It Takes Two! Donny & Marie, SUPERSIZED EDITION

Kristin Nilsen 0:00

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Michelle Newman 0:58

Welcome everyone to an extra special, super sized episode. If this were a Friends episode, it would be called the one where Michelle and Carolyn meet Donny Osmond, because last week we did, yes, we

Kristin Nilsen 1:14

did, and so, but here's the deal. So we're letting everybody in on our private conversation. They've told me nothing. They've told me nothing at all about this once in a lifetime occurrence. And so they, of course, have to tell me all the details. But we're like, nope, let's let the listeners in. Yes,

Michelle Newman 1:31

we need Kristen's like, organic reactions to our story. So here is how it all came to be. In about March of this year, I saw that Donnie would be coming to Denver in August, and I knew immediately that I wanted to see his incredible show again. Carolyn and I, and some of our great PCPs friends actually had seen him in Vegas in February 2023 and we were blown away by his show. We just We loved it incredible this time, I not only knew I wanted to see the show, but meet him now it was time. Yes, it's a pricey ticket, I'll admit, but I was like, hey, you know what do it for? Six year old Michelle, she deserves this. And so I got tickets for me and my husband, who's also a Donny fan. He has two sisters, so two older sisters. So he's like, Oh, we watched Don Ann Marie every week. Like, that was appointment TV. So remember how

Kristin Nilsen 2:27

Mike called it Donnie and the turkey? Because he watched it with his sisters, and that drove his sisters crazy. Yeah, Donnie and the turkey

Michelle Newman 2:34

that's coming up in this episode. Listener, so, oh

Kristin Nilsen 2:37

yes, I just revealed this.

Michelle Newman 2:38

It's so good. And so, so, yeah, so I got the tickets for the two of us. And honestly, I've been, I've had this on my calendar. I've been counting it down. I've been looking forward to it, actually, on my calendar. I've had meet Donald Clark Osmond, well, so last weekend, so it was like, literally, two days before the concert, my husband and I were at dinner, and I was going on and on about my three point plan at the meet and greet, more on that later, and just basically gushing, imagining myself meeting him and talking to him, what I'd feel like in the moment, all the things. And Brian's just listening to me ramble on, as he's done for over 30 years. He's very used to this, and because, one, he knows that Donnie was also Carolyn's first celebrity crush. Two, at this point, he's probably starting to get a little nervous listening to me, imagining having to be there with me as

Kristin Nilsen 3:37

like three point plan. I

Michelle Newman 3:40

start to see the panic across his eyes, like, Wait, what are we doing? What are we going? What are we doing? And three, because he's the greatest husband ever, he says to me, you know, if Carolyn can find a last minute plane fare, she can have my ticket. Okay, wait, I

Kristin Nilsen 3:55

need time stamps.

Michelle Newman 3:56

This all is taking place Saturday. I'm texting Carolyn Saturday, the concerts Monday. I'm looking at my text right now, and I have Saturday, 7:21pm to Carolyn. So Brian says, If you want to get a last minute ticket to Denver, he'd give you his Donny ticket Monday. And within I'm looking at time stamps four minutes, I get one back from Carolyn that says I can fly to Denver for 180 Shut up, do it. And then she's like, I get to Denver at 8am anyway, ouch. It just went like that quick. Yes,

Carolyn Cochrane 4:31

I mean, and again, that is when I'm at my best. Don't give me time to overthink and everything. I'm like, boom, boom, boom. So yeah, so I get the ticket. I have a wonderful husband also who gets me to the airport very, very early on Monday morning, because, yeah, I had to get up at 415 but you know, those nights where you're traveling the next day, you don't just sleep through till you're asleep. You start waking up at three because you're afraid you won't wake up and all that. So anyway, Andy. Gets up at, you know, 445 to get me to the airport. Get on the plane. Smooth as silk. Get to Denver. Michelle picks me up, and we are off to the races. Kristen, you'll

Michelle Newman 5:11

like this too, though I'm looking at the texts and while I'm waiting, because she's because Andy was out. And you're like, let me just make sure, like, he can come into the airport and all this kind of stuff. And I say, write it off, it's free.

Carolyn Cochrane 5:23

That's our favorite line,

Michelle Newman 5:26

and it drives our husbands crazy. We'll be like, Oh, we're just gonna write it off. It's free. Yeah, so Monday happened was just quick. We we I got to show Carolyn around. This is fun. You guys. No one's been to visit me in Denver yet. So she got to see my house and my neighborhood, and we went to my favorite place for lunch, and she got to meet my dog. And anyway, remember my three point plan? Yeah, yeah, I need to know the three point so here it is. My three point plan was one to mention the podcast, to Donny and to drop Ann Moses's name to legitimize us. Now, listeners, you haven't heard our episode yet it's coming up in this, this next season. That's that's going to happen quickly. And Moses was the youngest editor of Tiger Beat magazine. Was she like 21 you guys?

Kristin Nilsen 6:12

I think, oh, younger than that. I

Michelle Newman 6:13

think she and she started, yeah, female in the late 60s, early 70s. So this is prime Osmonds time. So Donnie Osmond was in his whole family, all the brothers. They were really close with Anne Moses, like they worked very closely with her. She actually had Donnie Osmond to her house for his 14th birthday, and made him chilly.

Kristin Nilsen 6:36

She was really important to their careers, very important.

Michelle Newman 6:39

And she speaks very highly of the Osmonds. She came to one of his concerts recently, just like in February, and surprised him, and he was so excited to see her, and there's a really cute video on YouTube about that. Anyway, we talked to Ann Moses about Donnie, and I knew that dropping Moses his name would legitimize us, right? Because she was someone really important to them, and we had our own industry. Person, yeah. We love her, yeah. So that was, that was my first part. Point one. Point Plan two was to ask him, or somehow, course, him, to sing, even just the chorus of the umbrella song with me. Now, the umbrella song is on the 1974 album. It's the one with their pictures are in, like that cameo, like that locket, little lock. Yeah, it's the I'm leaving it all up to you album. And that was little Michelle's favorite song. And little Michelle duetted with Donny hundreds and hundreds of times on that song. When I hear that song, Still, I get really choked up. So part point two was to get him to sing even just a little bit, ideally, the whole thing, and I would just take Marie's part, but you know, a little bit was gonna be fine. And part three was to tell him he has an open invitation to come chat with us at the pop culture Preservation Society, because listeners, Kristen is also a huge Donny Osmond fan. He just wasn't one of her first crushes, but he wasn't gonna marry him. He was my and you'll, you'll hear coming up in this episode, how she was just as obsessed with the Donny Marie show as we were. So he's someone really important to all three of us, you guys. I hit all three points. Spoiler alert, you do so when this is

Carolyn Cochrane 8:15

why, this is why. So go. We're rewinding like they do in that, you know, TV show, yeah. Okay, so we had an Uber that's gonna take us to the concert venue. Okay? Poor Uber driver has to listen to us rehearse that three point plan over and over and over again. Should we say it this way? Should we say it that way? Okay, when, after I say this, you say that? Is it too much? So we're going on and on, like, That poor guy, and then it starts to like rain a little bit now, earlier in the day, when we were walking, I said to Michelle, does it ever rain in Denver? And she said, 360 days a year. It's sunny in Denver. She could have been like 300 everyone. Oh, 300 Oh, yeah, 360 sounds. But whatever. 300 the so basically, the odds are it's not going to rain while you're in Denver. Rains in Denver. I will go on the road. Okay, well, it starts till, you know, rain a little bit as we're approaching the Paramount Theater in downtown Denver, and then it's raining a little harder, and when it's time to get out, it is pretty steadily, my God. And guess what? There's a line to get into the Paramount Theater, and it's outside, and we are not in the front of it. We we go up to the front. We were those people. We go up to the front thinking, Oh,

Unknown Speaker 9:28

we have VIP

Carolyn Cochrane 9:30

tickets early. They're just the ordinary people. So we go, Is this the VIP line? A woman was like,

Michelle Newman 9:36

Yeah, point to the back. Meanwhile, there's

Kristin Nilsen 9:40

like, Christmas Story,

Michelle Newman 9:42

they're all under an awning. Yes, there's an awning. They're like, No, and they point. And where they point, we look back and it's just pouring rain,

Carolyn Cochrane 9:49

and there's no awning,

Kristin Nilsen 9:51

the umbrella. Song,

Carolyn Cochrane 9:52

oh no kidding. So luckily, the lady out of that little alcove, yeah, there was a little alcove, but she wasn't in the line.

Everyone. She's just very comfortable with the microphone. Let's just

Michelle Newman 15:02

say, I will say, you said that after because I was like, kind of joking, like, Man, when they put that mic in my hand, I was like, let's talk. But you said that about the teen idol dinner. All three of us were like that. All three of us were kind of like, who were we when we got that mic in our and we were, you were very powerful. Anyway, you'll see I basically, I introduce us. I say, This is Carolyn and Michelle. We have a podcast. We're wearing our shirts to listeners. We have our PCPs shirts on. I see we have a podcast. And then I said, but recently we had the chance to interview someone who's very near and dear to your heart. Something about she makes a mean we hear, she makes a mean chili. Carolyn told me to say that, and I said, That's Anne Moses. And he immediately is like, Anne Moses. And

Carolyn Cochrane 15:45

so he tells the audience who Anne Moses is, and all of that. So, yeah. And so

Michelle Newman 15:50

basically, that was it, yeah. We just were like, we said, I said something like, you know, she basically, she's lovely, and she had wonderful, lovely things to say about you and your family. And he goes, she was paid. And then I say, but because I didn't want it to just seem like we are sitting there being very self serving and self promoting. So I say, and we do have a question, and I hand the mic to Carolyn, and this was what we came up with,

Carolyn Cochrane 16:15

yeah, so I asked him, basically, would, because we're talking about media. We're talking about Tiger B, we're talking about Ann Moses. And I just said, compare being a teen idol in the 70s to what it would be like to be a teen idol today. And like, would you have a preference? And that really set him off on some interesting things. So he said, of course, that he would much rather be a teen idol of the 70s. And he talked about what an innocent time that was. And, you know, goes on about all the things with social media today that we all know. And you know, you can't make one little mistake. But he brought up something super interesting that I had never thought about. He said, You know, when we had the Donnie and Marie show, we had some really famous celebrities, recording artists, actors, and we did some incredibly silly, crazy things. And he said we couldn't do that today. Their publicist would not let them probably do half those things that they did, because they would live on. People would be like, you know, reposting that, do just whatever. And I thought I had never taken or thought of it that way. And he kind of said that's why there can't really be those kind of shows anymore. You you'd be hard pressed to find some guests. Yeah, you'd be willing

Michelle Newman 17:26

to. He actually says there. That's why. One reason there's not variety shows anymore, there's

Kristin Nilsen 17:29

no one's gonna take a risk, right? That's what it will live forever. It'll really it'll be turned into a meme. It will live forever. You'll never be able to live it down.

Carolyn Cochrane 17:37

Lee, exactly. So I thought that was a really interesting take on the social media piece. And we've, you know, we've saved variety shows on our podcast too, in terms of talking about them from our growing up. And it makes sense. It's sad, yeah, it's really sad, but it's, I hadn't thought of it that way, so that was really interesting.

Kristin Nilsen 17:56

There's not much that is silly on TV anymore, except for reality TV and those people don't know that they're being silly,

Carolyn Cochrane 18:03

right? It's so curated in a way, you have to run everything by your publicist, you know, to make sure, okay, is there anything weird that can come of this? And yeah, so there's so much more gatekeeping than there ever was before.

Michelle Newman 18:15

Interesting about that. Something I just thought of. I think that's one reason that I love so much when these celebrities who are like the Donny Osmonds and the ROB Lowes, those are the only two I'm thinking of right now. There's a million more. They go on sitcoms now, and Donnie actually be kind of his career. You know, there was a resurgence in his career because of this. They go in movies. They play themselves, but they poke fun at themselves. They do an over exaggerated version of themselves. You know, I'm thinking of Rob Lowe's latest that Netflix show that him and his son do right now, and it's so funny because he it's a hugely inflated version of Rob Lowe, but he admits that it's kind of me, and that's what's so funny. But it's almost like this generation of actors know that they can still poke fun at themselves because they they're used to it. It's all these new actors that I don't think would dare do it. Yeah, they've become famous in a time of social media

Kristin Nilsen 19:10

and so everything is artifice instead of awareness.

