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Carol Burnett, Buddy Hackett, Lucille Ball and other stars gave up their privacy for fame
Stars, like everyone else, just want some peace and quiet from time to time.
Stars are just like us. Well, almost. They have lives outside of their jobs — kids, families, hobbies, and daily activities. But most average people don't have to deal with constant attention, autographs, and the worry that a fan might cross the line.
We love our favorite TV stars, but sometimes that love can be overwhelming. Back then, celebrities faced big issues with lack of privacy, fan run-ins, and less secure homes, especially in the 1970s.
Sure, some may argue that's what they signed up for by being on our TV screens each week, but for these celebrities, they just wanted some peace and quiet.
According to a 1973 interview with Mount Vernon Argus, a few celebrities, including Carol Burnett, Buddy Hackett, and Lucille Ball, shared their experiences with fans while they were at the height of their fame.
We'll start with Lucille Ball. Ball learned the hard way about autographs. Many fans would approach Ball without a pen or paper, asking for an autograph, but would get upset when she didn't have one handy. Others would ask her to sign a driver's license or blank checks.
After an appearance in the Midwest, she discovered that her signature was turning up on counterfeit checks.
"Ever since then, all I sign is I Love Lucy," Ball said.
Carol Burnett was a massive TV star at the time of the interview. She was known for her hit variety series, The Carol Burnett Show. Each week, she put herself on display doing all sorts of silly things and quickly became a prominent public figure.
According to the interview, sometimes, stars' homes would be invaded due to fan magazines and movie star maps that regularly published their addresses.
"I would personally like to choke those map-makers," Burnett said. "We once had a man and his wife and two kids walk right through our front door and into our kitchen and ask my daughter for a tour of the house."
"When we asked them to leave they got huffy and mad and said they'd driven all the way from Ohio and they weren't about to leave," Burnett added.
Buddy Hackett, a comedian who guest starred on series like The Rifleman, The Big Valley, and The Love Boat, said his biggest pet peeve with fans was when they tried to tell him jokes. Most fans would never try singing a song to a famous musician, but had no issues with telling jokes to comedians.
"I tell them I don't want to hear their dumb jokes because I know it anyway," Hackett said. "If they insist, I tell them, 'For you to tell me a story is like me waking up Arnold Palmer at 5 o'clock in the morning to watch me hit tee shots.'"
Finally, some celebrities like Pat Boone, who guest starred on The Beverly Hillbillies and That Girl, said most fans were kind when asked to stop, however some couldn't take a hint.
"Some fans suspend all rules of etiquette, courtesy and common human decency," Boone said.
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I've met quite a number of famous (and semi-famous) singers from the rock and roll era of the 50s and 60s. One rule I held myself to was to be polite, do not overwhelm them, and to back off if they need to move on to something else...