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And They Called It 'Puppy Love' ...

After a NEWSWEEK writer described her letters to celebrity crushes, readers offered their own confessions.

Newsweek Web Exclusive

Jul 1, 2008 | Updated: 5:21 p.m. ET Jul 1, 2008

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Posted By: syerra @ 07/03/2008 1:09:42 PM

Comment: Waaaaaaaaay back in the 1960s (wow, that's incredible) my oldest sister Deb was maaaaadly in love with Davy Jones. (I was too tall for Davy, and chose Micky instead.) My poor mom and dad had to put up with the all-night record playing (sometimes the same song over and over over), the holes in their walls from all the posters, and the usual teenage & pre-teenage swooning. My sister Deb went on to be President of one of Davy's many fan clubs (got to have lunch with him on more than one occasion) while my tastes moved on to others, and to this day, she's still "wild about the boy". She even got me backstage at their reunion tour. When Micky walked past me (my perfect opportunity to drool all over him), all I could was point and say "MICKY!" (and this was in my 20's; not back in the pre-teen years.) Heh. The Monkees gave us good, clean & safe fantasy material and for that, I'm eternally grateful.
Posted By: AnneCT203 @ 07/03/2008 12:04:09 PM

Comment: After seeing the Barbra Streisand/Ryan O'Neal movie "What's Up, Doc?" I read in a movie magazine that Ryan was in the hospital recovering from a back injury he received when filming the movie. I sent a Get Well card to him via the address provided by the magazine. He sent me back 2 autographed 8" x 10" photos of himself with Barbra Streisand (who is my idol) with a handwritten note on the back of one of the photos!
I was so excited, I wrote back to thank him for being so kind. A few weeks later another envelope arrived, this time with 5 different photos of him with Streisand, all autographed!!!! Not stamped, AUTOGRAPHED!
With all the bad press he gets, you'd never know what a nice guy he really is!
Posted By: chimerical @ 07/03/2008 6:46:56 AM

Comment: Bobby Sherman. I was about 7 or 8-years old and I was in love. I had the Bobby Sherman lunch box; the envy of all the girls at my lunch table. There was something attainable about him and i knew in my heart we would someday be married. Until Donny Osmond came along. Thanks to TigerBeat magazine and other fanzines I can't remember, my bedroom walls were covered with his pictures. (He is still very cute-it must be that clean Morman living.) After my summer of Osmond, my new crush was Helen Reddy. Helen Reddy? Was I gay? Not knowing what that meant at age 10, I doubt it. I loved Helen Reddy because all of my girlfriends at school thought Olivia Newton-John was so cool. Her songs were all about "love" "I Honestly Love You" and "Let Me Be There"--it was like she was so desperate. Helen, on the other hand, was powerful! "I Am Woman" was my anthem. It must have been hell living with a 10 year old who constantly sang that song-(sorry to all of my brothers and sisters). If I wore a bra at that age, it would have been charred. From my fixation with Ms. Reddy, my attention turned to the Bay City Rollers. God, I loved them. I wore the tartan pants to school with the plaid scarf, and yes, I was made fun of. Jealous little snots! I went to two BCR concerts in one summer with my best friend Luise, which is really quite a feat since I believe they were only popular for one summer. Oh well. At the age of 12 or so, I had to face reality and look for love closer to home--the "men" of my 6th grade homeroom. Too bad for them, for they could never match the past relationships of my former loves. I think I am still looking for my Bobby Sherman. Sad . . .
Posted By: MacLean Carson @ 07/02/2008 1:18:13 AM

Comment: I actually named my son (now 39) for the character Bobby Sherman played on 'Here Come the brides" - Jeremy. When I was a teen, I was ridiculously obsessed with Frankie Avalon. Looking back, I don't know if it was a safe way to express sexual desire or what, but it was a big part of my life as a young girl. (Do really attractive, popular girls do this as much?}
Posted By: oceans @ 07/02/2008 1:04:34 AM

Comment: I went on Bill Balance's "Teen Talk" at KFWB when Bobby Sherman was scheduled because my girlfriend had such a crush on him. I was the brave one; she was shy.

KFWB was on Hollywood Blvd, and it was just a matter of going up a flight of stairs and asking the receptionist if I could be on. She said come back on Friday, when they would be record ing for Sunday's broardcast.

Bobby Sherman sat on my left at a round table and Connie Stevens was on my right. There might have been two other teenagers. And that was the start of many broadcasts.

Skip to many (many!) years later and, after reading a tiny blurb in the paper for casting, I was an extra in a Mel Gibson movie - "Forever Young". We did a scene together where he's walking behind me into the airport field. Not bad for a weekday; Mel Gibson, with Elijah Wood playing the boy who found the 'frozen man' and brought him home to his mother, Jamie Lee Curtis.

So simple, so innocent.