Friday, June 4, 2010

The Plastic Oy Award


Because I'm so behind on my blog, I can't even remember how long ago Maria at Mom of Three Seeks Sanity gave me this blog award. But the Momalom Five for Ten challenge came along and then Bar Mitzvahzilla's eighth grade graduation and suddenly it was summer. So here I am catching up. Today, per the terms of this award, I need to tell you who I'd like to get horizontal with, but since the picture shows Barbie attacking Ken -who appears to be calling for help - and that reminds me of my childhood, I'm going to reveal that maddening crushes of my youth. The Plastic Oy Award, if you will.

1) It would have been normal to have a crush on David Cassidy of The Partridge Family; after all, he was the cutest in the family. But he was a little too old for me. I was looking for a Partridge closer to my own age, a somewhat odder Partridge, quirkier, not the same one that every fourth grader had a crush on.


So somehow I ended up having a crush on Danny Bonaduce. What can I say? I have a thing for redheads.

2) Along the same line - unlikely fictional characters upon whom I had a crush - came another redhead:


Archie Andrews. Yes, from the comic strip. It's not that I really liked him, or thought he was real for that matter, but, hey, if he was good enough for the gorgeous Betty and Veronica (and no one was fooling me, I knew they had the exact same face with different colored hair) then he was good enough for a little brunette Jewish girl from Skokie.

3) And, of course, because I had such eclectic musical taste as a seven-year-old in the Chicago suburbs, how could I not fall in love with Davy Jones of the Monkees?

All the seven-year-olds were in love with him. I would play his song "I Wanna Be Free" over and over again on our HiFi while laying on our living room carpet, dreaming of marrying him when I was eighteen and he was, like, forty. (Surprisingly, however, as I've gotten older, somehow Davy Jones has gotten younger, until now we're only fifteen years apart.)

4) And then there were the two John Travolta characters of my teen years. The first, Vinnie Barbarino of Welcome Back, Kotter and the second, Danny Zuko from Grease, which I saw about seven times. Are these really the same character? My seventeen-year-old heart said, "Yes."

















5) Nowadays, my bad-boy, rock star, illiterate-loving character crushes are long over. When I have a crush on a character now it's more along the lines of Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy from the 1995 BBC production of Pride and Prejudice:

Be still my heart. Seriously.

Who were your childhood crushes, on characters or famous people? Anybody unusual? Do you still get them?

I'm passing this award onto my buddies:


28 comments:

  1. Ok, I know there is a generational gap, and I'm okay with that, but Danny and Davy? Uh, no. (Totally laughing over here...a good sort of laugh, to be sure.) But John and Mr. Darcy? Um, yeah. Totally!

    And this absolutely reminds me that I never did this post either. Hmmm.....now WHO do I pick???

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  2. Thank you:) I think. As I was reading I had one in mind that I was going to question you about since he seemed to be a glaring omission in my eyes... but he will make it into my list instead now. Like you, it may take me a while to get around to it. And with my crappy memory I may need that time to remember!

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  3. I think it's hilarious that you had a crush on Danny Bonaduce! I was a big-time Keith Partridge swooner.

    Archie is a weird crush to have too, but at least you didn't lust after Jughead!

    Travolta was a sexy bugger when he was young, wasn't he?

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  4. Hi Linda - thank you so very much for this award, I am really very honored to receive an award from one of my favorite blog writers.

    That is an interesting list of crushes you have there! My very first crush was in fact David Cassidy and my grandmother bought me my first ever album (yes, vinyl, I am that old) which was Cherish. I still have it.

    Now I have to go and visit your other nominees - thank you so very much again, you just made my day!

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  5. OMG, you crack me up, AND you're cruel. Is this the Mr. Darcy Award, you say? In other words, I may wax poetically (and lustfully) - in full French lingerie attire - about every way in which I adore Colin Firth in any role, or roll in the hay?

    Do clarify a tad, please, Linda. I'm all a-flurry at the mere mention of hot-hottie-hot Colin in the same discussion as, um... Danny Bonaduce...

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  6. PS - If this is the Plastic Oy Award of which you speak, may I dress the dolls in stilettos and lacy underthings? (Um, that would be Barbie, not Ken. Jeez, how horribly conventional of me. Oy, indeed.)

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  7. Ken's totally gay - that's why he's calling for help! It was Peter Brady for me, all the way, then later and still, rock star Bono - I can't help it, the guy's a poet.

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  8. I think my strangest crush was Mandy Pitinkin from Chicago hope. He was soooo smart and funny and had the most beautiful eyes...um, as I have grown older...ciaran hinds and stephen rea.
    I have a think for the brooders.

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  9. or a thing...a think lol...freudian much

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  10. Egads. You named me. What are the parameters of this award? I need structure. I can't just go off half-cocked naming names. I see trouble here. Oy indeed.

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  11. Oh, and thanks. I realize that I didn't sound very thankful. It was the panic that obliterated the thankfulness. It's receding now.

