Barnaby and Me

by Sheldon, Linn; Howard, Nat; Olsiewski, Mike; Osborne, Richard; Walsh, Ed

• ISBN13: 9781886228351
• ISBN10: 1886228353
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1999-11-01
• Publisher: Gray & Co

Summary

Linn Sheldon has few peers as a story-teller. For 32 years, he enchanted children and charmed parents as Barnaby, one of the earliest and arguably one of the best television entertainers in Cleveland -- or anywhere. Barnaby spun imaginative tales out of thin air to enthrall his audience. Now, the master storyteller shares his most intriguing tale yet: his own extraordinary life. From a Dickensian childhood in Norwalk, Ohio, Sheldon began an oddysey that would lead across the country to Hollywood and back to Ohio, and include a pioneering role in television, celebrity, money, personal tragedy and self-destruction, recovery, and, now reflection. It is a remarkable mix of melancholy, hilarity, irony, and warmth.

Table of Contents

Foreword	9	(2)
Introduction	11	(4)
Childhood	15	(30)
Puckerbrush is what they called the other side of the tracks	16	(3)
When I was eight and full of wonder	19	(6)
My grandfather drank a lot of home brew	25	(2)
The house at 17 State Street in Norwalk	27	(3)
Harvey Cooper was a teacher in our school	30	(3)
Looking into a mirror at any age	33	(5)
Live Bait	38	(7)
Florida, Hollywood, and World War II	45	(20)
I hitchhiked to California by way of Florida	46	(8)
When I was 15 I was a gofer, and it was glorious	54	(9)
Let me tell you about Hedy Lamarr and me	63	(2)
Show Business in Cleveland	65	(38)
When I got out of the Army in the mid-forties	66	(6)
My three former wives	72	(4)
Let's take a long look at Cleveland	76	(7)
Have you ever looked at the cover girl	83	(4)
When no one can tell you what to be, all you can be is yourself	87	(10)
Back in the fifties I had a television show	97	(6)
Photographs	103	(10)
The Barnaby Years	113	(54)
I hope I haven't given the impression that my life was more fun and games than trial and tribulation	114	(5)
Barnaby says hello	119	(10)
The mark of a truly elegant lady	129	(2)
In time word got out that Barnaby lived in a certain Cleveland suburb	131	(4)
One of the biggest laughs I ever got really hurt	135	(1)
I'll tell you a secret...Barnaby wears a toupee	136	(2)
Looking back, some personal appearances should have qualified me for combat pay	138	(3)
Barnaby and I really got around	141	(24)
In my day I have leaned on psychiatrists	165	(2)
Affliction and Retirement	167	(20)
I had my last drink of alcohol	168	(5)
It was a dark and stormy night, as the cliche goes	173	(8)
There is a time and place for everything, but Florida was neither one for me	181	(3)
I met my present wife, Laura	184	(3)
Afterword	187	(2)
Postscript	189