It was around 1979 and I couldn’t wait for issues of 16 Magazine to hit the stands. My favorite rock band KISS was almost always on the cover and there were articles and pinups throughout. Also in every issue were the likes of Sean Cassidy, Kristy McNichol, the Bay City Rollers, The Dukes of Hazzard, and a young man with wavy blond locks and a baby face named Leif Garrett. I had absolutely no idea what Leif did – or how to say his name. (It’s not pronounced like leaf, it’s said like laif.) After all, I wasn’t actually sixteen; I was merely approaching eight years old. So the allure of most of these teen idols completely escaped me. After all, They didn’t seem to wear make-up, spit blood, or breathe fire.
Leif Garrett had been an actor and performer from a very young age. His younger sister Dawn Lyn had played Dodie on the later episodes of My Three Sons. Leif had starred in Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice, Family, and as Felix’s son Leonard in The Odd Couple. By 1979, he had gotten his feet wet in the music industry and had charted a #10 single called I Was Made for Dancin’.
A good example of what I’d often see on the cover of a 16 Magazine
The first time I really saw Leif Garrett in action was when he played Bob Sheldon in the teen favorite The Outsiders. By this time, he had cut the hair and looked completely different from the youthful visage that graced 16 Magazine in photos like the one seen above.
Leif has had his share of drug problems over the years and I was concerned that he wasn’t going to show up at the Chiller Theatre show in Parsippany, New Jersey, on Saturday, October 30, 2010 – considering that just twelve days earlier he had pleaded no contest to heroin possession and had been sentenced to a treatment program.
My friend Peter, however, knew otherwise. Peter was friends with the gal who was acting as Leif Garrett’s handler. In fact his Mom worked with Barbara’s Mom in the travel business. Barbara was expecting us and had clued Leif into our arrival, reminding him that Peter had generously given Leif a 16mm copy of the episode of The Odd Couple that Leif had appeared in. Leif signed the photo above and posed for a picture with me and a joint photo with both Peter and me. He was a nice guy and I was thrilled with the opportunity to meet him.
Celebrities of the Fall 2010 Chiller Theatre Show will continue…
His “Behind the Music” episode was priceless.
Aaron
November 15th, 2010