Who's your Buddy?

My mom was reading my post "Janet asks..." about famous people from Florida while I was on the phone with her and she noted (along with a commenter) that I'd skipped Burt Reynolds. A very OBVIOUS omission on my part... especially given the story she reminded me of and that I had forgotten until now. How COULD I have forgotten this?????

When I was VERY young, my best friend Stephanie and I discovered those magazines that "tell" you what being a female in the 70s was all about. Young Miss. Tiger Beat. American Girl. Cosmopolitan.

Steph was a little ahead of me in the sophistication department. It was she who introduced me to the giggles and guffaws of Playgirl, but I discovered Cosmo all on my own.

In April of 1972, one month after I turned 10, I managed to get a hold of a copy of Cosmo. That was the infamous Burt Reynolds centerfold edition.



Eyes wide, I took it all in... then heard my mother come into my room. I slapped that magazine closed - a dead giveaway that I didn't want Mom to see something.

Curious, Mom asked what I was looking at and with great reluctance, I produced the magazine and opened it to Burt in all his glory. Her eyes widened and a guffaw exploded out of her mouth. "Heck, I've seen much more of Burt Reynolds than THAT!"

My turn to be surprised. I managed to stammer, "What do you mean????"

When Mom was in college, she ran the switchboard in the men's gym. The water fountain was located out in the hall, and the guys would come out of the locker room in their towels and gleefully flash Mom as she went about her business. One of those guys was a football player named Burt Reynolds.



That wasn't my mother's only "brush" with Buddy (as he was known then). He dated her roomate for a while too.

A little sigh. "He was a nice guy," said Mom.