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A first love means much to any girl - and Patty Petersen is no exception. In later years, she may sigh or smile, but she'll always remember him, and the sweet, secret wish in her heart ...
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 Cute as a button Patty has become a regular on ABC's Donna Reed Show and a favorite of fans. She's 10 years old, brown-eyed and brown-haired. |
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Sooner or later into every girl's life comes the first BIG CRUSH - and now it's happened to Patty Petersen. She's not trying to hide her feelings and she's not shy about her sentiments in front of co-workers, friends and family. In spite of her tender years, Patty - age ten - is well adjusted to young males and in her wake she's left a trail of dented if not permanently damaged hearts. From time to time Desi Arnaz Jr., Bobby Buntrock and Rory O'Brien, who is the little brother on The Farmer's Daughter, have been Patty's partners at private parties and public functions. They've been smitten with Patty's charms ... and she's not been oblivious to them. But Herman of Herman's Hermits! "He's groovy," says Patty. "I love him; I adore him; I wanna meet him in person!" People on the Donna Reed Show say you have to have iron nerves to work around Patty. She's always got one ear glued to her transistor ... and whenever she's not on camera, whenever she's sitting set-side or at lunch in the Columbia coffee shop, she's tuned in, hoping for a Herman's Hermits record. You've got to know how to take sudden blasts - because when she gets one on the radio up goes the volume to full. Her favorite Herman recording": "Henry the Eighth." Now to anyone who'll talk with her about Herman, Patty has talked of her dream to meet Herman if he ever should come to Hollywood and a place where she could manage an introduction. Remembering this, a friend of Patty's family, on learning that Herman and The Hermits wre going to record the Danny Kaye Show at Columbia, visited Patty on the set, gave her the gay word about the Hermits' recording session with Mr. Kaye. "Oh boy, now I get a chance to meet him." But the great day fell on a Saturday, a day when Patty's new stepdad had planned a family activity in their new home. The garden is over-run and over-grown and Stepdad Ashby had pegged the day for garden work. That was it! Poor Patty pleaded, cajoled, "Could we please, could we please?" Finally she won out and plans were set. On the Friday before the great Herman-day, Patty fussed in her bathroom, setting her hair, which up until now she's worn in a pixie. However, it's long enough to fashion into a pageboy or a flip with bangs. Although she's only ten, Patty tells us she takes lots of time with her hair, even has her own professional hairdryer at home. On the morning of the great Saturday, Patty roared out of bed shortly after seven, flung open her closet doors, started draping her wardrobe all over the room - on door knobs, drapery rods, lamp shades and chairs. Typically female, she couldn't decide which dress to wear. So she held a confab with mother, and their joint decision was that Patty would choose a red and white party dress with a full, full skirt and a matching red hairband. Now up until this point in Patty's young life, her mother has held the line with make-up and perfumes - as it should be. But in her ten-year-old eyes, Patty felt her meeting Herman was a great occasion, so when her mother wasn't looking, Patty snitched a wee bit of Arpege and dappled it behind her ears, imitating that timeless feminine ritual of applying perfume. Patty admits it was a seemingly endless morning and she fretted about being late. Finally Dad Ashby backed out the family car and Patty was on her way. Only the car didn't go fast enough. She was |
fearful they'd be late. She jabbed away at Dad Ashby with ... "Can't the car go faster ... can't you drive faster?" or "Dad, can you please drive a little faster?" Meanwhile at CBS, the friend of the Ashby's arrived at the studio early and talked with Herman personally, telling him Patty Petersen was coming in and would be there that afternoon. Herman immediately recognized Patty, knew she was on the Donna Reed Show and that she was Paul's little sister. Then the family friend asked Herman, "Could you possibly come downstairs during a production break to meet Patty and say 'hello'?" Herman said: "No ... no. Bring Patty on up to my dressing room. I'll make all the arrangements." When Patty and her family arrived at the artists' entrance, she and her parents were escorted up into Herman's private dressing room. Now Patty says ... "On the way up I was positively itchy!" This translated means: "I was nervous." As Patty crossed into his dressing room, Herman rose, looked her smack in the eyes, smiled and said: "How are you, Patty? I'm happy to meet you." Patty almost swooned and now remembers that when he said her name it sounded different from the way anybody had ever made "Patty" sound before. He was oh so British! herman leaned over, his left arm around her shoulders warm and gentle. With his right arm he pressed her forearm. Poor Patty, who's usually utterly vocal, was stunned speechless. Only one word came out: "Fine ... fine ... fine." when she gained a little self-composure she turned to her mother and asked for a pen. All the while Herman carried the conversation, gave her an autographed picture, and chatted with his three guests until he was called back to the working set. Later, the company broke for lunch and Herman was sitting at a table on the porch of the lunch room eating fruit Jello and a cold drink. Patty had wanted a more substantial remembrance than an autographed picture, so when Herman finished eating she smiled that innocent, angelic smile of hers, and scooped up his fruit spoon and empty Jello container. And now all three ... autographed picture, fruit spoon and Jello container ... enjoy a most prominent place in Patty's bedroom. On the way out of the studio, Patty was still in a daze, and when her mother reached out to guide her by the arm so she wouldn't run headlong into a group of people, Patty snatched her arm from her mother's grasp with: "Don't touch that arm. That's the one Herman held!"  |