Key Points
- 1970s and ’80s child stars reunited at a special luncheon in California.
- Erin Murphy shared, ‘There is such a small segment…who’ve had those experiences.’
- The reunion celebrated their unique shared backgrounds in classic film and TV.
Some of the most beloved child stars from the 1970s and ’80s reunited for a special get-together that was years in the making. In a post to Facebook on May 3, Erin Murphy, the former child actress who played Tabitha on the classic TV sitcom Bewitched, shared a photo from a luncheon she attended with several other former child stars.
“Sitting at the ‘kid’s table.’” Murphy, 61, captioned the snap. “You might recognize a few familiar faces.”
The photo featured Murphy sitting alongside Sandy Schwartz, Mason Reese, Scott Schwartz, Johnny Whitaker, Steven Wishnoff, and Moosie Drier at an outdoor luncheon in California.
Whitaker, 66, who is best known for the classic sitcom series Family Affair and the ‘70s Saturday morning series Sigmund and the Sea Monsters, also shared the photo with the caption, “Thought some of you might be interested that I had a great luncheon today with some of my childhood besties. XCA 2026 May 2 Lunch Crowd.”
“Hope it won’t take 6 years for another one,” the actor added.
Reese, the beloved pint-sized pitchman who starred in the iconic Underwood Deviled Ham and Post Raisin Bran commercials of the 1970s, also wrote, “What a fantastic lunch with some of my XCA TV family. … A lot of entertainment royalty in this pic! Great conversation, laughs, and peeps! Thanks so much for getting together with me!🤗”
Who else was there?
The lunch reunion featured familiar faces from both the big and small screen.
As a child actor, Drier played Howie Borden on the Bob Newhart Show and appeared on shows such as The Waltons, Apple’s Way, and Police Story.
Fans know Scott Schwartz for his roles in the early 1980s movies The Toy and A Christmas Story. He once posed with his brother Sandy alongside Fantasy Island star Herve Villechaize.
And Wishnoff is the creator and writer of the award-winning web series Life Interrupted, which starred Murphy, Reese, and fellow ‘70s stars such as Alison Arngrim (Little House on the Prairie), Dawn Wells (Gilligan’s Island), and Robbie Rist (The Brady Bunch).
RELATED: Erin Murphy Poses Like Her ‘Bewitched’ Mom and the Resemblance Is Wild
As for the special ex-child stars club, Murphy once told Fox News that they all have a shared experience that no one else can relate to. “There is such a small segment of the population who’ve had those experiences about, you know, going on auditions and working 12-hour days and kind of being famous, so everyone knew who we were,” she said in a 2024 interview. “So, when you meet someone who’s a former kid actor, you immediately are bonded to them because it’s a life experience that most people don’t understand.”
“We kind of have this secret group that we’re all in, so I’m friends with all of them,” the Bewitched alum added of fellow classic TV child stars. “And if you name a kid actor from, you know, the ‘50s, ‘60s, ‘70s, ’80, ‘90s, I would probably say that I know them.”
About the author
Victoria Miller is a trending news and entertainment writer for Parade, with over two decades of experience covering TV, pop culture, and celebrity news.
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