Why are you here and where is your compassion?

[wheeeone]

As I have gone through the messages posted on this board I am saddened by the lack of compassion for a young, hurting fellow soul that left us too early. To all who posted negative comments about either the show or Freddie himself....why are you here? Is YOUR life so lacking that you need to rip apart another person postmortem? There were many facets to who Freddie was..not just his drug use and suicide. He was kind, compassionate, down-to-earth...and talented. If you dislike the show or ANY of it's cast members then why in the world did you watch? The lack of compassion that comes through in some of the posts is exactly the lack of understanding or compassion that contributed to Freddie's early death. Some things never change.....

[Prince]

Most eveyone that post messages on here are
fans of Chico and the Man. That is why this
message board is here. We cannot judge Freddie. We will never know why. I do find
myself looking for little signs while watching the show. Does he look depressed or
unhappy. He is drinking soda or a real drink
during certain scenes. It's hard to watch the show and not think of how tragic it all
ended up. He seemed so upbeat and loving. I
can't imagine at 22 yrs old what could be so
painful as to have to end it all. Oh well,
we should try to enjoy his creative body of
work and just leave it at that. His memory
lives on forever in those shows. That much
we can be grateful for. I know I am. He has
brought me so much pleasure since the show
has come on TV Land. Thank you sweet Prince.

I agree with Macca, Freddie seems like such a sweet, gentle soul. I don't know whether to laugh or cry when I watch him. As I said in an earlier message, I am writing a story in which a man with these qualities and a physical, ethnic, and employment resemblance to Chico is the main character.
But then I read rkyhr's posting re: a movie about Freddie's life and I wonder, should I even bother to finish the story and try to post it somewhere? Was he an "Angel" (as my character is named), or an SOB? I could fall in love with someone like Chico--was Freddie THAT good an actor?

[Prince]

Write your story. He was an "Angel". Besides how bad can you be at 22 yrs old. I
think we all forget just how very young
Freddie was when he died. The more I watch
the show everyday, the more I am convinced
how much Jack and him loved each other. Just
the looks they give each other and all the
arms around the shoulders and the hugs prove
it. They both bring me great pleasure. What
more could I ask for???????????

I am sure the hugging was scripted.You dont ad-lib on a TV show and get away with it.Usually it gets edited out and one of the many re-takes gets aired instead.I do think that Jack saw the talent in Freddie and he respected that.Sometimes what good happens on camera turns out to be for real in real life.Look at the Dukes,Denver Pyle was like a father to the whole cast right up until his death.All those years after the shows cancellation,every one of them kept in touch with Denver and he loved it.Just think if Dukes never happened,Old Mad Jack (Grizzly Adams) wouldnt have meant so much to John Schneider,Tom Wopat,Catherine Bach,James Best........ its amazing how a TV show can bring so many people together.

[wheeeone]

The affection you sense between Jack and Freddie was real, not just "scripted". On the few occasions I was witness to their interactions while they were not filming, the mutual admiration and respect was evident. Jack's concern for Freddie's debilitating condition may have been seen by other's as tension but it truly came from caring and respect for Freddie's talent.

[Prince]

Thank you, finally someone who really knows.
You cannot script that kind of relationship.
You can see it in thier eyes. Please tell
us more about your observations when you
were there. I'm am sure we are all interested. Please share!

Thanks!!

[MariposaLKB]

Thanx for the encouragement, Macca. Actually I couldn't help but finish the story last night. I just love the character of Angel so much because he is Chico for the most part! Now if I could just figure out where and how to post it!

Thanx also to all the people who keep coming to Freddie's defense--you bet 22 is awful young! I know I didn't know how to handle hardly any difficulties when I was that age, so I can't imagine how hard it must have been for him to be pulled to pieces like he was.

