At age 14, when the TV series Family Affair first appeared on my TV, I had a tiny crush on Kathy Garver, the lovely young lady who played Cissy. She was a bit older than me but, hey, it's not like I was ever going to meet her and act on said crush.
Plus, she was cute and I felt an odd "closeness" to the family on that show. The apartment building in which they allegedly resided — the building used for exterior shots — was and still is on Wilshire near Beverly Glen, not far from where my family lived. We drove by there all the time and though I knew the show actually filmed somewhere else and that it was all fictitious, it was still kinda fun to imagine them in there. I'd guess that Mr. French was scurrying about to try and find Mrs. Beasley before Buffy realized she was missing. And I'd guess Uncle Bill was rubbing his face in exasperation because that was the main thing Brian Keith always did on that show: Rub his face is exasperation. He was very good at it.
Then, about the time my crush on Kathy Garver was winding down — or, more accurately, being transferred to Yvonne Craig on Batman — I got the chance to go on the set of Family Affair. The lady who lived next door to us, an actress I've mentioned here, was playing Brian Keith's secretary in a couple of episodes. I can't recall why but I remember my father driving us over to watch a little of the filming and I remember a certain excitement that I might get to see Kathy Garver in person. It was accompanied by a little fear that I might have to talk with her. At that age, I didn't do well conversing with famous people. At times, I still don't. Anyway, I'm not sure if I was disappointed or relieved but Ms. Garver wasn't on the set while we were there.
Flash forward to a few years ago. Kathy Garver has long since become a fine grown-up actress…one who does a lot of voiceover work, including cartoon voices. I met her at a convention, had her on a couple of my Cartoon Voice Panels and generally got to know her. She's a very bright, smart lady with loads of great stories to tell of all she's done in show business — on Family Affair and so many other shows. You can hear some of those stories — yes, this is a commercial and I tricked you into reading it — tomorrow (Wednesday) on Stu's Show, the Internet-only talk show that I often recommend.
This is not a podcast. You can't download it and listen to it whenever you want. You have to "tune in" when it's on — 4 PM to 6 PM Pacific Time, 7 PM to 9 PM Eastern. They do the show live on Wednesday and it reruns on other days, usually in the same time slot. But try and listen live and if you do, you can even call in and ask Kathy a question. Just go at the proper time to the website of Shokus Internet Radio and click in the appropriate place. And while you're there, check out the schedule for some of the other fine programming you can hear on that station.