One fateful day in New York City, 1968; two kids stumbled upon the body of a dead transient in an abandoned apartment building.
The body, which was saturated with alcohol and illegal drugs, was taken from this run-down building and thrown into a pauper's
grave somewhere on Hart Island, as an "Unidentified John Doe." No one new who the John Doe was until one year later in 1969,
when the fingerprints were checked. The identity of the deceased transient was Disney's Child Star of the 1940's and Early
1950's, Bobby Driscoll.
Young Bobby Driscoll is remembered as having starred as Johnny in Disney's "Song of the South," and and as Jim Hawkins
in Disney's "Treasure Island." He also starred with Burl Ives in Disney's Classic, "So Dear to My Heart," and made an appearence
with Roy Rogers in the "Pecos Bill Segment" of the Disney Classic, "Melodytime." His biggest role as a Teenager was doing
the voice of "Peter Pan." How could someone who had such a lot going for him as a child star, meet with such a horrible and
tragic end in the Slums of New York City?
One of the biggest mistakes that child stars can make is to take their stardom for granted. Many Child Stars do not remain
stars once they cross over into their adult years. Very few child stars have made it across "The Big Gorge," between child
stardom and adult stardom where they still remain big stars as adults. Even Shirley Temple, the greatest child star there
ever was, did not make it across that "Big Gorge." However, as her childhood ended, she knew that her stardom had also ended,
and accepted it. From there she chose another path for her life, and is now a woman in her 70's, and very happy. It was pretty
much the same story with Margaret O'Brien. Even though she did land a few roles as an adult, she was never a big adult star,
but she adjusted. This unfortunately was not the case with Bobby Driscoll. His stardom had ended after he did the Voice of
Peter Pan in the Disney Classic, and Disney dropped his contract. He was not ready to deal with this, or accept this. As he
reached his adult years, he tried to break into Broadway Stage Productions in New York, as an adult performer, but was unable
to find work. Unable to cope, he began to self-destruct by means of alcohol and drugs. Poverty soon followed, along with several
police arrests. As he became more and more of a hopeless alcoholic and heroin addict, eventually he was struck down with Hepatitis,
followed by a heart attack, which claimed the life of the Young Oscar Winning Star of the 1940's in that abandoned New York
Tennament in 1968. He was only 31 years old. This was one of Hollywood's biggest tragedies, not to mention, one of its worst
injustices ever done to a young star. The biggest mistake Hollywood People who work with a childhood star can make, is to
assume that the child will adjust to the lost of stardom as he/she approaches adulthood, the same way Shirley Temple and Margaret
O'Brien did.
So that something like this never happens again, it is important for the people who work with these childhood stars, to
help them understand that stardom, particularly childhood stardom doesn't last; and, prepare them in such a way that when
they do reach that Big Gorge, they will have prepared a path, the right path--one that will help them adjust, get on with
their lives, and live up to their full potentials by other means, and live happy and content lives, being content with the
the happy memories of being childhood stars, and not doing as Bobby Driscoll and so many other child stars have done--FALL
HEAD-LONG INTO THE BIG GORGE!
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By Bill Baxter, DTM.
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SPECIAL NOTE: This was also an Award Winning Speech given at a Club 873-F Meeting at one time. The words of the
speech were slightly different from this editorial, but the concepts, ideas, and events were all in tact.
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