…And believe it or not, there was life before Schneider. Pat Harrington Jr. began his career rather auspiciously with his work in Steve Allen’s comedy troupe, on The Jack Paar Show, and with numerous guest appearances in such shows as Get Smart, F Troop, McHale’s Navy, and The Bing Crosby Show. But today he is best known, by me and the general public, for the role he played as the handyman Schneider on the sitcom One Day at a Time from 1975-1984. In fact, he even won both an Emmy and a Golden Globe award for his work on the show.
I had had a signed photo of him (seen above) since the late 1990’s, acquired through my friend Bob from one of his appearances at the Hollywood Collector Shows. But I didn’t actually get the chance to meet him until April 18, 2009, when he made an appearance at the Chiller Theatre Show in Parsippany, New Jersey.
He was a nice enough guy, but when I asked him if he would pose for a picture since I had already purchased an autograph in the past, he apologized and said that he ‘had’ to charge me. They were making him. Not sure who the they was, but he seemed to have the same ‘handler’ as Larry Kline, who also had to charge. So for $10, I played along. Sorry, Schneider, you lost just a couple of nails…er, points…with me for that one.
Parenthetically, I met him yet again at the Hollywood Collectors show on July 18, 2009. This time he was dressed in his Schnedier garb, still charging $10 for a photo with him (down from $30, as the sign said). Bob posed with him like this, but I didn’t bother trying to re-negotiate for a better photo op. I’ll just take it one day at a time.
Celebs of the Chiller Theatre show 2009 will continue…
One of my favorite espisodes (which really didn’t have anything to do with Schnedier) was the one where Julie and Barbara dressed up as Elton John and KiKi Dee and sang “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart”. I really like that show, but I really didn’t like Bonnie Franklin.
Bev
September 13th, 2009