have any or all of these elements, he about 12 and stays with an idol until will gain fame, money and the adula Teenage idols she's 14. From that age on, you can't Who's In, Who's Not tion of millions of dewy-eyed girls. But be in love with a picture in a magazine and What's Next? he will also have problems. anymore." Thus, the fame-span for a make a mint Who's In: Agent Ruth Aarons has seen the teen idol is, and always has been, a • Leif Garrett: On top even pattern: "Odds are, there is a loving too-brief 24 months, start to finish. on youth rock without a weekly television member of the family who is pushing While Leif Garrett laughs that the series. Record and concert suc the kid. Odds are, also, this member best part of being a teen idol is "walk circuit but face cess should keep him in the pub knows nothing about show business. ing to the bank," Charles Laufer says lic eye. With more exposure, the profession the dilemma goes a bit deeper: "The • Shaun Cassidy: After "The als move in, and the kid comes up for prospect that ultimate question is whether it's better Hardy Boys" folded, had to re grabs. When he hits, it's like winning a to have made $2 million before you're consider his career. At 20, a bit sweepstakes. It's crazy. An agent or they may be 20 or to never have done it at all." long in the tooth for a teen idol manager turns up, the~h a business While that one is being debated, but still has charisma. Will con manager, then lawyers. You end up washed up at 20 Dick Clark, who has represented the centrate on records and movies. with a whole entourage. It's a com Hip Uncle to several generations of • Scott Baio: Fast-rising star mercial Olympics, built around a kid teenagers, is worried about something of "Happy Days," the darling of who a few years ago you would have "How many people have a chance to else. "There's really no such thing as a the 10-12 set. Has youth and audi burped and put to bed." feel that adulation in that way? Ifs teen idol anymore," he sighs. "These ence going for him, but can he Aarons, who managed Shaun Cassi- lots of fun and exciting, but the most kids—the Garretts and the Cassidys — sing? No one knows. dy, is cautious about the effects of important thing is to mean something are sub-teen idols. The whole thing such hoopla: "How much identity can to yourself. Being a teen idol is a job has moved. The younger people are Who's Not: the kid have in terms of knowledge of and should be treated as such." old, and there are no children left, • Donny Osmond: Solo teen himself at that age? He begins to seek It's a risky business, littered with really. There are little babies and then idol 1971-72, revived with sister 'credibility,' and he hasn't even been those former idols who squandered there are young adults. Somewhere Marie 1976-77. Too old for teen around that long. After two or three their money, believed their own pub we lost a generation. We lost our audience. years, he begins to feel emotionally licity and watched their careers plum teenagers." • Henry Winkler: "The Fonz" drained and is not mature enough to met. After the runaway success of The Sub-teen or teen, the idol business was put on the cover of teen know what's happened to his life, to Partridge Family and ensuing record apparently is a necessary one. That as magazines with no response. his dreams. Usually it ends up in sepa and concert fame, David Cassidy pect hasn't changed. "The basic feel "He didn't have 'the look,' " says ration, disillusion and defiance. It's stopped his career cold and spent five ings of the kids are the same as they've Chuck Laufer. "He looked like a the classic case of too much, too years on the beach at Maui deciding always been," says Shaun Cassidy. "To man. He shaves." Bad for teen- soon." what to do next. Now, at 29, he is mak have a teen idol is a very normal fan idol image. flopped Today's teenidols, particularly Gar ing a singing and acting comeback, tasy, and that fantasy will continue for • John Travolta: Also of teen fan rett and Cassidy, seem to be aware of also managed by Ruth Aarons. It is a a long time." Chuck Laufer insists the on cover magazines, lasting only four months. "John's that. Garrett says the biggest danger rare young performer—the former need is sociological: "The girls are "comes when you start believing what Beatles, Elvis and Frank Sinatra are post-puberty. The idols are a nice, safe overpowering," says Lau/er. too toll. He's too people say about you. I've seen peo among the exceptions—who can take release valve for a 12- or 13-year-old "He's ple in the past make the mistakes." his audience with him. girl. A more masculine, burly type of grown-up." And Cassidy, who has had the benefit "Teen idols last as long as they've idol would scare her. Face it, we're in What's Next: of his half-brother David's rise-and- always lasted," says Tiger Beat pub the little girl business." No individual has the unbeat crash teen idol experiences, says, lisher Ralph Benner. "Our reader is All the way to the bank. IP able TV-magazine-concert for mula, and those in the business fear a repeat of the 1972-74 dry spell, in which there were few identifiable teen idols. So bleak are the prospects for the near fu ture that one magazine is run ning a series of pictures of aspir-' ing teen idols— some profes sionals, some off the street. Readers are asked to select the next big teen idol—while those involved in the money-making end pray the one selected has talent, a voice... and that inde finable "something extra."
SCOTT BAIO Fans besiege their favorites: At left, Elvis Presley falls prey to autograph hunters after being drafted into the Army. At right, the Beatles' George Harrison goes on singing while attendant carries out a girl who rushed onto stage of Cow Palace in San Francisco.
PARADE • JULY B. 1979 7