Share your memories of Bobby Van with others. Send them to: bobbymemories @ bobbyvan.net You can choose to be credited by your name, initials or email. • NEW ADDITIONS WILL BE ADDED AT THE BOTTOM •

• The Egyptian Theatre in Los Angeles had a screening of the first print made of "Lost Horizon" since 1973. After the film, Michael York did a Q&A. I asked him: "Would you mind sharing some memories of working with Bobby Van on "Lost Horizon?" – Webmaster

"Oh, I wish I'd had your Bobby question before I came up here. Let me see ... Bobby was a wonderful person, a fine entertainer. He kept us all entertained both on screen and off. Dancing, singing and always making us laugh ... telling us jokes. I wish I'd had a notebook with me so I could have written down all the jokes he told us. Jokes he'd collected over his life ... his entire lifetime. It's wonderful that we have films, like this, that show us how great he was. He was just wonderful and taken from us much too soon."– Michael York, August 3, 2004.

• From a fan who remembered Bobby from "Match Game":

"I had been a fan for years and always thought Bobby was a doll ... just a doll. But one memory that I will always have is from an episode of "Match Game." I don't remember the question but the answer will always put a big smile on my face. Bobby sheepishly held up his card (with the answer), looked to one side and smiled as he said the one word ... "Panties." I think I blushed when I first heard him say that. Then I said, out loud, "Oh my! Bobby Van just said panties!" I always thought he was sexy but hearing him say "panties" cinched it! I wish I had that on tape!– D., California

• A recent visit to www.talkinbroadway.com turned up some loving fans who wanted to share their memories of Bobby with other fans. Here they are for you, with much thanks!

"I remember going to see "Lost Horizon" for one reason – because Bobby Van was in it. To this day I can't tell you who else was in that movie. As far as I was concerned, it was just Bobby Van. You know – it's funny but I just can't seem to get my head around the fact that Bobby passed away so long ago. Every once in a while I'll suddenly think about him and wonder what he's up to. *Then I remember.* Come to think of it, maybe it's an honest thought anyway. Maybe he and Bob Fosse are busy choreographing some hot new musicals that we'll get to see someday!" – MissAlma, 08/12/2004

"Bobby Van was the consummate song-and-dance man in a life that, sadly, was cut way too short. How he moved with Fosse and Tommy Rall in the movie of "Kiss Me, Kate"! What a terrific performance in Broadway's "No, No Nanette" revival. And I certainly remember him on the game show circuit: as the host of "Make Me Laugh" and appearing with his lovely wife Elaine Joyce (now Mrs. Neil Simon!) on "Tattle Tales" with Bert Convy. Thanks for a really pleasant trip down memory lane ... and keep up the good work!!" – bwaynut, 08/12/2004

"How wonderful that there is a Web site for Bobby Van. I, too, think he's long been underrated. Every time "Small Town Girl" shows on TV, I wait for his unique hopping-around-town sequence to the song "Take Me to Broadway." Some people watch "The Affairs of Dobie Gillis" to see Bob Fosse in his short Hollywood phase, but I turn in for Bobby! I wish he hadn't changed his nose, as I think his original proboscis gave him a sweeter, more vulnerable look, but he was great in whatever he did. Thanks!" – mamaleh, 08/12/2004

"I have two very distinct and different memories of Bobby Van ... In the mid-70s, I saw him at the Winter Garden Theater with Lola Falana in one of the worst shows I ever saw in my life – Doctor Jazz. This was a show that had absolutely nothing by which to recommend it – if I recall correctly, the NY Times review began "Nothing happened at the Winter Garden Theater last night." He tried painfully hard, but nothing could transcend the incredibly poor book. The other memory is far more personal – he died July 31, 1980 at the age of 52. When the news broke the next day we were all very upset – I remember my father at the dinner table lamenting a life lost so soon. It turned out to be the last conversation he and I would share – 18 hours later my father died from a heart attack. He was 63. I've never been able since then to think of Bobby Van without also thinking about my father. I have one distinct memory of the end of the show [Doctor Jazz] – Lola leaves Van, he's alone on the stage, does a little spin and mimes playing a guitar/banjo and sings at the top of his lungs "I'm Dr Jazz!!" with a big smile on his face – curtain." – PhilG, 08/12/2004

"Congratulations on a great site about an all-too forgotten and underrated entertainer." – Saloon_Singer, 08/12/2004

• From a fan who sent in an email:

"I am 62 years old. My folks got our first TV in 1953 and there was only one channel out of Kansas City then. I can't be sure of the year, but I remember watching Bobby Van doing a ridiculous commercial for Ralston Purina, which is a big grain milling industry in these parts. He was the Checkerboard Scarecrow. I LOVED that character, even though it was an incidental commercial. Bobby Van was light as a feather on his feet, and from 40 years ago, I still remember him making me laugh. What a fine performer." – Doc Pilgram, 09/05/2004

• From a fan who has followed Bobby's career since the 1970s:

"I remember falling in love with Bobby Van when I was like 12 years old, seeing him in 'Lost Horizon'. I wrote him a fan letter, and I still have the pic he sent to me that read, 'to Diane Love and Kisses, Bobby Van'. I have it framed with other photos I've accumulated through ebay. I followed everything he did on television, and I was truly saddened when he died. Last year I was in California and I visited his gravesite. The engraving is very beautiful." – Diane Harrigan, USA, 09/30/2004

• From Peter Gregory [Van] Waters [Bobby & Diane Garrett's son]:

I remember when he took me to one of his shows with Mickey Rooney, and Mickey Rooney took my stuffed Rabbit right out of my arms to momentarily use in his act. I cried, so he gave it back pretty quick. After my mom & dad divorced, Bobby frequently saw me on weekends. He took me to New York with him to watch him from back stage in "No, No, Nanette." I saw him at his house on Roxbury shortly before his death.

I will always remember him as my daddy, although it seems that the politics of divorce and remarriage seemed to have erased me from history. I'm impressed that people are so interested in him. – 02/14/2005