HEARTTHROBS OF OUR YOUTH

Celebrity crushes and idols played a significant part in our younger years. We decorated our walls, our folders, and our lockers with our heartthrob’s images, or their names inside a heart. We graduated right smack dab in the middle of the 70s. By that time, our teeny-bopper years were probably behind us, but we still have some of the same favorite movie stars, bands, athletes, and comedians* from childhood.

When does all this start? Well, way earlier than our teens. There is a hilarious, heartwarming video that went viral several years ago showing how a three-year-old was totally crushing on Justin Bieber. Through tears, the little girl cries “I love Justin Bieber […] I want him to be one of my family.” Not actually a romantic crush, but still sincere.

We were three in 1960, and probably don’t remember if we drooled over, for example, Frankie Avalon, Ricky Nelson, or Annette Funicello. But as we grew up, I, for one, took the lead from my older siblings and literally cried watching the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan show. I devoured 16 Magazine and Tiger Beat.

Prior to that, I was in awe of Haley Mills and Lesley Gore. Later, Twiggy. Then came the heartthrob crushes on Tony Dow of Leave it to Beaver, Peter Noone of Herman’s Hermits**, and oh my God, Bobby Sherman.

* Confession, when I was a toddler, I wanted Bob Newhart to be my boyfriend. There. Now you have the goods on me.

** Fun fact: Jimmy Page was a session musician for Herman’s Hermits.

Reunions are about memories that go farther back than just our 4 years of high school; they take us back to what growing up in the late 50s, 60s, and the early 70s was like for the Sweet Home Class of 1975. This unsorted, incomplete list of popular teen idols from the 60s and early-mid 70s stirs happy, if not a little bit cringey, memories. Who is missing?