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  12. Okay, BLW and Robin. I'm sorry for not giving the real rules! Of course, it's not really called the "Plastic Oy Award." That's just Old Ms. Super Jew again.

    The Plastic Joy Award requires that you name five fictional characters that you (like Barbie in that picture) would like to, um, get physical with. Then you have to pass it on to 5 other bloggers!

    And BLW, hands off on Colin Firth! (My heart is still pitter pattering...) And, anyway, I already stole him from Kristin!

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  13. Oh, Colin. I just watched "Then She Found Me" in the middle of the night while I was up with my newborn and fell in love all over again. Swoon.

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  14. YAY! Thanks, Linda! I don't know about Danny Bonaduce, but I absolutely get John Travolta as Vinnie Barbarino. Welcome Back, Kotter was one of my favorite shows and I thought Vinnie was so cool.

    I'm thinking I need to check out Colin Firth's portrayal of Mr Darcy. I've never seen it. ( I know- GASP!) I've seen his name listed several times for this award.

    Okay- I'm going to have to think about it and I will play along. I'm not very conventional either with what I'm attracted to ( hint: I had thing for Doogie Howser, M.D.- and I still love Neil Patrick Harris even though I know I would be barking up the wrong tree, so to speak.)

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  15. LOL @ the "OY". Clever, very clever. :-) I believe Firth as Mr. Darcy showed up on 90% of these posts that I have come across, including my own.

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  16. What is it about Colin Firth that makes him so super hot? He's just a regular looking dude for the most part, but...me-ow.

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  17. I guess it is a universal truth that Colin Firth jumps generation gaps.

    The other ones were a little before my time. Except Mr. Travolta, although I just saw a recent movie of his that may cure any lingering crushes...

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  18. Found you from Karen - good stuff! Davy Jones and Colin Firth are definitely on my list. Danny Bonaduce was a little punk, and now a Philly punk cum local celeb/cum seeming to be getting his act/life together. I also get all tingly thinking of Kevin Kline, old though he is (as am I, heh heh). Always liked him. And Travolta in Saturday Night Fever...classic. Funny stuff.

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  19. Will you be jealous when I tell you I went to school with Shawn Cassidy....David's brother.

    Or that I saw the Monkey's in concert?

    I used to have a thing for redheads as well.

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  20. Thanks for the trip down memory lane. I loved Henry Winkler, Shaun Cassidy, and David Cassidy.

    Congrats on the award!

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  21. Sarah - go ahead, make fun of me for being so much older than you. But, hey, I only know what I know: the shows of the 60s and early 70s! Miss Babyboomer!

    Karen, I can't wait to read yours and see if I end up kicking myself!

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  22. TKW, Did I just KNOW that Danny Bonaduce would end up being a troublemaker? Was it the future bad boy thing? Got over that one pretty quickly when I started dating...

    Jughead? Didn't he wear a crown? That was kind of mystifying. And Moose was too dumb for me. But Archie, for some reason, both girls wanted. Shouldn't I want the most wanted boy?

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  23. Aging Mommy, I'm glad we have the Partridge Family in common! And happy to send this award your way! You are one of my favorites too! As we both know, I'm an aging mommy too!

    And Lisa, despite the fact that Ken is not anatomically correct (do we REALLY want Ken to have genitals?) I don't think he's gay. He's just a little overwhelmed by Barbie's plastic loveliness and gigantic breasts. Still standing after fifty years...

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  24. Chris, I also liked that Mandy Patinkin too. There's something about all that talent.

    Robin, you'll do fine on the Plastic Joy Award! Think of the fun cruising through fantasyland! The embarassment!

    Stacia, that reminds me. It's time to watch him in "Love Actually" again. Anything, really. I hear my heart going pitter patter.

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  25. Jennifer, One time, being convinced my children would fall in love with Pride and Prejudice (only the one with Colin Firth of course) I offered them each $50 if they'd watch it with me (great mom moment). They watched for their money but didn't like it. Yet, I've never really met a woman who didn't love it!

    And really funny about Doogie Howser! He's very attractive. I think that happened to me for real in high school. What did I know?

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  26. Lin and Tricia, Colin Firth = tall, dark and handsome and (hello) British accent. That's all I need to know!

    Charlotte, I know what you mean about John Travolta now. Sometimes a little too much realism for the movie roles, eh? And he doesn't quite look like that cute young guy anymore, does he?

    Leslie, thank you for visiting! Kevin Kline - that's a good choice!

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  27. Terry, you Hollywood brat! There I was hanging out with Bar Mitzvah boys in powder blue suits each weekend in Skokie and you were hobnobbing with stars' kids!

    Mommymommymommy, Henry Winkler was great but didn't he always seem old, even when he just joined Happy Days? And now look at him writing kids' books!

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  28. I wish I'd been keeping track, lo these many months of blogging, of the number of times I've seen Mr. Darcy mentioned in memes such as this. Which isn't to say that he wouldn't make my list, too.

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