October - November 2002 Edition 

My Crush A Long Time Ago By Betty  (she'd rather not give her last name) I was in the 7th grade in the early '60's, I used to watch TV at night, and one of the dramas that was on was a show called Dr. Kildare starring Richard Chamberlain as the young intern Dr. James Kildare. The more I watched the show, the more I fell madly in love with the extremely handsome doctor.    Every Thursday night at 8:30 PM I was glued to the TV set for an entire hour, just glaring at my beloved doctor whom I worshiped from afar. Back in those days they had lots of movie magazines out, and my bedroom at home was decorated with picture upon picture of that handsome guy.    My parents did not mind since they always used to say he was such a good looking guy, the kind of fellow they always wanted their daughter to marry. My mother used to comment that you could not even see the wallpaper in my room because of all of the pictures of him! He used to wear a white intern shirt with buttons down the left side. His show was so popular at tha! t time that they used to sell these shirts. One day my mother bought me one and I was thrilled! My Father worked in New York City most of his life and was always bringing home a Dr. Kildare poster or a record album that Richard Chamberlain had recorded. I would play these albums for hours on end on my hi fi.    Curious what he looks like:  Check out http://www.richardchamberlaintribute.com     Most of my friends were Dr. Kildare fans. My Father even found pillow covers that had Dr. Kildare's picture imprinted on one side of the cover, and the words "sweet dreams" on top, and you put your head on the other side. In other words you slept next to him. I had a few of them so that even if one was in the laundry, I still had sweet dreams every night. I used to dream of marrying this adonis!    This crush continued into high school. I memorized all the facts about this man, and kept article after article on him in my desk. I even joined his fan club! (Yes, we had fan clubs back then!) We also had charm bracelets, and I still have the silver charm that my godmother gave me for Christmas one year that is a charm with Richard Chamberlain's picture and the date 12-25-64. When I was a freshman in high school, one day in the newspaper I saw an ad that my one and only, Richard Chamberlain, would be making a personal appearance at the Bergen Mall in Paramus outside Stern's.    My mother came to school to pick up a few of my friends and I and take us over to the mall to see him. Here were are in our blazers and blue pleated skirts and saddle shoes and knee socks, straining to get a glimpse of our beloved Richard. He was on a raised platform signing autographs. He was more handsome than I had ever imagined. I mean, here I was actually breathing the same air as the man I had been worshipping for so long! My mother stood there with all these screaming girls and even she, an older woman, thought he was extremely handsome.    After a few years the Dr. Kildare show was cut to a half hour show, and I continued to watch and worship this stud of a man. High school was not easy for me and there were many nights when I was extremely stressed out, but all I had to do was read one of my articles on this gorgeous guy or stare at his picture, and all the cares in the world went away.    After high school and business school, I started working and eventually met my future husband. Remember I said I wanted to marry him and become Mrs. Chamberlain? Well, I actually married a man with the last name of Chambers and became Mrs. Chambers. I can remember walking down the aisle in church and the irony of the names hit me. The man I was marrying was nothing like him, blonde and beautiful.  I continued to follow dear old Dr. Kildare's career for years, and every now and then I still think about that day when I was at the Bergen Mall and saw him in person. My teenage crush is a very lovely memory of times past. Now my second crush is in process and I am married to my real, not imaginary adonis!