Michelle Newman 19:15

Yeah, yeah. Well, anyways, I mean, he this was, you know, probably 40 minutes, answering lots of questions, but turning them into stories. So for our Patreon supporters, I'm going to put video on four videos. One, someone asked, What's the biggest misconception about you and your brothers that you had to deal with? So I'm going to put the his his answer for that. He has a funny Elvis Presley story. His family was close with Elvis Presley. So he has a funny short story. He has someone asked him what his favorite Joseph song is, and he has a great Andrew Lloyd Webber story about how he changed some notes in opening night of Joseph and how Andrew Lloyd Webber reacted. And then you guys, we are going to put a clip on of Sally Carolyn Tell me. Sally, Sally, oh,

Kristin Nilsen 20:00

Sally, yeah, no, I don't know the story. Perfect.

Michelle Newman 20:07

Okay, this would have been you, yeah.

Carolyn Cochrane 20:08

So Sally is front row center, and he calls on Sally, and Sally tells us, Sally's like 70, okay, yeah, okay, good point. So

Kristin Nilsen 20:17

Sally doesn't know how to listen to podcasts.

Michelle Newman 20:19

Oh yeah. Sally has asked for our Yes, and her daughter say, since, since this has happened, we have exchanged, I've exchanged texts because I taped this whole thing you're about to hear because it was so sweet. We saw them in the lobby after, and we said, oh my god, Sally, that was so moving. And I said, you guys, I have it on my phone. Do you want me to text it to you. And they were, like, so appreciative. And then we exchanged that text, and then they asked for our podcast. So I they do have

Carolyn Cochrane 20:47

we got permission to share the story, and also do yes, yes, everyone. So that's all part of it, too. So Sally tells Donnie, she's kind of says, I have a favor. She said, I can't remember the year, Michelle, you'll have taught me with some of this. But tooth maybe, like, 10 years ago, something like that. Let's just say early. Let's just say 2010 something before, yeah, yeah, before that. She and her husband went to see him in Vegas, and she was so excited. And the concert starting, and Donnie doesn't come out, but Marie does. And Marie proceeds to say that Donnie couldn't be at this performance tonight because he was doing his and I don't know if it's annual, she says you were doing your LSD, your LSD trail, and the place just erodes and just

Michelle Newman 21:36

arrived. Yes, and Donnie is like, bent over laughing, but

Carolyn Cochrane 21:40

she doesn't understand. She's kind of looking around. She doesn't know what she has said that has made this audience, like totally crack up. And the way she said, LSD trip, well. And then he finally, after he stops laughing so hard, he says, Oh. So she says that, and he says, Oh, you mean my LDS mission trip. So as we all know that Donnie is Mormon, and it's the Church of Latter Day Saints, so it's LDS, but Sally got her letters a little mixed up. And then, yeah, so this LSD trip was hysterical, and then she proceeds to tell him that her husband has since passed away. And there's this song that's very special to her, and would, would Donnie sing it and let her sing along a little bit with him. And at first he's a little bit, like, that's he, he was very nice, but kind of like, that's, I need to get to more questions or whatever. Gonna

Michelle Newman 22:30

take up a lot of time. Yeah,

Carolyn Cochrane 22:31

this will take up a lot of time. And he's sweet. And Michelle and I are like, he doesn't sing this with her. We are gonna know what we're gonna do. We're like, jabbing each other. And then he says, Well, yeah, let's do it. Let's sing a little bit or whatever, right? Let's do the chorus, is what he said. So she has her mic, and they start singing. And, I mean, we're crying, oh, it was a song I had never heard of before, so I was like, Oh, this will be interesting. You know, now we know the whole story of her husband has since passed away, and the lyrics are pretty profound, so that's helping add to the tears that are coming down. It's

Michelle Newman 23:05

a very sweet and special song. And the one thing that was really cool is, after they finished the chorus, and he's looking at her the whole time, and she's in the front row, and patrons, you're gonna see this, she is sitting up in her seat, leaning forward eyes, I mean, singing earnestly, and her voice is very clear, and you'll hear it. And then a couple times he pulls back on his voice so you can hear her. She was singing it very, like I said, very passionately, very earnestly. And they get done with the course, and his keyboardist is on stage, and he just does this. He's like, Oh no, we gotta keep going. And they keep going with, like, the next verse. And it was, everybody was, like, very moved by this. It was very sweet. So

Kristin Nilsen 23:47

he knew it was a moment here he almost, and he almost didn't do it right.

Michelle Newman 23:52

It made me Sure, sure happy I hadn't been like, well, you sing the umbrella song. Oh yes, when this was, like, this beautiful, moving story. Anyway, so that video, as well as those with that and those other ones will be up on the Patreon page today sometime. So yeah, so then very quickly, we'll get to the mean greet. We they line everybody up, and you can see under the lights, it is like, picture smile, move on. Picture. Smile, move on. Well, we've prepared a card for Donnie that adds up with some PCPs stickers in our card. Just basically, we're so excited to see you to think it only took 49 years. You know we would love to have you chat. We know our listeners would love to hear the fun conversation would have you have an open invitation. Thank you so much. For decades of special memories, it's not like in your face, but we're like, Are we allowed to give him a cart? And like, Wait, what are we gonna say? Like, all of a sudden, we're panicking, three point plan going out the window. The only thing I haven't done yet is the umbrella song. So I get there and I walk forward with the cart I know. I've got, like, 10 seconds, 15 seconds. I walk forward the card, and he looks at my shirt first of all, so now he's remembering, Oh, these are the podcasters. And I say, I just want you to know that you have an open invitation to come on our podcast anytime, and then maybe five year old Michelle will get to fulfill, like, her dream of singing the umbrella song with you. And if you watch the video, at first, he's kind of like, like, Okay, let's take this picture. But when I say the umbrella song, he looks at me and smiles, and he goes, Oh, what was that? What? And I had to you guys, I start going, and when the rain comes down, and he he smiles and nods and joins in, and he joins in on, We're never getting wet. And then I keep going in the video, he then looks at the camera and smiles, and I'm going, and when the skies are gray,

Carolyn Cochrane 25:47

they happen to capture that moment on film, like with the camera. So they took a couple of pictures. And so there's one where Michelle is obviously still singing and Donnie posing at the camera. Donny's

Michelle Newman 25:57

kind of singing too. Let's put that one in the Weekly Reader so everybody can see it. And that was it like, literally, I walk away. Carolyn walks in. And when you walk away, well, I can't I walk away a little bit. But then when you after you got your picture, he's kind of looking after Carolyn. And you guys, I had to do it. I had to go here. It's so stupid. Literally, I don't know what goes into my brain at this time, but I feel the need again to legitimize the podcast, so I say to him, we really would have a great conversation. It would be so much fun. Just ask Sean Cassidy had a really fun time. You guys, as if Donnie Osmond needs to hear me name drop. Sean Cassidy, I don't know where that's one of those things that just comes flying out of your mouth and you're like, What did I just say?

Carolyn Cochrane 26:52

A couple things. One is when you gave him the card, so we put it in his back pocket, like his writing his bud sheet, yeah,

Michelle Newman 27:01

if he was able to open it, or he just handed it to someone, I wonder if he even

Carolyn Cochrane 27:05

opened he opened it, Michelle, let's just go with the glass house. Okay. Well, then when

Michelle Newman 27:09

I said that, he did, oh, this is what I should say. He did. Say, contact my publicist, yeah, oh, he did. He said, contact my publicist. And we walk away. And it all happened so fast, and you guys, all of a sudden, my face just crumples into an ugly cry, and I just have to put my hands over my face, because it was like, I think I just realized, and it was, it's so not 55 year old Michelle having that moment, not at all. Donny Osmond is great. I hope he comes on the podcast. I will definitely be chill and cool, because we're adults. We've talked about this before, our now selves talking with these former trying to be idols, or these celebrities that we really looked up to and admired and who meant so much to us. It's truly not me that wants to marry Donnie Osmond now it is. It is 456, and seven year old Michelle, and that that that was where that emotion came from. It was that little girl. It was like we say all the time. I was Manalo. I was it was my child self colliding with my adult self. And it was really emotional. And

Carolyn Cochrane 28:12

I had an oversight to say, I'm gonna video this. So, yes, I need to make sure that we capture this moment of Michelle's just genuine, yeah, this genuine mantalo Feeling it was like in real time seeing these two people, two versions of Michelle, come together and then be able to share what that meant to her. So I was so glad to be a witness that I love Donnie Osmond as well, and had the albums, and yes, definitely first, first crush. Michelle's was other worldly and other level. And so again, it was kind of like when I went with to see Sean Cassidy with Kristen. I was so glad I was a witness to their experience as well. Because super powerful. Yeah,

Kristin Nilsen 28:57

the Sherpa, that's right, she's

Michelle Newman 28:58

our Sherpa.

Kristin Nilsen 28:59

It's like, it's like being man a load is sort of like almost the little girl emerges and an itch is scratched, yes,

Michelle Newman 29:09

yeah. It was just an it just all of a sudden. It was just overwhelming, how quick it happened. So then Carolyn, we still had,

Kristin Nilsen 29:18

so it is literally seconds. It

Michelle Newman 29:20

was like 15 seconds. They were very Yeah. Very, like, an hour before the show started. So we went downstairs, and Carolyn only recorded a four and a half minute video of basically this story we told you, but mere moments after it happened. So if you think we're excited and talking over each other now, we were like, high on and we weren't drinking. We weren't we were just high on dopamine, basically. So that video, along with all the other ones I've mentioned, plus the one of me meeting Donnie, and the one right after of me having a little emotional moment, will all be on our Patreon page. And guys, we're going to put this on for all patrons, all levels of Patreon membership. So this is just one of the little fun bonus extras we like to give. Our patrons as a special thank you for taking their support of our little podcast to the next level, because it's really fun to be able to share this kind of stuff with you guys. Yeah. So

Carolyn Cochrane 30:09

then after we do that, we go back upstairs, we head on into our seats. So we are sitting in the fifth row,

Michelle Newman 30:18

fourth row, E, yeah, and there's a lady in front of us in the cool dress. Yes,

Carolyn Cochrane 30:22

I noticed her during the Q and A, and then I'm like, Oh, I'm so glad we're sitting near this woman, because I want to ask her where she got her dress. She's talking to the people next to us, and she's by herself, like she's not with any other people at that point. And we just all start having conversation. And this is our friend, Lisa. And guess what? Lisa tells us, Kristen, Kristen, Lisa tells us what? When we stood up to ask our question, she said to the person next to her, she didn't know. Oh my gosh. I listened to that podcast

Michelle Newman 30:52

the pop culture Preservation Society, where,

Carolyn Cochrane 30:54

like it's someone else. We were getting out our business card to kind of give her. Will you sign it for me? Can

Unknown Speaker 31:02

you believe that you guys,

Michelle Newman 31:06

yes, this is a listener in the wild that we met. Yes, we didn't bring them to us like we've done events in the past. Carolyn and I literally almost like collapsed on the floor. Oh my god, this is so exciting. You're our first listener. And she was like, Wait, really? Like, like, she was super like, Yeah, listen. And then the lady in front of her hears the commotion and turns around. And then it turns out that we say, like, Oh, she's, Oh, I love podcasts. Can I have your card? So now we're throwing out cards and,

Kristin Nilsen 31:36

well, that is your target audience, right? You're

Carolyn Cochrane 31:39

not kidding, Lisa,

Michelle Newman 31:40

right now, we told you, we told you, Lisa, we were going to mention you and your story if you and she said she's going to be listening today, Lisa,

Kristin Nilsen 31:48

I'm sorry I didn't meet you. Yes, Lisa

Michelle Newman 31:51

is lovely. Lisa proceeds to tell us a story about Donnie Osmond and how she grew up in a really with a really challenging childhood in

Carolyn Cochrane 32:01

the South. She's got this really cute southern accent. She lives in Colorado now, but if you can just imagine that sweet, I think it was Alabama or Mississippi, Lisa. I'm sorry, I don't remember. I think Alabama. So she's telling us this story in just the sweetest southern

Michelle Newman 32:15

accent. But you know, the challenging childhood of you know, not knowing where their next meal was going to come from. Basically, she got a Donny Osmond album for her 10th birthday. She couldn't listen to it until she was 17, and was able to get a turntable. What? So she listened to Donnie Osmond on the radio. I mean, we're talking you guys. I'm not going to go into all the details, because it's Lisa's story, even though she gave us full permission to share, but it's hard her her childhood and her life was hard. She said she thinks of Donnie Osmond, I love this as her as a first responder in her

Kristin Nilsen 32:51

childhood. Wow, oh yeah, oh

Carolyn Cochrane 32:53

god, wow, right, because he saved her, saved her. Oh,

Kristin Nilsen 32:57

wow. Lisa, huh,

Carolyn Cochrane 32:59

yeah. It was powerful when she said that. I got the chills.

