When I joined the church there was a huge number of YA girls who had mostly been made aware of the church, via the auspices of the Osmond clan. On the plus side, It made my own social situation - as a YA convert - * just a little bit* nicer, in the 70's.
on the minus, he responsible for elevating the status of TSCC and bringing in more profits for the prophets.
But, whatever you think, the guy has been around for over 1/2 a century, so [if you're lurking] Happy Birthday Donny
I really love Donny. I think he's a decent man doing the best he can in a crazy cult.
Ironically, though, that song, "Crazy Horses" is supposed to be about air pollution caused by cars. (Cars are the crazy horses multiplying smoking up the sky.) I've heard them talk about how proud they were of the song because it was their contribution to the environment.
Flash to Mormon blindspot: As a group the nine Osmond siblings now have 54 children and just as many grandchildren accumulating. I lived near their ward in the mid 80s while their children were small. Every Osmond had an SUV. Now those kids are grown with SUVs/cars multiplied by more vehicles.
We all need cars. I can't claim that I'd give up my car. But it takes a Mormon mentality to believe you're an environmentalist because you sing a song about the environmental damage of too many cars and then go on to overpopulate the world and basically drive a bus to church yourself.
i still love Donny though. They're victims of the cult.
I was a huge Osmond fan from the time they were on the Andy Williams Show. I didn't even know they were Mormon until I was about to be baptized. Donny is a year older than I am. By the time I was a teenager, I was more of a fan of Merrill's.
But anyway, Donny lived in Toronto for quite a while when he did Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat here. He did a few firesides, which I went to, but no one was really allowed to talk to him. He'd leave as soon as a fireside was over, and no one could get near him.
The people who were his home teachers liked him. They thought he was funny. One of my friends had him over for dinner, to thank him for doing one of the firesides and she said he spent the entire evening talking about food. She thought he was a little weird. His wife was in the Primary.
I met him accidently. I went to see the show with a friend and after the show, we got lost trying to find where my car was parked. As we wandered around to the backstage area, this door suddenly popped open in front of me. It nearly hit me actually, and out walked Donny.
I went, "Oh! Hi. Hey, I enjoyed the show. Would you sign my program?" He took my pen and signed it, as I said, "You know, I've been a fan of you and your family since the Andy Williams days." He said, "Oh, really?" He could not have sounded more bored or uninterested.
Then he handed me back the pen and turned his back on me, shaking my friend's hand. I sort of weakly went, "Yeah, really."
Later she went on and on about how friendly he was to her. For some reason, he totally snubbed me. Now I think he's just a jerk. She thinks he's great.