Hey, you're pretty crazy about me, aren't you?

Time to wrap up my week on The Dick van Dyke Show. Enjoy my last hurrah for the Saturday Picture Show!

I'm just a housewife...

Style Sunday! Er...Monday!

Today, dear friends, I'm channeling one of my favorite characters ever, Laura Petrie, played by Mary Tyler Moore. I discussed yesterday how Mary Tyler Moore's fashion choices were bold and ahead of her time. Well, today, I'm taking a page out of her book and wearing an outfit inspired by her.

And that top? Made by me!! I will discuss how I made it tomorrow.

Rob, you know what I wish you'd do? Something!

So, I'm going to do it again. I'm going to change things up from my original plan.

You, dear readers, who probably barely remember the plan I set up when I first started this Month of Blogging are probably wondering why I keep doing this or mentioning it. But, I'm a person who really likes rules and boundaries and I have a really hard time breaking rules - even my own. So any time I change things up from what I said I was going to do, I feel guilty.

But, I'm going to do it anyway.

According to my original plan, today's post would be about style. But I'm going to do that tomorrow instead. Why? Because I have a whole idea of how I want to do my hair and possibly a little makeup. Also, I made part of what I'm wearing tomorrow so I want the ensemble to be complete and this evening was spent in polishing that hand-made piece. This is, in fact, what I truly had in mind when I thought of the whole Style Sunday thing: I'd pick out an outfit from a movie or show or photo shoot and recreate it. So, I really want it to be perfect.

Anyway, this week launches the next theme in this month's blog-a-thon: The Dick van Dyke Show. Okay, okay. It's not a movie. But it's from the 1960's and, well, it's a fantastic show. So I'm going to devote some time to it. It's my favorite TV show so I'll probably be devoting a lot of time to it in the future.

It's such a great show. Mary Tyler Moore is both a fashion icon and a feminist icon. The writing on the show was surprisingly progressive for its time. Plus, you've got to love Dick van Dyke.

I have all sorts of topics I'd love to discuss about the show. But for this blog post, I'll stick to talking about the pants. Oh, the infamous pants. When the show was originally aired, most TV housewives wore dresses and pearls for everything. When Mary Tyler Moore was cast in the role of Laura Petrie, she changed that by wearing her own cigarette pants. Not only wearing them, she insisted on wearing them. She fought for the right to wear pants on screen. At the time, the producers were afraid it would be inappropriate for her to be wearing pants. She argued that no one thought of her as indecent when she wore them out to the grocery store in real life. In the end, they compromised and she was allowed to wear pants in one scene per episode. As an avid pant-wearer myself, I feel like I have a lot to be grateful for Mary Tyler Moore.

There's an episode in the show called "Give Me Your Walls" where Rob Petrie (Dick van Dyke) says to Laura, "just remember, honey, that I wear the pants in the family." Then, they both look down at her pants and he adds, "I mean that I wear the decision-making pants in the family."

This would be a frustrating line in any show other than the Dick van Dyke Show. It's totally a father-knows-best, the man is the head of the household kind of gender role rubbish that pervaded television (and still tends to rear its ugly head now). But, in the Dick Van Dyke Show, I can laugh because I know that this sort of line always comes around to be proven wrong. Every time Rob Petrie tries to exert some sort of masculine superiority, he always winds up eating humble pie, or at the very least, come to terms with the fact that he's often wrong. I'll probably wax eloquent on their relationship another time but Rob and Laura, throughout the show, are partners and share everything. So any time Rob challenges that, the episode explores how wrong he is. For 1960's television, it's pretty incredible.

Anyway, here's to Laura Petrie and Mary Tyler Moore and breaking barriers through fashion choices.

That is the actual fact.

So... I've lately been completely obsessed with The Dick van Dyke Show. On something of an impulse, I purchased the entire set when it went on sale. Millie over at Classic Forever encouraged me to do it and say I wouldn't regret it. When I first opened the box and left it sitting in the shrink wrap for a few weeks I did, I confess, doubt her words. But, now that I watch an episode practically every day, I can see she was right! It's such a good show! The show, as you may know, was filled with talented performers who often showcased their talents in random episodes. Here's one of my favorite scenes of Mary Tyler Moore who plays Laura Petrie (my favorite character) rehearsing a song for a talent show. It's so cute!



P.S. Fun fact about Laura's stylish pants. Many people did not appreciate how form-fitting and sexy her pants were. Carl Reiner fought this battle and won, but in a compromise: she could only wear the pants in one scene per episode. How crazy is that? I must say, I'm dying to get my hands on a pair like hers. They're so cute!!!

Art reflects life... that was in a speed test.

So, today, I'm going to do something that smacks of cheating... I'm going to discuss two dancing ladies at the same time! They actually go together really well and my favorite dance happens to feature both of them, so I think it works. So, here they are...

8. Mary Tyler Moore

click on photo for source

7. Julie Andrews

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Favorite dance: the elevator dance in Thoroughly Modern Millie



This makes the second Thoroughly Modern Millie number I've discussed in a week's time, but I don't think anyone will mind. It's a truly marvelous film. And this scene is so funny. I love the way they keep doing these crazy moves, but no one's even watching them (well, except us). It's great. The movie is so stylized and, well, kind of corny - in the very best sense! I had a hard time validating these two on my list, to be honest, because I don't really think of them as dancers. But "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" wouldn't be quite the same without Mary Poppins kicking up her heels and several episodes of the Dick van Dyke show deal with Laura's dancing talent. Then I remembered this scene and knew that I had to put these two on my list because this scene is quite wonderful and I think it ties in very neatly with the dancing ladies theme, don't you agree?

Oh, he's just full of applesauce.

Segment time! Spotlight on a musical number. Today, I want to spotlight a scene from Thoroughly Modern Millie: "The Tapioca."

This song is zany and fun, making it fit beautifully with the rest of the film, one of the wackiest movies ever. I get this song stuck in my head all the time, which is tricky, because there are very few words! These are the times when I wish life were really a musical. We could make up a dance and within a few minutes, everyone would be able to dance it with perfection. I love when everybody dances in unison but I also really love the way the dance works like a round: Jimmy dances one movie then Millie echoes it - so neat! How much fun! Really, this should probably be featured in my What Fun segment - maybe it will be some day. Anyhow, here is the complete song for your enjoyment. I recommend the movie as well, but more on that another time.



I've often thought "The Sauerkraut" had some definite potential as a dance. What do you think?