Michelle Newman 33:03

We talk about this on our podcast a lot about the importance of these crushes and the importance of these celebrities and our lives, that a lot of people just are like, Oh, you liked Donnie Osmond and I said you have just like, you know, you've heightened it. You've done that's 950 right? Yeah, but to use that term, that he's her first responder. So we have a picture with Lisa after and that's going to be in the Weekly Reader this week. Listeners, I think

Kristin Nilsen 33:28

about the number of seconds that you had with him, and how would you be able to explain that to him adequately in a man in a handful of seconds?

Michelle Newman 33:39

I don't think you could, I

Kristin Nilsen 33:40

don't think you can.

Carolyn Cochrane 33:42

That's why Donnie, you need to come on the podcast so we can share these stories with you that people have shared with us. Yeah, because it's Yeah, I don't know how you can share it in that small amount of time. Well. And

Michelle Newman 33:51

it was interesting because Carolyn, you actually, after she was telling us this, you you brought up how in our conversation with Sean Cassidy. Sean also says that he's really now, now, like in the past, you know, maybe 10 years, or I don't know how long, but really, that's really starting to hit him, the impact he had, and it's so special to him, and he's so humbled by it. But you know, when you're in that moment in the 70s, you're not realizing you are just thinking they're all just putting my posters on their wall and Yeah, listen, you're not realizing that for a huge percentage of those people, you're really changing their lives and impacting their lives. Yeah, you

Kristin Nilsen 34:32

could be saving them in ways that you don't Yeah, you don't know that you're participating, but you are participating. If you guys recall, there was a woman named Janine who had sent me a story about growing up in the Philippines during martial law, and how she it was very unsafe and life was there was no food and there were no jobs, but for some reason, the government allowed the Hardy Boys to be on TV, and she had a Sean Cassidy poster on her wall, and she said the same thing. He. Saved her because it was the only act that she had that allowed her to be a teenager. That was the only act of adolescence that she had, was having Sean Cassidy on her wall. So I send that story to Sean Cassidy. What that did was that meant when Janine walked into that handful of seconds to be with Sean Cassidy for the meet and greet, she says, Hello, I'm Janine. He says, Janine, my God, I heard your story. And she immediately bursts into tears, of course, so that me sending to him beforehand allowed him the time to process what he meant to her. I don't know that you could. She could never have told him that story. No dance,

Carolyn Cochrane 35:39

yeah, and I shuffle you through, but right and you guys, I gotta just go back to the concert, one of the most emote. There's a few emotional moments that I got get teary during his concert. But one is he does this montage of all of these Donnie and Marie scenes when he and Marie are doing just incredibly silly things, and that's going playing on this big screen, and he's singing the Beatles song. There are places I remember, yeah, yes, and you're seeing so again, it's kind of this man alone moment, because you're seeing your childhood, in a way, being me, like, kind of flashing across the screen, because you remember when he was, you know, Captain purple, or whatever, and that's up there. And you remember when, you know, she pours the milk on his head, the whole picture of milk. And so that's going and yet he's right there singing, but you're seeing his younger self. So it was, you know, a mandalos mandelo moment. I don't know what you call it now, but it those moments were so powerful. And again, know that all of us in that venue were watching that having kind of a similar experience, and it just doesn't matter all the differences that we might have, like in a time that's so divisive right now, those moments are magical for me, at least the energy and the knowing that we are all sharing this moment together, and we're all on the same page, is just

Kristin Nilsen 37:04

and you're sharing it together together, like literally together in that theater, but you also shared it together when you watched it the first time. Well, because it was live TV or not, you know, it's recorded TV, but it's broadcast all at the same time. You literally, every single one of you in that concert hall experienced it together the first time, right? That just shakes me. Yeah, it's me too.

Carolyn Cochrane 37:27

So it's a powerful experience, for sure. And the whole show, I

Michelle Newman 37:30

mean, we could do a whole nother episode on the whole show. It's incredible. If you ever get an opportunity to see it, he's taking it back to Vegas. If you ever get an opportunity to see his show. It is. It is just a party from the beginning. And man, that man, he moves and he sounds so great. Oh God. He dances daily. Walk the dog. He does this rap. If you look it up on YouTube, you guys just put in Donnie Osmond rap, it will blow your mind out of the water. He did a duet with Andy Williams on the screen behind him, and they sang the river together. That's

Carolyn Cochrane 38:05

when I really cried, yeah, because my dad loved Andy Williams and loved that song, and we would watch the Andy Williams Show. So that was, yeah, amazing. And I'm just going to add to a little more color commentary. It was really warm in this venue. Okay, it had been really warm in Denver, but there was, like, it's old. I guess the HVAC system isn't that great. So we're all, like, this woman next to us has one of those, like, electric Fauci I was like, we are, a lot of us are women of a certain age, so, you know, so we're sweating an audience, I can only imagine. I mean, he's like, wiping sweat with, you know, towels and all of that and really moving. And then I'm remembering that when Michelle and I went for a little walk, I was a little more out of breath than usual. And I forget about like, altitude.

Kristin Nilsen 38:48

You're an altitude mile in the sky, and you probably didn't get to time to acclimate.

Michelle Newman 38:55

Take my purple sparkle jacket off, because we were close enough to the stage that, you know this, the lights could hit us. And I was like, no, no. I want him to keep seeing us. I want him to be like, oh, there's that purple sparkly jacket. Oh, those are the podcasters. Oh, podcasters. Then that makes me, you know, if you give a mouse a cookie, then that makes me think of, oh, they invited me to come on the show. Oh, and Moses was on the show. I like Anne Moses,

Kristin Nilsen 39:14

oh show Cassidy, that's

Carolyn Cochrane 39:17

all going through his head while he's singing

Michelle Newman 39:20

full circle. Okay, so, like I was saying, listeners, this could have been its own episode. Oh my gosh. But the next, the next hour, is really fun too. So you can grab a snack, go to the bathroom, or, you know what, listen to the next part of it tomorrow. But we're putting this all out today, because this is, this is Donnie Osmond day at the PCPs. Happy. Donnie Osmond Day, everybody, yeah, yeah, to all who celebrate happy, yeah. So grab a snack. Take your potty break and enjoy this replay of episode 92 it takes two, Donnie and Marie comes down.

Unknown Speaker 39:54

She's never when the. The sky should

Unknown Speaker 40:08

still be

Kristin Nilsen 40:19

teardrops. I swear to God, when I watched my episode for so I have not watched this since 1979 and I told you, I got hoosker Dude when I heard that song. And I couldn't have come up with that song on my own, but I know every single word, and I'm singing along. And they, they end the song with, Good night, everybody. And I just like nipple lightning, total

Speaker 1 40:46

goose bumps.

Carolyn Cochrane 41:00

Welcome to the pop culture Preservation Society, the podcast for people born in the big wheel generation who know that a spritz of sweet honesty makes you feel like a fancy woman,

Michelle Newman 41:18

fancy

Carolyn Cochrane 41:20

she was just laughing.

Kristin Nilsen 41:22

Fancy woman, we believe our Gen X childhoods gave us unforgettable songs, stories, characters and images, and if we don't talk about them, they'll disappear, like Marshall will and Holly on a routine expedition,

Michelle Newman 41:33

and today, we are saving the spectacular variety show that helped us differentiate between country and rock and roll and made all of us beg for ice skating lessons, Donnie and Marie,

Carolyn Cochrane 41:47

I'm Carolyn,

Kristin Nilsen 41:48

I'm Kristen, and

Michelle Newman 41:48

I'm Michelle, and We are your pop culture preservationists.

Carolyn Cochrane 42:01

It takes two baby.

Michelle Newman 42:09

You guys, I almost can't with this. I feel like listening. I'm gonna cry, even us singing, it makes me feel like I'm gonna cry, right? And I know that after 90 something episodes this, I'm gonna sound like a broken record, but 1970s Donnie and Marie give me that lumpy feeling, that twisty feeling in my tummy, like I'm gonna cry. And it's not a bad feeling, it's just melancholic and it's powerful. It's a powerful feeling.

Carolyn Cochrane 42:35

It is so powerful. You know, Donnie was my first crush, so that kind of elevates the whole Donnie and Marie act. But when I was doing research for this today's episode, and playing it on my record player, and just watching that label go around and around go away, little

Kristin Nilsen 42:53

girl was a big moment for me, because this is pre Donnie and Marie, right? But it's my very first dance recital, and the teenagers were doing a dance to go away little girl, and I was just transfixed by these teenagers. Were they, like, sway, totally swing, with their long Marsha Brady hair, and they had these long bell bottoms on, Oh, I

Michelle Newman 43:15

love it as magic, like Carolyn, like, like you. I know that we've talked about this before, and I've mentioned it. I think it was on our crushes episode. Crushes episode. I told you guys that Donny Osmond was my first crush at age like three or four, and I'm not lying, like at three or four, he definitely was big time. But honestly, when they became Donnie and Marie, I crushed on them together, like I was enraptured looking at them and listening to their songs. And this is at age five and six. And you guys, the album I'm leaving it all up to you is still an album I own. Is still an album I play frequently. This is the one listeners with. It looks like a locket on the front that's opened, and it's this one is like Donnie is in one of the sides of the locket. Marie's in the other. And this is Marie at like, age 14, with, like, her long kind of Loretta Lynn all rip hair. And, you know, with the little curls at the top right, like the little tiny curlicues here, and I can remember morning side of the mountain and the umbrella song. Are two songs on that album that, to this day give me the same nipple, lightning, the same like make me cry, twisty feeling in my stomach. And I'm not embarrassed to say that I actually have a whole Donnie and Marie playlist on Spotify that I've made myself. And I have a lot of those songs from those old first records on them that I owned at age five. Yes,

Carolyn Cochrane 44:37

those songs were magical to me, and I think I have a theory on this, and maybe same with you, Michelle, as to why they are so special to you. Because Donnie and Marie were popular at a sweet spot for my sister and myself and our relationship and our siblinghood. She was old enough to kind of know what was going on. And kind of fun to play with. And it was before I didn't want to have anything to do with her. And so this sibling act lent itself so well to us reenacting the the songs, because they each had a part. And, you know, I'll sing donny's part, I'll sing Marie's part. And so listening to that album again, I was just flooded with the memories. I mean, the umbrella song we had at choreographed, we had our little umbrellas that we would dance, we would use to dance with. And, oh, morning, side of the mountain.

Unknown Speaker 45:29

And you guys, I

Carolyn Cochrane 45:29

remembered all the words. I was just in my bathroom getting ready for our recording, and I was playing that album. I know all of the words. It's crazy.

