Fun Finds: TV Mirror Magazine, November 1978

It's been a little bit longer than usual between posts around here. You see, I've been holding out on you slightly. I made a visit to the surface world, a four-day trip to Florida to soak up some much-needed sun and with all the work that needed to be done before and after, I wasn't able to post anything. But I'm back in The Underworld now and ready to cough up another of my infamous Fun Finds. This is a rag from what I call "my" time. I was eleven and very tuned into many of the network television shows of the day. What struck me about this particular issue of the usually more mainstream publication was just how "Teen Beat" the cover subjects are this time...! One could substitute the words Tiger Beat on the cover and no one would bat an eyelash. There were one or two pages ripped out of this, which was disappointing, but I think there will be enough left of interest for you to enjoy browsing along with me. Much to my delight, this issue had a fair amount of color photography, rare for a fan magazine of this period. And apart from the inside and back covers, no ads! Left flip the page and see what's up.

Right off the bat, we are treated to a shot of hirsute Barry Gibb with his plunging neckline. Interesting also to see Polly Holliday out of her Flo wig from Alice. We are also treated to the fact that most of the following page was torn out (bastards!), but the blurb about Aaron Spelling and his partner Leonard Goldberg goes on to say that Spelling had allegedly diminished Goldberg's contributions to their company/projects. And the actors from their shows had begun to take sides in the dispute. Since Spelling clearly went on to far more name recognition, one hopes that the stars picked sides carefully! I never knew about any rift, but now that I see this, I remember that Douglas Cramer eventually emerged as a name aligned with Spelling on some of his 1980s TV projects. Mr. Goldberg, by the way, died earlier this month at the age of eighty-five in the wake of a serious fall.

Interesting to see Leonard Nimoy during the period before his screen career was reignited by the coming of Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979.) (Apart from Invasion of the Body Snatchers, 1978, he hadn't acted in anything since a 1975 TV-movie! He did, however, host the sci-fi reality series In Search of... from 1977-1982.)

This is a familiar, but still great, shot of Starsky & Hutch's Paul Michael Glaser, who was always seemingly complaining about the show on some level. The lady in the middle photo would eventually become Elizabeth Glaser, whose death from AIDS prompted a considerable pediatric charity endeavor which continues to this day.

Once his hit series ended, Glaser acted with far less frequency and began directing more often. Lately, he has popped up on TV again in things such as Grace and Frankie.

You really don't tend to see much on Karen Grassle, longtime star of Little House on the Prairie, so this was a welcome article. I have to say that her work on the venerable show is very underrated. She was perfect casting for the part and did it considerable justice. In fact, it was always difficult for me (or anyone else!) to accept her as another character afterwards.

I'm not gonna argue with this headline...! The movie she missed out on was, of course, Kramer vs. Kramer (1979.) The proposed TV series, with then-hubby Stevens, was Topper and that didn't work out beyond the pilot TV-movie.

Few TV stars burned brighter at the time than hunky Erik Estrada of CHiPs.

Mercy!

It's kind of fun that Broderick Crawford of Highway Patrol guested on CHiPs (which stood for California Highway Patrol.) Estrada didn't marry until 1985 and not to the gal shown here.

Dianne Kay was smart to realize that fame can be fleeting. Though she did work sporadically for about two decades after Eight is Enough ended, it is almost solely for that for which she is recognized (if at all!) She tried a change of pace in 1984 with Glitter (a glitzy Aaron Spelling series), but the show was yanked after just half a dozen episodes.

Right about this time, Kristy McNichol was white hot with her series Family and movie roles in The End (1978) and the forthcoming Little Darlings (1980), but The Pirate Movie (1982) was the beginning of the end 0f her considerable popularity. She successfully reemerged years later on Empty Nest.

Kristy's brother Jimmy McNichol was also very popular at this moment, with the short-lived The Fitzpatricks under his belt and the (unkept) promise of California Fever on the horizon, but he struggled to keep career footing as an actor as the 1980s continued.

If you come here often and read my Fun Finds, you know that I try to meld two-page spreads into one for your viewing pleasure, with limited results...!

The caption on this shot of James Garner (of The Rockford Files) refers to a quiz on the opposite page.

I wasn't able to complete this quiz correctly! Believe it or not, I got John Travolta and Dinah Shore backwards... LOL! My God, that baby #6.....!

I was a devout watcher of The Hardy Boys, but I must confess that I was a Parker Stevenson fan more than a Shaun Cassidy fan. (And actually liked Pamela Sue Martin of the accompanying Nancy Drew Mysteries more than either boy!)

Ahhh, the '70s.

One star that I just simply never became interested in at all was Scott Baio, though he was wildly popular at this time.

Something tells me he isn't going to burn too many calories using his exercycle that way (not that he needed to lose any weight!)

Female grade school classmates of mine were nuts for Scott Baio. I just never saw it... He always seemed to have such a large head and teensy body! He's listed at 5'10" but somehow looks positively elfin here at age seventeen.

Another one whose appeal escaped me is Leif Garrett, who was also incredibly popular at this juncture. The original owner of this magazine loved him, apparently, because that is the second page that was ripped out, probably a full page portrait of the teen actor/singer.

