Stevie Parsons

[Alan Brady's Hair]

"Baby Fat" was on again tonight, and it got me wondering if there was a playwright c. 1960 who took his German Shepherd to rehearsals. Haven't located one yet, though it seems Edward Albee was crazy about dogs.

[treky]

Originally Posted by Herbert T. Gillis

Very broad, oblique cultural references are there but nothing limited strictly to it's own time. No Johnson or Kennedy references, other than the name of Rob's dream car, the XKG-JFK-400 Roadster.

There was a JFK reference in one episode; THE SAM POMERANTZ SCANDALS. In the scene where that comedian is doing impressions for Rob and the others in the hotel lobby and Buddy says "Do the president;do JFK!"

[Herbert T. Gillis]

Originally Posted by treky

There was a JFK reference in one episode; THE SAM POMERANTZ SCANDALS. In the scene where that comedian is doing impressions for Rob and the others in the hotel lobby and Buddy says "Do the president;do JFK!"

Right, that's been pointed out to me, thanks. I should never say never on the internet but that impression was delivered by a guest star who was portraying an entertainer who specialized in voices. I just learned Len Weinrib, the actor who played Danny Brewster, had a hit single in 1962 called "Prez Conference" which we can assume was an impression of JFK, so it would have been expected that he would employ the talent for which he may have been best known at the time.

[Herbert T. Gillis]

Originally Posted by Alan Brady's Hair

"Baby Fat" was on again tonight, and it got me wondering if there was a playwright c. 1960 who took his German Shepherd to rehearsals. Haven't located one yet, though it seems Edward Albee was crazy about dogs.

I don't know enough about the theater to even make a guess but wasn't there a writer who was famous for always having their cat with them? I don't know.

[Herbert T. Gillis]

"The Man From Emperor" aired tonight, Emperor being the name of a successful bachelor magazine whose publisher Drew Patton tries to lure Rob into writing for him. "Drew" is obviously a reference to Hugh Hefner, but why the surname Patton? Why not something that sounds like Hefner like Refler? Anything.

In searching out info, I ran across this on IMDb. It's unrelated to my query, but a fun fact and another example of infrastructural slyness of the DVD writing.

The voice of Sam, the receptionist who announces Rob's arrival at Drew's office, was supplied by Mary Tyler Moore. This is a reference to her role on the series 'Richard Diamond, Private Detective' as the answering service operator Sam, whose full face was never shown.

[Alan Brady's Hair]

Originally Posted by Herbert T. Gillis

Given the above it's not too big a stretch to think Ray Murdock, the TV interviewer who got Rob to say he bases some sketches on Laura's odd behavior, is a parallel to Edward R. Murrow.

Murdock episode was on Decades again today. I decided to look up Murrow: he actually did interviews with Sid Caesar and Danny Thomas. At 1:50:00 here, Murrow asks Thomas how much of his material comes from his real home life:

https://youtu.be/xsokOsNGDl0

[Alan Brady's Hair]

"Love Thy Other Neighbor" has the play "Solid White Zebra.". Could be the musical comedy, "Solid Gold Cadillac" (1953) and the novel "Ice Station Zebra" (1963). The white part is pretty common.

[Noodlearms]

Sort of like how the one episode where Sheldon Leonard appears in, his name is Max Calvada?

Calvada being the production company that made the series.

My favorite episode, BTW

[CosmicCharlie]

Originally Posted by Noodlearms

Sort of like how the one episode where Sheldon Leonard appears in, his name is Max Calvada?

Calvada being the production company that made the series.

My favorite episode, BTW

He is excellent in so many shows doing guest appearances !

As an actor, Leonard specialized in playing supporting characters, especially gangsters or "heavies". His trademark was his especially thick New York accent, usually delivered from the side of his mouth. (He would often pronounce th as t and would say er as oi, thus he would pronounce earth as oit.)

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0502766/

[Alan Brady's Hair]

In "Talk to the Snail," Rob calls his agent, George Shapiro. Carl Reiner was related by marriage to agent George Shapiro, who represented Reiner and eventually represented Jerry Seinfeld and Andy Kaufman.

[Alan Brady's Hair]

I never noticed before: in "Remember the Alimony," Rob tells Laura he'll do his "Andy Russell impression" in the hotel room. Per Wikipedia, Andy Russell "was an American popular vocalist, actor, and entertainer of Mexican descent, specializing in traditional pop and Latin music. He sold 8 million records in the 1940s singing in a romantic, baritone voice and in his trademark bilingual English and Spanish style."