Shield on the door of the (former) D.J. Fan Club office

I guess, that everybody knows by now, that I’m a big fan of the American actor and singer Don Johnson.

It all started in January 1986 when Veronica TV (a popular Dutch TV station) broadcasted "Miami Vice" for the first time. Of course, I liked the show immediately, just like million other people here in Holland, and watched every episode of it, but never had the intention to tape the episodes. That changed in December 1986, when German TV started to broadcast the series as well and I was able to watch the first season for a second time. Unfortunately, they dubbed all the voices in German (Don hearing with a German voice is still a nightmare), but anyway, I started to tape these episodes now. Everything was better then nothing and in the meantime I started to tape the episodes of Veronica as well. Before January 1986, I had never heard of Don Johnson. I’m sure he appeared in TV movies and series here on Dutch TV before, but the "sparkle" never jumped over.

From that day on, I was a big fan and tried to get everything that has been published about him. But then the commands from family and friends started. As long as you’re collecting sugarbags, stamps or something like that, nothing happens. People can even accept that you’re collecting costume dolls like I did before, but collecting everything concerning an actor/actress, sing or group, that’s something different. "Isn’t that something for teenagers?" they asked me. In that time I was 28 years old and people looked strange towards it even if I had collected on many stars like Mud, David Cassidy, Starsky and Hutch and the A-Team in the past, but nothing of these collections became that serious. How many times I had to explain my "adoration" for Don and still receive that same answer: "You’re out of your mind". The result was (at least in the beginning), that I didn’t tell anything about Don anymore to strangers.

In November 1987, I read in a magazine that there was a Fan Club of Don here in Holland and I became a member, started to write with other D.J. fans. First only with fans of him in Holland, but later with fans in Germany, England and France as well. Now I have contacts with fans all over the world.

The American fans were in a preference position. They still are, I believe, but especially when Miami Vice was first shown in the USA on TV, there wasn’t a magazine or a newspaper in which the series, or Don, was mentioned. You could even buy the most different articles with the MV logo or Don’s face on it. Like calendars, buttons, books, keyrings etc. Thanks to my contacts, I got the opportunity to buy some of these special things and even now sometimes an article shows up that I have never seen before! Fortunately, a lot of fans were (and still are) willing to sweep things with me. Most of the items have their own place in a special "D.J. "case, but there also a lot of these things laying in a box which I would love to put in the case, but I’m running out of space!

Part of my Don Johnson Collection

In the beginning, I wasn’t much involved with the Fan Club. I spent some time during the National Fanclubdays with the people behind the Club and sometimes I delivered some photos of Don or write something down for the newsletter, but that was it.

My real "Fan Club life" started in the early ‘90’s. To be exactly, during the celebration of the fifth anniversary of the Fan Club in 1992. I started with the creation of a whole new layout for the Fan Club’s newsletter. Never realized, that publishing a newsletter costs so much time. We also started with an issue in English and German. And who knows a little bit of the German language, typing in German can be a real nightmare. Well anyway, the members loved (and still love) it. We got many new members of Germany. The last couple of years that changed a little bit, but we still have a lot of members from abroad.

In 1994, everything changed. Yvonne van de Erve decided to start a new Fan Club for Bobbie Eakes and Jeff Trachta of the Bold and the Beautiful and because of that, there wouldn’t be any time left anymore for The Dutch Don Johnson Fan Club. Yvonne and I worked closely together since 1992 and there was no doubt that I would run the Fan Club of Don from now on, but, (I know it sounds strange) I didn’t say "yes" immediately. Running a Fan Club on your own is something different as working for it from time to time. At least, if you want to do it right. Maybe I’m a perfectionist in that, but it’s a great responsibility, there are a lot of people (especially members) who count on you. I had a deep conversation with my mother I decided to do it and so the Fan Club moved in 1994 to Den Haag.

And I must say, I didn’t regret it at all. But I never realized that the Fan Club becomes more and more a "full time" job for me! Not only publishing a newsletter in three languages three times a year costs me weeks of work. Not only during daytime, but sometimes during the nights as well. And what do you think of all the orders who are coming in day after day? Most people don’t realize that the Fan Club is not a "business" where you can order things, which you have on your desk the following day. Believe me, I "love" that too, but that’s impossible for me. I don’t have everything laying here in my office all of the time. That would cost a small fortune and to realize that, I have to rob a bank first and I believe the members, wouldn’t be happy with a Fan Club president behind bars. Or ????? And I also have a privatlife. Members sometimes forget that as well.

Shortly after I took the Fan Club over, I also started to work on a survey of all the articles of magazines and newspapers I collected of Don over the years. Complete with a short summary of every article. It took me more then 3 years to finish this "D.J.’s News Bulletin"!

And when it was ready, I made another survey. This time with all the TV programs Don appeared in over the years and which I was noticed about with the title "D.J.’s TV Bulletin". The TV programs from abroad were a real problem. In the beginning I hadn’t had a VCR with the American NTSC videosystem so when they offered me tapes with programs from the USA then, I said: "No thanks, I can’t play them". When I received my NTSC/PAL VCR in 1990, you can imagine that I regretted then, that I didn’t buy or trade these tapes. In the meantime I got a lot of tapes with interviews of Don in the early years of Miami Vice, but there still some interviews missing, so if you’re able to help me? Don’t hesitate to email me. You can reach me by using the e-mailaddress of the Fan Club at djfc@casema.net or the e-mailaddres of this familywebsite nashbridges@dolfijn.nl .

In July 1999, a couple of months after I received my connection to the Internet, I thought it was time to create a whole new website for The Dutch Don Johnson Fan Club. I surfed over the Net mostly every day and I knew by then what I liked, or what I didn’t like at all. Luckily, I had a lot of things about Don typed over the years already, only had to bring them together in a website. But it wasn’t before early October 1999 till the site was operational. And a couple of months later, I also started with a (till now it’s just a small) website especially for the Dutch fans of Don. Of course, I also add my surveys to the site so they can be used by the fans of Don all over the world. And there’s more to look forward to!

In the recent months the Fan Club has become "the best of the Celebrities Pod" by Tripod (February 2000), we got the 5000th visitor in February 2000 and the Fan Club celebrated its twelve and a half anniversary in February 2000 as well. And if that wasn’t being enough already: they mentioned the site of the Fan Club (with a photo) in the magazine "Computer Idee" as an example how to build your site of a Club on the Internet by Tripod in April 2000. The address of the Fan Club’s website has also been published in a lot of (Dutch) magazines and as a result of that, more and more D.J. fans find their way to our site.

And now there’s this Family website too to look after.

As you can imagine, up-dating these three (!) websites now on the Internet, takes a lot of my time. Especially, because I’m trying to bring something new on the sites from time to time. There’s also enough information available about Don on the Internet right now, to put in the Fan Club’s newsletter. People didn’t realize that there are still members who don’t have access to the Internet and for whom every item is a new one.

I hope, that I have given you an impression of what it means to be a Fan Club president. It’s not a job that you can do on a rainy day or a sunny afternoon when you have nothing else to do. 

But then in February 2002 I have been diagnosed with Diabetes and as you can imagine that turned my whole life up-side down. I have to live another life from now on with using insulin twice a day. Leading a Fan Club can be very stressfull from time to time and one of the major decisions I made the last couple of months is to end my career as a president. The former president of the Fan Club, Yvonne van de Erve, is the "new" president again since May 1st, 2002. Of course I'll always follow Don Johnson's career in the future but on another level. It has been 8 wonderful years but now, for me, it's time to move on.

If you like to visit the website of The Dutch Don Johnson Fan Club, want more information or even want to become a member click here

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