Playgirl: How does it feel to be 21 and on top of the television heap?
Freddie Prinze: Television eats stars alive,spitting them out and finding a new kid. I've been trying to remember who was hot before I came along and who's no longer around. I can't figure out who it was. It worries me. I'd be glad if it turned out to be Robert Redford.

PG: So you can offer no formula for success?

FP: I came along at the right time. I originally got into show business because I was too lazy to work 9 to 5.Now it's my job to keep growing--do it and dump it,do it and dump it.Sit still for one minute and everybody passes you by.

PG: You seem rather manic.

FP: I'm impatient. I wish there was 30 hours n a day. We're definitely 6 hours short, especially in Hollywood. The f***ing agents take 3 our lunches. You call in at 11:00,"Oh he's out to lunch." Call him at 3:00, "He's left for the day." You gotta catch 'em as they pick up their mail or they're gone.

PG: How important is bread to you?

FP: I bought a house and paid cash for it. I don't owe a dime. I think that's the key.

PG: Have you ever been frivolous with this newfound comfort?

FP: Last year I did this state fair in the Midwest... I was in this little town at a motel and it was like American graffiti revistited: kids in their pickup trucks driving to the pool. I called up the airport at 1:00 in the morning and said "Get me to California." The guy there said they had a Lear jet, but it would have to return empty; he'd do it for $4000. I said " Take me." If I had waited for the first morning commercal flight I would have arrived just 8 hours after the Lear, but I took the private plane because I just was not happy in that place.

PG: Well, you're really a combination overnight success and rags to riches story, and yet it sounds a little like you're trying to justify spending money excessively.

FP: I don't feel I have to justify it, but it's part of who I am. That's one thing I always thought when I was poor. Me and my loved ones are never going to be anywhere or do anything we don't want to. That's what money's for.

PG: We know you're happily married now, but did you make the heavy dating scene when you first hit town?

FP: I dated my ass off. I enjoyed it. I'd have been a fool not to.

PG: Are you the superstud you're alleged to be?

FP: I went out with a lot of women and dug it. But the superstud number is sh*t. It's not that I'm bad in bed, but I'm not into one night conquests; lay 'em and leave 'em. If you believe what you read about me, I'm supposed to have a 2 foot joint and f*** everything that moves. If I tried to live up to that I'd be nuts.

PG: Have you ever tried?

FP: Once. And it turned out to be a bummer. I was playing a part badly and it showed. We wound up being pissed with each other.

PG: Do you think it helps you to score, being who you are?

FP: I'd like to think it's just because I'm me, but let's face it, people are impressed with money and position. Guys will go out with the starlet before the secretary. It's sick, but it's life. Fortunately I don't come on like I'm a hot number. I hardly ever hit on anybody. Most of the girls I dated I met by accident--either almost running them down with my car, or in Schwab's
browsing through magazines.

PG: You're not vain?

FP: I can't afford to be. I've got crooked bottom teeth, a broken nose, fat cheeks, and my hair gets flat if I don't blow it out.






[This message has been edited by Chica (edited 04-28-2001).]

Chica - I never read the Playgirl issue so I'm happy you posted some of the interview. More More.......... So he did have a broken nose. Hmmmmm. I wonder how he got it. http://www.sitcomsonline.com/ubb/frown.gif

So I've been vindicated! His nose looked broken because it had been! Poor Freddie! And BTW--It wasn't two feet long?!!!! LOL!
(I don't mean his nose!)

Do you really think Freddie was as harsh as he sounds in some of his interviews or was he just talking like that because he thought
Playboy/Playgirl expected that kind of talk?
He sure doesn't sound like the sweet, easy-
going Chico we all knew from CATM. Sounds like he was always in a hurry and a little short tempered who acted before he thought!!!
Gee, I'm from the midwest and it sounds like he "HATED" it around here from that interview
he did!!!!!!

Thanks Chica, I am glad a signed on to read that. Maybe it was just a foot long--Ha Ha!! Is there more??

PG: So it didn't pay for you to come on with a heavy macho line?

FP: It's not worth it; it just doesn't last. You can get kicked in the nuts just so many times. You can never really live up to the macho fantasy. Of course, it's not until retrospect that you see what bullsh*t it was.

PG: You're pretty young to marry and start a family. What made you do that?

FP: I'm in love, I wanted a child with Kathy, and I wanted the child to have my name. If something ever happened to me, I didn't want her to be just my "old lady" who gets left with nothin' but sh*t. I wanted it to be legal, so she would get everything. And it was time.

there is more to come...but it will take me some time...i'm usually not here like this, so please be patient...it will be here....

