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Barry opens his heart to reveal the most intimate thoughts on his mind!
BARRY COWSILL has the kind of boyish charm, cute, freckled good looks, sense of humor and bubbling personality girls (all ages, sizes and shapes) find absolutely irresistible. Well, all those girls (all ages, sizes and shapes) will be happy to know that the feeling's very mutual. In fact, one of Barry's favorite topics is girls . . . and everything that goes with them. If you don't believe it, just listen . . .
Barry, (in the front) smiles happily while posing with his family in Rome. He had a chance to meet a lot of girls there!
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"I guess I'd be pretty happy," Barry says, "if I could date every single girl in the whole world. Just think — one night in Hong Kong, another in Paris, a third in Los Angeles, and so on. Wouldn't that be fun?"
Strange as it may sound, that's exactly the kind of fun Barry likes most. If he could spend his whole day meeting people — and especially girl-people — he would. And it's all because he genuinely likes everyone!
Luckily, Barry's had a lot of opportunity to meet girls from different areas of the world. The Cowsills are constantly packing up and taking off for a tour to one place or another. If it isn't back and forth across the United States, it's across the ocean to Europe. So a lot of Barry's fondest dreams have come true for him already.
But okay, he meets girls. Then what?
"When I'm either in New York City or in Rhode Island, I can usually sneak away from my family long enough to take a girl out on a date," Barry admits with a sly grin. "But in another state or
in a foreign country, well, I have to stick pretty much close to the rest of the family. Besides, I'm kept pretty busy with rehearsing or recording or doing live shows."
When Barry does get a chance to date, he likes to take girls to his favorite places. Sporting events are very big with him. So you're liable to find him at a football game or tennis match or even a ping-pong tournament. He's also very fond of movies — adventure stories, especially. And when Barry takes a lucky girl to the movies, you can be sure there'll be plenty of popcorn and candy on hand just in case the film gets dull.
"I guess most of the time, I end up eating on dates," Barry says with a laugh. "Once I went to the zoo with a girl. And we ended up feeding ourselves all day instead of the animals!"
There's not too much chance of being taken to a night club or discotheque if you're fortunate enough to have a date with Barry. Although he likes to see and hear new groups or single stars, he's not fond of the noise and crowds often found
in such clubs. Instead, Barry likes to bring his date home to listen to The Cowsills' tremendous collection of records . . . and, of course, to share a snack.
Barry laughs and admits, "I guess I'm not terribly romantic !"
We're not too sure about that. We know Barry has some very interesting ideas about love. And they're pretty revealing. For instance . . .
"There are all kinds of love a person can feel," Barry says. "And each one of them is important, though in different ways. For example, take the way I love my family. I guess I'd do just about anything for them." He winked and added, "And that even includes my brothers, who can be pains sometimes."
The love Barry feels for the rest of The Cowsills is actually what keeps him going. He is, after all, very young to be doing all the work he is. Maybe, at least part of the time, he'd much rather be out playing with friends or loafing around. But he spends hours rehearsing, working and being a show business personality for the sake of his family. Because he loves them and wants to please them, he works all the harder.
"When we have a hit record or a smash tour," he says, "everyone's happy. And I'm happiest just watching them be happy, if you know what I mean."
Boy-girl love is also important to Barry. His own mother and father have a deep love and understanding he's been able to see grow even as he's grown.
"They have a certain way of talking over a problem that's really nice," Barry confides. "They just sit down and discuss it until it's settled. And it always gets settled — that's the way they are."
Barry's also had the opportunity to see love develop from friendship ... in the case of his brother Bill and his wife Karen.
"It was funny to see Bill mooning over Karen when they had to be separated," Barry laughingly admits. "But it was funny in a nice way. You could see how much they mean to each other, the way they always wanted to be together. I guess that's what love is. And I guess I'll act the same way when it's my turn."
So far, Barry doesn't think he's ever fallen in love ... if you don't count a few teachers or the girl who used to baby-sit for him when the boys were little. His mother's still the most important woman to him. But he will. And then he'll experience the same wonderful things he's only seen so far.
But in the meantime, what about the things that go along with love — the hugging and kissing and hand-holding?
"It's a little embarrassing to talk about it," Barry says. And his freckles seem to get a little more freckly as he says it. "I guess it's pretty nice, though. I mean, I've always enjoyed it."
And he probably always will, too. He's
just that kind of boy!
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