Michelle Newman 45:39

It comes right back to you, like we, you know, this is like, you know, the old, cliched menopause joke, right? Can't remember what I had for lunch yesterday, but I kind of remember, but it's true, we can remember that even, you know,

Kristin Nilsen 45:52

don't like even, and I might be skipping ahead here, but when we talk about that, the ending song to the show, I couldn't sing that for you right now. I have no idea how it even goes, but when I heard it, when I was re watching, I knew every single word, every single word, right? And it was gone from my memory for almost 50 years, the choreography to the end of country and rock and roll.

Michelle Newman 46:17

I'll talk about in a minute, too. I was like, I know what they're about to do. Jazz Square bow,

Carolyn Cochrane 46:21

Yep, yeah,

Michelle Newman 46:22

I know what they're about to do. I loved it so much that it like, like I said, it's a powerful I feel like it's a painful memory, almost how much I loved Donnie and Marie.

Kristin Nilsen 46:30

I had zero crush feelings for Donnie Osmond, because that would be gross, because he was my brother, because I am Marie. I'm Marie, character, of course, and Donnie is my brother, so

Michelle Newman 46:45

that would be disgusting, of course. Yeah,

Kristin Nilsen 46:47

I can't be in love with him, right? And we're adversaries.

Michelle Newman 46:51

I will tell you something that's funny about that. On that same note, I was watching some old footage of them on a talk show. So this is pre Donnie and Marie show, and they're singing morning side of the mountain. And it's about, you know, there was a boy, there was a girl, and, you know, they're gonna end up coming together, right? And when they end up at the end, and the both, the way this is shot is with them each and like silhouettes, but like, in their own kind of, like, I always call it the Olin Mills kind of clown around them, you know, he's in one corner, she's in the bottom, you know, corner, the opposite one. And they're singing the whole song, but at the very end, when in the song, the boy and the girl find each other, Donnie and Marie. Now, the cameras pulled back, and it's both of them, and they put their arms around each other, and they look at each other and sing and sway. And she's, this is pre Donnie and Marie. So she's about 15, and I was a little bit like, Ooh, Oh no.

Kristin Nilsen 47:42

There are some lines that are a little fuzzy, that are a little gray, and there are some other areas in the show where that takes place too, that I'll get into later, and it never crossed over into making us feel uncomfortable. But we'd be like, Oh, you're almost there, almost Nope. Okay. And I don't feel, I don't worry about anything at all. I just think it's, it's just a misstep. That's all

Carolyn Cochrane 48:03

Yeah. And I don't think I ever caught on to that oh no, and I listened to that song. So it was just again today, when I was listening getting ready, and I was going, oh

Kristin Nilsen 48:17

yeah. It doesn't quite work. Like all things, there are certain things that we just didn't perceive of as you guys know that when I was little, I was like a 35 year old woman, and so I knew, I knew that Donnie and Marie was cornball. I knew it was not cool in that sophisticated way, but I also felt very protective of it as if they were my actual relatives, sort of like I can make fun of my mom, but you can't, right? And I will, I will show up, and I will support them, and I will cheer them on every single week, because they're nice kids. And I like that. I really like that.

Michelle Newman 48:51

I also think it's funny that Kristin at so tree, you've said that before. I was a 35 year old woman when I was a child, but now, as a 54 year old woman, you are a 10 year old child. That's true. I'm going backwards like Benjamin buttoning life.

So Donnie and Marie aired Friday nights on ABC from 1976 to may 1979 that's 78 episodes. And man, that is my sweet spot. I'm six years old to 10 years old, so I'm impressionable. And you know, when we talk about crushing on Donny, I just re watching these, you guys. I'm crushing on them all over again, because these are good years for Donnie Osmond, right? He's

Kristin Nilsen 49:38

cute. He's so cute. You guys, I will never I know it's cliche to say that, and I know that that's the big joke and everything, but I I just can't get over the teeth. Oh,

Michelle Newman 49:47

he's so cutie. They're so beautiful. It's not just cute. He's charming. Oh, he's so charming. But like I said, when I'm watching Donnie and Marie from 60 from 1976 to 1979 i. I'm crushing on both of them also. Let's not forget, this is overlapping my Scott Baio phase a little bit. So I've moved on, and now it's more like I'm crushing on both of them. But anyway, Donnie and Marie were already super popular. Donny because, well, because he was Donny Osmond and Marie, if you remember, was one of the youngest singers to hit number one on the Billboard country music charts with Lady pink roses.

She hit number one in 1973 at age 14. That's kind of crazy. She was kind of pushed into that by mom olive and you guys, you know that Marie's name is really olive, right? It's olive Marie Osmond. She's named after mother, mother and father. Like I said before, they had also already Donnie and Marie had done a few albums together. I'm leaving it all up to you in 1974 and make the world go away in 1975 solid albums. Solid albums. Everybody. Yes, seriously, and they're both on Spotify. They were good friends of The Mike Douglas Show, kind of like the Osmond brothers were on Andy Williams. Do you remember when they were little boys in the late 60s? They were always on his show? Donnie and Marie had been on Mike Douglas several times, but they co hosted the show for a whole week. And they had such great chemistry, and they were so natural that when ABC President Fred Silverman saw them, he offered them their own weekly show, which was then created and produced by Sid and Marty Croft. That's what

Carolyn Cochrane 51:38

would our childhoods have been without Sid and Marty Croft, right? They touched so many things that we loved.

Michelle Newman 51:45

Another thing. As you guys, they are big. Like to still live in these moments. They have a great Instagram they're always doing Instagram lives. I mean, wouldn't that be fun to get them on the podcast? I mean, that's like a four parter, because where do you even start? And where do you stop?

Kristin Nilsen 52:02

You start with Sigmund. You start well, you do.

Michelle Newman 52:04

But you've got, you got all of that, the Saturday morning stuff, but you've got the Brady Bunch variety hour. You've got Donnie and Marie. I mean, you it's like a non stop in Land of the Lost. It's a non stop ride. So what Donnie and Marie started their show. They were just 18 and 16 years old at the time. They were the youngest entertainers in TV history to host their own variety show. Can you guys believe that that

Kristin Nilsen 52:26

is that's so weird to me, because, well, I don't want to tell you what I was doing at 16, but when I went Marie, in particular, when I was even just re watching stuff right now, she also seems like a 35 year old woman's piece and looks like it 16 is a child that is a child, right? And she seemed like a 35 year old woman in terms of her poise and her grace, right?

Carolyn Cochrane 52:51

Yeah. I mean, that's exactly how I feel her, even her hairstyle, yes, the way she carried herself, everything was Yes, like that of a 35 year old woman. I

Michelle Newman 53:01

just thought, even watching season one, her hair's a little goofy, you know, she's kind of got that the the giant, the back combed Loretta Latin hair, like I'm talking about, where it's very, very poofy, on top with the two little curls, thankfully, and then the flip, then they gave her, then thankfully, they gave her the kind of, you know, the, maybe the, it was kind of the blunt Bob, but the bangs

Kristin Nilsen 53:20

principle, yes, yes, I feel like principal. But

Michelle Newman 53:25

even at 16 and 18 during season one, they are ridiculously mature and comfortable, and they're so engaging with the audience and just so natural in front of the camera. They're funny. They're cute. Oh god dang Donny is so cute. Like I know I just said it, you guys, I'ma say it again. I

Kristin Nilsen 53:45

still got Michelle a little moment, okay, and her hair changes, not a big deal. That was news. And at the beginning of each season, she had new hair, and that would be part of the monolog, like Donny. Do you notice anything different about me, Donnie? And of course, he wouldn't, he wouldn't have any idea. And in season three, she gets the really shortcut that looks like Olivia Newton, John in physical Yes, cute as a button.

Unknown Speaker 54:09

It's all cute. Yeah, yeah. It's

Kristin Nilsen 54:12

the same opening. Season two, new hair. Season Three, new hair. And let's talk about Marie's new hair. And we were, we were talking about her, yeah,

Michelle Newman 54:19

yeah. She was fun to watch. This show was nominated for Emmys in 1978 and in 1979 for outstanding art direction. It was nominated for a Golden Globe in 1977 for Best Television series Comedy or Musical, and it won the People's Choice Award in 1979 for Favorite TV variety program. I know I would have I was voting for it and 1970 I mean, I wasn't actually voting, but it was my people's choice voting.

Kristin Nilsen 54:45

All you had to do was, like, voice your opinion, like, as your vote. I voted for Jimmy Carter in third grade. I voted, yeah,

Unknown Speaker 54:54

I like it. I

Carolyn Cochrane 54:55

love the People's Choice Awards.

Kristin Nilsen 54:57

I know

Carolyn Cochrane 54:59

so. Lame now, because I think they do still

Kristin Nilsen 55:01

have and apparently, and tell me if you're gonna be getting into this later, Michelle, but apparently everything was run through this Mormon filter. And yeah, especially for Marie. And notice she we've talked about her clothing being revealing in terms of being tight, like spandex or something like that, but she never showed skin. No, never. You very rarely saw her chest. So they had their eyes on that show. You couldn't even talk about coffee on the show, nothing. They said the sensors had nothing to do. There was nothing for them to be or to say you can't talk about pee. You can't you have to say tinkle. There was nothing, because they wouldn't be like, You guys can't talk about coffee, yeah, or

Michelle Newman 55:43

coke. I remember it was always shocking to me. I loved Donnie Osmond, but I remember thinking, Well, I can never marry him because I couldn't drink Coke.

Kristin Nilsen 55:50

Oh god, that is a deal breaker. I'm sorry it absolutely is a deal breaker. Ask, yeah, but no, that's interesting. But when you know that, then you start looking, then you start analyzing her clothing through that filter, and her her costuming is stunning. Did she have Bob Mackey, also the same as Cher the third

Carolyn Cochrane 56:10

the season that they moved to Utah, they leave la production, you know, doing their production in LA and moved to the Osmond studios in Utah, and that's when Marie turns 18, and that's when they decide they want to make her more adult, like like a Mormon share, a mormonized Share,

Kristin Nilsen 56:29

okay, that's yes, because she does look like a Mormon. Share, because you don't any skin at all. But those gowns are just so stunning.

Michelle Newman 56:40

Her costumes weren't that tight, like, even if she was wearing leggings, they really weren't. And she often wore a lot of blousey tunics with the big sparkly tie the stripe, yeah, but also with the big, like, tie belt that kind of hung down low, and then the tall boots. So her costumes were fantastic, but they were very or she wore a lot of long dresses,

Kristin Nilsen 57:00

Yep, yeah. A lot of and we can't stop talking about costuming without talking about the pink and purple chiffon number that was on the cover of the album when she has her Victoria principal hair and was on the dolls. I mean, that's, that's iconic costuming, right there, pink and purple chiffon.

Michelle Newman 57:21

Oh, yeah. Well, and the purple, of course. Let's

Kristin Nilsen 57:25

pause here for a word from our sponsor. That's us, because the pop culture Preservation Society is a completely independent and self sustained project. We not only created this podcast, we also produce it and finance it ourselves. That means we depend on you, our listeners to help us cover our costs and grow our listening audience. Without your contributions, we quite literally could not exist. We really would disappear, like Marshall will and Holly on a routine expedition. You're the gas on our tank, the wind beneath our wings. You're like Christy McNichol doing the obstacle course on Battle of the network stars carrying your team to victory. That's you. You can become a supporter of the pcps@patreon.com P, A, T, R, E, o, n.com, go to the website and search for pop culture Preservation Society, or look for the Patreon link in our link tree on Instagram. If you support the PCPs at the superstar level, just $5 a month, you'll get fun printable art every month to perk up your office. Join at the solid gold level for bonus content and outtakes from our episodes, and for $19.76 a month, you can achieve Bicentennial status, which includes everything you see here, plus live virtual events with your favorite podcast hosts. That's us, I hope, book clubs, Happy Hour chats, pop culture bingo games and maybe even some surprise guests one of these days. And as always, if you're not able to help out at this time, the most valuable thing you can do for us is listen and tell a friend. Thank you so much. Now, let's get back to the show. Let's talk about the guest stars a little bit. This was a very interesting task for me. At first, I was like, what is it gonna just be a roll call or something? But it turns out, there's some really interesting information here. Part of the reason that it's interesting also is because I could not have told you a single guest star that I remembered from the Donnie and Marie show. Part of that might be that I was singularly focused on them, and I didn't really care who was on the show. And there's a really interesting progression from the first season to the last in the first season, with a few exceptions, the guest stars are extremely old, like people you either didn't know or didn't care about because they were only people that your grandma cared about. It's it is really quite extreme, people like Edgar, Bergen, Milton, Berle, Raymond Burr, George Goble, Jerry Lewis, Jim neighbors. Roy Clark, it gets better. You guys. Arthur Godfrey, art, art, Link, letter, oh, my god. Harriet, Harriet Nelson from Ozzy and Harriet Robert Young, who was the dad from father's nose best he was on several times. How many? Oh yes. Marcus Welby, good point. Yes. Okay, so that's a little bit outdated. He was only 10 years off the air at that point. Oh my gosh. And then someone from my little Margie, I'm totally okay. It sounds

Michelle Newman 1:00:13

like mother and father were in charge of the guests.

