The following article and photos originally appeared in Teen Bag Magazine '78 Spring Annual, story by Tony Bowen.

Kristy's First Kiss

A young star always looks forward to her first screen kiss. It's always a big moment for the memory book!

A girl's first kiss is probably the most exciting thing ever to happen in a young girl's life. Imagine sharing that precious moment with Scott Baio! Scott is the charmer who plays the Fonz' nephew on Happy Days - and he's as delightful in real life as he is on-screen.

Kristy was on hiatus from Family, and Scott's role on Happy Days had yet begun, when these two met aboard a cruise ship to play a pair of kids on Love Boat. They became pals immediately.

There they were: alone - on the deck of a romantic cruise ship adrift in the Sea of Cortez - with beautiful Mazatlan as a back drop. Warm sea breezes gently ruffled their hair, and romance was in the air. Tenderly, poignantly, their lips met…

"That was Kristy's first screen kiss…" explained Carolyn McNichol, her mother. They were alone - on screen. But watching in the wings were cameramen, directors, cast and crew!

What a pair of great young actors they are! Both must have been terribly nervous, with a scene like that ahead of them - particularly since the forgoing scenes were completely at odds! Kristy played a girl who constantly put down Scott - because the character he played was so infatuated with her, and so constantly making big fat blunders in an effort to impress her!

That everything went off without a hitch and was played to perfection goes without saying. That it was as milestone in both their careers probably didn't occur to them.

Neither one is a novice, of course - Kristy's a veteran of countless commercials - "at least 50!" she says easily. "I love acting. Everything about it. It doesn't get boring."

Kristy had gone down to Mazatlan on the boat to film the sequence of Love Boat, planning to fly home "because she had another assignment," says her Mom. (Mom changed that plan when she found Kristy would have been returning in a single-engine plane!)

Probably every girl from 12 to 20 wishes they could have been in Kristy's shoes for that very special 'first kiss.' Scott is a darling - the kind you might call shy, but in reality, when Scott has something to say, he says it. He just doesn't feel the need to keep talking just to break the silence! Kristy says, "I think he's a great pal!"

Kristy has done lots and lots of on-screen kissing since that first kiss. Now that Family has returned for the season, you'll see Kristy and "T.J." doing lots of kissing while the camera clicks - and it couldn't happen to a cuter couple!

Kristy is so outgoing and peppy and friendly, she'll be gathering love and kisses whatever role she's playing - and she's been playing lots of them.

Busy, busy girl that she is, she taped the Donny and Marie show; found time for a brief vacation trip to Hawaii with her family (her mother and her cute brother, Jimmy, who's on The Fitzpatricks); completed a movie with Burt Reynolds (The End) in addition to that Love Boat sequence. And did you see great big Bruce Jenner give Kristy a big smooch as he congratulated her for out-skating him in the skateboard segment of Celebrity Challenge of the Sexes?

And as Kristy puts it, "when I have free time - which is hardly ever - I go off and do a commercial."

Now there's a girl who loves what she's doing, and does it beautifully. No wonder everybody loves Kristy.

6-6-2007