Before we wrap up, just a few post-Sillyville questions. Have you watched it over the years? Do you ever get recognized in public?
I used to have the VHS and CDs. I gave those all away. The coolest thing is that my best friend’s daughter had a Sillyville fan club when she was in college 25 years ago. She now has her own children, and they’re watching it again. That’s really sweet.
I remember being at a deli eating, and a woman came up to me and asked, “Are you Sillywhim?” It was the cutest thing, and we took pictures together.
I left Oregon and worked at my family’s business. Early on, when I was there, I would stand behind the counter and see moms come up. They would look at me and say, “Hmm.” I’d lean in and ask, “Do you have a child that’s three to five years old?” And they would say, “Oh, my God, you’re Sillywhim!”
I would get recognized, and sometimes that still happens. I don’t have her curls anymore, but you know what? I’m just so pleased that it’s still so powerful.
Can you believe it’s been 35 years? What are you up to these days? How has life been?
Well, darlin’, I’m retired. I’m 74 years old, I did Sillywhim when I was in my 30s, so I am retired. I’m living my best life. I worked in our family business for a long time, took care of my mother when she was sick, and did a lot of different things, but I stopped performing. There was a couple of years early on with my group in Oregon, I would fly in, and we would do a ‘Best of Show’ on stage in Eugene, but I miss the performing.
One very cool thing that we also got to do — we got to perform in California for a live show. It wasn’t just Sillywhim but also the other video characters. It was at one of the Universal Parks. We did a whole stage show for two weeks, and that was a lot of fun. And then we did a second video [Wee Sing: Wee Singdom] in Los Angeles, with all the characters from all the videos.
