Former Actor Gets New Role for Hollywood Parade

Screaming fans racing to touch him. Pushy autograph-seekers waving pens and paper. Surging crowds of adoring teen-age girls hoping for a kiss.

His first time out, Mike Shea couldn’t get enough of all of that.

And why not? Shea was a teen-age heartthrob in 1968--the year he rode on the back of a convertible as a celebrity guest of honor in the Hollywood Christmas Parade.

But Shea wants none of that Sunday when this year’s parade passes the 750,000 or so onlookers that he expects will be lining Sunset and Hollywood boulevards.

That is because this time he is the person in charge of protecting the 100 show business celebrities riding in the 62nd annual holiday event.

“Back then I wanted the girls hanging all over me,” said Shea--who was 16 when he starred in “The New Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” and appeared on such television shows as “The Fugitive,” “Bewitched” and “The Virginian.”

“These days I see things a little differently.”

He sees them through the eyes of a cop.

Shea, 41, is the Los Angeles police officer who is coordinating security for the two-hour parade. It begins at 6 p.m. at Sunset and Van Ness Avenue and travels west to Highland Avenue before turning north to Hollywood Boulevard, then east to Bronson Avenue.

“You can’t let spectators go in the street,” he said Friday. “There’s a blue line painted on the pavement and you can’t cross that. If you let people run out to get a star’s autograph, you’ll lose control in one minute.”

Shea plans to line the parade route with 650 Los Angeles uniformed officers. Others dressed in suits will be assigned to march alongside certain celebrities. These days, stars appreciate having someone run interference for them.

“Back in 1968 there was never a big worry that anybody would be attacked. But times have changed,” he said. “There are nuts out there.”

Shea was a 10-year-old living in New York when his next-door neighbor suggested that he try acting. The neighbor was a casting director for “The Ed Sullivan Show” and soon he had the boy appearing in commercials for Campbell’s soup and Scooter pies. Shea’s family moved to Hollywood when he began landing parts in TV shows.

He appeared in several movies, but Shea outgrew his child actor roles. After working in a Studio City patio furniture shop, he joined the Police Department in 1979. He lives with his wife and children in Castaic.

“Hollywood was a very different place back when my parents moved here in 1965,” he said. “You could walk down the side streets at night without any fear.”

These days, Christmas Parade night is the safest time of the year to be in Hollywood.

“Why wouldn’t it be with 650 officers on the streets?” said Officer Joe McGrady, who handled parade security for 10 years before giving the job to Shea. McGrady, 49, of Canyon Country, plans to retire soon from the police force to become a college history teacher.

“Even the Hollywood street people refrain from their criminal activities to watch the parade. It’s a real family crowd. We only had three arrests last year--all for public intoxication.”

Entertainer Bob Hope and his wife, Dolores, will be this year’s grand marshals. Junior grand marshals will be Ashley and Mary-Kate Olsen of “Full House.” Other celebrities scheduled to ride include model and actress Kathy Ireland, “Blossom” star Joey Lawrence, Mario Lopez of “Saved by the Bell” and “Beverly Hills, 90210” actor Brian Austin Green.

The parade will include a hastily added salute to firefighters who recently fought Southern California brush fires. A procession of fire engines and a flyover by Fire Department helicopters will precede the parade at 5:15 p.m.

The parade is financed by proceeds from its televised broadcast to 88 countries, fees paid by float sponsors and profits from parade programs and grandstand seats, leaders of the sponsoring Hollywood Chamber of Commerce said.

Police officers lining the route will earn city overtime pay--which will be included in their last paycheck before Christmas.

“They love this parade,” Shea said.

So does he.