Thanks, again, Chica. I will be patient. This certainly sounds a lot more positive than the Playboy article.. Much more upbeat!

PG: How did you two first get together?

FP: It was just after taping last season. I was really tired and a friend of mine suggested that I go to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, to rest, ride horses,ski. He was gonna join me in a week. The second day I called him and said "Don't come. I met a lady." Kathy and I just hung out from there.

PG: How much later did you marrry?

FP: We met in March 1975 and married in October of that year.

PG: So you think you were ready,and that Kathy could handle being married to a highly visible personality?

FP: Yeah. I used to be very self-centered, to shine everybody on. But because I do everything in a rush,in leaps and bounds, I got a lot out of my system romantically by the time we met More than the average guy of 30.

PG: You may have got it out of your system, but what about all your female fans?

FP: I was in Chicago for a gig and there were 500 girls waiting for me at the stage door. I admit it-I still love it and get a rush from it. But I know I can't throw that scene on my old lady.Kathy may be able to handle it, but I wouldn't put her through that trip.

Good Work Chica!!! It is a good read so far i cant wait for more.

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GET OUT OF MY GARAGE!!!

PG: She's not uptight then?

FP: She's pretty used to it. Like what happened with the National Enquirer. She and I had been living together 8 months and nobody really knew it because I don't go out to functions where I can be photographed. But the Enquirer wanted to print a story about me and my latest romance, so they printed this old picture of me and a girl I had dated few times. The cover story ran, "This is love." Then one week later I got married to Kathy. They were so pissed. It just blew them out. I said "Hey man, check your facts."

PG: Have you ever been a victim of a deliberate lie?

FP: I was at a benefit once where they asked me,"Would you pose with this little ******** child?" Then 6 months later it was on a magazine cover, "The child Freddie Prinze must hide." I was pissed, but, you know, you can't sue. The courts are paranoid about impinging on freedom of the press.

PG: What if one of those rumor magazines said that Kathy wanted an open marriage, and it was true?

FP: No way. When I married her it was me. I'm not going to f*** anybody, and she doesn't f*** anybody.

PG: Are you jealous?

FP: Not jealous. I just don't like to be fooled. If I marry someoe on the premise you don't f*** around and then later on she wants an open marriage it's "POW." That's where I'm at. You tell me everything up front. We don't have to be married to f*** around.

PG: Are you a traditionalist in the sense that you think it's the wife's job to raise the child?


FP: It's both parents' job.

PG: What if the wife wants a career herself?

FP: Fine. As long as she can come home to me. If it were a job that would make her crazy, I wouldn't let her.

PG: You wouldn't let her? How could you not let her?

FP: I'd tell her NO.

PG: Does she have the right to tell you what to do about your gig?

FP: No. I say F.O. If it's something thats gonna damage our relationship or the kids life, Id say no. If it's a matter of opinion, it's gotta be talked out. But the bottom line is what I know. Like if my old lady started shooting smack tomorrow, I'd have her put in jail. That's an extreme example. But you can mellow a situation by talking it out.

Interesting read! He sounds different than Chico. I had noticed in one episode his nose looked kinda smished. Now I know why! Bless his heart! I bet he was just trying to sound big or macho for the mag but ya never know. I never knew him so who knows?

[This message has been edited by Cheryl Harrell (edited 04-29-2001).]

I think he was talking like that to be cool.
Actually for 21 yrs. old he sounded like it had his priorities in order. Only paid cash for items that he wanted, doesn't believe in
going out on his wife, his wife and baby came
first. Not bad for being so very young. He had a lot of love to give and I bet he was very tender in private. Just to think at 21 he was at the top of his game, married and had a baby. That's a lot of responsibility.

great work chica. I'm having a problem, though, copying and pasting to my site. It definitely will be added, even if I have to copy word for word. Good stuff!

Good work Chica....I have just one thing to say...More, more!!!!

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flannelpjs

Thanx for the enthusiasm...If it's more you want...More you will get!!!

PG: Was your own father very strict?

FP: I used to call him Little Hitler, which pisses him off because he got out of Germany by the skin ofhis ass. He was studying there at a training school and all of a sudden the Brown Shirts started coming. They probably figured he was a jew, Catholic, or sympathizer, so he got his ass out. He left his mother in Hungary. She came here in 1947, saying,"You left me, you sonofabitch." She's 85, and bitter to this day. "They were marching through my living room and he left me." I get hostile toward my father, but he's great and I love him. He and my mother fight, and my mother terrorizes him.

