MeTV

My friend, Miss Healthypants, recently informed me about a channel called MeTV which airs a lot of sitcoms from the 1960s and 1970s. It turned out that it was included on my cable line-up -- who knew?

Now I can watch reruns of Mary Tyler Moore rather than renting them through Netflix. How cool is that?

This weekend, I watched a bit of MeTV's lineup and wondered about the following:

Leave it to Beaver: Why was "washing up before dinner" such a huge event in the Cleaver household? Oh my gosh, Wally and The Beaver were constantly being sent upstairs to "wash up before dinner." It was a huge, two-story house. You'd think that there'd be a downstairs bathroom where this all-important activity could take place.

Dennis the Menace: If I'd had a kid like Dennis, I would have given him up for adoption. Not because he was a menace (hardly -- especially compared to today's kids) but because of that shrill, high-pitched voice. One day of listening to him screech like a pterodactyl and he'd be sent away. Okay, maybe not for adoption, but at least to a boarding school until his voice changed.

Family Affair: Uncle Bill was a city planner, yet could afford a five-bedroom apartment on Park Avenue with a butler and a terrace. Ridiculous. There are no five-bedroom apartments in Manhattan. And why did Buffy and Jodie have to scurry from one room to another? Scurry-scurry-scurry! Had they no capacity to walk?  (However, I did notice that Uncle Bill had an avocado green trimline rotary phone in the living room. I just about lost it over that and now I want one. I remember going nuts over that phone when I watched Family Affair back in the 60s. Trimline phones were so cool back then.)

My Three Sons: I don't think any series lasted longer than this one. It was never-ending (from 1960 to 1972) First, there were three sons. Then one went away and Ernie was adopted. Then Robbie moved out. Then Robbie got marriedand had triplets (three sons). Then Chip married Polly when he was only eighteen. Then Mr. Douglas got re-married to a woman who had that irritating little girl, Dodie.
That series sure passed up a lot of good stopping points along the way. . .
Oh, incidentally, there was always the same incidental music that played whenever the camera panned in on the house. I can play that on the piano. Everyone's heard it but can never identify it. Stuff like that is fun to play at parties.

So, those were my observations as I took a trip down memory lane this past weekend.

Oooo! I found an avocado green trimline rotary phone on ebay.
It is so gonna be mine. . . .

The MTM Kitten

One of my favorite memories as a kid was of our family eating on TV trays in a semi-circle and watching the Mary Tyler Moore show during the early seventies. That has to be, hands down, one of my favorite programs of all time. I recently learned that all six seasons are available on Netflix so I’ve got every one of them queued up and have just finished the 13 episodes of Season One. It’s brilliant.

Do you remember the cute little orange kitten that mews at the very end of each episode?

I remember the first time I saw that kitten back in 1970. At the end of the program the M - T - M letters appeared and then . . ."meow" . . . the cute little kitten was shown. Even back then I remember wondering what had happened to that kitten.

Who did it belong to?

What was its name?

Where did it live?

As I was watching these 13 episodes forty years later, I still found myself wondering about that kitten. Well, here’s the story. . .

When Mary Tyler Moore Productions was founded in 1969, they wanted to use a kitten to mew as opposed to the MGM lion roaring. So, they went to a local animal shelter and selected this particular orange kitten because of its really loud mew.

After filming it for the segment, the kitten was wandering around the set and was accidentally electrocuted on an exposed lighting wire.

I’m kidding! Such an incident would have “urban legend” written all over it.

No, the kitten was named “Mimsie”, was adopted by one of the crew members and lived a long and happy life in San Bernardino.

Mimsie died in 1988, almost twenty years old.

Sigh . . . so there you have it. The story of the MTM kitten.

And, of course, now I want to go to the animal shelter and adopt an orange cat just so I can name it Mimsie.

Betty White's Funniest Moment

Who doesn’t love Betty White?

Soon, the 88 year-old grande dame of comedy will be hosting Saturday Night Live and I suspect that will be SNL’s most-watched episode.

I’m sure we all have our favorite Betty White moments. Mine is a rather obscure one from Mary Tyler Moore, but it makes me laugh out very loud every time I see it.

In this scene, Phyllis Lindstrom (Cloris Leachman) confronts Sue Ann Niven (Betty White) over her affair with husband, Lars. At one point, Phyllis purposely ruins Sue Ann’s chocolate soufflé by slamming the oven door on it. I don't know why, but Sue Ann kicking the oven door closed with her knee is, to me, one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen. Ever.

I can still remember my mom and me howling over this scene when I was fourteen.

I don’t know how Cloris Leachman ever kept a straight face. I really don’t.
(It occurs at the 2:00 minute mark.)

Minneapolis

I just found out that I have to attend a conference in Minneapolis. I’m so excited!!

I’ve never been to Minneapolis and as I kid, my dream was to live there one day.

Basically, it’s all Mary Tyler Moore’s fault.

You see, I grew up in a town of 1,700 people in South Texas where it’s always hot and humid. The nearest city was San Antonio, eighty miles away.

I loved going to the big city of San Antonio, Houston, or Dallas and it was always so depressing to come back to this little bitty town whose culture revolved Friday night football games.

It was always hot and humid there. The school wasn’t air conditioned, and our house, only barely. I hated the heat. I hated it so much that I used to pay my brother a major portion of my allowance just to mow my half of the lawn. We had a good thing going until mom wised up to our unsanctioned arrangement.

Once when I was in the eighth grade, it snowed. It was incredible. Snow! Just like the rest of the civilized world got to experience. For one glorious morning, I got to walk to school in the snow just like Mary walked to work in downtown Minneapolis. God, I loved it!

So, I’d watch the Mary Tyler Moore show and would be so jealous of her. She was this hip, single young woman, out on her own, living the big “city life” in Minneapolis where it snowed all the time. She’d wear these really cool clothes, walk among the big buildings downtown, and meet Rhoda for lunch a lot.

Mary loved her life in Minneapolis so much that she just couldn’t contain her happiness. She ended up throwing her hat in the air with unbridled glee.

I wanted to live there someday. I really did!

Life in Minneapolis was everything mine wasn’t.

So, I get to go to Minneapolis now. And no, I’m not going to throw my hat in the air while I’m downtown. Geez! I wonder how many tourists are seen doing that?

. . . Well, I might. . . . Just a little.

It would be awfully nice to meet Rhoda for lunch though.