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I Knew Him/Her WhenArticles Sent To Reminisce Magazine From People Who Have Had, Or Know Someone Who Has Had, A Close Encounter With A Celebrity.
From R. Helen Van Tuyle
A CLASSMATE in third grade at Longfellow Grammar School in Pasadena, California was a handsome boy named George Bessolo. I'll always remember his shiny black hair, impeccable pongee shirt and brown corduroy knickers.
More than once during grade school, George asked me for a date. Mother wouldn't allow me to date at my tender age, so George settled for walking me home from school. On one memorable Valentine's Day, he handed me a beautiful heart-shaped box of candy.
Imagine my thrill years later to see him in Gone With The Wind as one of the Tarleton twins. His stage name was George Reeves, and he became best known for his role as television's first Superman.
From Helen Davis
BACK in 1938, my father and a few of his friends played cards regularly at our home near Stony Brook, Long Island. One of the players was Bud Abbott.
He and Lou Costello had just starting performing on The Kate Smith Hour radio show. Their own radio show as still 4 years away, first heard on NBC in 1942.
My 16th birthday was approaching in 1938, so Bud invited me and Mother to see the Kate Smith radio show in New York City as an early celebration. Mother and I entered through the stage door. We saw Kate Smith, dressed in a housedress and chatting with a stagehand near her dressing room. Soon we were escorted to front-row seats. The show was great.
I remember Bud Abbott as a kind, down-to-earth gentleman, and I'll always remember the fascinating stories he told about his days working in vaudeville, touring the country with his wife. Back then they were often too broke to afford a decent meal.
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