Kristin Nilsen 1:00:17

I think that you are correct, because I'm trying to figure out what would be the reason for this? Because even even the performers were Chubby Checker, Little Richard Kate Smith, who was the woman from the 50s like who was very famous for her 50s era rendition of, God

Unknown Speaker 1:00:31

bless us.

Kristin Nilsen 1:00:36

Yeah, exactly again, someone only your grandma knows there were so many people from the 50s and 60s. You would think that this was a show for your grandparents and not for the 11 year olds like us who were sitting on the show. So yes, I think you're right, Michelle, mother and father may have had something to do with it. This might have been that Mormon filter, again, because it was applied to everything clean, clean, clean. What says clean more than stars from the 50s, it might have been a signal to parents that this was a super clean show for your kids to watch. I don't know how come that.

Michelle Newman 1:01:07

I mean, to Donnie and Marie, you can't even get cleaner and more wholesome

Kristin Nilsen 1:01:11

than Yeah, you don't have to do anything more to make it cleaner. But then in season two, they start getting a little more relevant with some appearances by some 70s classics, like Charo Ruth, Buzzy Pinky Tuscadero, appearing as Pinky Tuscadero, not as rose Kelly. She's on his pinky, really, yes, and the Brady Bunch twice, including fake Jan, the Brady and the Brady Bunch is off the air at that point. But to say, still outdated, still outdated, but we enjoyed fake Jan and the Brady Bunch. Season two is also when we see the only guest stars that I remember from the show, and that is sunny and Cher. I love sunny and Cher. And Sunny and Cher actually started the show instead of Donnie and Marie. So they start with a musical number. This time, it's sunny and Cher doing the musical number, and they're doing the hand claps and the choreography and the hip bumps. And then Donnie and Marie come out and they're like, Um, excuse

Unknown Speaker 1:02:11

me.

Kristin Nilsen 1:02:12

Excuse me. We're Donnie and Marie, and you're not, yeah. And then sunny and Cher, in pure sunny and Cher fashion, look at each other, like, oh, you know, you've got a point there. Okay, bye, bye. And then they just leave the stage, and it's so cute. Then they will go on later to pull them back on stage to tutor them on how to zing each other. It's like Sonny and Cher are their big brother and big sister teaching them how to do a variety show. And it's super, super cute. And Donnie and Marie will go on the sunny and Cher show as well, and they go through the same routine. It's like, Sonny and Cher are the elder statesman. Donnie and Marie are the new people on the block, and they're going to teach them how to do zingers and cut people down. Okay, so then we have season three comes, and yay. They start getting some actual current stars from TV shows like what's happening Three's Company, happy days, Laverne and Shirley one day at a time. Family. Christy McNichol comes on the show. That's a big get Little House on the Prairie. Yes, Melissa Gilbert comes on. We should probably ask her about that.

Michelle Newman 1:03:10

Oh, let's do her Yes,

Kristin Nilsen 1:03:12

right? Um, the Hardy Boys, not Joe, sorry, just Frank Hardy and Lassie. And by Lassie, I mean the dog, no humans from the show. Come on. But there seems to be a more concerted effort to appeal to younger people in season three, and this culminates in season four, when boom Andy Gibb appears several times on the show, and it doesn't get any more appealing to younger people than that.

Michelle Newman 1:03:37

Did you know Murray dated him for a little bit?

Kristin Nilsen 1:03:39

Well, there's like, a little little controversy over, are they,

Michelle Newman 1:03:43

were they dating, or did they go on a dance?

Kristin Nilsen 1:03:45

Did they go on a date? Was it a public ship? Right? No,

Michelle Newman 1:03:50

I think she talked about it recently on watch what's happening live, because it was Erica talk. She addressed the Eric Estrada and the Andy Gibb dating.

Kristin Nilsen 1:03:58

They were definitely close. Yeah, that is, that is absolutely true.

Carolyn Cochrane 1:04:03

But they weren't Mormon, so that wasn't going to go very far

Kristin Nilsen 1:04:06

to point, yeah, Paul Lind and Ruth buzzy were really considered regulars on the show. And as you guys know, I hate Paul Lind. I can't stand him, and so I would probably go to the bathroom doing those parts of it, just to even it out.

Michelle Newman 1:04:18

Listeners, in case you're like, what I love Poland. So we

Carolyn Cochrane 1:04:22

5050 take a team, right? And he's classic Paul and and a lot of holy sketches. But I did read he didn't really want to do the show. ABC had to complete a contract they had with him, so he had to do X amount of hours left under his contract with ABC. So that's where they threw him.

Michelle Newman 1:04:41

That's hilarious. It's like, it's like, you have to go do, like, public service, you know how? Like, okay, I sentence you to three months of picking up trash on the highway and for poor Paul. And they're like, you know, we got this contract. I sentence you to 15 appearances on Donnie and Marie.

Kristin Nilsen 1:04:57

That's exactly. And I don't think it. A good match. That is not a good match because he is not there. Maybe they thought they were balancing out the clean, the squeaky clean with his snark, but it just felt awkward to me. He didn't belong on that show. Yeah,

Michelle Newman 1:05:13

none of the older people did. One I watched was Abe vagota. I mean, people did really, you know,

Kristin Nilsen 1:05:20

I mean, what are they gonna do? It takes two, baby, like a pagoda is not gonna do it takes two. I know one other person that I need to he

Michelle Newman 1:05:27

would start really quick. He was one of the seven dwarfs in the episode I watched. Oh,

Kristin Nilsen 1:05:32

my God. I thought you were telling me that he was, like, on the Disney movie. Abe fagoda was one of the Seven Dwarfs. You have to wonder, did Abe fagoda Want to go on Donnie and Marie?

Carolyn Cochrane 1:05:45

I was after watching a couple of episodes, I just missed the variety show, where is a pagoda gonna be a dwarf? I

Michelle Newman 1:05:53

know well. And he was with Lola shalana. It was a pagoda Alana Patsy and Ralph mouth because it was Marie's 18th birthday. So this was the group. These were the four guest stars, Anton Williams, Donnie, most, Lola Fauci and Abe vagota.

Carolyn Cochrane 1:06:07

Where else are you going to get them?

Kristin Nilsen 1:06:09

But you're right. Carolyn, there is no other context in which you would see all those people together. And this begs the question, can you revive the variety show? And I think Donnie, well, Donnie Osmond doesn't agree. Donnie Osmond does not think that you can. And he says the reason is, back then, everybody was really, really invested in simplicity and innocence, and they we watched, and that's true kids, and that's why the 35 year old me was like, Yes, we got to support these good kids. He said, Now that is not what attracts people. They want salaciousness. They want reality TV. And they want something that shocks them so. And he said this in an interview in like, 2015, well, I would

Carolyn Cochrane 1:06:49

like to say Donnie, we could have a salacious variety show. I mean, because sometimes on Jimmy Fallon, you know, you'll get some star, celebrity person playing a role. And I think that's really fun. So we don't have to make it all squeaky clean. It could have a little bit of up to it. But just to get somebody like Taylor Swift acting with, I don't know, you know, doing something,

Kristin Nilsen 1:07:15

is he

Michelle Newman 1:07:18

still dead? So dead, so dead.

Carolyn Cochrane 1:07:21

Fish died. Fish died.

Kristin Nilsen 1:07:23

Yeah, okay, there's one other, there's one other guest star that I have to bring up to you guys, because this is just so bizarre, and that is Iron Eyes Cody. Does that mean? Many mean anything to you? No, no, the looks on your faces are telling me, No. I'll just tell you who Iron Eyes Cody is. Iron Eyes. Cody is the act actor famous for playing the native man with the tear rolling down his cheek when he sees the people in the station wagon litter out their car windows that and they had him on the show. He as background. He starred in hundreds of movies and TVs, Western TVs, TV shows, yeah, always, always playing the Native American person 100% of the time. Okay, number one, he was not native. He was Italian. But though he insisted he was Native American, any he even claimed membership in several tribes. But after he died, it was revealed that his parents were from Sicily. Well, he was a native Sicilian, so, you know, semantics, whatever. And even worse, he he clung to this identity so hard that he gave the appearance of living as a native person by wearing his film wardrobe in his daily life, including the wig with braids.

Carolyn Cochrane 1:08:43

Oh my Yes,

Kristin Nilsen 1:08:44

yes, the wig with braids.

Carolyn Cochrane 1:08:47

I just got to say I'm pissed. Though I'm really pissed that he tried to pass himself off yes as Oh, that's great, because I believed it so he was like pulling the wool over my eyes. And I don't like that. People, you cannot piss me more. I cried

Kristin Nilsen 1:09:01

with that Indian. I cried right dick. I made us all cry, and he was from Sicily, yeah,

Carolyn Cochrane 1:09:07

okay, let us move on to more, lighter topics.

Michelle Newman 1:09:11

Let's do, yeah,

Kristin Nilsen 1:09:12

Iron Eyes, Cody history, history, kids,

Michelle Newman 1:09:15

it's history. Why is he ironized? Anyway?

Carolyn Cochrane 1:09:20

Eyes, Iron Eyes. Eyes, yes, his

Kristin Nilsen 1:09:23

eyes were made iron. He was it wasn't a verb.

Michelle Newman 1:09:28

Iron Eyes, I R, O, N, I, z, E, D.

Unknown Speaker 1:09:30

I was like, did

Michelle Newman 1:09:31

he put him through like an iron machine, like oxidized I was like, oxidized iron eyes. I want to take us now through an episode of Donnie and Marie in detail, because Donnie and Marie had pretty much a formula that they adhered to, which was so fun because we all knew what to expect each show. So they almost always started with their trademark silhouette opening. And you guys know what I'm talking about. One, one of them is looking sideways with no spotlight in the dark, the other one's all lit, and they're singing directly to the camera, and it's something usually acapella. They're staring into your soul. And then they're done with their line, and they turn, and usually what they've done is has to be the opening of a jazzy song, but they have to slow it down, because once they turn and the other ones in the dark and the other ones spotlight. After they each get one line, man, the camera pulls back the light switch on and bam. It gets all Jazzy. And it's like step touch, spin and snap. Step touch, step touch, spin and clap. Jazz Square. Yeah.

Kristin Nilsen 1:10:36

Square. Okay, here

Carolyn Cochrane 1:10:38

we go, listeners. I just want to stop right now throwing out these terms Jazz Square. I mean, I don't even know what that means, snap and turn or what I may be. I know what that means so many

Michelle Newman 1:10:49

but for this, they were so in sync. They were so together. Their choreography shockingly unparalleled.

Kristin Nilsen 1:10:55

It's so good, like they were the same person,

Michelle Newman 1:10:57

and then it moves right into Donnie welcomes us. So they, after they sing like maybe one verse of the song, they still are doing the step touches with the snapping, and Donnie welcomes us maybe. Then Marie says Our guests tonight are and they say their guests and

Carolyn Cochrane 1:11:15

doing the snap, yeah,

Kristin Nilsen 1:11:16

oh yeah, step touches the whole time.

