"Three for School"

[horizonbeach11]

I just finished watching this episode on MeTV this morning. It's actually pretty good, especially for a season 12 episode. Interesting how they used Dawn Lyn's real mother, Carolyn Stellar, to play the jealous but turns out to be nice secretary in Katie's office, June Mosfitt. I read somewhere in an interview with Dawn Lyn that her mother would always comb through the new scripts when she received them for Dawn to see if there were any age and gender appropriate parts for her to play, I remember seeing her as one of the hospital nurses in the "Dodie's Tonsils" episode as well. She is actually very pretty and a pretty decent actress, I thought she was great as Miss Mosfitt in this episode.

I always wonder why TV shows will use someone who is very attractive in their own right, like Ms. Stellar, to play the "competition" for the star and then frump them up terribly and unrealistically to make the star appear even more beautiful. Tina Cole is very pretty, no doubt, but so is Ms. Stellar, probably equally pretty, and if she had been made up in the fashions and hairstyle of the day, John Wilkes without the Booth and all of the other men in the office would have been drooling over her too, but nope, she has to wear WWII era glasses, a prim bun, and frumpy clothing so no one gives her a second look and she's all jealous of Katie until she finds out that Katie is happily married. Seriously, you know that someone that young and pretty would know a little something about fashion and hairstyles of the day and know how to work it a bit. They did this on a lot of shows like "Charlie's Angels" too, as if the audience needed to be reminded that Farrah was prettier than her obscure bit player co-star. So why not just use someone who is not particularly pretty, rather than frump up someone who is? I never got that.

Aside from that, I found it kind of endearing to see how attached to the triplets Uncle Charley was, although he did go overboard by showing up at their school everyday to play with them. It makes you realize how much times have changed, that they could have even written it that way. Today he would need to be buzzed into the school through a metal detector by a security guard and show positive ID before he would be allowed near the triplets or any of the other kids. Sad times.

And lastly, in keeping with the "liberated Barbara" theme of season 12, Barbara looks young and hot and Steve looks like an old grandpa sitting in his chair smoking his pipe and watching the world go by.

[stevea]

Yes, it's interesting to see how Barbara looks better and better, season by season, both with updated fashions and better hairdos. The longer hair this season is definitely a plus.

I see the guys are in those shirts with the horribly long collars. I remember those...glad that didn't last too long.

I had the same thought about Charley at the nursery school (now called pre-school or day care). There would have been no way that Katie wouldn't know about it, nowadays. And even so, it probably still would not be allowed.

My friend had to have an act of Congress to have lunch with her 7 year old grandson at his school. It was funny when she went in, and asked where the cafeteria was. They told her, just follow the noise.

I didn't know that secretary was Dawn's mother. I should have recognized her from the Dating Game appearance.

Also, nowadays, John Wilkes w/o the Booth would probably have been nailed for harassment by the second scene.

[horizonbeach11]

Originally Posted by stevea

Yes, it's interesting to see how Barbara looks better and better, season by season, both with updated fashions and better hairdos. The longer hair this season is definitely a plus.

I see the guys are in those shirts with the horribly long collars. I remember those...glad that didn't last too long.

I had the same thought about Charley at the nursery school (now called pre-school or day care). There would have been no way that Katie wouldn't know about it, nowadays. And even so, it probably still would not be allowed.

My friend had to have an act of Congress to have lunch with her 7 year old grandson at his school. It was funny when she went in, and asked where the cafeteria was. They told her, just follow the noise.

I didn't know that secretary was Dawn's mother. I should have recognized her from the Dating Game appearance.

Also, nowadays, John Wilkes w/o the Booth would probably have been nailed for harassment by the second scene.

I have read in several places that Dawn was the sole financial support for her family (her, Mom, and brother Leif Garrett before he hit it big as a teen idol)during her years on M3S. This confuses me. The Coogan Bill was passed in California way back in 1939 to safeguard child actors from having their earnings used by their parents when they are children so that they have it when they reach adulthood. The only loophole I could see when I googled it is that it ensures that the child actor will have "part of" their earnings saved back for adulthood, so I wonder who decides how much that would be? I mean, $5 a week is technically "part of" their pay..but I've never heard of Dawn having a feud with her family members or being bitter towards them later in life, so they must have worked it all out.

LOL about John Wilkes w/o the Booth being nailed for harassment. Not only that, but he would have also probably been nailed for even mentioning the name of a sympathizer of the Confederate cause, John Wilkes Booth. So un-PC today.

[biffbronson]

I think Dawn's mom is a very good-looking woman.

In this episode, the young guy being drawn strongly to Tina's character may be playing up the attraction blonde ladies have at times. It seemed as though he went crazy even before he really had a chance to look her over, although I will say her bust was "ample" to say the least (and very visible).

