Great link, Hosenhaus!  I learned a lot that I didn't know before.  What the site said about Tommy Rettig:

Tom Rettig (IMDB)

Mr. Rettig was the first boy who tagged after Lassie during the famous collie's 20 years on the CBS television network. An already established child star, he was chosen from over 500 other boys to play the 11 year old midwestern farm boy, Jeff Miller, when "Lassie" (1954) premiered on September 12, 1954. He stayed with the series until 1958. He made his stage debut at age 6 in the touring company of "Annie Get Your Gun", with 'Mary Martin'. His screen debut was at age 9 and he made 17 films. His most memorable screen performance was as the boy with the vivid imagination in 'The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T.'
    Following 'Lassie' came a troubled life filled with failure to land major adult roles, arrests and convictions for growing marijuana, divorce, and a string of jobs including photographer, tool salesman, computer programmer, and health club manager.
     For the last ten or so years of his life (starting 1984, maybe earlier), Tom was a very successful software developer working on office applications. He was regarded as one of the experts in the area of Ashton-Tate's dBASE product line and related products. Several products are still named after Mr. Rettig.

<P>Just checked out the site. What a kick in the head!</p>
<P>&quot;His dream is the real performance. Together with the other 499 little boys, Bart is kidnapped on the Zepplin of Dr. Terwilliker. His mother, in total awe of the Doctor, is also present. The 5000 fingers of all the boys have to perform the greatest piano concert of all times on the Grand Piano of Dr. Terwilliker, so that the noise that they produce in one concert will silence the noise that people make forever.&quot;</p>
<P>Rest assured, if I had 500 little boys on a Zepplin with me, I'd try to find a lot better use of the 5000 little boy fingers!</p>