PG: Are you at all like him?

FP: I can have either no conscience or the most conscience. I've always been a little schizophrenic; very withdrawn or very extroverted.

PG: Did you act out a lot of your craziness when you were a kid? Were
you a punk?

FP: I was a lightweight punk. It came out of fear mostly. I got beat up a lot until I was 13, when I started to grow and began taking karate. The worst thing I did was let out a parking break and watch the car roll down a hill. Oh, I guess I broke a few windows and did some shoplifting, but I was never really into crime.

PG: You didn't feel it was a challenge?

FP: The cahllenge was actally staying out of it, there were so many undercover cops. Even when I was clean I'd get hassled. I figured if I was gonna get rousted, I didn't want nothin' on me.

PG: Were you into any kind of drug scene?

FP: Where I grew up you could get anything. I experimented with almost everything but never messed with smack. Out of fear again. I had cousins and friends who just ate it. My problem was never finding a high I could enjoy. I smoke a joint and start staring at a glass of water for an hour, thinking I could swim in it. Then somebody gives me cocaine and I just know there's shark in the glass. Paranoid. I've tried coke, joints, Quaaludes, but nothing has hit me as the ultimate. Always open to suggestions, though. Actually drugs are paase'. Electricity is the new high. Put your finger in a socket, jump in a bucket of water, and fry.

PG: Given the raunchiness of your own background, do you still feel compelled to be as socially revelent in your act as you originally were?

FP: No, I don't want to be a cause carrier. I realized that my audience gets off-- and so do I-- when I'm more entertaining and not banging them over the head. There is no rush like playing Vegas and making 1200 people go crazy. Once a teacher in New York wrote me, "You'll always be successful in the entertainment field because you can make people cry or laugh." That's better than any award. Anyway, I'm not running for office.

PG: You must have some political inclinations.

FP: I want Tom Hayden for Senator. That's about it. I'mnot going to do a cross-country run with Dick Gregory to reopen the Kennedy assassination investigation, but I support him. I think it's great that he gave up a lucrative night-club career for a cause he believes in. He's got more guts than I do. I like the money a little too much. I like the fame, the fans, walkin' in the streets and having people recognize me. I'm frustrated by idealistic things, but at the same time I like comfort.

PG: So princples are less important than practicalities?

FP: I can't think about it for more than an hour without going nuts. Food shortages, weather control, assassinations... I even wonder if I'm doing the right in bringing a child into the world. It's an impasse. The thing that really gets to me is ass-kissing cencorship. We can't say hell, damn, or mention a brand name on Chico. It's antiquated, 1949 television


[This message has been edited by Chica (edited 05-05-2001).]

PG: Do you fight it?

FP: It's like beating your head against a wall. One time on an episode, Ed was quizzing me on who wrote famous quotes. The quote was "How do I love thee? Let me count the ways." My line was "Masters and Johnson." The censors said it was dirty. Now norman Lear has enough shows on the air so he can say "Screw you." If they tried to censor him, he'd take his shows off one network and sell them to another.

PG: What about the attempts at control from the viewers? Have you made your peace with those in the Chicano community who felt your portrayal of Chico was stereotype?

FP: I personally didn't feel that there was any peace to be made. I thought it was a lot of bullsh*t. I got one complaint that I didn't walk or talk like a Chicano, that I was stereotyping them. I just want to do my interpretation of the character, my job, and be left alone. If the series didn't work out, it would prove them right, but it's been in the top 15 for 2 years.

PG: So you're comfortable with your character?

FP: Personally, I think there's a lot of other things that I could play better, but I haven't done a bad job with Chico. I haven't shown him in a bad light. When the Chicanos first put on the pressure, I just laid back because I could dig where they were comin' from. Chicanos are just West Coast Puerto Ricans. If we fixed everything they wanted, they'd think up a new cause so they wouldn't be out of a gig.


[This message has been edited by Chica (edited 04-30-2001).]

Ah good work Chica!!! This stuff is interesting its like another side of him.

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GET OUT OF MY GARAGE!!!

excellent job chica!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
wouldn't you (everyone) just love to see this interview on television?????
I know I would.

Excellent work Chica...this is good stuff. All of it in his own words. Thanks and keep it coming. By the way, are there any pics that came with the article? Maybe if we're real nice you'll post them...LOL!
Any way, thanks again.

