Love Was All Around

I saw a documentary on Mary Tyler Moore recently. It was culled from a larger special done on TV history and showed clips of Mary and her famous co-stars, like Dick Van Dyke and Betty White. The special was crisp in its presentation and showed no new ground being broken on its subject. But, it did stir in me the warm memory of our ongoing love affair with the Girl Next Door....... Mary Tyler Moore came on to the national consciousness in the Year Of 1961. JFK was newly installed in the White House and a sense of youth and the possibilities that youth send out was in the air. Of course, we all know that Mary played Laura Petrie on ''The Dick Van Dyke Show'', itself, a pioneering program about a comedy writer. What made the show pioneering for its time was the home front relationship between Van Dyke and Moore. Most sitcoms from a previous era had the housewife as a wacky sidekick, someone that was almost non-sexual and non-intelligent [Audrey Meadows ''Alice Kramden'' being the exception]. Mary Tyler Moore, with the crucial aid of show creator, Carl Reiner and show star, Dick Van Dyke, blossomed in the role of young Laura. She was the strong counterpart of her comedy writer husband, one of TV's first feminist, independent women. Mary was plucky in spirit, with a superb comedy talent unknown to even her when she got the part. As the series progressed, it became very clear that here was a force to reckon with, the Little Girl who ably played with the Big Boys. Mary showed ''great comic chops'', along with a vulnerability mixed with an sexual heat--- not an easy trick to portray. For five glorious seasons, Mary Tyler Moore was the MVP on the Van Dyke Show, a heartbeat which fueled the engine of a television classic....... Her career stalled after ''The Dick Van Dyke Show'' went off the air in 1966. She made a series of bad movie choices--- including a movie with Elvis where she, as a nun, fell for the King. It wasn't until a reunion special with Dick Van Dyke, where she showed off again her charms that so endeared her to audiences, that CBS came calling with an offer to do her own show about a young woman moving to Minneapolis to work in a newsroom. The show, of course, was the legendary ''The Mary Tyler Moore Show'', perhaps, the finest written, directed and acted comedy series in television history. Mary was smart. She learned from her Van Dyke years to surround herself with the best talent available. This sounds like no-brainer advice but many performers want vehicles in which only they shine, not the supporting cast around them. Mary, with her second husband, Grant Tinker, knew better. They hired class from the get go through their mutual production company, ''MTM Productions'' [I know you are seeing the little kitten meowing in your minds]. Tinker, a television genius and visionary himself, hired stellar people to bring the series to life. Edward Asner, Valerie Harper, Gavin Macleod, Georgia Engel were just some unknown names they hired. But, the real finds, the real boon to the success of the supporting cast, was journey actors Ted Knight and Betty White. Betty had been around a while but had never been used to her highest potential. Her role as man-hungry Sue Ann Nivens changed that. And, Ted Knight, as buffoonish anchorman Ted Baxter, royally brought forth comic gold. Mary was the center, the glue that held the show together. In addition to keeping the combination of vulnerability and sexiness that she had with Laura Petrie, Mary also brought forth a strong role model for single, career minded women to emulate. She became a hero for women everywhere. The show itself showed quality and originality and audacity [who can forget ''Chuckles The Clown'' dying?] throughout its seven year run. When the show ended in 1977------ still, to this day, the finest ending episode of any series---- Mary Tyler Moore was forever a National Icon, firmly cemented in our hearts........ Mary Tyler Moore segued again back into movies after her series. This time, though, she scored a triumph. It was 1980's ''Ordinary People'', directed by Robert Redford. This role of Beth was groundbreaking for Mary, in that, she played a cold, bitter woman who had lost a son to death and had another son who attempted suicide. It was all serious drama from Mary, not a shred of lovable behavior anywhere near this character. Mary excelled in this role, surprising the show business industry and her adoring public. She was nominated for an Oscar but lost to Sissy Spacek in ''Coal Miner's Daughter''. But, Mary, once again, showcased her versatility as an actress. An extraordinary performance........... Unlike her television roles, real life for Mary has been filled with heartbreak and tragedies. She came from an abusive home---- by certain accounts, Mary was abused by her father---- and got pregnant at a young age [17] and had a son, Richie, with her first husband, The marriage did not last long and Mary found herself a single mother of a baby before the Van Dyke Show and marrying Grant Tinker saved her.  But, in her late twenties, she developed diabetes, a severe case where she needed daily doses of insulin to stay alive. In her mid-thirties, her sister overdosed and died, and, soon after that, her marriage to Tinker ended. Finally, in the most tragic event of her already tragedy filled life, her only son, Richie, accidently shot and killed himself with a rifle......... Such horrors would test the stamina of anyone but Mary trudged on, a smile on her face, with a deep, heavy heart. Her career in the 80's and 90's ebbed and flowed, with both successes and failures. She still maintained the enormous affection of the public. She found love again with her third and final husband, Richard Levine, a heart doctor many years her junior. And, she became a elder stateswoman of comedy, a vast influence to the many that followed in her trailblazing wake. After many years, where a fickle public goes in and out with the latest fashion and celebrity, she was still there for us. Our Mary......... I write this because I know she has been in ill health for sometime now. Perhaps, at death's door. The diabetes she battled for years has ravaged her, dwindling her to a shockingly thin state. By most accounts----including, her own---- she is losing her eyesight and can barely stand. At 78, she is a sad shell of herself. She is dying......... I find this very sad for several reasons. That she is suffering is the main one. But, I also have a personal sadness at her state. Mary Tyler Moore was my ''first love'' when I was a little boy. I had to be around 5 or 6 but I remember I liked looking at her. Of course, I was too young to know what that feeling meant. I just knew she made me feel good to watch her, all tight Capri slacks and all. Like millions of men, I fell for her. She was the wholesome ''All-American'' girl that you wanted to marry and settle down with. Contrast her with the other big female of the period in show business, Marilyn Monroe. Marilyn, as we know, was the big ''Sex Symbol'' of the time, a stalking animal of sexual heat. Now, every male likes that too. That is the short, torrid affair men fantasize about. However, as Marilyn Monroe sadly found out, there is no love in the heat of a sexually passionate moment, just lust. After all is done, you want the ''America's Sweetheart'' as your lifetime companion. Sex symbols come and go, as swift as a summer's light. But, the sweetheart goes on, an endless light of love.......... I wish Mary Tyler Moore, now approaching the end of her journey, a painless and easy passing. And, I want to thank her for brightening my life---- and, all of our lives. Mary will always be a welcome presence in our daily existence, long after she has passed on....... And, deep in my heart, dear Mary, you will always be my ''first love''........