So Who Is Scott Baio And Why Do People Not Take The Time To Find Out Before They Judge?
by Jennifer Schrinel
I mean really, It is not like he is an unknown person. Folks it is not that hard to google anyone you want and look it up. So let’s dive into the life of Scott Baio and see what we find. The best place to start is this 1978 article done for Tiger Beat Magazine by his mother and father, Mario and Rose Baio. You must love how they proudly talk about all three of their kids not just Scott, but Stephanie and Steven as well and how supportive they were of their brood. I wonder if Steven full filled his ambition to be lawyer and if Stephanie is still an X-ray tech? Take notice of the birth year given for Scott. The great publicity machine at work making him two years younger than he was. Typical of what is done with child actors so as to keep playing childhood roles longer.
Scott was your average rumble tumble little boy, who was a dare devil who made use of a lot of band aids and who loved sports , basketball being his favorite. These days it is Golf. Scott is a sweet shy affectionate little boy who was the youngest in his family and followed along with whatever his big brother and sister were doing. Scott wanted to try acting he was never pushed. It was another lively ambition of his that he almost gave up entirely until that lucky break came along. “Bugsy Malone” changed everything for him! It would catapult this kid from Brooklyn into the world of “Hollywood.”
This video I just shared, shows a very young Scott at the beginning of his “Happy Days” tenure signing autographs at a car show. So shy and reserved and that smile. He was having such a great time and talking about his new car and how he was loving working on “Happy Days”. Matter of fact the first memory I have of seeing him on T.V. was that the episode were Chachi accidently burns down Arnold’s. You got to hand it to Scott with his talent, he gave those puppy dog eyes at the Fonzzzz, when Chachi was in trouble. Now I was four and half or five years old and was so mad at Fonzie. I said, “Why is he so mean to Chachi , it is just a building it can be rebuilt? He should be glad everyone is ok.” Even funnier at the end when Fonzie and Chachi make things alright between them. I said, “Fonzie calls that an apology? “ Talk about a fumed five year old. It was around this time that an incident would happen that would forever be etched in Scott’s psyche forever. Now I read a small newspaper article a while back on Garry Marshall being upset that a mental patient with a weapon got on his set and an intense investigation was being done on Security at the studio and the nearby hospital where this patient escaped from. Come to find out in one of Scott’s many interviews and I believe it was Entertainment Tonight, when he still had the blond in his hair from the recent movie he filmed, that he had how this inpatient got on set with a knife and looking for Scott, because his character burned down Arnold’s. He was not on set perhaps in rehearsal or in school. Apparently his dad was on set and wrestled this intruder to the ground before security got there. Can you imagine what nightmare this must have been for Scott and his father? Scott was just a kid at the time. I do not blame him one bit for having a body guard near him on sets to this day when working or living in a gated community.
So let’s now explore Scott Baio the teen idol. This video just says it all. Oh my just watch those excited girls at the hug a thon. I know,I know Covid, but that did not exist then. Totally different time period. How did Scott feel about being a teen idol? I will let him tell you from an excerpt from a 1994 Los Angeles Times Interview:
“It’s a very surreal thing,” he says. “As an actor, you work, you go home, you hang out with your friends, you have no idea of the fans, the impact.” It wasn’t until a public appearance in Chicago drew 15,000 screaming girls did Baio realize what was happening. “Your first reaction is, they want to kill me. Your second reaction is, they just want to meet me. In a very strange way it can be nice. People like you.”
He admits he bought into that “idol” image: “For a while, I thought I was the greatest thing since sliced bread. I actually enjoyed it very much sometimes.”
True, if you ever watched the MTV Documentary Bubblegum Babylon in 2002, in which he does not get credit for appearing on in IMDB webpage. He speaks of getting a swelled head and what his father said to him that put his head back on straight Simple and to the point, “Who do you think you are? Consider yourself lucky.” Snapped him right out of it. In this video you see the close bond he has with his dad and I love what Mr. Mario Baio says, “I’m his father first! “ Exactly I get the impression he had such a supportive family and they very much included in his career. The amount pictures and video footage of his family being with events and appearances. Scott very much share his success and the lime light with them. Something you would not see in a lot of child actors and teen stars today.
I love this video it shows the filming of “Charles in Charge”. So busy, people everywhere. A lot going on, on this set. I was on set at a shopping mall filming a morning children’s show were the host talks to the local kids while introducing cartoons. So I got taste of being filmed and being directed and there were people everywere, crew, camera men, many parents, kids and just your average shoppers walking by. I can only imagine how much more activity there is on television show sound stage. There are so, much more that needs to be done, make up calls, costume fittings, rehearsals, camera blocking, read-through’s, not to mention child actors have to get schooling into their big schedule and all people that need to be on set to make just an episode happen. When is there time to eat much less be alone?
There were two families during the run of the show .The Penbroke’s Season One before being cancelled off prime time and The Powell’s who is the recast family for first run syndication a year later and is the cast Scott is rehearsing with in the above video. Scott has done many interviews telling how He loved filming “Happy Days” but how much fun he had working on “Charles in Charge.” Here is an excerpt from a 1988, interview by Josie Davis in Teen Throbs Magazine describing Scott on the set.
