Boy called Hardin

 

Boy called Hardin





    Let us go back to the halcyon days on old McNerney where John F. "big Joanie" Sheehy held court and amused his sons with his middle-aged quirks. Nothing seems to delight grown children more than their father's peccadillos and John could provide some wonderful moments of mirth. As all of us who grew up in boomer times television was the chief form of evening entertainment. It gathered families together and allowed time for commentary when commercials interrupted the tame stories presented. One daring show used a motorcycle riding vagabond played by Michael J. Parks who was a sort of a poor man's James Dean. Every week he roared across the screen soul-searching,  finding adventure and hot chicks to put on the back of his harley-davidson. TV was actually slightly pre-dating the biker fever of "Easy Rider" that killed at the box-office that same year. Greg and Jack were sitting in the front room checking out the suddenly  ice cool cat as he posed like a peacock on his hog. John was otherwise occupied but passed through noticing the program and wishing to show his current knowledge of youth trends said to his sons "what's this...a boy called Hardin" Both of the kids rolled their eyes but repeated the fatal malaprop endlessly in the following weeks. The show they were watching was called "And then came Bronson" that flamed and burned out quickly 1969-1970.  The show had an impressive cast with Jack Klugman, Kurt Russell and Bruce Dern with the cooler than the other side of the pillow Parks in his wool beanie. While the wonderful Dad probably never watched another episode of "a boy called Hardin" he made his mark on the show forever. Needless to say Greg used to throw the question out during any television viewing and chuckles never ceased. Yet, in our later years we were the guys saying poorly remembered names and places like Greg's version of Matt Monroe as Frank Conroy. 

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