From the Tiger Beat Archives, April 1970
The audience became still as Donny Osmond and Jay Osmond carried in the juggling balls on a wooden tray and set them before their older brother Alan, then moved quickly back. A slight frown creased Alan’s forehead. His brothers knew better than to worry for he was quite an accomplished juggler!
Slowly Alan picked up two of the balls in each hand, not noticing the smiles his four brothers were trying unsuccessfully to contain! He tossed two of the balls into the air to begin his juggling act and then the other two! But somehow he lost his grip on the first two when he tried to catch them and sent the balls flying!
THEY WERE GREASED
Alan was a bit amazed with himself because he hardly ever missed! As Wayne retrieved the balls for him, he positioned himself to begin again! This time, Wayne tossed each ball to Alan until he could get the juggling cycle going. But something was still wrong! The balls just wouldn’t stay in his hands! They were strangely slippery or… “GREASED” Alan murmured as the four balls came crashing down upon him at once!
The audience went into hysterics! They knew what to expect from All Osmond Brothers and they knew before Alan had realized that that his brothers had greased the balls! Alan looked out across the large expanse that was the audience and then he was laughing too! “Just wait you guys,” he told his brothers with a teasing light in his eye. “I’ll get even with you!”
And he did too, for another performance that week during one of their on stage acrobatic sessions, Alan sprinkled black pepper on the rug he spread for Donny’s no hands headstand! Needless to say Donny brought both himself and the house down! Himself with wild sneezing and the audience with riotous laughter!
ALWAYS HAVE FUN
“We always have lots of fun on stage,” Alan will tell you. “Were constantly playing jokes on one another and always finding ourselves laughing.” This is one of the reasons the Osmond Brothers performances are such groovy acts to watch! Not only do they sing everyone’s favorite songs both old and new, but they dance, do skits and comedy routines and ride unicycles in addition to many other things!
And off stage, the boys are just as versatile! Along with being such a great musician, Alan is a whiz with electronics and loves to work with all kinds of electrical gadgets! Although he’s thoroughly in love with showbiz, he still finds time to take extension courses from college. “School takes up most of my free time, “Alan says. “I’m taking basic things now but I want to get into photography compositions and theory. Kids go to college to get a profession. I’ve got one but I want to enlarge on it. A degree is a desirable and important thing to have today.”
FAMILY CHAUFFEUR
The entire Osmond family feels this way about education. Wayne too, plans to go on to college and wants to major in aeronautical engineering.
Still another great interest of Wayne’s is piloting! “It’s more than a hobby and I really love it. Soon I’ll have my pilots license, and then I can chauffeur the family around in the private plane I hope to own!” What does Wayne fill the rest of his time with? Girls, archery, swimming and tennis, in that order!
Merrill plans on getting married when he’s around 23, wants to have a big family. “We’ve had so much fun with the nine kids in our family I just can’t see having a small one!” Following his older brother’s footsteps, Merrill too is interested in electronics and wants to try his hand piloting like Wayne. But until then, he plays a variety of instruments, writes songs and paints portraits on velveteen!
ANOTHER SCHOLAR
Another scholar on the way, Jay says his favorite pastime is studying! He owns two dogs, a Belgian police and an Akita, and he’s proud of the fact that he trained them himself! The only problem dogs ever give is that Jay likes to bring them inside the house which Alan feels is off-limits for dogs! Jay plays drums for the group at 14, is one of the best drummers in the business!
And of course Donny, who is the youngest of the regular performing group, makes everything complete with the addition of his beautiful singing voice. Donny joined the group when he was only six years old so he has grown up right along with the groups growth in popularity! An excellent ice skater, Donny kiddingly says he’s waiting for an offer from the Ice Capades! Even at 13, Donny knows that show business will always be his first desire, though he wants to go on to college later!
What more could you ask for in any one guy, let alone five? The Osmonds certainly have more than what it takes. They abound with talent, ambition, intelligence and good looks and most of all kind, fun filled and loving hearts for all of YOU!
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