Here's a copy of Frid's next noteworthy letter to his mom. There's quite a bit of background info on a few subjects:
October, 13, 1967
Dear Mother:
I have a couple of days off - a chance to sleep a bit. Watched today's air show and thought it pretty dull and shoddy. For the life of me, I sometimes wonder what all the fuss is about. I thought I was plainly embarrassing - at best plainly forgettable. The goofs I was afraid to face turned out to be not as bad as my general performance. But that was today and you can't win 'em all.
Another big release went out this week to newspapers around the country - a big feature for the Sunday papers. I will send you a copy when I find one. Meanwhile, articles still keep popping up from various newspapers. The "teeny-boppers" keep comparing me to The Monkees whom I've never seen - comparing me in popularity, ie., - not in kind, I should hope.
The mail keeps mounting. I've amassed 2 to 3 thousand letters. They've gotten beyond my capacity to read them all.
As for the strike, I've just read that the engineers union who are the actual strikers have released us (AFTRA) from our obligation to support them. Meanwhile, we've read in the papers that we well be called to a hearing and charged fines. Some of the big newsmen who crossed the line are being fined up to $15,000 each. They will all be appealing, of course, and probably successfully. Bennett's picture has been in the papers as one of the ring-leaders. I suspect if she's fined at all, it will be merely a token amount on behalf of the rest of us in the cast. I still could be wrong of course. If so, I may have to sell some stocks. In any case, we won't lose our membership in the union. That could have been fatal.
I have a whole string of shows coming up starting on Monday. No let up as far as the schedule is projected. In about a month from now we're going into the past - the story of how I became a vampire. Next week, I appear looking 180 years old. (Experiments attempting to "cure" me and make me "human" take this unpredicted turn - revealing me in my true age.) They've hired "the world's top make-up artist" to do the job. Needless to say the regular make-up man is not too happy about it - so he confided in me yesterday.
Love, JohnThe ep that Frid referred to watching was Ep #340. I have absolutely no idea how he could have referred to it as "pretty dull."
I also have no idea if I have the newspaper article from October 15th's Sunday newspaper or not. I'll try to see when I get the chance. The problem is that back then I often cut any photos from newspaper articles and stored them separately from the actual text. Why I did that is anyone's guess because it's certainly not something I did in later years or would ever think of doing today. I suppose only my 11-year-old self knows what I was thinking.