Pete Loves Mary

I finally had the chance to watch Bobby in “Pete Loves Mary,” an episode from the late 50′s/early 60′s show M Squad.  

I was SUPER excited to find this on youtube, because alot of Bobby’s TV work can be so hard to find.  It looks like he may have filmed this around the time he shot “Ordeal of the S-38″, give or take a couple months.  He would have been a new dad, trying to keep steady work for his family. 
I have this theory that MAYBE Bobby didn’t like taking his wedding band off while filming in his early days of marriage (Beware: entering sheer speculation zone).  I noticed he wore it during the “S-38″ episode, as well as in this one.  For the other character, he could have been married just as likely as he could not have been, but in his role of Steve here, it can certainly be inferred that he isn’t.  All the same, he wears a ring on his left hand – although in “Pete Loves Mary,” it doesn’t seem to be an actual wedding band despite it being on his ring finger.  I wonder if he disliked going without his band so much that they offered him another ring to “place hold” without it looking to audiences like a wedding ring?  I can’t remember whether or not he wore one in Party Crashers, where the character was most certainly not married…

Of course, again, that could totally be just me making something into more than what it is.  

Favorite moment:  Bobby once again treats us to some great facial expressions here, particularly during his first conversation with the cop.  He does a great job of being sarcastic toward the officer, and defensive of his brother, a prison escapee.  

A Clip from the Walt Disney Christmas Show

I should wait until Christmas to post this, but since when do I have that much patience?

I loved this so much.  Anybody else notice those guns Bobby has on him for still being just a kid?  That stood out to me because I didn’t really know if guys “worked out” back then the same way they do now, particularly so young.  Evidently so, or he had just spent quite alot of time involved in sports, etc.  

I also have to say, Kathy Beaumont has the very sweetest face every time I see her ^^ I would love to know if she ever had a crush on Bobby.

Bobby's Contemporaries

I think we’ve all wondered alot what Bobby’s life would have been like had he lived past 31.  Would he have remarried?  Once, twice, maybe more times as many celebrities do?  Would he have opted not to go back to acting at all, and instead choose a different career path?

Next Spring would have been Bobby’s 80th birthday.  To many of us in the younger set, that can seem positively ancient, though there are plenty of octogenarians who maintain active lifestyles and still contribute regularly to life and art!

Out of curiosity, I wanted to see who we know that would have been Bobby’s age to maybe give us a picture of the life he might still be living if he were here.  It was fascinating to think about….

Also born in 1937...

Jack Nicholson
Morgan Freeman
Vanessa Redgrave
Ned Beatty
Warren Beatty
Colin Powell
Merle Haggard
Saddam Hussein (HAD to throw that one in there for effect…. but it’s true!)
Madeleine Albright
Richard Petty
Bill Cosby
Dustin Hoffman
Anthony Hopkins
Jane Fonda

Pictures I'd Love to Know the Story Behind

There are a couple Bobby pics I have that I have never yet been able to trace the source of…. and I’m open for an education, if any of his other fans can provide it!



So I am assuming this is from a movie or TV show – anyone know which one it was?



Okay, so my question here is, when was this?  Notice the Peter Pan costume here is alot different than the one he wore in the other live action model pictures we see.  I’m wondering if this was an earlier version they decided not to go with?  I also think Bobby looks a little younger here than he does in his other Peter Pan pics….

So these are my mystery Bobby images!  Anyone care to shed light?

Roles for Bobby

I have been doing some thinking about other film roles that – had the stars aligned differently – Bobby would have probably taken by storm if he’d had the opportunity.

This isn’t to say that the actors who had these roles didn’t make them amazing.  But, had they not been available/alive, I feel Bobby would have been a shoe-in.  

1) Jack Dawson

This is my ULTIMATE headcanon for a role Bobby was born to play.  Love or hate Titanic (and I happen to love it, thank you very much), there’s no denying his ability to play the sweet, quirky and scrawny third-class love interest in this movie.  It has been remarked upon before that Leo and Bobby’s brow lines have their similarities, but I’m not really even talking about any physical resemblance here.  I just feel that this entire part could have taken a life all its own if it had met Bobby.

I also think he would have relished such a romantic lead, given the romantic spirit he seems to have possessed.  Gah, but it would have been almost too much to see him sinking beneath the black water in the end….

2) Robin (Batman)

I had actually not thought about this one, but a friend of mine had, and I had to agree with her.  His small stature alone could have made Bobby a real contender for this part.

3) Peter Parker

I think Bobby would have excelled at playing the average guy caught up in extraordinary circumstances, and he possessed all the gentleness and chivalry – not to mention the “boy next door” look – of someone like Peter Parker, aka Spiderman.

4) Mad Hatter on Once Upon a Time

This one was iffy at first in my mind, but I landed on the conclusion that Bobby could certainly have carried this off.  Quirk and passion tinted the bulk of his performances, and I think the wide array of emotion we see in the Mad Hatter on OuaT would be something Bobby would excel at 

– and enjoy – acting out

.5) Peter Pan (2003)

Okay so obviously, since Bobby was Peter Pan once (and the first male, in fact), he could probably manage to be Peter Pan in about every setting.  But I particularly think he would have loved the beautifully poignant, haunting script of the story maybe even beyond the one he actually did.  I relish the idea of him and Kathryn Beaumont being all like….

Tell me that didn’t make you wanna cry.

Invoked Into Bright Fame

I was looking up some names tonight, and decided to look up Bobby’s full name on behindthename.com.  It’s a really great site that goes back to the absolute root of all names, both first and last.

Here’s what I found:

Robert - bright fame (what an irony…)

Cletus - invoked (descended from “Anacletus”)

Driscoll - descendent of the messenger

When I read his first and middle names together, it feels so symbolic to me.  “Invoked into bright fame.”  He was called into it, pulled into it from a young age whether he was ready, willing, and emotionally able to handle it or not.

Wow, so poignant when looked at that way….

Oscars

Here is our Bobby at the 1953 Oscar Reunion <3  I’m so glad he got this opportunity to come back.

It’s interesting how big of a gap there on stage between him and the woman in front of him!  I’m pretty sure there’s no significance to it, I’m just bound to notice these little things.

It’s adorable how, when we first see him, he’s giving a sort of “token” smile, but while the camera is panning past, his face slightly alters into a more genuine, flattered beam, probably because of the applause he garnered.  

The experience of watching this was a haunting one for me.  The picture quality is pretty darn bad, given the fact that television effects were anyway during the 50′s, but seeing Bobby in his own element – not as playing anyone, but just being himself – for even a few seconds felt so wonderful.  We have so little of him left, just being who he was.  No filmed interviews, no preserved personal appearances (aside from the handful-of-seconds Disneyland stint of 1955).

In this sequence, I can feel the force of his personality pressing to reach out of the old, worn-out film that captures him.