Michelle Newman 1:11:17

See, this is why we need to be on YouTube. Because right now, if I'm just listening to this in my car or on my walk, you should everybody listening. You should see all three of us are just getting into it. But then after they say welcome, and they say, here's our guest, man, it is right back into the chorus of the song, and it's more into step, touch, grapevine box, step, spin. And then it's like jazz hands, maybe, and it's just Carolyn just rolled her eyes. Did you guys love that part where they're up on the stage? This is at the very beginning,

Kristin Nilsen 1:11:49

because they're over. They're looking over like, I won't even say it, but

Michelle Newman 1:11:54

you couldn't wait to see their costumes. What are their costumes going to be this week? Oh, they're so good. They're always color coordinated, and they're so shiny and sparkly. Donny always has a really pointy collar. Yes. So great, always. But then everybody take a deep breath, because they sometimes actually say something like, go ice angels. Sometimes they say that. But you guys, this is what six, seven and eight year old Michelle waited for the ice angels come skating out in gorgeous costumes that, of course, coordinate with Donnie and Marie, and they skate, and they twirl on a rink the size of, like, I don't know, coffee table, but they're like, so skating. And then there's an overhead camera, and the ice angels get a circle, and their arms and their legs are going in and out. You look like you're looking through a kaleidoscope of ice angels. Yes, it's amazing. And it's, it's stunning. And then Donnie and Marie skate out to join.

Carolyn Cochrane 1:12:51

They could skate sometimes,

Kristin Nilsen 1:12:53

leap and jump in Utah,

Michelle Newman 1:12:57

I know. Yeah, Utah, obviously, yeah, the outdoor room, I

Carolyn Cochrane 1:13:00

suppose. And and my sister, oh, they

Michelle Newman 1:13:03

twirl. They spin. Sometimes Donnie does like a prat fall, like he's gonna fall, but he doesn't. And he does like and then remember when Donnie would come out super fast and he'd do that slide stop, like the hockey players do that, where you go and a little see again, we are losing a lot of effectiveness by not being on video right now. Everybody listening, imagine I'm going and I'm turning my bow. That

Kristin Nilsen 1:13:24

just right now.

Michelle Newman 1:13:28

Well, that too, probably, but I'm turning sideways, and both of my skates are going parallel, and a little a little spray of ice, yes,

Kristin Nilsen 1:13:34

like shaved up into your screen.

Carolyn Cochrane 1:13:36

And that part was the ice skating was one of my favorite parts to recreate with my sister, but we would put our socks on, and the only two places in our house that had like, tile were our front foyer and our kitchen. And so we would just pretend that we were Donnie and Marie. We try to, like, leap up, and then we slide on our skates. And, Oh, I loved it, Hamel or something,

Michelle Newman 1:13:59

you guys, we have Sid and Marty Croft to thank for the ice skating numbers. They're the ones who thought that would be a great idea. And I'm sure they also were really pushing for all the costumes as well. So then Donnie and Marie skate forward. They go into their opening chat, which was really just them throwing cute barbs and zingers at each other, and it's a super fun and adorable brother and sister way. And you guys, this was intended, so I read that it was Sid and Marty Croft, again, that are responsible for using Donnie and Marie's natural chemistry, applying it to that age old comedy formula of straight man and the dummy, like where Marie is always the wisecracking, spunky and adorable one who's constantly making Donnie the butt of her corny jokes. But they were great in these roles. Like totally. They were such good sports about it. They were natural comedians. Donnie was a pro at taking the jokes that were thrown at him at his expense, because he would just laugh them off. And Marie was just so funny and cute, and she was slightly devilish, a little bit at the, you know, at the barbs she would give him, and he would say, cute. Loved him. Cute. Yeah, real cute, cute, Real cute, real cute.

Kristin Nilsen 1:15:03

And this is the same formula that was used in sunny and Cher, because Cher was the one who threw the barbs, and Sunny was the one who was like, cute, Cher. And so that's why Donnie was like, when Marie starts throwing barbs, I mean, he's like, Hey, Sunny, Sunny. Will you come back out here and give me a hand?

Carolyn Cochrane 1:15:18

Can I just say something about that? Because I I never felt bad for Donnie. I always thought that was really cute. I always felt really bad for Sunny, Oh, he did. I did. I thought she was mean to him. I really

Kristin Nilsen 1:15:30

did, maybe after the divorce,

Carolyn Cochrane 1:15:32

yeah, I just thought she picked on back. Short, can't help these short, but I always thought that the Marie and Donnie thing was kind of funny, yeah, because you

Michelle Newman 1:15:42

take one look at Donnie and you're like, nothing can penetrate this armor of gorgeousness. I always kind of loved how he played the role of being kind of self involved, like he played that really well, and maybe he really was in real life. I think there's a little touch of truth to that, that he's very a little bit self important, but he I loved it when she would get him to smile, that megawatt smile after she'd get, like, done, like a really big put down, and he would just kind of roll his eyes, and he'd just go sing Marie. Yes, sing Marie. So then this little chat ends with them finishing the song that they started with. It kind of comes after ice angels come back out. And now, now, at the end, they get to skate with the ice angels. And it almost always involved them grabbing hands with the ice angels in a giant circle and skating in one big circle. And you guys, I can remember always thinking trying to see who the ice Angel was, who was holding donnie's hand and Marie's hand. Because I was like, they're so lucky. Which one is it? They're so can you imagine, if you're like, and then, you know, Amber, you're gonna grab donnie's hand when he skates in. Can you imagine how Amber must have felt like,

Kristin Nilsen 1:16:50

oh, what? Amber, go home and tell her, today was the day I got to hold donnie's

Carolyn Cochrane 1:16:55

hand. So great. And I just felt, I mean, I guess that was the perk for being an ice Angel, because I kind of felt bad for the ice angels. I thought you didn't grow up thinking I'm going to be an ice Angel. As an ice skater, you probably wanted to be in the Olympics. Or, you

Kristin Nilsen 1:17:10

know, no, I'm taking ice. I'm definitely taking ice Angel,

Michelle Newman 1:17:13

yes, sure. 100% I'm thinking ice I'm taking ice Angel over

Kristin Nilsen 1:17:18

a gold medal any day. Gold medal

Michelle Newman 1:17:22

or or being in like Disney on Ice I'm taking I want to be an ice Angel. Because don't forget, the ice angels always got to come out in the final skit, which we'll talk about in a minute. They were always the ensemble. People in the back true. They're all the they're all the dancers, all their friends.

Kristin Nilsen 1:17:34

They get to skate with so much more fun than the Olympics, where you're competing against people and you're just by yourself and your mom and your mean coach, that's

Michelle Newman 1:17:43

right, and also that good of an ice skater. Don't forget, like, I said, the rink was like the size of my, you know, coffee table, all you could really do are, like, crossovers on your skate, and then they always did the kid, they did the, you know, the skill. But it absolutely does. I'm just, I mean, I couldn't do it, but I'm just saying that probably is something if you're an ice skater, you learn by the time you're like, 12. Okay, you guys

Kristin Nilsen 1:18:03

do. How many people out there right now were ice angels? They're out there. They're out there. They're ice angels living. They probably have grandchildren and stuff.

Michelle Newman 1:18:14

Are they listening to us?

Kristin Nilsen 1:18:15

Do you think I don't know, but I want them to call one

Michelle Newman 1:18:18

800 want them if you know an ice Angel we've actually had, well, we've had listeners in the past. DM us and say funny. You guys mentioned champions a love story because the girl who played the lead is my aunt, and we laugh all the time when we watch that movie. And I shared your episode with her, and we're like,

Kristin Nilsen 1:18:34

so if your aunt is an icing right now, please. Oh, my God, I have

Michelle Newman 1:18:42

so many questions. Many questions. And if your aunt held donnie's hand, I would like to hold her hand.

Kristin Nilsen 1:18:47

Isn't that funny to think about, though somebody's just like watching TV and they used to be a nice Angel.

Michelle Newman 1:18:53

Oh, man, that's a claim to fame. I would put that on my on my Okay, so then we break and we go into comedy sketches, and they're always just the greatest costumes. I think Sid and Marty Croft has some influence in how over the top they kind of went on these. You know, again, the sets are like kind of cardboard sets, but at the same time, the costumes are all in it's pretty impressive, and the sketch always incorporated that week's guest. They're completely corny, really full of dad jokes. But Donnie and Maria are pretty good actors, and they sold it. They were because they were all in, and you could tell they were having a blast with it. So, you know, we went back, we talked about this earlier. This is just the kind of pure, wholesome variety show comedy I don't know as a child I was, I was for it. I love,

Kristin Nilsen 1:19:37

for sure about you guys, except for Paul Lind but yeah, and Paul trained always did the same, he did the same sketch, which was, there's some sort of department, and he's the, he's the person behind this counter at the department, and there's a sign overhead that tells you what the department is. And they just change the sign all the time. So it could be like the the gift wrapping. Department or the Employment Department.

Michelle Newman 1:20:03

This goes back to we've we've touched on this and many episodes, some that come to mind our battle of the network stars Love Boat, where Carolyn especially brings up how exciting it was to be a child and to see all these stars from other shows that you loved and watched coming together, almost like when you see your teacher out of school, right? They're coming together, even though it's a corny skit. There is, you know, Parker Stevenson, or there is Andy Gibb or abegona, but, but they're in a costume, a silly costume, and they're not the character that you know them as. But this is what was thrilling about variety shows and and, you know, the Don Emery you see these silly sketches, but it's all of these stars, like, out of school, almost.

Kristin Nilsen 1:20:47

But sometimes that was really uncomfortable, because you might have somebody from a dramatic show in a comedy sketch, and I'm just like, Oh, be careful. Like, I don't want to feel bad for them. Like, I'm sorry I can't watch the Andy Gibbs sketches. I don't want to Yeah, just not that he's Yeah, he's not bad, but he's not comfortable. And I want people to be comfortable,

Michelle Newman 1:21:06

right? Yeah, no, I agree. Probably I would say the most famous bit of Donnie and Marie was the I'm a little bit country, I'm a little bit rock and roll, part which set up the week's concert spot, which is what they called it that showcase Donnie and Marie singing like a minute or two of two country songs and then two rock and roll songs. And I feel like that's probably when you ask most people a memory of Donnie and Marie show, the first thing that comes to their mind is, and I'm a little bit rock

Kristin Nilsen 1:21:36

and roll with a little bit of motel him.

Carolyn Cochrane 1:21:52

Nashville, it was so, I mean, iconic. And like you said, if you ask anybody, what do you remember from the Donnie Marie show, that would be what they remembered, and

Kristin Nilsen 1:22:01

start singing that, I mean, for beyond even like they would just start singing it, if you ask,

Carolyn Cochrane 1:22:06

and guys girls, it didn't matter. Everybody knew it. And I think I've shared this before, but I took Andy to a sorority party when we were in college, and the theme of the party was opposites attract, and I dressed as a little bit country, and Andy was a little bit rock and roll, and everybody knew who we

Michelle Newman 1:22:25

were. Everybody one of the most brilliant costume ideas, Carolyn, I've ever I love it. So, so much.

Carolyn Cochrane 1:22:30

I love it. Thank you. Thank you.

