I know the topic of their parents is a very personal one to them.  So all I really want to say about Marilyn is that my heart truly does break for her.  She was young, probably very much in love with Bobby and hopeful about a white picket-fence future with him, raising a family.  Who isn't at nineteen?  So when you take the "nervous disorder" talked about in his interview (and I'd rather not pursue the topic any farther than that in this post), and the mayhem he brought into the marriage with his drug and legal problems... plus three young children... you have the broken-dreams situation we read about later.  I'm sure this was a very hurtful thing for everyone involved, and I'd imagine Bobby probably had some regrets about the way alot of it was handled.  I simply pray that in the aftermath, Marilyn found some peace.

Almost immediately after he and Marilyn divorced -- actually, during their separation but before the divorce was finalized -- Bobby met Suzanne Stansbury.  And that's where I will pause for today.  More on Suzanne... and Sharon Morrill... next post!