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[John Eimen's TV Days]
Television Weekly Co-Star of "McKeever and the Colonel" as Cadet Monk Pilots Live
TV Model
Commercials
Also: Dog Food, Cars (Plymouth, Chevy) and Games (Stratego) Singing and Performing In many different bands in LA., from rock to folk-rock... For parties for the Rams and the Dodgers... At clubs and restaurants (The Chopping Block, The Abbey, Jason's)... As a solo singer-guitarist in Japan at El Paso, Westhouse and other clubs...
Access
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PART TWO My days at Valley were a big reason I didn't continue in the business as an actor for long as an adult. The people in Theater Arts were such a talented bunch-- there was Ed Begley, Jr., who from the first time I ever saw him I was so impressed with his abilities as an actor! And Michael Richards - Kramer!!! - I was in awe of him. He did things like "Waiting for Godot" and other productions and was a close friend of Ed Begley, Jr. They even did some improv things together as a duo at the Troubador and other local clubs. I was simply not in the same league with performers like these - and began to reconsider what I wanted to do. So I found my little niche there mostly doing smaller parts and also music for some productions. Ebbie Smith was also there at that time. He eventually would write the screenplay for the movie, "Falling Down". And there were others who were just extraordinary - Marty Christopher, Robin Bach, Jan Fischer, Bart Williams, Bill Malloy - some whom you may not know but who were simply incredible. That sort of set me towards doing more in music, where I had more confidence in my abilities as an adult.
I continued performing in bands in LA, finally ending up in a trio that performed at supper clubs around Beverly Hills and West Hollywood. (The Larry Sargent Trio). It was very good but I was hardly keeping alive. At about this time (1974) a friend of mine set me up with a blind date - a girl studying English in the US, from Japan. We started dating and later that year I went to Japan to meet her family. I intended to stay there for about a month but we ended up getting married there with a traditional Shinto ceremony at a shrine and staying in Japan for ten years.
Finally, in 1985, at the age of 35 with two kids in school in Japan, I decided that it would be better for all of us to move back to the US We moved to Seattle, where I'd never even visited but had heard that it was a great place to raise a family. We had a difficult time starting over there. I even worked for one year (three months at a time) aboard factory trawlers in the Bering Sea of Alaska as an Interpreter/Liaison between the American crew and the Japanese technical advisors and quality control people. I had to help out in all aspects of operations, too - heading and gutting fish, repairing the nets, offloading the finished product onto Japanese boats. Just the other day, several crew members died in those waters out in the Bering Sea. It was in the news all over the US It was the same kind of boat that I'd been on, in the same general area. Thank goodness I got out of that long, long ago. I sought work on dry land after that. I got a job with a major American law firm, running the Office Services Center for all their back-up needs in copying, mail, faxes, etc. I was there for over five years. About six years ago another interesting opportunity came my way. Northwest Airlines was looking for Japanese speakers to become Flight Attendants. I'd never even thought of such a thing, but I went to the Open House for it, anyway.
The most wonderful aspect of it has been that I've gone so many places on my days off with my family - I've taken my boys (individually) all over the US and to Europe and my wife of 26 years, Midori, and I have traveled extensively together and had a terrific time! Midori is also able to go home each summer and see her family. My older son, Daniel, will graduate from the University of Washington with a degree in Engineering and a minor in Japanese this June.
For me, my acting days were a positive experience overall. The kids, the crews, the grown-up actors and just about everybody I came into contact with were professionals doing their jobs with warmth, intelligence and a huge amount of humor. Despite the horror stories of kid actors who turned to drugs and alcohol and became bitter about their lives, a lot of them probably were like me - they loved the opportunities they'd gotten and the chance to meet and work with so many wonderful people. I think the ones who had the most trouble were those who felt that "I was never a child but I played one on TV....." These were the ones who probably had no normal life at all outside the soundstages. I'm so happy that wasn't me!!! - John Eimen
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TV
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Former
child actor and McKeever and the Colonel co-star John Eimen shares his
memories of working in the television industry in the 60s.
At
one New Years Eve party at Don Drysdale's club ("Drysdale's Dugout")
my band actually got to back up Sonnny and Cher on a song! Before that,
back in high school, I was in a garage band with Stanley Fafara ("Whitey"
of "Leave It to Beaver"). It was a horrible band but it was good enough
to land us a Sugar Frosted Flakes commercial with Tony the Tiger.
(Mercifully, we didn't actually sing or play!). 
During
that time, our two sons were born, I became an English conversation
teacher in Osaka (where I was also able to perform as a solo singer-guitarist
once a week for most of the ten years and also appeared once on television,
singing a Japanese song). As my Japanese got better, other opportunities
came up. For three years, I translated Japanese comic books to English
for Kodansha, Japan's largest publishing company. This was long before
they caught on around the world with animated versions of some of them.
Within
two weeks I was in training in Minnesota and I became a Flight Attendant
in April of 1995. I'm based out of Detroit and still live here in Seattle.
My
younger son, Chris, is the current celebrity in the family. He's in
magazines a lot as a professional bike rider under contract to the K2
Corporation. There's even a "Chris Eimen" Bike now (called "The Biker").
Midori teaches Japanese at two high schools here in Seattle. 
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