When I was younger, if I encountered someone with unflattering glasses and hair pulled back in a bun, I would be more inclined not to find her interesting. As a middle-aged to senior guy now, I'm into the fantasy of her taking off the glasses and letting her hair down so I can see its length.

[TV Guy]

Dawn’s mother is what I’d call “TV ugly”, where they take an attractive woman and give her a bad hairstyle and clothes and huge glasses. They would never have had someone truly ugly in there.

My favorite example of this is Rhoda on “Mary Tyler Moore”. She’s always putting herself down and talking about how desperate she is to find a date. But look at her closely the next time you watch an episode. She is gorgeous, and better looking than the star of the show. In real life, men would be beating down her door.

[stevea]

The "TV Ugly" remake ploy is used for a lot of scripts, where they take a person like that, and one of the stars remakes the person (most often, a female with hair done up in a bun, dressed dowdy, and always wearing big, ugly glasses is remade).

On M3S a variation was used in season 8, where Katie remade a young tomboy (around Ernie's age, 12 or 13) to look more feminine.

[Hazel Anyday]

Just the other day I watched a Gidget ep. 29, "Ask Helpful Hannah" in it a really beautiful blonde girl student newspaper editor was "uglied" up to make Gidget the best lookin' girl in the show, the beautiful blonde gal had, naturally, big black glasses, hair pulled back, frumpy loose dress, little make-up. In spite of the best efforts, just like TV always tries when they "ugly" up the girl, you can still tell she's a knock-out.

By the way, same goes for Gidget's girlfriend, Larue, I've always thought she was a good lookin' gal too, great body. Larue (Lynette Winter) was also "uglied" up in her Petticoat Junction role as Elvira's daughter, but under the hair style and lousy clothes and glasses they put on her in Pet. Junction, you could see she was hot.

[horizonbeach11]

Originally Posted by Hazel Anyday

Just the other day I watched a Gidget ep. 29, "Ask Helpful Hannah" in it a really beautiful blonde girl student newspaper editor was "uglied" up to make Gidget the best lookin' girl in the show, the beautiful blonde gal had, naturally, big black glasses, hair pulled back, frumpy loose dress, little make-up. In spite of the best efforts, just like TV always tries when they "ugly" up the girl, you can still tell she's a knock-out.

By the way, same goes for Gidget's girlfriend, Larue, I've always thought she was a good lookin' gal too, great body. Larue (Lynette Winter) was also "uglied" up in her Petticoat Junction role as Elvira's daughter, but under the hair style and lousy clothes and glasses they put on her in Pet. Junction, you could see she was hot.

IMO, "Gidget" went way overboard in making sure that the viewers understood, in every single episode, that Gidget was the cutest, most desirable girl in the school and on the beach. Sally Field was cute, but she wasn't gorgeous to the point that every boy in the school would have been drooling over her and totally oblivious to every other girl in the room. Poor Larue, they really painted her as a dweeb, didn't they even make her allergic to the sun or something so that when she and Gidget went to the beach she had to wear a huge Mrs. Howell type hat, a muumuu up to her neck, and big sunglasses? Contrasted, of course, with Gidget's cute pigtails, bikini, and tan.

[horizonbeach11]

Originally Posted by stevea

The "TV Ugly" remake ploy is used for a lot of scripts, where they take a person like that, and one of the stars remakes the person (most often, a female with hair done up in a bun, dressed dowdy, and always wearing big, ugly glasses is remade).

On M3S a variation was used in season 8, where Katie remade a young tomboy (around Ernie's age, 12 or 13) to look more feminine.

Yes, standard sitcom fare throughout the decades. I didn't see the one on M3S where Katie makes over the tomboy, but I can remember the "Gilligan's Island" episode, "All About Eva" where a schlub named Eva Grubb (Tina Louise in frump gear and silly black wig) shows up on the island, gets made over by Ginger, and turns into a narcissistic, career stealing witch, exactly like the episode of "The Brady Bunch" where Marcia makes over her almost Amish looking and very insecure friend, Molly Weber, only to have Molly turn into a boy magnet, know it all, conceited beeyitch within about 24 hours.

Amazing how putting on a mini skirt causes a complete personality change, isn't it?

[Hazel Anyday]

A mini-skirt has always put me at full attention.

Yes, poor Larue did wear the giant moomoo and tent hat when she went to the beach in one episode but in other episodes she wasn't as badly covered up, still no hot bating suit, but no tent either. Barbara Hershey was another really hot babe who was in Gidget who was sort of uglied up as to not outshine Sally, but uglying up Barbara at her age then was impossible.