Mary Tyler Moore: A Celebration Page #5

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Who thinks of that?

What man thinks of

a bridesmaid's dress?

Every woman if you ask her she

will get into a horrible,

not-flattering outfit

for her girlfriend.

Well, come out kid,

how bad could it be?

There's one, we were in

Little Bo Peep costumes.

That's what they looked like.

That's -- we were --

Literally!

-Who would have thought that

the stuff I said

was packed around the dress

was the dress?!

-Just to have

more women writing,

and that

women can be funny.

-NARRATOR:

"The Mary Tyler Moore Show's"

most acclaimed episode involved

the death of Chuckles the Clown.

-Well, what happened, Lou?

Who died? Would you tell us?

Chuckles.

Chuckles the Clown is dead.

It was a freak accident.

He went to the parade dressed as

Peter Peanut.

And a rogue elephant

tried to shell him.

-NARRATOR On paper,

the Chuckles episode

ran 5 minutes short,

but once the story was performed

for a live audience,

the show came out

the right length --

thanks to laughter.

-So, I went out there where

the first scene was with Murray,

and he starts telling

one liners about

"Born in a trunk died

in a trunk."

Lucky more people weren't hurt.

Lucky that elephant didn't go

after somebody else.

-That's right.

After all, you know

how hard it is

to stop after just one peanut.

[Laughing]

Because it's so hard to stop

after the one peanut.

That's when the house

went up like that.

-And with each one, I laughed

belly laughs

like I had never laughed

on camera before.

That's not funny, Murr--

[Laughing]

And it infected the audience.

And we added a minute

in that scene.

And that same process

just kept going,

adding minutes throughout

the show.

-Remember how his arch-rival

Senor Ka-Boom,

hit him with a giant cucumber

and knocked him down?

Mr. Fee Fi Fo would always

pick himself up --

[Mary stifling laughter]

...dust himself off,

and say,

"I hurt my foo-foo."

[Mary stifling laughter]

-She had to do that twice.

You only see it once,

but she did it twice.

Whew.

It was as good the second time

as the first time.

It's technique.

-And what did Chuckles ask

in return?

-[Stifles laugh]

-Not much.

[Mary giggling quietly]

In his own words --

a little song,

a little dance,

a little seltzer

down your pants.

[Laughs boisterously]

[Feigns coughing fit]

-By the end of the performance,

we had amassed

our missing 5 minutes.

-NARRATOR:
Given

the acting talent on the show,

it's not surprising that nearly

every performer

got their own series --

some even before

"The Mary Tyler Moore Show"

went off the air.

The first was

Valerie Harper's "Rhoda."

-People fell in love with Rhoda.

Everybody knew

a Rhoda Morgenstern.

They'd say, "I recognize her.

Gee, that's like my niece.

Doesn't she run the drugstore

down the block?"

-NARRATOR:
As great characters

were spun off,

others filled their shoes.

The departing Cloris Leachman

and Valerie Harper

meant the entrance of

Betty White.

-One Saturday morning,

I remember the phone rang,

and it was Mary;

she said,

"Hey, would you do a guest shot

on my show?"

Of course, she had to coax,

as you can imagine.

I think what we have to talk

about is more important than

your chocolate souffl.

-I'm sorry but this is

a very critical time.

-Well, I'm sorry this is a very

critical time for me, too.

[Slams oven]

-Oh, my poor baby!

Sue Ann Nivens was

the Happy Homemaker...

She also had a little problem

that she liked men.

Any men.

Anybody's men.

She just liked men.

Doug is from Saskatchewan.

He was on my show last week when

I was demonstrating

how to cook without a kitchen.

And that was sort of what made

the character kind of fun.

-NARRATOR:
Eventually Sue Anne's

bedroom was revealed

in one of the series'

funniest episodes.

-Haven't you ever seen

my bedroom before, Mary?

-No, no I would have

remembered this.

-They discovered that she had

this, like,

a triple king size bed.

-But -- [laughs] -- the idea of

the audience being privy to

her bedroom after all this talk

about her wildness.

-How've you been Ted?

-Oh, swell, swell, Sue Ann.

Wow, what a great bedroom,

Sue Ann.

-Stop!

-All of a sudden, Ted is there

straightening his tie

in the ceiling.

So, you know the whole thing is

mirrored up there.

It was funny.

-I really feel terrible

if I made you leave the station.

[Clicks button,

bed vibrating ]

[Ted laughing]

-Ted!

-[Laughing]

I used to go to motel rooms

with my wife and I,

and spend 25 cents to get

a vibrating bed.

[Laughs]

And now, the did -- oh, I mean,

that's the genius of

the writers.

-NARRATOR:
By 1977,

the show's writer/producers

wanted to end the series,

but Mary did not.

Eventually, she decided to

give in and move on.

-But Jim and Allen were anxious

to write for somebody

other than a young woman

living in Minneapolis.

And so they did "Taxi."

And the other actors, I think,

wanted to go on

and try new things.

I was still just having

a marvelous time

and didn't really

want to do it.

But good things happened to me

and probably wouldn't have

had we gone with the show

for very much longer.

And last night I thought,

what is a family,

anyway?

They're just people

who make you feel...

less alone...

and really loved.

And that's what you've done

for me.

-NARRATOR:
In the series'

final episode,

Mary Richards says goodbye to

her colleagues at WJM,

in TV's most famous

group hug.

-I treasure you people.

[Mary sobbing,

audience laughs]

-Final scene,

all in the office,

and we're all hugging,

and the Kleenex was there

and they were sitting out --

[Sniffs]

And how do we get the Kleenex?

And Jim Brooks said "Go for it,"

and that's when

that whole thing started.

-I think we all need

some Kleenex.

-GEORGETTE:
There's some

on Mary's desk.

[Laughter and applause]

-We're always loving

and leaving.

-When she turned off

the lights

for the last time...

it was the end of that show,

but a new beginning

for a lot of us,

because you have to go on.

...but my heart's

Right there

It's a long way

to Tipperary

It's a long way

to go

It's a long way

to Tipperary

To the sweetest girl

I know

Goodbye, Piccadilly...

-NARRATOR:
The end of her sitcom

created an opportunity

for Mary to follow her longtime

dream of a weekly variety show.

-So! Variety...

Okay, let's give it a try.

Variety was wonderful for me

because it answered my singing

and dancing drive.

-NARRATOR:
Once again,

Mary surrounded herself

with gifted performers.

-This year I'm going to be

surrounded by

a fantastic bunch of people

who will be with me every week,

and I'd like you to meet them

the same way I did --

through their

audition tapes.

We had the just burgeoning

David Letterman.

-David Letterman

audition tape.

[Laughter]

-Hi, Mary.

My name's Dave Letterman

-We had Michael Keaton.

-I'll tell you what,

I'll just go home

and I'll wait for

your call, okay?

I gotta get going because I

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