Judy Nichols's Blog - Posts Tagged "ed-asner"
You're Going to Make it After All
How will you make it on your own?
This world is awfully big
Girl, this time you’re all alone.
But it’s time you started living.
It’s time you let someone else do some giving.
That is the original first verse of the theme to The Mary Tyler Moore Show, which premiered on CBS September 19th, 1970. I was a freshman in high school then, and the show became a favorite at our house on Saturday nights.
In my television universe, the women I saw were housewives and mothers. Like Donna Reed, who was married to handsome Dr. Alex Stone (Carl Betz), living in a nice house, wearing stylish clothes and lovingly raising her two great looking children played by Shelly Fabares and Paul Peterson. That’s what we all should aspire to--marrying a doctor so we can have the house, the clothes and the two adorable children.
OK, there was the ABC Sitcom “That Girl,” where Marlo Thomas played aspiring actress Ann Marie living alone in New York City. But she had a steady boyfriend and a meddling father--Lou Marie was always coming down from Brewster, New York to check up on her. Also, it seemed fairly obvious to me that sooner or later, Ann would give up acting to marry Donald. And she probably did, as they got engaged in the final season, though no wedding was ever shown.
Mary Tyler Moore was different. No longer the ditzy Laura “Oh, Rob!” Petrie from the Dick Van Dyke show, she portrayed a grown up woman in her 30s, a woman with a real job and a great life but no husband or steady boyfriend. And that was not a problem.
She had a huge influence on my generation and the women who came after us, including former First Lady Michelle Obama who had this to say about Mary Richards in an interview in Variety last summer:
"She was one of the few single working women depicted on television at the time. She wasn't married. She wasn't looking to get married. At no point did the series end in a happy ending with her finding a husband — which seemed to be the course you had to take as a woman. But she sort of bucked that. She worked in a newsroom, she had a tough boss, and she stood up to him. She had close friends, never bemoaning the fact that she was a single. She was very proud and comfortable in that role."
After the news of Moore's death, I watched a few episodes of the show on Hulu, surprised to find myself laughing at lines that were written 45 years ago. Her interview with Ed Asner for the associate producer job at WJM is classic comedy. “You’ve got spunk...I hate spunk!”
The show began with Mary moving to Minneapolis to start a new life after breaking up with her boyfriend of two years. But then that boyfriend, who happens to be a handsome doctor, comes knocking at her door, telling her he wants her to come back.
She says no, preferring her new life on her own, to marrying the handsome doctor. So much for Donna Reed.
When I got my first job out of college as a reporter for a weekly suburban newspaper, the first thing I did was buy a big wooden “J” to hang on the wall of my apartment. Because I didn’t want to be Donna Stone and marry the handsome doctor. I wanted to be Mary Richards, living on my own and loving it.
Because I was going to make it after all.
Judy Nichols is the author of several mysteries available on Amazon.
This world is awfully big
Girl, this time you’re all alone.
But it’s time you started living.
It’s time you let someone else do some giving.
That is the original first verse of the theme to The Mary Tyler Moore Show, which premiered on CBS September 19th, 1970. I was a freshman in high school then, and the show became a favorite at our house on Saturday nights.
In my television universe, the women I saw were housewives and mothers. Like Donna Reed, who was married to handsome Dr. Alex Stone (Carl Betz), living in a nice house, wearing stylish clothes and lovingly raising her two great looking children played by Shelly Fabares and Paul Peterson. That’s what we all should aspire to--marrying a doctor so we can have the house, the clothes and the two adorable children.
OK, there was the ABC Sitcom “That Girl,” where Marlo Thomas played aspiring actress Ann Marie living alone in New York City. But she had a steady boyfriend and a meddling father--Lou Marie was always coming down from Brewster, New York to check up on her. Also, it seemed fairly obvious to me that sooner or later, Ann would give up acting to marry Donald. And she probably did, as they got engaged in the final season, though no wedding was ever shown.
Mary Tyler Moore was different. No longer the ditzy Laura “Oh, Rob!” Petrie from the Dick Van Dyke show, she portrayed a grown up woman in her 30s, a woman with a real job and a great life but no husband or steady boyfriend. And that was not a problem.
She had a huge influence on my generation and the women who came after us, including former First Lady Michelle Obama who had this to say about Mary Richards in an interview in Variety last summer:
"She was one of the few single working women depicted on television at the time. She wasn't married. She wasn't looking to get married. At no point did the series end in a happy ending with her finding a husband — which seemed to be the course you had to take as a woman. But she sort of bucked that. She worked in a newsroom, she had a tough boss, and she stood up to him. She had close friends, never bemoaning the fact that she was a single. She was very proud and comfortable in that role."
After the news of Moore's death, I watched a few episodes of the show on Hulu, surprised to find myself laughing at lines that were written 45 years ago. Her interview with Ed Asner for the associate producer job at WJM is classic comedy. “You’ve got spunk...I hate spunk!”
The show began with Mary moving to Minneapolis to start a new life after breaking up with her boyfriend of two years. But then that boyfriend, who happens to be a handsome doctor, comes knocking at her door, telling her he wants her to come back.
She says no, preferring her new life on her own, to marrying the handsome doctor. So much for Donna Reed.
When I got my first job out of college as a reporter for a weekly suburban newspaper, the first thing I did was buy a big wooden “J” to hang on the wall of my apartment. Because I didn’t want to be Donna Stone and marry the handsome doctor. I wanted to be Mary Richards, living on my own and loving it.
Because I was going to make it after all.
Judy Nichols is the author of several mysteries available on Amazon.