Nice reporting job! http://www.sitcomsonline.com/ubb/smile.gif

Chica - This is a very heavy interview with him! Great........

I am sorry to have to tell everyone this, I probably will not post anymore of this til the weekend..I work 2nd shift and after I get home you wouldn't want me to post; the typos would be horrific...Please be patient and try to understand...Thanks to everyone who has commented, it makes it worth the effort when you know people appreciate it. http://www.sitcomsonline.com/ubb/smile.gif

We'll wait. It'll seem like forever... But I know how bad working weird shifts are as I used to do it. Glad to be a housewife again! Better hours! http://www.sitcomsonline.com/ubb/smile.gif

PG: Given all the hassles, how do you keep yourself sane? Or do you?

FP: Hypnosis. That's my hobby.It relaxes me. I think that TM and est are bullsh*t. It all boils down to self-hypnosis. The mind is a powerful thing.

PG: Are you religious in any sense?

FP: I got a glimpse of God when my kid was born. A handshake from Him,"I'm loanin' you this for 20 years, do the best you can."

PG: We mean in the institutionalized sense.

FP: Originally I was. Out of fear. Nuns with blackjacks on the end of their rosaries, telling you to pray or lightning will strike your a**.

PG: Does your mother get on your case about it?

FP: She was pissed when St. Christopher got laid off. She quit. She used to light the candles and nothing happened. It took a TV series to get her out of where she was living. I told her, "That was an act of God. Through me, God gave you your home."

PG: Are you superstitious at all?

FP: I'll never get on a plane with certain people. Ray Charles for one. You just know that f***ing plane is going down. "Blind singer becomes legend," and they let out post-mortem albums. But if you're on a plane with Pat Boone,you know that f***er ain't goin' down. Boone and God are tight. You just drop out of the plane and float like a feather to the airport.

PG: Chico And The Man has just finished 2 seasons and been picked for a 3rd. What does the future look like?

FP: It scares me. Show business is a very paranoid gig. I figure we have next season on the air, one more at most. I don't say it's cool if the show goes off the air, but I know that I'm more than just a flash in the pan, that I can go on to something else. Whether it will be as good or as money-making, I don't know.

PG: Well, since you're no longer a "promising newcomer," are you uptight about competition or fickle fans?

FP: I am worried I could lose. There's always somene who can be better. That's why I try to do as many things as I can. I didn't stick with "It's not my job."

PG: That's a positive approach, but what about the negative side of all that competitive pressure?

FP: It will piss me off when I'm no longer in 60 million homes every Wednesday night. But I'm not going to be bitter. Worrying about it can get you crazy enough to blow your whole career.

You've said you're "worried you could lose," and that there's "always someone better." Sounds like a little contradiction.

FP: Well, nobody's perfect.

http://www.sitcomsonline.com/ubb/smile.gif There it is folks......The whole interview!!!! HAPPY READING!!!! http://www.sitcomsonline.com/ubb/smile.gif http://www.sitcomsonline.com/ubb/smile.gif http://www.sitcomsonline.com/ubb/smile.gif

Very good Chica!!! I cant wait for more http://www.sitcomsonline.com/ubb/wink.gif OOPS i mean great job i wish there was more.

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GET OUT OF MY GARAGE!!!

[This message has been edited by EdBrownJr (edited 05-04-2001).]

really great interview, chica

I'm still amazed how he can give one image
when he's being interviewed and a completely
different one when he's on CATM. I guess that's part of what makes him a fabulous
actor - you never know when he's acting and
when he's not. GOOD JOB GIRL!!!! THANKS!!

Good Job chica...That was excellent reading...Thank you!!!

------------------
flannelpjs

Chica - I especially like when he said about being in a plane with Ray Charles or Pat Boone. I loved it. His comedy was so outrageous! The interview was good.........

I loved reading that article, Chica! Thanx so much for sharing that! I never knew he did an article for Playgirl (of course, at the time, I was about 12 and could only dream of getting my hands on a Playgirl!) LOL http://www.sitcomsonline.com/ubb/tongue.gif You did an awesome job of posting the article! Would love to find a copy-what month and year is the mag?

For those of us who were too young to buy this when it first came out, thank you very much Chica---GOOD JOB GIRLFRIEND. I enjoyed reading everything.....Though, at 13 or 14 years old, I would have probably skipped the article at the time and looked at those pictures.. Ha Ha!!

