TELE-FOLKS DIRECTORY/VIDEO SUNDAY - THE BACKSTROM BOYS

Phil Backstrom and John Perry were "identical cousins".  And that well-established Toobworld phrase is in quotation marks because in this case, it is code for the fact that they shared the same father.  The elder Backstrom, in time-honored soap opera fashion, was a philanderer who got his mistress pregnant around the same time his wife was carrying his child.  This happened in 1935.

On his birth certificate, it does read "John Perry Backstrom", but when he got older and learned the truth about his absentee father, John petitioned the court for a name change, going only by his first and middle names.  

John Perry took a few years off after high school to work on his music and to save up some money for college by performing in night clubs.  When he finally did go to college Perry ended up with Steve Austin as his roommate.  Steve was about seven years his junior.

John and Steve became good friends and loved to play practical jokes on each other.  Steve even wrote a few songs for John's act.

Eventually John Perry hit it big as an entertainer while Steve joined the Air Force and eventually became an astronaut for NASA.  When Steve asked John to put on a show for the troops on Guam, the bionic man found he had to clear his old friend of charges that he was a spy who had been the go-between for stolen government secrets.

Meanwhile, as so often happens with twins, Phil Backstrom followed the same path in life and also became an entertainer.  He finally hit it big with an altar-ego by the name of Deacon Dark, a costumed heavy-metal rocker in bizarre make-up.  

But while cruising on the Pacific Princess, Phil met a young deaf woman who was at least twenty years his junior and with whom he fell in love.  

Sarah convinced him that he should abandon the Deacon Dark persona and act; instead he should perform as himself.  Phil wrote a song especially for her that would kick off his new repertoire.

Although the circumstances were different, both Phil Backstrom and John Perry died in the late 1990s.  It's likely that Phil had children with Sarah, but whether the two of them were still together at the time of his death is unknown.

Of course, this is only one line of speculation as to the lives of these two singers, the one that best serves the Toobworld Dynamic.  But if you're interested in a different take on the fate of Deacon Dark, check out this page.

SHOWS CITED:

• 'The Love Boat' - "Sounds Of Silence"
• 'The Six Million Dollar Man' - "The Song And Dance Spy"

BCnU!