• June 19, 1995
• Vol. 43
• No. 24

Where's Charlie?

There's Room in Jack Condon's Heart—and in His Mini-Museum—for Every One of the Angels

STEP INTO JACK CONDON'S OWN little Sistine Chapel, the back room of his two-bedroom apartment in Sherman Oaks, Calif., and you feel a certain awe. Or maybe just dizziness. Nearly every inch of the 12-by-20-foot room—walls, doors, windows and, of course, the ceiling—is plastered with images of angels. Charlie's Angels. Farrah Fawcett's smile gleams from coffee mugs, lunch boxes and posters. Jaclyn Smith's tresses cascade across beach blankets and wristwatches. The heavenly forms of Kate Jackson, Cheryl Ladd, Shelley Hack and Tanya Roberts snake across puzzles, bath mats and radios. And there's more: 50,000 newspaper clippings, videotapes of each of the series' episodes from 1976 to 1981, plus tapes of every TV show and miniseries the actresses have done since. Condon, 30, who offers free tours to friends, family and business associates, beams proudly from a perch on his Charlie's Angels pin-ball machine. "They are all larger than life," he says breathlessly. "That was the excitement of it all. It was the first show I can think of to have three strong female leads—all attractive, charming and intelligent."

Condon has always been on the side of the Angels. He was 11 and already a Kate Jackson fan (from her stint on The Rookies) when the series premiered. "I saw an ad in TV Guide for a new show they said was full of mystery, intrigue and adventure," he recalls. "I made sure I was home to watch it." Home was Waltham, Mass., where Condon lived with his widowed mother, Joyce, a psychiatric nurse, and his older brother and sister. (His father, Joseph, a Polaroid executive, died when Jack was 4.) Drawn by virtues other than their celebrated jiggle ("I loved the way they worked together to solve crimes"), he saved the Angels' first TV Guide cover a few months later—and everything else since. In high school even his classmates chipped in. "They used to give me their Angels bubblegum cards," he says.

A sales rep for a gift-wrap firm, Condon, a bachelor, was transferred from Belleville, N.J., to L.A. in 1990. Since then he's gotten to meet all the Angels, except Roberts, and show them photos of his Angels merchandise. "They were pretty excited," he says. "They said they used to get royalty checks and never knew what for." Still, Condon considers his collection far from complete. "I'm having so much fun," he says. "There's always something new to look for." Anybody got a Charlie's Angels walkie-talkie for sale?