The Time of My Life
Hollywood for Hire Television
1980

Sicherman, his freedom purchased from his uncle Barnaby Sicherman in September of 1977, decided, on the advice of his manager, Barnaby Sicherman, to branch out. He made his move away from the legitimate theater, initially hoping to get into illegitimate theater and all the bastardization that it offered, but he found himself instead on television. His foray into the medium was in the made-for-TV movie, The Time of My Life as Chuck Lindzer, a wise-beyond-his-years six-year-old with a heart of gold and Tourette's Syndrome.

"We worked awfully hard on that movie," recalls costar Ginnie Thaley, "and when I say we, I of course mean I. Sicherman and that other kid wouldn't stop making fart noises. Some of them even wound up in the movie. Of course in hindsight it was pretty funny."

"That other kid" was Max Tarson, who went on to star in the hit series Tell it Like it Was which is still running on the WB Network. "What I didn't understand was that Dave wasn't making those noises to crack me up. He was in character. Man, what a genius. 'Cause, you know, he had that yelling and swearing disease. I thought I had that for a little while. Then I stopped smoking crack."

Sicherman's genius notwithstanding, the constant farting sounds that ran throughout the picture almost kept it from being aired. It took a band of teenaged activists from Taos, New Mexico, who had run out of things to protest to change the thinking of the execs at ABC.

"We decided to use their own tactics against them." says Cherry Donahue, now assistant regional service manager for Recline and Dine kosher restaurants. "So we took it to the streets. You know how big corporations are always taking it to the streets? Well, we decided to do the same thing."

"They egged my car," said ABC vice chairman Edward Dholl, "so we aired it. Jesus, what do I care what we show at four in the afternoon?"

While the outcry from concerned parents saying their children claimed illness after spouting vicious curses at them was so overwhelming that it was never aired again, the movie gave Sicherman the exposure he so desperately craved -- and loathed. A sudden barrage of phone calls came to the Sicherman house, all from Jerry Porkchester who would become Sicherman's agent for three months.

"I thought I saw something I could use." said Porkchester. "Man, was I wrong."

While Porkchester may have found little use for the cyclonic talent possessed by the fiery first grader, he did put him in touch with one Irving J.W. Fishlipz, and in doing so, created television history.

Click here to return to television page