Mary Tyler Moore, R.I.P.

It is unfortunate that many of today’s young women do not realize what a pioneer Mary Tyler Moore was. When she first pitched the idea for The Mary Tyler Moore Show, she’d wanted her character, Mary Richards, to be a divorcee. The studio heads (all male, of course) vetoed that, finding the idea of a young divorcee to be vaguely scandalous. And this was 1971! What struck me about all the tributes pouring in after her death was how often professional women acclaimed her as their role model; for many young girls, her show would be validation that women could aspire to careers as well as marriage and motherhood. It is not always easy to be a pioneer; I was one of the first female attorneys in Atlantic County, NJ and I lost track of the times that I was mistaken in court for a reporter or a plaintiff or a spectator, even judges finding it difficult to imagine a woman lawyer. So, I, too, am grateful to Mary Tyler Moore and like so many, I feel as if a light has gone out. Here is an interesting article about the impact of her shows, for she broke new ground with her role in the Dick Van Dyke Show, too.
http://www.vulture.com/2017/01/mary-t...