Oddly enough, Peter Frampton was involved in a very serious car accident right around the time this issue was going to press and he was so broken and beaten up that he briefly became addicted to drugs. Fortunately, he was able to lick that and move forward.

Frampton continued to tour right up until this year when he conducted Peter Frampton Finale-The Farewell Tour. He then revealed that he is suffering from a progressive muscle disorder (IBM) and that one dollar from every ticket sold went to research on the disease. He is sixty-nine, living in Nashville, Tennessee.

These are the four "hotties" who were deemed in need of a girl. Ironically, Frampton was in the midst of a palimony suit, later dismissed, in which a woman wanted half his earnings for five years while they were together (and he was married to someone else for three of those! No moss gathering on him...! LOL)

Yum! I adored these two...

For a show that really was not very successful Battlestar Galactica garnered many devoted fans and was kept alive in their hearts (and, of course, rebooted with much success decades later.)

Here ya go! The best I could do with two ill-matching halves of a two-pager.

Half of one of the 1970s sitcoms most successful female duos, Cindy Williams.

The Laverne & Shirley actress had been reluctant to do the show from the start, but threw herself into it for the first several years. Eventually, a level of discord with her costar Penny Marshall and with the show as well as an upcoming pregnancy led her to leave the program which piddled along for a short while after. By the way, the Ross Hunter TV-movie (co-produced with his longtime lover Jacques Mapes) was dotted with old guard stars like Eileen Heckart, Scott Brady, Lew Ayres, Joan Bennett and the couple's male good luck charm Hayden Rorke.

Also revealed in the remainder of the article, Williams' baby daughter in the TV-movie is played by Drew Barrymore (her screen debut!) Interestingly, her own character us aged sixteen to twenty-four in the tale while Williams was, at the time, thirty-one!

Unless you're someone who goes to see live ventriloquists often, this one could be a Where Are They Now? situation. At the time, Jay Johnson was costarring on Soap and making many appearances, but I feel like I never saw him again after 1981. He primarily stuck to stage shows, but did pop up on TV at times, including several appearances on Broken Badges and an Empty Nest that reunited him with Richard Mulligan, one of Soap's stars. There's a hilariously benign joke he mentions in this article which The Osmonds had him remove from his act when he was opening for them!

Mr. Montalban's wife was the sister of Loretta Young. They were wed sixty-three years until her death in 2007.

You know, I love me some Lee Majors, but this is not a particularly flattering bit of photography where he's concerned.

Donny & Marie, the squeaky cleans. I saw them in Las Vegas (in a show that ran for many years which just recently closed at their own behest) two years ago and it was a magnificent experience. They were so talented and funny and ingratiating. They each spoke to me from the stage several times but, you know, stars have a way of pointing one another out! LOL

Meredith Baxter Birney of Family.

"The Many Lives of Meredith," yet there was still another life yet to be unearthed! In 2002 she began to explore Lesbianism and married her female lover of about eight years in 2013.

Interesting that Cheryl Ladd was up for Baxter's role on Family. Baxter, of course, also went on to the (unrelated) hit sitcom Family Ties two years after Family's cancellation.

Yet another television personality that one doesn't see much written about is Beth Howland, who played zany Vera on Alice for its long run. I had no idea she'd ever been married to Michael J. Pollard! After more than 200 episodes of Alice, she only worked a smattering until her death of lung cancer in 2015 at age seventy-six.

The title of this article probably would put a knowing smirk on the face of Alison Arngrim, who had her share of issues with Melissa Sue Anderson during their years on the Prairie.

After working semi-regularly on TV after Little House, Anderson married a Canadian and eventually moved to Canada and became a citizen of that nation in 2007.

Hmmm... Army Archerd was on to something with John Ritter. This was 1978 and by 1980 Suzanne Somers was out of Three's Company amid much bitterness and drama. Farrah Fawcett was going from the disappointment of Somebody Killed her Husband (1978) to the disaster which was Sunburn (1979.)

Wow. I was shocked to find out that Glynn Turman was the husband of Aretha Franklin! They were wed from 1976-1984.

Fun to see 1940s actress Joan Leslie here. The aforementioned Peter Frampton car accident is referenced, though Archerd acts as if he suffered no ill effects. In truth, he had a concussion, broken bones and even muscle damage.

The cast of (then new) Dallas are all so happy! These people, along with Jim Davis and Barbara Bel Geddes, I must say made for one very strong example of television casting. The early years of the show were incredibly good. As for Valerie Perrine... Cougar! She was twelve years older than Nels Van Patten!

These disparate images have blurbs about them on the following page.

Lindsay Wagner's project was retitled The Incredible Journey of Doctor Meg Laurel. Levar Burton remained single until 1992. Poor Louis Prima never did come out of his coma. He died this same year (1978.) Suzanne Somers' Zuma Beach was a TV-movie, not a feature! Love the rare shot of Olivia de Havilland and Rita Hayworth together.

Cathryn Damon is someone I know almost nothing about as I never watched Soap and don't recall seeing her in anything else besides perhaps an episode of The Love Boat.