Kristin Nilsen 1:22:32

I was always 100% team rock and roll, even though I was the Marie character in this scenario, I always thought her songs were a snooze fest. So I was Donnie all the way, because I really did think this was a team sport. You had to choose. That's how they presented it to us. This. I did not think this was a you had to choose,

Carolyn Cochrane 1:22:51

true, right? You couldn't like both. It could not be both. And it had to be either

Michelle Newman 1:22:55

or. It really did. And surprisingly, I was team Marie all the way, because I thought she was so sweet. And her, even though her songs, I will agree with you, were a little bit of a snooze fest, I love to then pretend to be Marie, and that was just easy to just like kind of sway. And she always just had the prettiest cause. And usually by country on rock and roll part, they've changed her hair. So usually she has a new hairdo when she comes out. And then, do you guys remember, Oh, I had forgotten all about this until this past weekend, when I was re watching some the very end, they get back together, and they do, at the very end, goes, rock and roll, and they're doing this. And then they go, sorry, Carolyn, but they do this little cross box, the drop, the drop from the waist bow. We're just the hands go straight down with the mic, and they stay down for like, they stay down for a long time. Could that be our bow, though, just real quick when we do take our show on the road, when we Oh, absolutely, because Carolyn, you said you already know it. So like, when we finish a song, every song should be the Donnie and Marie country rock and roll ending, and then we all just dropped. Boom, okay, here's

Kristin Nilsen 1:24:02

the other thing that I wanted to point out, which I didn't, did not pick up on when I was a kid. These songs were not country. No, no ballads. They're just balances, but they're not, they're in no way, country. And I wish to God I could come up with a single title right now. Maybe I have some in my notes someplace, but I'm like, No, that's not country. No, that's not country. So, so

Michelle Newman 1:24:20

when I would say it, I remember in my mind, this is how the song always goes. When he goes and he goes, and I'm a little bit rock and roll, my sister Marie, and then it goes right into paper roses. That's my so she must have sang it at least once. But I think they say country and rock and roll, because Marie, when Marie Osmond first got her start, at age 14 or 13, paper roses was considered a country hit. And that's actually the direction they were thinking she was going to go in. Was country music like this is going to be a different Osman direction. And so maybe that's then how I'm a little bit country came about. But also it's just a cute idea. It was a cute idea,

Kristin Nilsen 1:25:02

I mean, and you can't do, I'm a little bit ballad, and I'm a little bit faster music, right? You can't that doesn't work. I want to go back to the duet part, because I had some discoveries during the duet part as well that were, again, not something you would perceive as a kid, but as an adult, I'm like, oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. And so the when I when the male, when a male performer was the guest, then he would generally duet with Marie, correct. And it now when I'm watching it, it's a little creepy, because she's a teenager. She's a teenager. It's like Kris Kristofferson is this big, hairy, 40 year old, and Rita Coolidge is in the wings and and they always do, she does this move where she puts an arm around the waist, and she always puts her hand on like right above the belt, which feels too intimate to me. I don't like it. And then the worst part is when they always do the from behind, where the man will go behind and put his arms around her waist, and then she turns around and looks up into his eyes and sings. And all I'm thinking is, like, Rita Coolidge is in the wings. I'm like, Rita, are you okay with this? I'm I'm not. I'm not. And you know

Carolyn Cochrane 1:26:11

what, Marie wasn't always either. I mean, I read that some of those guest stars were less than appropriate. I mean, she won't say the names, but the only person she's called Out of all people is Groucho Marx, because he actually pinched her. And from

Kristin Nilsen 1:26:28

the 50s, I might add, from the 50s, yes, that's

Carolyn Cochrane 1:26:31

right, but

Kristin Nilsen 1:26:33

girl, yes, that's disgusting. And I can't believe that the Mormon filter didn't apply here, because it's very overt. They're they're singing a love song to each other, and there's no personal space between the two of them. And they were so careful about how she was presented to the audience. And that was not mormony, I don't think the Mormons would approve. No, it's super cringy,

Michelle Newman 1:26:57

yeah, totally. So, yeah. Then it was then, then the show was over, and Donnie and Marie, usually still in their costumes from their last sketch, would kind of walk, you know, quietly up to the front, and they would sing their beautiful, trademark closing song that's so pure, written by their brother, Alan. And that's, may tomorrow be a perfect day. We all know it, right. May tomorrow

Speaker 2 1:27:21

be a perfect we're

Michelle Newman 1:27:30

gonna definitely put that in there, yeah. But then my favorite is that at the end, by this one, they have their arms around each other, and then at the end, Good night, everybody, and they each hold up on opposite side.

Kristin Nilsen 1:27:41

I got, I swear to God, when I watched my episode for so I have not watched this since 1979 and I told you I got who screwed dude when I heard that song. And I couldn't have come up with that song on my own, but I know every single word, and I'm singing along. And they, they end the song with Nana, Good night, everybody. And I just like nipple lightning, totally goosebumps. May

Unknown Speaker 1:28:03

tomorrow be a perfect day. May you find love and

Speaker 2 1:28:14

laughter, may God keep you in His tender care till he brings us together. Again. Good night, everybody.

Michelle Newman 1:28:28

So we each watched an episode for our homework this week, and we really want to take you guys listening through them, quickly hitting the highlights, because we think that there's a lot of you out there who might remember these exact episodes. Unfortunately, we are a little bit short on time, unless you guys want to hang around with us for another I don't know, 45 minutes hour. So I think what we might do is we might put these specific episodes over on our Patreon page for our patrons and for all the levels of our patrons to listen to over there. Do you guys think that's a

Unknown Speaker 1:29:05

good idea? Awesome. You guys

Michelle Newman 1:29:07

can't see it, but they're like throwing confetti, and they're super excited. Yeah. So let's get on to another one of our very favorite segments in our episodes, and that is Carolyn's rabbit hole. You all

Speaker 1 1:29:20

right,

Carolyn Cochrane 1:29:27

you guys ready for a few interesting facts that I discovered, some a little more entertaining than others, but one of the things that I found really sad was when Marie had shared in some interviews and in her book about life at the show and behind the scenes, the producers were not very kind, unfortunately, to Marie and threatened her, if she did not lose weight, that the show would be canceled. Oh my and at that point, she weighed about 110 pounds, but. But they were absolutely clear that if she needed to lose 10, at least 10 pounds to look better on camera. And one of the producers basically said to her, you know, you need to, you're going to be out of work because you just can't keep food out of your mouth,

Michelle Newman 1:30:14

you guys. This is Karen Carpenter going through all of this. This is awesome.

Carolyn Cochrane 1:30:18

And she talks about that, because she said, Sorry, go ahead. No, no. She said, at one point she'd gotten down to 93 pounds, and she was two weeks from hung hunger, sometimes to even do the day the dance numbers on the show. Because, you guys, there were days they worked 20 hours. Days that is four hours, not on the set like four hours to sleep, I guess. Can you imagine they had to memorize all that stuff? So meanwhile, she's not eating, and she had a friend who was a model, who taught her how to, as she says in quotation marks, eat without consequences. And that is when she went through several months of bulimia, where and that, guess why she stopped. It was damaging her vocal cords. And so it was like, not, you know, is affecting the way she's saying. So I just thought that was so, so sad to know that she felt that pressure. And I guess her parent, nobody was standing up for her and saying, This isn't right. And then, as I mentioned earlier in the episode. You know, some of that behind the scenes stuff with guest stars, she was put in just some really awkward, oh, I'm positioned that she felt really I'm so sad

Kristin Nilsen 1:31:28

to know she has no agency. What's so right she is because, again, she's a child, she's a woman. So that's when her parents and her that's when her parents should have been stepping in and saying she's only 110 pounds. She looks beautiful. Or keep Groucho marks away from my kid. And then you look at, you know, what is, what are? One of the things that Marie Osmond is known for now is her association with Jenny Craig and dieting and things like that. So her weight has gone up and down. And so it just, you can see where somebody would have difficult have you're going to have food issues, absolutely right? And that's what she says. You don't come out of that unscathed. But

Carolyn Cochrane 1:32:06

one of the things I think we again need to think about is that in the 70s, that was what the culture was like, even if this was happening, olive and, you know, the family members probably didn't really think anything of it. We didn't have Karen Carpenter's story yet, which Marie alludes to when she's talking about her issues with food. You know, it wasn't until that time when that made it's and that became public, that she had even heard of those terms or knew that maybe what she was dealing with wasn't normal. And what's interesting, the next fun fact that I'm going to

Michelle Newman 1:32:51

bring facts,

Carolyn Cochrane 1:32:52

we'll end on some, yes, just the facts is right? Marie Osmond developed a really close relationship with Lucille Ball, which I thought was really cool after she had, you know, been on the show, and Lucille Ball gave her a lot of advice, and sadly, I guess maybe it was all around how she could make herself look better. And she was telling Marie that you need to make sure that the cameras are always at this angle, because at this angle, you'll look like you have a double chin. The lights should be here. You need to demand that, that the lighting is this way. And she Marie talks about when Lucille Ball was on their show, and she's in the hair stylist chair, and the hair stylist put her hair in all these little braids all over the top of her head, and then they pinned them. And she said it looked really kind of painful, but it was like a natural facelift. Then they put the wig on top of her head, and because they did all this, it like pulls back, and that was this, like natural Why

Kristin Nilsen 1:33:56

does an 18 year old need a facelift? Well, I don't think she

Michelle Newman 1:33:59

the

Carolyn Cochrane 1:34:01

ball. Oh, sorry, sorry, but they did develop this cool friendship. They love playing Scrabble together. And yeah, isn't that kind of fun? So from that note, we've got a couple other these are actually fun facts. Did you know In the Marie's 18th birthday episode, they did a little switcheroo. Did you know this, where she sang little bit rock and roll and,

Kristin Nilsen 1:34:28

oh,

Carolyn Cochrane 1:34:29

Donny sang a little bit country.

Michelle Newman 1:34:31

I don't remember. It was one of the ones I watched, though it was cute.

Carolyn Cochrane 1:34:35

Well, Michelle, was that the episode where there was like a superhero kind of skit? I don't know if you watched the whole episode, but they talked about this one time where Donnie was Captain purple. Marie was a character named knitter nellen. Okay, so g, n, i, d, d, e, r, N, E, L, and that's Helen reddy spelled backwards. It

Kristin Nilsen 1:34:57

was like I was trying to read backwards. What is that? Okay,

Michelle Newman 1:35:00

when you said knitter, I thought she was like an old lady who knits.

Carolyn Cochrane 1:35:05

So that was kind of fun that we have olive to really thank for the Donnie and Marie dolls, because olive and Marie and Jimmy were in New York because Jimmy was going to be trying his hand on Broadway.

Michelle Newman 1:35:22

Sorry, Jimmy, ultimate lovers on there. We are not on board with that. Yeah.

Carolyn Cochrane 1:35:27

So olive had a little downtime, and she found out that Mattel was having a trade show nearby wherever Jimmy was auditioning. And so she went, and she went up to someone there and said, I think you should think about putting Donnie and Marie's heads on Barbie bodies. And they thought that was a great idea. And that is how our Donnie and Marie does were born, and that's

Kristin Nilsen 1:35:50

how we get that's how the pink and purple chiffon outfits become iconic. Yes,

Carolyn Cochrane 1:35:55

yes. And we'll go from there to just say, oh my gosh, Donnie and Marie when it comes to merchandise, right? I'm not sure anyone can beat the merchandise that you could find Donnie and Marie on. We had, of course, the dolls, as we just said, we had record players. We had Donnie and Marie color forms. Ladies and gentlemen, if anyone has, I remember those, they're worth a lot of money. This one, I can't even they had string puppets, like marionettes of,

Kristin Nilsen 1:36:25

Oh God, I

Michelle Newman 1:36:26

don't think I want that.

Kristin Nilsen 1:36:27

That's for when Milton Berle is on the show, or Edgar Bergen.

Carolyn Cochrane 1:36:30

I'm sorry.

Michelle Newman 1:36:32

I just love to see those, though. You know what? I'm gonna I'm gonna Google some of these, and maybe we'll do what? Maybe we'll do an Instagram post this week that's a slideshow or a real that's all Donnie and Marie Murch. Wouldn't that be kind of fun, you guys?