“It sounds like “show biz” talk, but I have to start out saying Scott Baio is the best! I used to love him on “Happy Days” and “Joanie Love Chachi” as a little girl, so you can understand that I was a little nervous when I first started working with him. Scott wouldn’t have any of that! He worked so hard to make me feel comfortable, and over the years I’ve seen him do that with countless others.
Everyone who watches out show knows what a terrific actor and comedian Scott is. But you may not know he is one of the best and –fastest!-directors in television, He will be directing half of the next 40 shows were filming. And we all love it when Scott directs, because we always get to go home early every day-he is so efficient!”
As for working on the set during first season of Charles in Charge, check out this excerpt from 2006 interview Michael Pearlman did for The Jackson Hole News and Guide:
“Pearlman said he liked working on the show. “It was a very friendly environment,” he said. Charles, aka Scott Baio, would take him out to movies on occasion. But there was pressure to memorize the script and blocking that went into the live taping. “It was like a play, everything was choreographed,” he said. And the script would change up to the last minute. “
And in 2004, Michael Pearlman posted this on working with Scott on the Sitcoms Online Board:
Thanks for the kind words Dax, it’s always nice to know that you were part of some slice of pop culture which was meaningful to people. Scott and I got along really well, and I’ve had a lot of people say to me that it came through on the screen. There were a few scripts which also brought that chemistry before the camera, and I thought that those were some of the better episodes.
This was a television series I watched Saturday afternoons when my parents were at work. It was great company to tune into this funny great show and laugh for thirty minutes every weekend. To me it was like tuning into see the big brother that I never had. I have a big sister but our relationship has always been a bit rocky. At that young of age I had no idea what a crush was and when he made appearances on “Out of This World” That ran back to back with “Charles in Charge”. I could not figure out what the audience was screaming at. I had no idea he was a teen idol, and today and even now and even though we just getting to know each other through twitter. I still feel like I’m talking to a big brother. He has been nothing but polite, friendly and sweet. So who this this monster people are talking about? You got me! Let me show you a current video of Scott from his you tube account.
This video is one of my favorites. It is just like having A visit with Scott Baio while he happily drives in a rain storm delighting over thunder and lightning like little boy. Don’t we all still have that little kid come out of us sometime? I loved listening to his stories about his family and his love for cars. Still a bit shy, reserve but every inch a Brooklyn native and still the Scott Baio he always was. So where is the villain, this creepy person? Not here either!
I was so outraged to see the garbage this man has had to put up with. From the reality show he did in 2007, “Scott Is 45…. And Single” to his current aspirations in the political world. What people post about him and his family online is outrageous if not plain out crazy! Why do they think this is right? Or to get into a physical altercation with the man and his family because you do not like who he voted for? For heavens sakes whose parents raise them to act this way? I’m also tired of this label “The Womanizer”. I never saw him that way myself. Oh sure I knew he had his share of girls friends and dates. Who didn’t know! I think most people go through a time of exploration, experimentation and finding who they are and the right partner for them. Scott did and moved passed that stage on into being a happily married man and father. Not without bumps on the road. He has found were he wants to be so people need to move on as he has, and for heavens sakes stop going as his wife everytime he says somethng you do not like . She does not put a quarter in his neck and say speek! Be an adult drop him a line explaining who you are upset at his tweet an work it out as an adult it is that simple!
All these ridiculously hurt full allegations being made against Scott that literally just broke his heart and have caused people to make up stories about him on other shows doing things to people that never happened is plain sick. It has been proven false buy his counsel. Read for yourself this is only a size able chunk of the proof of the set up Scott endured: https://brian-glicklich.medium.com/ratings-revenge-nicole-eggert-alexander-polinsky-and-the-dark-side-of-metoo-7af5815108be According to his wife Renee’s blog there is a wealth of proof in binders, files and recordings backing Scott up! They have been fighting with everything they got.
Where is the justice for Scott? Where is his due process? Why is right for talk shows to parade a one sided view all over the television for ratings, money and attention and not give him a chance to speak and share his proof? I will say there are so many people in this entertainment industry that owe this man and his family big apologies. He has been lied to an abused long enough. Are they trying to destroy him and get back at him for who he voted for? I do not care if he voted for Trump, Washington, Lincoln or Nixon, or if he is an actor or a garbage man. He is an American citizen with rights and deserves to have his side proven and told. Scott is a very strong man to put up with the daily abuse he gets on twitter and defend himself against it with a strong family behind him. Abuse he should not be dealing with nor his family. The man is entitled to be happy, spending time with his family, acting and directing if chooses too or just puttering around on the golf course. There should be a law against this kind false claiming abuse buy now. It is so appauling too see this go on from grown adults and not children. You know my reasons that my heart tells me this is all false allegations even before Scott’s proof, not because he was favorite actor, or I had a crush on him . None of that because I have been through this false accusing garbage myself from within this industry twice before and not only that I am a victim of such sexual abuse and I know a predator when I read about one, and Scott is not one of them! He is 100% percent innocent!
