Today, in Springfield MA, I met Jon Provost and Bill Mumy. They were separated by the Connecticut River — Jon was on the west side and Bill on the east, at two very different events. Jon was appearing at the World of Pets, and Bill was at the United Fan Con. What they have in common is June Lockhart was their mother on TV — Jon as Timmy Martin on ‘Lassie’, and Bill as Will Robinson on ‘Lost In Space’.
Bill Mumy shares a distinction with another former child actor — Jerry Mathers, from ‘Leave It To Beaver’. They were both directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Bill was in ‘Bang! You’re Dead’, one of the most famous installments of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, and one of the few that the master himself directed. Mathers was in Hitchcock’s film ‘The Trouble With Harry’.
I can honestly say that I liked all of these guys when I watched them on TV as a kid. I’ve never had a chance to see Mathers in person, but I was thoroughly impressed by Provost and Mumy. They’re both very smart guys, as nice as anybody could ever be, and as good at listening as they are at speaking; but, then, I guess that makes sense, given their training and experience, starting at such an early age. Or maybe it comes from having June Lockhart as their TV mom!
A while ago I posted an item about Jon Provost, whose autobiography, Timmy’s In The Well, will be out soon. Timmy was never in the well on TV, so I was pleased to show Jon the one piece of physical evidence I know of that Timmy, in cartoon form, was briefly in a well, and he was nice enough to sign it for me. Here I am today, with Jon Provost.
Bill Mumy has always been very much into music, and is a musician himself. He’s very, very good. Hear for yourself by playing the Mumy Jukebox. For a while he was in the band America. Mumy has a wide selection of great music available, and I bought his latest CD.
It was a fun day! Eric got to see somebody as well, and I’m hoping to post something about that later.
Gosh, what a swell guy. What a day! Meeting both Provost and Mumy in one day would have left me limp. Jan, my multiple encounters with my “near-neighbor,” Davy Jones, would never top THIS!
You are very welcome. I sent Jon’s wife Laurie a link to your blog posting, too…so Jon will see what you said. 🙂 Maybe she’ll leave you a comment, too.
Bill has a Yahoo fan group and they posted the link on the newsletter thingy. I suspect he gets a copy of it as well.
Bill has a great MySpace, by the way…
http://www.myspace.com/billmumy
Jan
Thanks for you comment, Jan! Television in our generation was something different from what it is today. There really was a great deal of anticipation associated with watching the weekly installments of favorite programs.
I was thinking about Provost’s situation, where the show was dependent upon a kid and a dog, and there was probably more tolerance for the dog when it made mistakes! Had to be tough.
And although at first Lost In Space was an ensemble show, as it developed it became the Will and Dr. Smith show. So many demands on someone so young. That’s what makes it all the more impressive that both Provost and Mumy turned out to be such sincere and real human beings!
I agree with both! I “met” Jon’s wife on the internet several years ago and talked to her several times, exchanging some photos of him and Davy Jones of the Monkees. Jon is a complete sweetheart. I discovered Bill Mumy on MySpace and his wonderful music. I bought the cd “With Big Ideas” and it is EXCELLENT. He is extremely talented musically, and has a great voice as well. Those two make me proud to have them in our generation…:-)
Jan
Myrtle Beach, SC