Little Monsters. The Wizard. The Princess Bride. The Wonder Years. Fred Savage was the king of the mid-80s, and I fervently wished to become his queen. The roles he played demonstrated his spirit of adventure, fierce loyalty, and witty banter. I was certain that most girls didn’t understand or appreciate his dry sarcasm the way I did.
As Kevin in The Wonder Years, he was the perfect first love for Winnie Cooper – and I was insanely jealous. In Little Monsters and The Wizard, he crushed on adorable ginger tomboys…which is part of why I rock the ginger locks to this day. Jealous of those brats, too, for what it’s worth. And his relationship with his grandfather in The Princess Bride was just like my own relationship with my papa. We were obviously destined to be soul mates!
My mom took me to Universal Studios when I was 7 or 8, and at the end of the day she said she needed to buy a Betty Boop poster for her friend. She slowly unrolled the paper tube to show me, and I immediately noticed that it didn’t appear to be a cartoon image. Then I saw a pair of sneakers that were definitely not Betty Boopish, and my heart started to pound. When Fred’s smiling face was revealed at the top of that life-sized poster, I just about swooned.
I had a new evening ritual from that point on: kiss Fred Savage goodnight. We had to hang the poster right at floor level so I could reach it, but it was totally worth it for 8-year-old me. Unfortunately, I got taller, but Fred capped out pretty early on. So, eventually, Fred became that elusive one that got away. And now this photo is bringing it all back!
(not 100% sure where I got that pic but I’m almost positive it was from dlisted.com so that’s where I linked it to)
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