expo 67 lounge

Mid-century fashion, vintage pop culture and retro cool... from Expo 67 and beyond.

6 August 2006

Mary Tyler Moore

Speaking of women's liberation...

The Mary Tyler Moore show debuted in September 1970, and ran for 7 years. Audiences immediately fell under the spell of the beautiful Mary Richards, a sweet yet vulnerable young woman who moved to Minneapolis after a failed relationship. Although not the first show to feature a young, single female lead, it is the most highly acclaimed and beloved of that genre.

Mary Tyler Moore's character, Mary Richards, was initially supposed to be a divorcée. Producers were worried that audiences would think she divorced Rob Petrie, her onscreen husband during the Dick Van Dyke Show, which had ended only 4 years prior. It was then decided that her character had moved to Minneapolis after a broken engagement.


Screen captures from the first season, where Mary wore a wig.

Producers were also concerned about visual differentiation of those two characters. Seeing as Mary Tyler Moore's hairstyle had remained essentially the same since The Dick Van Dyke Show, she wore a long flip wig during the first season of The Mary Tyler Moore Show.

That wig must have been hell-on-earth for Mary under those hot studio lights, but I love the way it looked! I prefer it to her natural hair...!

One of the best moments of The Mary Tyler Moore Show (and one of the greatest moments in television history, for that matter) was the opening theme, where Mary tosses her hat as a sign of independance.

In 2002, the cable network TV Land had a statue made to commemorate that moment. It stands in downtown Minneapolis, in front of Macy's department store.

Included below is the opening sequence... Enjoy!

With sidekicks Phyllis (Cloris Leachman, left) and Rhoda (Valerie Harper, right).



images: (1) allaboutjazz.com

(2-3-5) flickr.com
(4) wikipedia.org

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6 Comments:

Blogger stinkypaw said...

Used to love that show, and to this day there's something about Mary, can't quite put my finger on it, but I still love that woman!

12:34 pm  
Blogger Jason Stockl said...

For me, it's definately the hat throw.

It gives me goosebumps!

3:11 pm  
Blogger Le Citadin said...

So many memories... I was actually watching that show when I was a little kid... I still don't understand why!

8:51 pm  
Blogger mod*mom said...

she was influential on a generation.
i think she encouraged women to work + not have children.
i loved her as laura petrie too.

did you like that girl?
i started rollerskating because she had to skate on an acting audition + she didn't know how, so she faked it + was dangerously funny.
i wanted to be like her when i was a wee one.

2:33 am  
Blogger Jason Stockl said...

I love the way Laura Petrie cried!

Like the episode where she wanted to dye her hair blonde, and it came out disastrous. When Rob came home and saw her, she started sobbing (in the way only she could) and it was hysterical!

7:37 am  
Blogger CQ said...

_A wig? And it wasn't for side co-worker Murray? Say it wasn't so.

10:33 am  

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