[wheeeone]

During the year of 1975 I had the awesome gift of having several "encounters" with Freddie backstage at NBC. I was only 15 and had a friend who's mother was an employee on an NBC soap who would leave my name along with my best friend's on the list to get in. We were always respectful of our incredible opportunity to be backstage and did our best to stay out of everyone's way.
I was madly in love(as much as a 15 year old could be) with Freddie. The first time we went to Freddie's dressing room was about an hour and a half after the show had been taped. My friend and I stood outside his dressing room verbally trying to decide who would try to knock on his door to see if he was there. There was a lot of "You do it.", "No, you do it", "What do I say?", "What if he gets mad?" going on outside the door. Well, we didn't realize that Freddie was listening to our discussion and when we finally got the courage to knock on the door a very gruff sounding voice loudly asked"Who is it?". We VERY meekly said"Uh, Freddie...we just were wondering if we could say Hi?". Again in a very gruff voice he replied"Hold on." Only a few seconds passed and we were quite worried when the door flew open quite fast and Freddie stood there with a stern look on his face...then he smiled his beautiful smile, kinda chuckled and said"Had you girls scared didn't I?"(In a feminine voice he mocked our conversation)"What if he gets mad?" We asked if he had heard the whole thing and he nodded smiling and said YEEEEEEs(drawn out). He was closing his door as we talked and asked our names, when he heard my friend's first name he said"Ahhh, you is my people", He then put his arms around both of our shoulders and said "C'mon walk with me to my car". Truly, after Freddie put his arm on my shoulder I floated...I know he asked us questions...nothing important...where do you go to school, etc, asked how we got backstage, would we be back...specifics on that conversation I couldn't give you because I at 15 was in a dreamlike state after that. We walked out of NBC to his parking space He said "Good Night girls, you'll be back right?" to which we replied simply "Yes". He drove away with a beautiful smile on his face to our "Bye, Freddie"s and thank you's. We had about 5 more encounter's with Freddie after the first one...they were more relaxed and fun each time. He was a kind, sweet, gentleman who took time out to make two fifteen year old, very naive girls always feel special whenever we encountered him. I will remember watching his kindness with other's and experiencing his sweetness with myself and my friend always. He has never left my heart....

[wheeeone]

It's me again. I'd like to share our second encounter with Freddie at NBC studio's in 1975. We went down the hallway to Freddie's dressing room and stood outside his door to see if we could hear anything. We heard Freddie's voice, but weren't sure if he was talking with someone or on the telephone so we decided to just wait down the hall instead of disturbing him. There was only one way to get to the parking lot where he was parked and he would have to come by us. At the end of the hallway was a large(extremely large) central area where they kept mainly game show sets and various props that were used often.
Well...being 15, the temptation was a little too much and we began to roam the game show props and "Playing pretend game show contestants" to pass the time.
We didn't see Freddie when he came out of the hallway because we were caught up in our "game" and our laughter. All of a sudden we hear someone shouting "Security! Guard, guard!". Our eyes must have been a foot wide when we frightenedly turned around to see Freddie standing between the end of the hall and the area where we were. Again he shouted "Guard" as we ran to where he was and started to beg "Please, Freddie, we were just playing", "We didn't break anything", "Please don't kick us out", "Don't you remember us", "We were just waiting for you", "We didn't want to disturb you", "Pleeeeeeaaaaasssssseeeeeee!". We were begging a mile a minute and the expressions on Freddie's face were constantly changing from slightly amused to pretend stern when the guard showed up. He asked, "Mr. Prinze, what's the problem?" By this time our puppy dog eyes were pleading , probably right through Freddie as we awaited what we thought was an inevitable fate. Freddie turned to the guard and said "I want to tell you something about these girls." My friend touched Freddie's arm and I very quietly said "Freddie, please"(We were right next to him at this point) Freddie gave us one of those stern looks again, turned to the security guard and said "These two girls,"(We were ready for the worst)"Whenever I'm working", then he looked at us again, still sternly at first then switched on his beautiful smile and his twinkling eyes and finished by saying, "Make sure they are put on the list and let in." The guard said, "I will do that, Freddie" and walked away. We both started with our "Thank you, Freddie's" and asked him if we could give him a hug and he said, "Well, I think I deserve one", and we both gave him a quick hug. He said "Walk with me", and we started for the parking lot. I asked him, "Freddie why did you do that?". He said, "What, scare you?" and he laughed. I said "Nooooo, tell the guard to always let us in if you are here." He said, "You respect me.", "You waited this time till I came out and didn't knock on the door, I like that" I said "That is so nice of you". He replied in his "Chico"accent "I AM a nice boy". We laughed and unfortunately were exiting to the parking lot. He asked if we had seen the taping and we told him we hadn't because we had been at the Welcome Back Kotter set. He started teasing us by saying"Oooohhh, now I get it...you're not really here to see me...you're just here for the Kotter guys...I see...use Freddie to get put on the list all the time...yeah...OK...Oh /Freddie, we'll be over to see you when we're done with the Kotter guys...I see" He went on for a few minutes and I got tears in my eyes because I thought he really believed what he was saying. I said " Freddie, we love you...we wouldn't use you" he saw the tears in my eyes and gave me a hug and said "I was only teasing you, I forget how young you are". He asked, "Better now? See you next time? No crying. We have fun." We said "Be careful , Freddie"(In reference to driving home), to which he replied" I am always careful...bye, girls" We watched him drive away and went back into the building to (Of course) pass the guard Freddie had spoken to on our way out. We made a point of telling him goodnight and reminded him of what Freddie said. He said, "You know, it's because you don't bother anyone." to which we replied"We try". We relived our second encounter with Freddie an endless amount of times going over every detail of his expressions, his eyes, his smile, his concern when he saw that I was about to cry....we didn't ever want to forget any of it....and I haven't. We always had our last encounter to fill our conversations, minds and hearts...until the next one. Of course we were never sure if there would be a next one, but, we knew it wouldn't be for lack of trying on our part. I hope whoever reads this will see the Freddie we got to see....the kind Freddie...the fun Freddie. Freddie was a big star at this time and was not gaining anything by being kind to us. There was no one to impress, no publicity...just us. Thank You Freddie...again.
]

