Okay Y'all. I totally missed Bobby's birthday by about two months and promised to cover an interview that I never made good on, but today's a new day and I'm doing it.
I still absolutely love love love Bobby and will never get tired of talking about him. I just haven't been faithful to act on that love and blog lately because, well, chronic illness. It'll kick your kneecaps in, Folks.
Without further ado, I present...
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**STARTED ON BOBBY'S ACTUAL BIRTHDAY. So I still get points**
Happy BB You Guys! If things had been different, he would have been 87 today...
But instead, he will forever be young and full of fresh promise to us.
At any rate! I have a handful of things to touch on, so let me jump right in.
Firstly, I had the opportunity a few weeks ago to talk to the sweet and beautiful Louise Kane! She was a friend and girlfriend of Bobby's during their teenage years in Pacific Palisades.
When I first heard Louise's voice over the phone, I was struck by how vivacious and pleasant her tone was. I found myself surprised. And I'm not sure why, although as I've mentioned before, I work with mostly octogenarians at my assisted living, and therefore have come to expect that those of that age bracket are feeble and forgetful. But not so with Louise. She was a teacher for most of her life which may account for how well-spoken she was, but the moment I heard her, I knew she was going to be able to lend so much to our knowledge of Bobby from those pivotal years.
Louise's dad (one Joe Kane) was a director who was most definitely a self-made man. I won't go into the details here (mostly because I didn't take good enough notes to), but suffice it to say I found her retelling of the events of his life to be pretty fascinating, and that was despite me having initially called just for Bobby.
But now, down to business! Here are a few things I learned from Louise, presented to you in bullet points because it's took hard on my brain today to write it up in beautiful prose:
- Bobby was just a really lovely person. Are we surprised?
- He would often come to their house to not just see her, but to read books to her little sister. This tells me he was probably a good, expressive storyteller that kept her much-younger sister highly entertained.
- There was a church the family was a part of in the Palisades area, a Presbyterian church lead by a Rev. Jane (pronounced Ju-NAY). Rev. Jane started a youth group mostly comprised of young men, some of whom had not-so-fantastic home lives and would otherwise have been into some pretty shady dealings. I had the thought that this might have been where Bobby fell in with some troubled guys who were already into the risky behaviors we now know he took part in. There would be a party every Sunday night at various homes.
- The guys, who Louise made friends with, would come over to her home almost every Thursday night, have dinner (Louise always made a Betty Crocker cake!) and watch TV--she specifically mentioned Dragnet and I Love Lucy.
(Isn't it all so delightfully 50's?)
- They were friends for awhile before they began dating in time for Louise's senior prom. She claimed he was a doting boyfriend, recalling specifically the lovely earrings he purchased for her at one point. He was affectionate, loyal, and protective: once, while the pair of them were at a stoplight in Hollywood, a car of guys pulled up beside of them and Louise felt uncomfortable at the way they kept looking over at her and laughing. This, in turn, really made Bob angry.
(By the way, anyone else having a deja vu moment from another story about Bobby, another car load of laughing guys, another girl...?)
- She and Bobby went on a lot of dates at jazz clubs. He was apparently a jazz fiend, and enjoyed going to a place she referred to as the Hague. Chet Baker was a favorite of his.
- When it came to what happened between Bobby and Walt Disney, Louise says he really never talked about it other than the cursory mention that he'd been let go by the studio for his acne. She said what he dwelt on afterward was mostly just moving forward and getting new parts. I've noticed that it depends on the person as whether or not Bob talked much about his heartache over Disney...some people have said he masked his upset, others say he didn't. Of course, this is much like the way all of us are. We're more comfortable sharing certain things with certain people, and I would imagine that at this age, Bobby wanted to appear more like the tough, happy-go-lucky guy he probably wanted to be when with a girlfriend. So the fact that he didn't sit and shed tears over the matter with Louise makes sense to me.
- So here's another one of those "depends on who you talk to" things: Louise truly loved the Driscolls and felt that Bobby's parents were very loving and sweet to him, his mom being the farthest thing from a "momager" she could possibly be. I know we've all heard a very different story about that, so who knows, really? I've said this before, but I have a feeling the truth about Bobby's relationship with his parents lies somewhere in the middle. She was invited to dinner at his home on more than one occasion, and that's where I was given...
...brace yourselves...
Mrs. Driscoll's Chicken with Herbs recipe! I kid y'all not. This is where I wish I had one of those nifty "Jump to Recipe" features all the cooking blogs have, but you'll just have to scroll down yourselves for it.
- Louise prefaced again that Bobby was just very loving. Her own father said he knew Bobby was a good guy, "because he loved both kids and dogs."
This made my heart hurt a little. I have only ever felt like what Bobby wanted was just a good life with friends, family, and the chance to express himself artistically. It's painful to look back and see how all that was stolen from him by the addiction.
- Now for any of you girls who may wonder if Bobby was really as dapper as he appears in his photos, let me assure you per Louise that he absolutely was. She said that no matter where they went, he was dressed nicely in a button-up shirt underneath a sweater, and what she called "loose pants", but explained as basically being the opposite of what the rebellious "greaser" guys wore. He always tried to look and smell nice, and was particular about his appearance. One adorable story she told was how he once left a shirt of his with her so she could sew a button back on it, and before giving it back to him, she brushed it with a little of her powder so it would smell like her. She laughed telling this story, saying "I don't know why I thought he would want to actually smell like me."
- Lastly, I asked if he was self-conscious about his height. Louise said she wasn't sure because he never said that in so many words, but that once he commented on the fact that she was taller than he was. After having heard a number of people say that Bobby would make remarks every so often about his height, I've come to my own conclusion that he was likely very bothered by it.
And so, for now, that concludes the things I learned! However, Louise was awesome enough to say that she would be open to talking again if I had more questions. So you know what that means...
I'm opening up the floor for any of you to send me your questions to ask her! Y'all may think of some that I didn't. Just remember, Louise was really only familiar with him during their teenage years, and doesn't have a lot of knowledge of what he was up to outside that.
Okay, so Mrs. Driscoll's chicken recipe! I'd really love to know if this is Louise's handwriting or Mrs. Driscoll's...
So let me just say, I made this already. And, rather than it being just some random basic chicken recipe, it's SUPER good--this coming from a person who's kind of funny about chicken. The coating is what truly makes it. My advice though is to use breast tenderloins. You won't have to bake it anywhere near an hour. It took more like between 20-30 minutes. Just be aware that you can definitely taste the rosemary, for those of you who don't like that.
And this is where I will leave you today. Good news, though! I have a whole new list of stuff to blog about now, and am armed to the teeth with more determination than ever to jump back in life and DO THE THINGS. Which, of course, includes blogging. So hopefully I'll be back soon with another post. Meanwhile, please comment and tell me what you would like to find out from Louise about Bobby!
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