Carolyn Cochrane 1:36:43

Oh yeah, that would be, because that's where I kind of saw some of this stuff. We had paper dolls, which I am actually the owner. I'm so jealous Donnie and Marie paper dolls. They were Halloween costumes, coloring books, a variety of lunch boxes. We had more than just your tin. I'm pretty

Michelle Newman 1:37:03

sure I had one. I had the vinyl one. I think

Carolyn Cochrane 1:37:07

all these memories came flashing back when I saw this. We had a store called tgny, which was like a five and dime store, and there was, like, an aisle that would have kind of those plastic, shrink wrapped, kind of toys like you could maybe find, you know, some accessories for your baby doll, like a bottle or whatever. And they had this Donnie and Marie wrist watch and key set. And it was like fake keys, like, you know, if you were gonna play like house when you were little, or you're gonna pretend you had a car, it was like a little wallet with these, like, five or six silver plastic keys hanging off of it so and then they had Donnie and Reese picture on the outside of this wallet. And then they had a wristwatch in there that had their picture on the face of the wristwatch. But I just remember having toys like that that made me feel like I was an adult, like the wallet that had the drug like the fake driver's license and the fake credit cards. So funny.

Michelle Newman 1:38:02

We're playing house, so we're pretending we're adults, but we have a watch with Donnie and Marie on it.

Carolyn Cochrane 1:38:10

Oh, they put him on everything. So I also saw this vanity set. So there was a tray with Donnie and Marie's face on it, a little jewelry box with just Marie's then there was a brush and a comb and a mirror, and Donnie Anne Marie were on the back of the mirror that you could put on your what I always wanted was like, you know, like a desk, but it was really for putting your

Michelle Newman 1:38:31

maker with, like, a fabric skirt that hung down.

Carolyn Cochrane 1:38:35

And Tiger Beat even published a magazine just called Donnie Anne Marie, so you said they had a column and the one issue of Tiger Beat, then they went on to have actual the magazine, my magazine that was just all Donnie and Marie stuff, totally dedicated to them. I don't know that a whole lot of other people had that. And lastly, while this wasn't a Donnie and Marie show, fact, I did think it was interesting when I read that in the early 2000s Donnie and David Cassidy had been in maybe talks of doing a show together TV. Can you imagine? But that quickly fizzled and never happened. So I don't even know what the plot

Kristin Nilsen 1:39:14

would have been. How? Yes, I

Carolyn Cochrane 1:39:17

know it's too much, so I did think that that was all some fun? Well, extra information, I

Michelle Newman 1:39:23

actually have a fun fact that I uncovered that I wanted to wait and see if you uncovered it. Do you guys remember the film going coconuts from 1978 Oh, you do, because it was a Carolyn commercial flop. But okay, I have the album. Yeah, coconuts album I have right behind me. But anyway,

Carolyn Cochrane 1:39:41

was it a film like, yeah, the theater, yeah. I

Michelle Newman 1:39:43

went to the theater. It was so they went to Hawaii, and it was going coconuts, um, Donnie Anne Marie chose to film going coconuts instead of accepting roles in Greece. What

Carolyn Cochrane 1:39:58

Greece? Oh, that's which, right? Was at

Michelle Newman 1:40:01

the same time, Marie was to play Sandy. Donny was to be the teen Angel, but they chose going coconuts out of it was more family friendly.

Unknown Speaker 1:40:13

Oh, the shocking. That's

Carolyn Cochrane 1:40:16

why Marie said she didn't want to be Sandy. That's, I forgot about that fact. Excellent. She could

Kristin Nilsen 1:40:20

never be. Yeah, she could never be. And that's

Carolyn Cochrane 1:40:24

why she said she didn't take it. She could not do the bad. What Sandy and friends, if you want to know how we feel about Sandy, good and bad Sandy, please listen to our episode.

Michelle Newman 1:40:36

Yeah, it's our I love it so good. But we, but I know that was just a slip. They're not, we don't think they're good and bad. They're cardigan and carnival, because carnival, Sandy's not

Carolyn Cochrane 1:40:46

bad in quotation marks, although Maria, well, sadly,

Michelle Newman 1:40:51

Donnie and Marie didn't last forever, because in 1978 it was revealed that Donnie had a girlfriend. No, I'm sorry. Wait, so wait back up a fiance, because that's actually about how quickly we were all made aware of the fact that he was getting married to Donnie. I am showing right now a Tiger Beat magazine to again, Debbie, Debbie, Debbie, to Donnie. Donnie to Donnie. Well actually, and maybe we will, maybe we'll figure out by the time this episode airs how to put something on YouTube. But I'm showing this Tiger Beat magazine that I have is from July of 1978 and it says, right here, there's this picture. Can you guys see? And it's this picture. And it says, here the Osmonds. Can you see on the bottom, the Osmonds proudly announced the marriage of Donald Clark, Osmond 20 to Deborah Glenn 19, the brightest from Provo blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. For more news on the engagement, see Donnie and Marie's column on page 90. Now wait, did you just hear what I said for more news on their engagement? But then the next subject says the entire beat. The entire Tiger Beat staff congratulates Donnie and rihan wishes them nothing but happiness in their married life. Because this was from July 1978 Donnie and Debbie announced to their engagement on april 24 Their wedding was May 8, Carolyn's face everyone she's like, whoa. Because those of you who loved Donnie like like Carolyn and I did. Do you remember being gobsmacked that he got married? We're not remembering that wrong friends, they it was like at the same time we learned, and apparently they'd been seeing each other for two years, but they'd kept it kind of quiet. Supervisor, you guys, they announced their engagement. It's basically in the same article. It's in the same issue. When you read the article on page 90, it's talking about how they got married. So it's all at once, yeah, and she

Kristin Nilsen 1:42:49

wasn't pregnant.

Michelle Newman 1:42:50

Well, she couldn't have been. Are we sure she wasn't pregnant? No, but, well, the next Christmas special in 1979 she has baby Donald, but he is a pretty he's a pretty small baby, so, you know, so a year and a half after they get married, she has baby Donald, who looks to be about four months old. Because I remember when we were talking about that Christmas Special, in our episode, we talk about how that baby looks about four months old. That means she got pregnant probably in the summer of 78 you know, we, I forget how we, we timed it

Kristin Nilsen 1:43:19

so they get if they got married in the summer.

Carolyn Cochrane 1:43:26

Well, you guys, I mean, we know how faithful Donnie and Marie, and if Donnie wanted to get some he was probably gonna have to marry her. Oh, so absolutely going, yeah, it happened so fast, because he was like, I can't keep my he was

Kristin Nilsen 1:43:44

having an emergency. Yes, exactly. So she was like,

Carolyn Cochrane 1:43:50

Well, I will never forget my my friend in seventh grade. That's where I was in seventh grade when Donnie got married, my friend Stephanie Reyna, and we sat alphabetic order, so she sat behind me, r, e, i, C, H, she was, R, E, y, n, a, I mean, she was, we all knew her as the Donny fan, like she had these long fingernails, I was so envious of they were always purple. She had, like a Donnie Osmond notebook and binder and everything. She always wore purple socks. You would have thought that I don't know. One of her parents had died, she cried the whole school day. Oh, God. I don't think she got the news during the day, but I think I'm sure her mother made her come to school. And I remember her sitting behind me at this desk with her head just down. I'm putting my head down, and like I could hear her the whole class, just sobbing, basically. And like those little hiccup cries, she I miss school, in school, in school. Wow, the whole day. I think she's she thought she was going to be Mrs. Donny Osmond at some point.

Michelle Newman 1:44:50

It was it she was, that's relatable. Obviously,

Carolyn Cochrane 1:44:54

I remember it so well. She was just beside herself. Well,

Kristin Nilsen 1:44:58

I will say. Did not do that well, because there is an aspect of your crush, finding love and having it rolled out in a way, where you have a crush on the couple, you know, we've talked about that before, like, where you actually it is a way to examine how they are in love. And you're like, Yes, I like that. This was not that. This was like, this was just too

Carolyn Cochrane 1:45:22

having his dad said you're, you're gonna lose your career. Yeah, do this well and well,

Michelle Newman 1:45:29

yeah. So basically, 20 year old Donnie marries 19 year old Debbie, and very quickly, the Donnie and Marie show ratings dropped. I mean, it also aired at the same time as Wonder Woman, so that's a pretty unfair competition, but it's generally agreed upon that Donnie getting married sank the show.

Kristin Nilsen 1:45:47

Wow, and he's 20 years old. I mean, that's amazing on so many different facets, but

Michelle Newman 1:45:53

yeah, they went on to keep performing, as we know, in family specials and a short lived, but fun talk show in the late 90s, I remember watching that and being really excited when that came back on. And of course, their 11 year Las Vegas residency that I did not ever get to see, oops, but I'm not bitter about that at all, and we are hopefully, maybe, maybe February is a good time. We want to go to Vegas and see Donnie, at least, just for a quick, a quick weekend. And then they still, today, at age 64 and 62 they're still performing. They have such love and respect for each other. They're very cute when they're together on stage. They still have that chemistry. You know, we should all be so lucky to have that relationship with your sibling for

Kristin Nilsen 1:46:35

that long. And that could be one reason that we really liked it is because these people did. They weren't unnatural siblings, because they they would, you know, throw pot shots at each other, and there was a little rivalry and and yet, at the same time, they really loved each other, and I think people really respected that's,

Michelle Newman 1:46:52

yeah, that's what, I think that's exactly what drew us into their show and their family. It was that love and respect, and sure, they were often ridiculed for their squeaky clean and their wholesome image. But isn't that the entertainment that we loved in the 70s and kind of that we're craving again today? So yeah, really. So I encourage all of you listening to go to YouTube and watch a few episodes of Donnie and Marie. And I want to close this episode with the same wish Donnie and Marie gave us each Friday night all those years ago. May tomorrow be a perfect day. May you find love and laughter along the way. Thanks for listening, everyone.

Kristin Nilsen 1:47:33

Good night, everybody.

Carolyn Cochrane 1:47:38

Oh gosh, you guys, that was so fun to take down memory lane, if you like what you hear, and we hope that you do, because we sure like talking about it. Please share this podcast with others, and thank you to those of you who click those stars and leave reviews. We read each and every one of them. We even print them out. They mean so much to us. And

Kristin Nilsen 1:48:00

for more fun facts, links and things we uncover about each week's episode, plus links to fun Gen X related stuff, random things the three of us are reading and watching. Make sure you're subscribed to our Weekly Reader newsletter, which is delivered straight to your inbox each Friday morning. There is a subscription link in the show notes, or just visit our website at pop preservationists.com Yeah. And

Michelle Newman 1:48:20

for those of you new to the class, did you know we have a fabulously fun social media page? We actually have more than one page. We have several pages where we post daily Gen X memories. You just have to search pop culture Preservation Society on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and Tiktok. Yes, even Tiktok and a very special thank you goes out to our supporters on Patreon, who quite literally keep this whole thing trucking. We just love giving our patrons fun extras, meeting with you on Zoom, sending you goodies, all sorts of fun stuff. So check out our Patreon page@patreon.com if you'd like to consider taking your support to the next level, and today, we are giving a special shout out to Cheryl. Cheryl Christina, Christina Colleen. And Colleen, honestly, you guys, I was listen to this. I was just going down the list of our patrons, and I was like, what? I was like, How is this possible? And then I realized they're listed alphabetically. I But so, but I want to, I don't want to just say Cheryl once, and then all the, you know, the two or three Cheryl's out there going, I wonder if that's me. No, Cheryl. Cheryl, Christina, Christina, Colleen and Colleen, yeah. So thank you so much for supporting us. We really appreciate it.

Kristin Nilsen 1:49:38

In the meantime, let's raise our glasses for a toast courtesy of the cast of Threes Company, two good times,

Michelle Newman 1:49:44

two Happy Days,

Carolyn Cochrane 1:49:45

Two Little House on the Prairie. Cheers. Cheers. The

Kristin Nilsen 1:49:49

information opinions and comments expressed on the pop culture Preservation Society podcast belong solely to Carolyn the crushologist and hello Newman, and are in no way representative of our employers or affiliates. And. Though we truly believe we're always right, there is always a first time the PCPs is written, produced and recorded in Minneapolis, Minnesota, home of the fictional wjm studios and our beloved Mary Richards, Nanu, Nanu, keep on trucking and may the Force be with you.