YOU'VE heard all the adjectives reporters have used to describe Herman - dreamy, innocent, charming, sparkling, natural, courteous, wild, zany - all quite accurate. You'd think under so much praise that he would soon grow egotistical and inevitably think of no one but himself. But one adjective has not been mentioned, which should be at the top of the list. That adjective - modest.
    Talking personally with Herman, it was a real challenge to get the cute singer to talk about himself. He couldn't resist recounting the tales of his many thrills experienced in his short life as a star. He described his most embarrassing situation saying:
    "I was shopping in a clothing store here in the States. I mistook Roger Miller for a salesman. All the time I spent in the shop I didn't recognize him. To make things worse, he was putting me on, showing me the different clothes. Was my face red when I found out!"
    The Hermits' stay in Hollywood was a grand one. As he began to tell about a few of their escapades, a guard interrupted to question him about two girls asking for Lek. "Tell them we're sorry, but Lek's gone out for the evening," he explained. "At first we let everybody in. Sometimes there were 40 or 50 people here at one time. But it got out of hand. They began stealing crazy things.
    "Someone took one volume out of a Stevenson collection, so the whole set was ruined - and they aren't even our books. Others would go into our bedrooms and take shoes and things lying about. So we had to stop it all together and hire security guards for the gate."
    Typically, the top-secret phone number didn't remain a secret long and the good-natured blond boy couldn't resist answering the persisitently ringing phones. (There were two in each bedroom, three in the living room, two in the kitchen, and one in each bathroom!) "Hollywood Mortuary, may I help you?" he'd joke. "No, Herman isn't here, this is their manager Charlie," was another recurring response. "Sing to me!" one young lady demanded from the other end, to which Herman called back "Charlie, Charlie, Charlie, Charlie, Charlie."
    World headlines told of the meeting of Elvis and the Beatles, but it was Herman (and Hermit Barry Whitwam) who first met the King in Hawaii where El was shooting "Hawaiian Paradise" last August. Herman became elated telling of his thrilling meeting. "I had always wanted to meet Elvis and I was absolutely thrilled at the prospect."
    He went on, "But when we eventually met, I didn't feel at all excited. He looks EXACTLY like he appears on films and was perfectly natural, apart from the fact that he was wearing film make-up.
    "He is about the same height as I am, possibly an inch or two taller, and he was wearing the type of clothes that Tom Jones usually wears. He's got a very broad Tennessee accent, and his favorite expressions are "Why sure!" and "Yes, sir."
    It came as quite a surprise to find that Herman didn't consider their first record ("I'm Into Something Good") reaching number one in four weeks his most memorable experience. "Seeing my baby sister when she was only two hours old" was his quick and excited reply to that question.
    As he acted out excerpts from the scenes in the British musical "Passion Flower Hotel" starring Jeremy Clyde, Herman described the story. "There is a boys' school and a girls' school. The boys find an old barn and name it the Passion Hotel - the place where they will meet the girls. The girls are afraid to come so the boys rename it Passion Flower Hotel. They meet, but never really get together, because they are all too shy. Jeremy does a great job, the music is just fantastic!
    He had been talking for hours - about Elvis, Jeremy, Roger, Suzanne - everyone but Herman. After some coaxing, he related one of the funnier incidents which greeted him during his Hollywood "holiday." 'I was riding on my motorbike. I was going pretty fast - about 35 in a 25 mile zone. A police car had been following me for a long time. But, when he started his siren I thought he was after someone else. I had no idea it was a law to pull over and stop when you hear a police siren. Suddenly he whipped past me and cut me off. I didnt' know what might happen - I didn't even have a driver's license!
    "The policeman came at me and growled 'Got any pictures on ya?' What a relief! We drove back to the house and got some for his daughter."
    Finally on the topic which had been intended, Herman said he had no desire to return to school. Just 18 and with five years of music theory courses behind him, he felt "I learn more by traveling around the world. You can read about Turkey in a book, but you don't know what it's like until you've been there."
    Herman was extremely proud of his deep tan and was eager to compare colors with the Southern Californians present. "I'd love to spend six months of the year in Hollywood and six months in England," he said.
    Don't know if that will come true, but we bet everyone would love having such a modest, down-to-earth young entertainer in America six months out of the year. Everyone except British fans maybe!