Flashback: The one where Matthew Perry came to Rehoboth after 1st season of 'Friends'
It was a hot, humid and then rainy day when Matthew Perry appeared at the grand opening of Tanger Outlets near Rehoboth Beach nearly 30 years ago.
"Friends" had just finished airing its first season a couple of months earlier in 1995 and was already enough of a hit that 3,000 people showed up because Chandler Bing was in town.
Perry, who died late last month at the age of 54 and was buried Friday, was only 26 when his limousine pulled into the parking lot of the now-named Surfside outlet complex.
Dressed in a gray T-shirt and black pants and seated under a large white tent, Perry signed autographs, took photos, shook hands and even doled out hugs to a few lucky fans.
As Delaware Online/The News Journal reported at the time, the long line of fans was dominated by females.
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"I think if Courtney Cox were here, this line would be full of men," joked Christine Bonney, then 26 of Bear.
His moment with Matthew Perry
When Perry died of still unknown causes, 37-year-old Smyrna native Matt O'Neal just had to dig up his memorabilia from July 22, 1995 ― the day he waited in line with his family to meet Perry at the Tanger Outlets.
O'Neal was 8 at the time, a little too young to be a "Friends" fan. But he had seen it on TV because his family were fans of the NBC sitcom, which went on to be one of the most popular shows of all time.
"I just knew there was a monkey on the show and because of that, I thought the person who was going to be there was David Schwimmer," O'Neal says, reflecting on his childhood memory.
He remembers walking up to get Perry's autograph with the actor getting a kick out of the fact they both had the same first name.
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When O'Neal began walking away before anyone could take a photo of the two together, it was Perry who got up from the table and called him back to snap the picture he's kept all these years.
"That really made it memorable. He could have easily let me walk off. He was taking a bajillion photos so what's one less?" he says.
When Perry's bestselling autobiography "Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing: A Memoir" was released last year, O'Neal read the book and couldn't help but place Perry's Rehoboth Beach day into the timeline found in the book's pages.
"He was going through a lot of stuff and using [drugs] pretty heavily and I, especially as a child, didn't pick up on any of that, of course. But he was so personable that day," he remembers.
That summer day in '95
The newspaper report from the scene was filled with fans who found their Hollywood moment on Route 1.
Wanda Voshell, who was 18 and living in Dover at the time, said her autograph was worth the wait. Her friend Anna D'Ambrosi, 14, got a hug and said Perry was really nice to her.
Down the line was Christine Bonney, who was 26 and living in Bear, and her friend Jennifer Capozzoli, 26, of Maryland. They came to see the emerging television star ― and make a pitch.
"We hope to give him this script and hope he will read it," Bonney said, wishing Perry would like it so much that he would want to star in it.
Not everyone in line was there on their own accord.
Then-Brandywine High School senior Sam Hirzel, 17, thought he was just going to the beach with friends before Gina Navaleza and Sarah Kettner pulled him along for a detour.
"I was dragged down here by [them]," he told a reporter. "I do feel weird about being one of the few men here, but I feel as long as I'm with these girls I'm OK."
Have a story idea? Contact Ryan Cormier of Delaware Online/The News Journal at rcormier@delawareonline.com or (302) 324-2863. Follow him on Facebook (@ryancormier) and X (@ryancormier).
This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Nearly 30 years ago, Matthew Perry came to Delaware as emerging star