For those of us who were too young to buy this when it first came out, thank you very much Chica---GOOD JOB GIRLFRIEND. I enjoyed reading everything.....Though, at 13 or 14 years old, I would have probably skipped the article at the time and looked at those pictures.. Ha Ha!!

Anybody got the pic from the article & can post on line? Supposedly he ain't nude which is great for me cuz the only man I wanna see nude is my hubby. (But Freddie is cute!)

Just checking in from a puter in Circuit City! Hubby & I went out shopping today. I had search on the internet & found where an old PLAYBOY with Freddie in it from May 74 was for sale on the net. So we went back to that Comic book store that has the old Playboys & I made my hubby buy it for me. He swears he used to have it but ahd gotten rid of it. That one issue I woulda let him keep! <g> It has the cute pic of him without the mustache where he looks so boyish & young. http://www.sitcomsonline.com/ubb/smile.gif
OH & the article has some stuff in it that'll make ya laugh. It's a small article tho...


Hubby & I were driving down the road with me at the wheel doing CATM quotes. He said It's not my job & I told him Get out of my garage! LOL!

Greetings from Circuit City & see ya'll later! http://www.sitcomsonline.com/ubb/smile.gif

I would love to see a pictue of Freddie without the mustache!! Please someone post it......

Yes! me too!

Ask & you shall receive...

http://chicoandtheman.homestead.com/files/chicooldbwnomustachepic.jpg

Loooking Goood!

I love Freddie with his moustache better but, this pic. looks a little like his son from the mouth down.............

You're absolutely right - it does look like Freddie Jr. from the mouth down! I do agree
with you though, I like Freddie Sr. much better WITH the moustache.

The interview came from a September 1976 issue....It had one pic of him standng in a doorway, maybe...not really sure..Thats all there was and in his clothes too....I wish I had a scanner, I would scan all the pics I have.... I got this PG off of ebay about 2 months ago....They always have them listed, so anybody that wants to find one just watch ebay....And thanks for all the nice comments....I'm glad you guys enjoyed the read!!!!!

Nice pic Cheryl! With or without Still LOOOKING GOOOD!!!!

Thanks for the info! http://www.sitcomsonline.com/ubb/smile.gif He looks good either way but looks more like himself with the mustache. Still mustacheless he's still cute. He looks so innocent & baby faced. http://www.sitcomsonline.com/ubb/smile.gif http://www.sitcomsonline.com/ubb/smile.gif http://www.sitcomsonline.com/ubb/smile.gif http://www.sitcomsonline.com/ubb/smile.gif

[This message has been edited by Cheryl Harrell (edited 05-07-2001).]

:happyface :wave: OK EVERYONE...I WENT THRU HERE TIL I FOUND IT...HERE IT IS!!!! ENJOY!!!! AGAIN :D

Chica......Thanks for posting the article again........it is great reading!! It`s hard to believe it was near his end. Very little hint of that coming, if any. Thanks again....

Scott, you are very welcome!!! :wave: ;)

Wow, I am so glad I got to read that. I feel as if I got to see the "adult" side of Freddie. One that I was never privy to as a 13 year old drooling over him. It really helped put him in perspective for me. Nothing would ever change my opinion of him, it just helped flesh him out a bit more.

Thank you Chica!

Sandra

:happyface Sandra....You are very welcome...That article kind of blew me away too. Of course I was only 8 when Freddie was around...but that sure set some things straight.

For those of you interested I have reposted the 1976 Playgirl article of Freddie Prinze at the Ed Brown's Garage's tripod site. The article including Freddie wearing that adorable pink shirt and TIGHT BLUE JEANS is located in the page titled, "Chico's apartment- Luckymama's ebay treasures. This is something I won a while back and have reposted it at that page.... Enjoy the eye candy ladies!!!
Ed Brown's Garage (http://edbrownsgarage.tripod.com)

Great read HueMee..thanks for sharing with all us Freddie fans.

Thanks for sharing that again! I LOVE that pic of him in the pink long sleeve dress shirt & jeans. I think we all did! :) I'd love to get a copy of that for myself but hate to be stuck with a whole mag fulll nudie pics I'm not interested in LOL! We are enjoying your site! :)

Hee hee! Thanks Cheryl! I remember trying to get that article scanned at my friends house, when we at the time didn't have a scanner. Our friend is like I'm not scanning nude pictures of men! I had to convince him what the real reason was for the scanning when I showed him the picture of Freddie and the article. Finally it all paid off and it is here today!:lol:

That's a good one LOL! Glad you were able to get them scanned...