[Moon]

Wheeeone, that was neat...yet another example shining through of Freddie's sweetness.

Life can be bad at any age, when I was young I used to get the, "Oh but you're so young, how come you're in trouble, how come you do drugs, how come you feel this way?" As if being 12, 15, 22 meant that I was too young to be affected by anything, such a discounting comments by people who are older and should know better! I take care at age 35 not to put down people's feelings... some people do annoy me with a hand*staple*forehead "feel sorry for me, I've been this and that and the whole world needs to kiss my a$$ and let me get away with anything" but still, I refuse to say, "You're only fifteen/twenty-two/whatever, you don't feel this way."

I would've liked to have been Freddie's friend if back then I was the age I am now but I'm sure I probably would've walked away after awhile. I did have an excerpt in an upcoming uber-Xena fanfic, where a fictitious guest star named Garrett Rafael tries having a tough talk with Freddie. I'll probably pull it out, expand on it and leave it out of the Xenaverse anyway.

------------------
What big eyes you have, the kind of eyes that drive wolves mad
So just to see you don't get chased I think I ought to walk with you for a ways
What full lips you have they're sure to lure someone bad, so until you get to Grandma's place
I think you ought to walk with me and be safe

[Luckymama58]

Thanks for sharing your story, Wheeeone. We all need to be reminded who the real Freddie was, a person who was still of an age where he probably didn't know who he was yet. I can remember being in the discovery stage of my life back at 22. And he had the pressure of being a somebody without knowing who that somebody was! I always like to think of him as a nice guy who may have had bad days! Don't we all! I just wish he had some one who would have understood those bad times in his journey of self discovery. I don't think he had anyone like that, a real soul mate! I think the people in his life tried, but no one really connected. That could be due to the fact that Freddie seem to think he could handle things on his own. Maybe he wouldn't allow anyone to get that close. Who knows. It's nice to dream what could have been, though.
FREDDIE FOREVER

[MariposaLKB]

And you could be just the one to do that, Luckymama (nudge, wink)!!!

[Pitooey]

Well - All I can say is "I wish it were me" who met fabulous Freddie back then. I was his age back then so maybe just maybe we could've connected somehow! Wishful thinking on my part.............

[Cheryl Harrell]

Oh he sounds like such a sweet person! I would've loved for my hubby & I to have been friends with him. Course I didn't know my hubby back then. That is a neat story! I'd love to hear more of your encounters with him!