And They Called It 'Puppy Love' ...
"One wonderful day, when I had started to grow weary of my vigil, it showed up. It came on cream-colored paper with Paul's name embossed on the back of the envelope. My hand shook, my heart raced, I thought I was on my way to a personal relationship with the man I loved.
"The letter was typewritten (not Xeroxed!!) by Paul's assistant at the time, one Ian E. Hoblyn. He told me that Paul 'appreciated my kind sentiments' and regretted that he couldn't write me himself because he received so many letters and his schedule was so busy, but he wanted me to know that he was glad to hear from me. Ian signed it in ink himself. I could picture Paul personally dictating that letter to his assistant, wanting me to know that he cared for me.
"I had never been so happy, to date. I spent the last part of the summer writing Paul a song, a poem of my love for him, how he had changed my life and how I understood him. Once more, the fear and trepidation and harassment of the long-suffering mailman.
"After several weeks, again, when I was giving up all hope, I got it. Except this time it was a 7-by-11 manila envelope, in it a black-and-white glossy headshot of Paul, with another letter from Ian, again telling me how much Paul had 'appreciated my kind sentiments' and how sorry he was that his schedule didn't allow him to write back himself. And again, it was typewritten, with Ian's personal signature. It was the exact same letter Ian had written to me earlier, but he had the kindness to include that picture. I cried over that picture, and I never wrote Paul again.
"I don't remember now exactly what I wrote. But I still treasure the letters I received in return. I'm almost positive that Paul never saw my letters—I guess I'll never know for sure. I do know this for sure: Paul Simon had a very kind, sensitive assistant. Thank you, Ian E. Hoblyn, wherever you are, you who took the time to write the letters that made a young girl's life so much happier."
© 2008
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Member Comments
Posted By: DianeGalley @ 11/03/2008 3:33:11 PM
Comment: In my teen years my girlfriends & I obsessed over so many of the young heart-throbs, but we also liked guys in rock bands, one band especially liked was KISS. We waited downtown all morning on a Saturday, waiting for them to come out of their hotel room, and when they did, we had our camera & pens ready for them to sign our pictures....but alas, they came out without makeup on (before the unmasking of later years) and each rocker had a gal on each arm...we were told sternly by the body-guards, no pictures or we'll break your camera, yet when we offered up our pictures & pens for them to sign, sorry, too busy, and they got in their limo & drove away. I promptly gave away all my KISS records & vowed never, ever to go to one of their concerts. Now when I see Gene Simmonds on TV with his own show I also refuse to watch it....I guess they really, really let us kids down way back then, but I imagine there's still some fans who will still buy into their whole sctick still....but not me.
Posted By: Tamarra H @ 10/28/2008 2:32:53 AM
Comment: I first discovered Jonathan Brandis on Seaquest DSV. I thought he looked like an angel; the most gorgeous guy alive. I wouldn???t miss a show and I grew increasingly irritated when NBC picked Seaquest???s time slot to stick in ???irrelevant??? news broadcasts or other shows. I loved how his blue eyes seamed to sear through the screen and into my own. It was definitely an intense relationship. My most fond memory was the episode when he fell in love with Kellie Martin???s (???Life Goes On???) character, and played her a love song. I think that was his first DSV kiss. I went out and frantically looked for that version of the song (whose name I???ve long forgotten) but couldn???t find it. I dreamed he actually played the song for me. I loved him in Ladybugs too, by far my favorite movie of him. My crush of Jonathan lasted over a year in high school. I managed to find the phone number to his agent in some teen bopper magazine and called. To my utter jubilation a person picked up. I forgot what the very brief conversation was about, but I remember how I felt like I had somehow touched my big TV crush. I would line my walls with his pictures (every kind I could find). My friends at school even got in on it. One found a picture of him in a magazine that I swooned over for weeks and taped to the inside of my locker. I thought back then my crush for Jonathan would never ever fade. And I remember reading in an article of a bopper magazine that a fan eventually got over him. I couldn???t even imagine such an idea. But, of course, as the years went by my crush faded like every other teeny bopper crush. The pictures began to come down off my walls in 1???s and 2???s, until one day, my life size poster seemed too big for my wall. Way back when, it didn???t feel big enough. I guess as I got older, my fancy grew smaller as the prospect of ever meeting Jonathan became unrealistic. It was 2006 when I found out Jonathan had committed suicide three years earlier. My fascination with him was so over that I hadn???t even heard the news. I had to find out about it while perusing the web. I was crushed and saddened that my past love had gone away, and in so tragic a manner. I wonder if he ever received the letter I sent him when I was 14 that spilled over with uber love for him and his work. I wonder if he did read it, did it make him smile. I will never know what led to him committing suicide. I just know that in the years before he died, his appearances were sparing until he wasn???t seen anymore. I will always have wonderful memories of that time in my life when all I could dream of was Jonathan Brandis. His memory will always have a place in my heart.
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.