Open House of Memories and Mischief

Every Pasadena Showcase House of Design gives up its secrets of life and death in the city’s golden age, when the Midwestern rich came west to build their mansions under the sun.

In the past Junior Philharmonic Committee historians have discovered dashing husbands, quaint wives, frustrated children and always lots of old money. They have turned up old tragedies, and sometimes happiness.

Though the 1988 Showcase House has had several owners in its 60 years, it seems to be personified by the memories of Fred Forsman, who was 5 when his parents built the house in 1928.

As we have seen, Fred was mischievous. He escaped from his governess by sliding down his laundry chute, discovered his father’s secret wine cellar, and batted oranges into Prof. George Ellery Hale’s nearby observatory.

When he was 10, a movie company shot a film next door with the adorable child star Shirley Temple. Between takes Fred invited her home to swing. He fell in love. Later, she invited Fred to her studio in Hollywood for her sixth birthday party. Fred wanted to ditch school and go. His governess said absolutely no.

What was the young Lochinvar to do? He took all his wealth--a nickel and a gold tie clip--ditched school, and rode his bike all the way to Hollywood. Becoming hungry, he stopped at a market, sold his tie clip for a quarter, and bought lunch. When he reached the studio he saw three police cars at the gate. Fearing that the governess had reported his absence, he lost heart and pedaled home. His governess was furious. He was made to apologize to his school principal and the chief of police.

Every Christmas, the family filled the living room with presents, though the children were locked out until Christmas Day. Every year his grandmother gave each of the four children a new $10 bill, in separate envelopes. Having providentially stolen a set of keys from the upstairs maid, Fred let himself into the forbidden room two days before Christmas, “borrowed” the four $10 bills, and rode his bike to the Santa Anita race track. There he would bet the $40 on a “sure thing,” which had been obtained for him by Bertha, the cook, who had got it from the cook of C. S. Howard, the famous breeder. For two years he won, and surreptitiously replaced the $10 bills in the envelopes. The next year his horse lost. Fred borrowed $40 from Bertha to restore the gifts. He still remembers his sister’s complaint about her “crinkled old bill.”

And here’s a vignette that delights me. The Forsmans had a watchman who patrolled the property every night. In warm weather, Fred slept in a sleeping porch at the back of the house. One night, as his mother and father were leaving for a party, his mother called up to him from the patio, “Good night, darling.” From the way out in back came a male voice. “Good night, Mrs. Forsman.” Fred recalls: “I can still hear my father laughing all the way down the driveway.”

He admits that he was not a model child. He was expelled from two private schools. But he did graduate from Stanford with a teaching credential and a degree in speech and drama. He taught school five years, then took his new family to London for a long interlude during which he worked in television and theater. On their return they bought part interest in a bar and theater in Monterey. “I was in every play and closed the bar every night,” he remembers. They moved to Nevada City and built a house. Fred has taught school there for 20 years. “I have a beautiful family of two girls and a boy and I’ve been married to the same Ginny for 42 years.”

The house where all this happened will be open to the public April 17 through May 15, Wednesday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; $10 mail order, Pasadena Junior Philharmonic Committee, P.O. Box 80262, San Marino, Calif. 91108; $12 at the door. Free parking and shuttle service, Bullock’s Pasadena, Del Mar Boulevard and Hudson Street.

By the way, it’s not impossible that Shirley Temple Black will come down to visit the house. She has been invited. If she comes, Fred will probably pedal down from Nevada City.