Damon understudied Angela Lansbury as Mame as well as the role of Vera Charles on the Broadway tour, which must have been interesting when she had to go on and do "Bosom Buddies," hopefully remembering which lines and notes were hers! Ovarian cancer claimed her in 1987 at age fifty-seven.

I really enjoyed these single page features on various TV personalities. Interesting that even at this early stage, Patrick Duffy was itching to leave Dallas behind for movies, which is what he attempted to do, famously and unsuccessfully, in 1985. In 1986, Duffy suffered the tragedy of having his parents murdered during an armed robbery. Despite being sentenced to 75 years in prison, both killers are now free...

Bob Dylan's wife (Sara, not "Sarah") received about $36 million in her divorce settlement, thanks to famed attorney Marvin Mitchelson.

Robbie Robertson didn't ever star in a movie, but he was the third-lead in Carny (1980) and aligned himself with Martin Scorsese, doing movies and the music for them in several instances. Emmylou Harris' Christmas album Light of the Stable had Linda and Dolly singing harmonic backup for her on the title track! One could do worse.

Bootsy Collins is from Cincinnati, home of your webmaster, and was often seen about town, even opening a short-lived restaurant. Carlene Carpenter became infamous for a 1979 quote of hers she delivered in concert when (unbeknownst to her) her mother June Carter and stepfather Johnny Cash were in attendance. She was about to play a number of hers about mate-swapping and said, "If this song don't put the cunt back in country, I don't know what will." !!

Diana Canova is one of those people who was everywhere in the 1970s, a frequent TV guest on hots shows and on the hit Soap, but then seemed to utterly disappear (as far as I'm concerned!) It turns out that she is now a theatre professor and director in Manhattan, enjoying success in that endeavor.

You probably have to be of a certain age to recognize this gal...

Talented songwriter and country singer Donna Fargo seemingly had it all as only the third female country singer to have her own variety series (following Kitty Wells and Dolly Parton) when she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. She managed, however, to maintain her health and career, albeit slowed down, up to the early-1990s. Now seventy-four, she has written poetry and designed greeting cards.

While many magazines continue articles in the back of the issue, they are usually interspersed with countless ads. What I love about this periodical is that the stories (which I have scanned in their entirety) are instead dotted with celebrity photos unrelated to the text around them. So the fun of the pictures continues throughout. Here we have the unusual pairing of Anson Williams of Happy Days and Donna Douglas of The Beverly Hillbillies as well as the unknown Kebrina Kincade. Kincade was reportedly a psychic who also costarred in the cinema classic Blood Orgy of the She-Devils (1973!)

I'll wait while you fill out your ballot. I wouldn't get too attached to some of these shows, though, if I were you!

Great to see Ms. Myrna Loy here. She and John Wayne never worked together though they both had uncredited roless in Noah's Ark (1928) and he was a bit player in her movie The Black Watch (1929.) Loy did work in movies with Robert Young twice - The Wet Parade and New Morals for Old, both 1932. The two gents never worked with one another.

Young Elton John was going through his baseball phase at this time. Bobbi Humphrey was a well-regarded jazz flutist who eventually moved into the business side of the music industry.

If Willie Aames looks diminutive here it's because he only stood 5'6". I'm sorry, but whenever I see him I can only think of two words: "hot mess," though he seems to have gotten his act together lately and is looking pretty good.

This was one of the last stops for "Cat Stevens" who changed his name this same year after converting to Islam and married a woman of that faith in 1979. Later, he would be noted for (among other things) not allowing any physical contact, no matter how innocent, with any females not directly related to him. ONJ looks pretty and fresh as always.

Now this is like a crystallization of the iconic people one thinks of as being at Studio 54! One hopes that Calvin Klein and Bianca Jagger were out of frame. LOL

Upon first glance I thought Morgan Fairchild had taken up ballroom dancing! Ha ha! Bobby and Cissy were the targets of a practical joke perpetrated by a friend of mine. He'd been performing in a Tennessee venue which was very soon to be occupied by the Welk entourage. In the dressing room, he left a note that read, "Welcome Bobby and Cissy. Which one's the Cissy?" !!

During this period of time, Pat Boone and his gals did a series of specials, often with holiday themes (taking over from The King Family in that regard!)

Tom Jones seemed like someone who'd be a cinch for making the transition to acting, but he really never did. His TV-movie Pleasure Cove sounds much like a pilot for a series, but it didn't happen. Hey, at least he got to work with Tanya Roberts and David Hasselhoff!

This is the last page of the magazine. Sadly, Leif Garrett did not wind up having a very easy transition into adulthood. Can you imagine all the comedic repartee that would have occurred at a celebrity baseball tournament that had Marty Allen, Buddy Hackett and Jonathan Winters all in attendance?!

The few ads on the outside cover weren't particularly spectacular, but I did recognize original The Price is Right model and sometimes actress Anitra Ford in this Winston ad. Her acting days already behind her by 1978, she eventually pursued a career in real estate as well as art and photography.

Bonus Pics

I came across this album back cover which has Shaun Cassidy rather awkwardly showing off his charms. I thought that fans of his might enjoy seeing it.

...till nest time!