Death Wish

[Pitooey]

This morning I was thinking about James Dean and Freddie Prinze. James Dean took a gamble on his life by driving his cars very fast. It's like he had a death wish. At the end of his life he died young by speeding. So in a sense he killed himself.

Alot of people have these death wishes. They purposely take enormous chances and gamble with their lives. I think of Freddie who shot himself. When Freddie died Maria (his Mom) squashed the t-shirt selling of her son's death from becoming like a memorabilia jungle. She didn't want her son's pictures to wind up like James Dean, Marilyn Monroe etc. I remember Freddie saying that he didn't want to be forgotten so to speak. Do you think that if Maria let things happen normally that Freddie Prinze's personae would've been jumped to Super Status like James Dean, Marilyn Monroe, Elvis etc.???

[Joy]

that's an interesting question, you know Freddie wanted to be remembered but he also liked his privacy, if i understand his mother's book correctly and i thought he said in an interview once that he thought merchandising was like selling yourself or something to that affect...does anyone else recall reading that somewhere?
Luckymama, you have read a lot on Freddie have you found that anywhere?
But yes i think maybe he would have been super star status as you say because he certainly was at the time of his death.

[victorianscribe]

I've had a lot of thoughts about Freddie regarding this area -- not only in relation to the stars Pitooey mentioned, but in relation to Jim Morrison.

I remember reading that in the late 1970's or early 1980's, the surviving members of The Doors were reading a survey of the most famous deceased rock stars, and found to their dismay that Morrison was not at or near the top of the list. They decided to do something to change the situation. In the early to mid-1980's, with the help of MTV, Morrison's image and music were very carefully and successfully marketed to a new generation. Surviving film clips of live performances were spliced together to create new music videos, and Morrison's face turned up almost everywhere. I remember walking through a shopping mall in about 1985 and seeing a young teenage girl carrying a huge poster of Jim Morrison, which surprised me. He passed away in 1971, when I was ten years old -- I don't even remember him alive!

No one can argue with Maria's wishes. I think they were entirely appropriate. Had Freddie's image and legacy been marketed, I think he absolutely would've achieved Super Status like Dean or Monroe -- but who knows if that would've been the right thing, or if it would've been what Freddie wanted? I remember reading that he said he didn't want to be forgotten. I remember reading that he wanted to achieve legendary status -- and thought he would do so by ending his own life. Sadly, that wasn't the case.

I'd love to see more of Freddie; I'd love to see him marketed on t-shirts, calendars, etc. etc. After all these years, I think such marketing could be carried out successfully and tastefully, but it would be difficult. In no way should the marketers ever appear to condone or encourage self-inflicted death of any type. (I will go to my grave thinking Freddie didn't mean to end his own life.) Because Freddie is not marketed in any way at all, I'm afraid he could be forgotten or that his legacy could be lost, and I would hate to see that happen. If I had my wish, future generations would be enjoying -- and laughing at -- his comic gifts.

Since G-Lo was at least partially responsible for arranging Freddie's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, I'm hoping that he might become involved in making more people aware of Freddie -- maybe even in a joint project with FPJ.

I love you, Freddie. Now and forever.

[Pitooey]

That was so nicely put. I believe in my heart that he would've really gone to Superstar status. Like Joy said he was so popular back then. He was definitely more popular than Freddie Jr is today.

For those people who don't know this. Freddie's popularity at the time of his death was like............. seeing and knowing Brad Pitt of today. He was in every teen magazine. He was followed everywhere. The press hounded him. The fans hounded him. They had long lines to see the Chico and the man show and they were all girls.

[Joy]

and i don't blame them a bit

[Luckymama58]

All I have read was that Freddie didn't want to be marketed to death, but he did want to be a legend. I dunno how he thought dying would achieve that without marketing, but I agree with what Maria did.

I do think that George Lopez is doing more good for Freddie in getting his talent recognized once again than any marketing scheme would. Freddie was afraid of just becoming a teeny bopper idol and not recognized for his enormous talent. It is one thing to have a pretty face, it is another to be recognized for your talent. I do believe that Freddie always wanted to be recognized for his talent.

I don't think it does the memories of people like Marilyn Monroe, James Dean, Elvis or Jim Morrison any good to see some of the stuff they have out about them re: marketing. I would like to see more stuff out about Freddie, but only tasteful stuff. His shows and other appearances do him more good than all the mugs, tshirts and the like!

Well that is my dos centavos!

[Cheryl Harrell]

I agree I wouldn't have wanted to see tacky stuff of him. But I would've liked to have seen nice stuff of him like magazines, books, posters & t-shirts. I had to make my own t-shirts up since there are none available out there. Too bad they didn't put out CATM merchandise when Freddie was alive. I know Komack wouldn't have minded cuz they had out stuff on one of his other shows Welcome Back Kotter. I still have my old John Travolta coffee mug... I'm not sure where my Barbarino poster is offhand tho...

I dreamed about Freddie several times this week. Well, it's about time I started dreaming about him again. Here lately I'd been dreaming about Starsky & Hutch, Arlo Guthrie & the Monkees lol...

[Danisel331]

Well, if I can just jump in here, I think one big reason that Ms Maria made her decision was not only to protect her son but her grandson. Let's face it, so many people had such a real problem with Freddie's death(and some still do unfortunately) to have constant reminders of it would have really angered so many people and really made things more difficult for Freddie Jr. I think that if Freddie were marketed now it would be different though and, as has been stated, it could be tastefully done. Now would be the better time to do it anyway because Freddie Jr has been able to grow up and deal with things in his own time and people are a little more forgiving of Freddie death now that there is a better understanding of his state of mind at the time. It would be really great to have him make a comeback now and show some of these comics what it means to be funny....so many of them are not funny.

[Luckymama58]

Dani, I soooo agree with you. At the time we were all dealing with not understanding what happened, that any idea of cashing in on that tragedy would have been a tragedy in itself. And I agree that Maria did what was best for the times. I can understand why she did it. I still don't want to see Freddie mass marketed, but it would be nice to have nice things out there for his fans to enjoy. And Cheryl, I didn't mean to imply that things like t shirts and mugs are a bad thing, I have a t shirt I got off of ebay of the show. Still, I want things to be in good taste, not tacky. Admit it ladies, some of the stuff that is out there about stars, especially dead ones, isn't in very good taste. And we all agree, Freddie was too fine to have tacky stuff out there about him. I think it would be a tribute to him that his fans be allowed access to some of his memoribilia, especially his shows and body of work available on DVD!

[Cheryl Harrell]

Don't worry I knew you weren't implying that things like t shirts and mugs are a bad thing. I'd love to see all his work released on dvd. Like all his tv appearances, live shows etc. How wonderful that would be...

[tylersmistress2002]

I dont think even if Maria HADN"T stopped the selling of the image that the press would have pushed him to stardom in death because they viewed his death as suicide and back then ppl did NOT GLORIFY suicide... as oppposed to today. Hec....Nivanas lead singer kills himself...and he's suddenly a martar.....

Freddie WAS huge to those of us who had the good fortune to see him performances and he will always BE huge in our hearts!

[Luckymama58]

Freddie WAS huge to those of us who had the good fortune to see him performances and he will always BE huge in our hearts!

AMEN!!!!!

[Joy]

I second that!

[Cheryl Harrell]

I third that!