Butch Patrick, AKA Eddie Munster, scares up smiles at McHenry Outdoor Theater: ‘Most positive energy’

There isn’t anything much better than making 500 people smile, according to the celebrity signing autographs Wednesday at the McHenry Outdoor Theater.

That celebrity was Butch Patrick, best know for playing Eddie Munster in the classic 1960s sitcom “The Munsters.” He was on hand at the drive-in theater as part of a promotional swing through Illinois and a test for a planned collaboration with the drive-in industry.

[ Photos: Eddie Munster actor at McHenry Outdoor Theater ]

Patrick contacted theater owner Scott Dehn about making an appearance. “He was telling the about how he is testing the waters ... to help weekday attendance at the drive-ins across the country,” Dehn said.

The visit came during the last week that the theater was open throughout the whole week. Now that school has resumed in much of the McHenry County area, the drive-in is now open Friday and Saturday nights only, Dehn said.

To celebrate Patrick’s visit, Dehn showed “Munster, Go Home!” and “The Addams Family.” He invited Volo Museum along for the ride, too. Jim Wojdyla, marketing director, brought along a recently acquired go-kart from the classic TV series.

The museum picked up the go-kart just days before Cynthia Wolf, who does public relations for both the museum and the outdoor theater, asked Wojdyla if he could bring some of the collection to Wednesday’s event.

“The timing was awesome,” Wojdyla said.

Patrick also brought along his personal, Munster-themed motorcycle and a recreation of Grandpa Munster’s “Dragula” funny car. It was all good for him, the actor said, as he’s a gearhead himself who spent years buying and selling cars after he left Hollywood.

What he never really wanted to be was an actor.

“It was a way to make money,” Patrick said.

“It is always the most positive energy back and forth across the table.”

—  Butch Patrick, actor, aka Eddie Munster

When he got the Eddie Munster role, Patrick was living in Geneseo, Illinois, with his grandmother. His stepfather, baseball player Ken Hunt, was traded from the Los Angeles Angels to the Washington Senators, so Patrick stayed with his grandmother during that transition. Once back in Los Angeles, he lived with an uncle and flew back to the East Coast once a month to see his parents.

Only 10 years old when he was cast, “I knew it was special,” he said. “It was interesting to drive into a studio lot. ... You go in and that is where the magic happens.”

Patrick said he loved watching the process of making the shows, but he also liked getting his lines right, getting done with a workday and going home.

“I wanted to get home before my friends stopped playing Little League.”

He’s also aware of how lucky he was back then. “I got to do stuff other people didn’t get to do. I was a regular guy in extraordinary circumstances.”

Not all of those circumstances were due to Hollywood. As his stepfather played pro baseball, there were a lot of games for young Patrick – games that included getting signed baseballs “from every team in the 1960s” and a baseball glove signed by Mickey Mantle. He loaned out the Mantle glove as a kid and never saw it again, and played with the signed baseballs.

“I was never a collector,” Patrick said.

He does note that Hunt, a Grand Forks, North Dakota, native, is buried in the same cemetery as Roger Maris, in Fargo, North Dakota, Maris’ hometown.

Today, Patrick spends a good portion of the year at conventions and special events, meeting with fans.

“People come up and share a memory with me, about someone close to their heart and with a big smile on their face. They have memories of the show with a family member who sometimes is not with them anymore,” Patrick said. “It is always the most positive energy back and forth across the table.”