Michael Landon fans bringing memorial bench to Collingswood

COLLINGSWOOD – You might expect a park bench to offer a view of a leafy landscape, a placid stream, and maybe some ducks.

But one coming here will be positioned to look away from Newton Lake Park — and toward a house across the street.

That way, fans can gaze at the childhood home of the late Michael Landon, a TV star who grew up in Collingswood as Eugene “Ugy” Orowitz.

“Michael Landon was an amazing person who overcame great adversity to become the man we know,” said Marla Fair, an Ohio woman who helped raise funds for the memorial from the performer’s fans.

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“His legacy will remain, and the bench is our way of paying tribute to that legacy,” she told the Courier-Post.

In a GoFundMe appeal that collected more than $5,200 for the bench, Fair noted Landon “spent many afternoons dreaming and fishing on the dock” across from his home, a modest brick Colonial on the 600 block of South Newton Lake Drive.

“Just as the lake was a special place for Mr. Landon, we want to make it a special place for his fans to visit and honor him,” she said.

Camden County commissioners authorized the purchase of the bench at their December meeting.

“We look to have it installed in the spring (of) 2022,” said county spokesman Dan Keashen.

Landon came to Collingswood as a child in the early 1940s and stayed until graduation from the borough’s high school, where he was an accomplished javelin thrower.

An athletic scholarship took Landon to the University of Southern California, but he left the college after suffering a sports injury and became an actor.

The memorial’s organizers initially hoped to complete the project by Oct. 31, 2021, which would have been Landon’s 85th birthday.

That schedule, however, was upended by problems tied to the pandemic, including shipping delays that slowed the bench’s arrival in this country.

But the campaign didn’t lack for enthusiasm from supporters, said Fair, who organized the project with two fellow “Mike-a-teers.”

“When you consider the fact that Mr. Landon died over 30 years ago, it is amazing how quickly we raised the funds,” she said, noting almost 150 donations were made in less than two months.

Many supporters left comments with their donations, “noting how Mr. Landon and his work made an impact on their lives,” Fair continued.

Those messages offer devoted praise for Landon, an actor, director and producer known for wholesome shows and praised by Fair as “television’s good guy.”

"My love for Michael would not be genuine if I did not get involved in some small way," said a $35 donor identified as Dawn Mills. “I loved Michael since I first set eyes on him at the age of 8.”

“I have always been in ‘love’ with Michael,” said $30 donor Karen Perry. “I wish there were more dedicated actors today to bring the message of God, love, family and values to television and movies today.”

Landon gained early fame as Little Joe Cartwright on "Bonanza," a TV Western that ran from 1959 to 1973. 

A bronze plaque, to be set in a concrete pad near the bench, will feature a silhouette of Landon as Little Joe, as well as an outline of the show’s Ponderosa ranch house.

Landon also starred in “Little House on the Prairie” and “Highway to Heaven,” long-running shows that aired between 1974 and 1989.

Landon, to be described on the plaque as “actor, writer, director, producer,” died of cancer in 1991. He was 54.

The town already has another tribute to Landon — a plaque that accompanies a playground set at Knight Park. That memorial was donated in 1997 by a trust established by Cindy Landon, the entertainer’s third and final wife.

It praises Landon as “a man who touched the hearts of so many by teaching us how to laugh, cry and love one another — and whose special love for children and strong belief in family values transcends future generations."

Another effort fell flat in 2014, when donors contributed only $342 — well short of the $7,000 goal — to a local resident’s effort to fund a 20-foot-high inflatable Michael Landon figure.

Fair noted the Mike-a-teers traveled to Collingswood — a frequent destination for Landon fans — as part of their campaign. They met with local officials and scouted the bench’s location.

“The people of Collingswood, from the mayor to the public works department, have all been enthusiastic and generous,” said Fair, who noted the visitors drew a positive public reaction.

“All three of us have jackets and purses with Little Joe or Pa Ingalls (Landon’s Little House character) on them and we get stopped in the street by people who want to talk about him,” she said.

The owner of Landon's former home, who asked not to be identified, described learning of the property's past from a fan who interrupted the resident while gardening.

"Does this mean people will be knocking on my door?," the resident asked.

During a visit to the Collingswood park, the Landon fans scrapped their original plan to frame the six-foot bench with two red maples.

“When we arrived, it immediately became apparent that God had already planted the perfect tree,” Fair noted in an August 2021 update to her GoFundMe appeal.

She observed the bench would sit beneath “a magnificent, broad, and grand sycamore tree” opposite the star’s former home.

That tree’s roots may extend into Landon’s past, said Fair.

Given the sycamore’s size, she suggested, “it might even have been present as a sapling when young Eugene (or Michael) made his way to the dock.”

Jim Walsh covers public safety, economic development and other beats for the Courier-Post, Burlington County Times and The Daily Journal.

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