ADDIE BOBKINS & HIS FAMILY

 Photo by Gino Rossi

Comments

[Eastside Kid]

Loved the Addie Bobkins show on KPTV. Sure beat Ramblin Rod.

[Rich Johnson]

Saw him in a turtleneck playing pool at Sunset Lanes one Saturday afternoon in '65 or so... drivin' that Avanti. Coolest guy ever!

[MIke Forrester]

........and just what is the status of Mr. Bobkins today?

[Debbie Adkins Fischer]

This is so great -- Our AVANTI - that thing caused dad to get more tickets... over the speed limit, under the speed limit, you name it. We drove to Los Angeles in that thing - my brother and I and Feather in the back seat - no airconditioning - but I felt so cool driving in that spaceship car...

Rich - playing pool was one of dad's favorites... I wish I could find his pool cue - he was "raised" in the pool halls of L.A. with his father. Dad would tap dance for money so his father could buy beer and play pool...

Mike - I'm sorry you haven't heard that dad died... it was 5 years ago this month that we learned he was terminal - he died on February 2nd 2005 - too suddenly for anyone to even catch their breath. He would have LOVED this site... as I do now...

Eastside Kid - Thanks for the comment! When they hired Rod Anders to take Addie's place - nobody thought he would last. (I wonder if his "staying power" was because of dad.) When we got back from Hollywood, KPTV asked if he wanted the job back - but he didn't want to do that to Rod. I'm sure he always wondered "what if"... because he never quite got his feet back on the ground from the Hollywood experience...

Thanks everybody! Debbie Adkins Fischer

[Mike Forrester]

Debbie,

Thanks so much for your post. I am sorry to hear of your father's passing. It's just one of the common experiences our "boomer" generation is living with...and a sad one at that.

I recall your dad from KVAL-TV in Eugene. I knew he moved to Portland. Didn't know about a Hollywood experience. Can you describe the what/when of that.

Just take comfort in knowing he made a lot of us smile,
MLF

[Bill Walden]

Addie was the ultimate kids show tv host. Ramblin Rod never enjoyed doing the show and he despised the whole experience. Addie loved kids and it radiated through the tv screen. You can be proud of your Father, a Portland icon. Addie Bobkins.
How long was he on Kisn Radio?

[Steve Gutendorf]

Addie was truly a "kids" celebrity! To this day, 48 years later, I am still thankful for what he did for me as an 8 year old boy, growing up literally on the tracks and poor, my dad working 2 jobs to support our family... In 1964 I won one of the "Puffs" and got to be on the show. I thought that was the best thing. Almost heaven! ADDIE made me feel like the richest little boy in the hood. And rich I was. Puff ("Tammy") was my companion all through my childhood, going everywhere with me in the small town of Oak Grove. Just like Timmy & Lassie, we were seen everywhere together. From riding my bicycle to the local market, to my daily newspaper route, Tammy was always right there with me as I rode my Stingray bike (with the banana seat)... She knew my route as well as I did. When I started high school, and Tammy began to show her age, our trips together were less frequent and we soon became more like the REAL Puff, and Jackie Paper... I began driving and was not there as often for Tammy...

Looking back on her life, it's truly sad that I didn't realize at the time the value in that relationship. I cried the day she crossed the Rainbow Bridge. My dad even cried. I am 56 now and I can still cry from missing her. But the main thing is ADDIE gave her to ME - The poor kid on the tracks, and the fact that I can still miss her and shed these tears, only proves how much she mattered and how much ADDIE mattered to "his KPTV kids"...

<3

[Plog]

Steve, what a nice post! Truly Just like "Timmy and Lassie" you were with your 'Tammy". So glad that you were able to give her so much love and companionship over the years...it was not a mistake that you were the lucky (and blessed) winner of one of Feather's puppies!!