Lisa's "Date" With Bobby

My mother worked as a waitress at "Newberry's" in Santa Monica, CA at the time. Newberry"s was directly across the street from Karl Shoe Store and so when my mother would take me to work with her, I'd run to Karl's and grab BOOKLETS of the entry blanks (there was no restriction on the number of times you could enter!), and I'd go back to the employee lounge at Newberry's to fill the entries out - Due to a severe case of "writer's cramp" - I got smart real quick and started filling them out using carbons!!!

I must've filled out somewhere between 300-400 entries (NO LIE!) I WANTED TO WIN -- In the worst way! Well, I remember coming home daily after the contest deadline & peering in the mailbox (we had a wall-mounted mail box as my mother and I were living in an apartment at the time and she had the only key) through the narrow slots to see if I could make out a Karl Shoestore letterhead. One day, what do you know. . .

There it was! The letterhead I'd been waiting for! My heart was beating faster than you can imagine and I couldn't wait for my mother to get home from work so I could open the envelope!!! To my absolute delight, I had in fact WON THE DATE WITH BOBBY SHERMAN!!! I remember being only eleven years old at the time, kind of a "homely thing", and sadly, overweight -- I went with my mother to go shopping for "what I would wear to IMPRESS Bobby on our date!".

You would die laughing. . . I do to recall it! I picked this chocolate-brown, A-line, accordion pleated dress (sleeveless). It had white polka dots and a white sash/ribbon belt that you tied (at the waist of course). I wore white, patent leather shoes and this outfit was going to knock his socks off!!!

Another funny story to tell you before I get to the "date". . . My mother was ecstatic for me because she knew how "in love" I was with Bobby at the time and the contest required that date or not, you were to be "chaperoned" -- needless to say, she (my mother) would be my chaperone. Well, my mother and I were seated at dinner one night and she watched me as I was eating my meal - at some point I used my thumb to push food from my plate, onto my fork. At this point she said, "You know, you have this upcoming date and you should really mind your table manners and not do that!". I took her criticism as constructive and said that I would "mind my manners".

Now, the letter stated that we would be picked up on a specified day and driven to the Burbank, CA Studios where we would have lunch with Bobby and join him for a taping of a television show that evening which would be aired at a later date (it wasn't to be a "live taping").

.............

We met him and he was SO GOOD LOOKING!!! This was of course why I'd fallen in love with him as a girl initially!!! His manner was warm, caring, hospitable and he was very down-to-earth. Now I'd met the whole package for myself and I was very impressed by him I must say! You're always afraid to meet a celebrity or someone you think so highly of for fear that they will somehow turn out to be a real JERK in person -- most definitely NOT THE CASE here!!! I TRULY fell in love with the man!

Shortly after our first meeting we went to lunch at the Burbank cafeteria - it's been so many years now that I forget what we had - I DO remember however, having a delightful conversation with him at the table and then watching Bobby PUSH HIS FOOD ONTO HIS FORK WITH HIS THUMB!!! At this point, I elbowed my mother (fairly hard I might add) to draw her attention to what he was doing (I was merely making a point with HER of course!). Well, at that point, both my mother and I were laughing - Bobby's face registered an "inquisitiveness" - He didn't know exactly WHY we were laughing, only that we were. I took the time to explain my mother's concern with my "table manners" and exactly what it was that she had corrected ME on then it became clear to him as to WHY we were laughing and at that point, ALL of us were!

That evening we went to watch the taping and I thoughly enjoyed that! I enjoyed watching him in his element.

The only aspect of "the date" that I must say I didn't care for was finding out only the DAY we met him that there were TWO winners - I guess the reason it bothered me at the time (yes part of it was "selfish" - afterall, you go on a date with only one person right? AND of course your chaperone.

EVERYBODY knows that!! Ha! ha! ha!), was that the "other girl" was not a fan of Bobby's, she merely entered the contest as "something to do", in speaking to her, I found that she would actually make derrogatory comments - such as a reference to his "dog collar" - if you remember back in the 70's "chokers" were very much in style and while she may not have liked them, I would feel my blood boil just thinking "If only you knew how very much I wanted to win and how hard I tried to -- If you don't have any interest in him, WHY ON EARTH DID YOU ENTER?!!! I couldn't help but feel that at the very least, she should've left the opportunity for someone it genuinely mattered to!

I would rather have been talking to someone who felt the same about him as I did I guess I want to say! Rather than someone like her who really didn't. Oh well.....