On Mama's Family I noticed on certain episodes that Naomi wore leopard print clothing and I would like to know why Naomi did this? Is it because Dorothy Lyman liked leopard print clothing and when she was cast in the role of Naomi she added some of her fashion sense into Naomi's character? Because when I would watch Mama's Family I never knew that Naomi liked leopard print stuff like I do
Bestie

She also wore yellow clothes a lot too!;) I liked Naomi's clothes!!:)

That's just what Ret Turner designed for her. He designed all of the outfits on the show.

For certain people, it's considered to be the 3 T's. Tacky, trashy and trampy. They wanted Naomi to be the town tramp. There were many scenes that suggested that Naomi had poor taste in fashion, make-up and hair style(think of the airline stewardess episode where Mama attacks her home made uniform).

For some reason I was thinking Bob Mackie designed the clothes for MF as well.

No, Bob Mackie never designed for MF. If you watch the ending credits on every episode you will see Ret Turner credited for costumes, with "Original Costume Concept by Bob Mackie". This meant Bob created the costumes for the first Harper characters (Mama, Eunice, Ed) on The Carol Burnett Show, and Ret designed the MF costumes based on Bob's styles.

One interesting note is that Roselle Friedland (assumed to be the inspiration for the never-seen character of Roselle Huplander on MF?) was "the wig lady" for both Carol's show and MF.

No, Bob Mackie never designed for MF. If you watch the ending credits on every episode you will see Ret Turner credited for costumes, with "Original Costume Concept by Bob Mackie". This meant Bob created the costumes for the first Harper characters (Mama, Eunice, Ed) on The Carol Burnett Show, and Ret designed the MF costumes based on Bob's styles.

One interesting note is that Roselle Friedland (assumed to be the inspiration for the never-seen character of Roselle Huplander on MF?) was "the wig lady" for both Carol's show and MF.

That is cool!

One thing I've wondered is, what is the OLDEST piece of clothing, dress, etc.. that Mama owned? For i.e. did Mama ever wear a dress on a syndicated episode of Mama's Family that she wore on a Family Sketch from the Carol Burnett Show?

I know a couple of her dresses from the Family Sketches of the C.B. Show carried over to the NBC episodes, so I'm wondering what is the longest carry-over dress, IF there was one.

I don't believe Vicki ever wore any "carry-overs" from Carol's show. Ret Turner designed all the costumes on the show. The only exception is Eunice, since that was a one-of-a-kind dress (that Bob Mackie had to make a "double" of for scenes where it got wet).

Ret and Bob discuss their work a lot on one of the bonus features of the DVDs.

I don't believe Vicki ever wore any "carry-overs" from Carol's show. Ret Turner designed all the costumes on the show. The only exception is Eunice, since that was a one-of-a-kind dress (that Bob Mackie had to make a "double" of for scenes where it got wet).

Ret and Bob discuss their work a lot on one of the bonus features of the DVDs.


I do believe Mama wore at least ONE dress in NBC Mama's Family that she wore on the Family Sketches, or if not it looks very similar.

I would venture to say it was just very similar. We would have to ask Vicki or Ret for confirmation though.

I think she wore this dress a lot, but the one specific Family Sketch I remember was Phillip's 3rd and final visit, but it looks like the exact same flower pattern. I THINK he had it on in the Sorry skit too.

She also wore yellow clothes a lot too!;) I liked Naomi's clothes!!:)
There was definitely a kewl color-coding thing going on with that show:
Naomi: Yellow
Iola: Pink
Mama/Thelma: Purple
Bubba: Green
Vinton: Tan-beige-khaki

There was definitely a kewl color-coding thing going on with that show:
Naomi: Yellow
Iola: Pink
Mama/Thelma: Purple
Bubba: Green
Vinton: Tan-beige-khaki

I think of Mama as blue/purple, Vinton as "brown", and Ellen tended to be "beige". And Franny was pink before Iola took it over, lol.

I *thought* I had recalled that Fran wore mostly pink! I'll need to pay more attention to Ellen's clothing; I thought I recalled her wearing mostly white

I *thought* I had recalled that Fran wore mostly pink! I'll need to pay more attention to Ellen's clothing; I thought I recalled her wearing mostly white

Well, she was beige and kind of cream-ish, but I don't think she ever wore white white.

What's really interesting is she once wore blue in a "Family" sketch, in the form of a pantsuit (!), and in her very first appearance in a "Family" sketch, she wore a dress that was forest green!

And yes Fran wore mostly pink, although a couple or few times she wore bright light blue, and I think at least once she wore lavender. What was funny though was that in her season 1 intro credit she was shown wearing blue, whereas she usually wore pink when on the show.