Whitney Blake discussed in Meredith Baxter's Autobiography - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

Ronny G · 03-06-2011, 07:15 PM

Meredith Baxter has written her autobiography and she talks about her mother, Whitney, in great length.
I skimmed through the book at a bookstore, and I'll probably check it out at the library because it looks interesting.
She does talk about Hazel a little bit.
Here's what I remember. According to Meredith:
Whitney didn't like playing the third banana on Hazel.
Whitney didn't like the mundane routine of going to the same old dingy studio 5 days a week.
As the star of the show, Shirley Booth, had a lot of clout, and Whitney felt that Shirley was in cahoots with the lightning director to light Whitney badly.
Whitney also felt that Shirley had a say in her wardrobe, and made sure that she wore mostly drab gray or beige outfits after the show went to color.
Meredith hardly ever saw her mother during the Hazel years. Whitney would leave for the studio at 5am and return home late at night exhausted, and would retire to her bedroom and crash.
Whitney made her children call her "Whitney" instead of Mom when they were in public because she didn't want the casting directors or anyone else to think of her as an older mother figure.
Whitney and her writer-husband created "One Day at a Time" as a pilot for her. She wanted to play the mother and Meredith the daughter. They shopped it around to the networks. Unfortunately, none of the networks would buy it. When it finally did sell, 5 years later, Whitney was not offered the part because she was considered too old. She was never even invited to audition. When the show became a success, Meredith said her mother was devastated knowing it could have been her in the role that made Bonnie Franklin famous.
Meredith also talks about her mother's illness and death.
There are also some pictures of Whitney taken in her later years.

biffbronson · 03-06-2011, 09:14 PM

Thanks for the great info! I will definitely look into that.

McGillicuddy · 03-06-2011, 09:52 PM

I didn't even know Whitney Blake was Meredith Baxter's mother!

biffbronson · 03-06-2011, 10:08 PM

You can get a great look at Whitney at her best on her episode of The Andy Griffith Show, as attorney Lee Drake. Certainly not the grim or heavyset person Andy mentions to Helen (implying that he went to see a male attorney, not a potential female rival)! Whitney was fantastic in that episode. Personally I think Whitney was a true beauty.

catlover79 · 03-06-2011, 11:45 PM

My favorite story about Whitney is when she was ill and a nurse asked if Allan (Whitney's husband) was her son. Allan was a couple of years older than Whitney!! Allan was a nervous wreck because he felt Whitney would explode. Instead, she burst out laughing. I loved that story. Imagine the relief!!

dahur1 · 03-13-2011, 11:36 PM

As to Whitney in drab dress, or poor lighting, I always thought she was one beautiful woman on Hazel.

MichaelKeith · 03-14-2011, 01:11 PM

dahur1, good point above you made. Whitney always looked very attractive on the show. Also, Hazel always speaks well of Missy on the show and they all seem to get along so well I find it hard to believe Shirley Booth would conspire against Whitney.

gidgetgrape · 03-14-2011, 03:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dahur1

As to Whitney in drab dress, or poor lighting, I always thought she was one beautiful woman on Hazel.

Me too! Her clothes were better than the uniform Hazel wore.

Hazel Anyday · 03-16-2011, 06:09 PM

Whitney was always dressed looking very sexy on Hazel, those tight sweaters could wake the dead. If anyone was dressed drabbily it was Hazel, even when she was out of uniform her dresses were pretty plain and blah looking. But Whitney was always in top form in a tight dress and top. Vah vah vah vooom! I do have an interview on tape that Whitney did on radio with Tom Snyder a couple years before she died and in it she said she never even knew that Bobby Buntrock had died till several years after (I believe she said it was a decade later!) I remember thinking she didn't sound very sweet, actually kind of hard in the interview. But it's been a long time since I heard it. I have it on tape somewhere, I should listen to it again. But I don't remember much else, don't remember her saying anything negative about Hazel or Shirley Booth, I would have remembered that. I suspect a lot of Meredith's book is made up of negative lies that unfortunately help sell books. Seems no one buys a book unless it's filled with rotten comments on people they've known.

McGillicuddy · 03-16-2011, 06:13 PM

...plus Meredith is sharing her memories from when she was 5 or 6 years old.

Ronny G · 03-16-2011, 09:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by markway895

...plus Meredith is sharing her memories from when she was 5 or 6 years old.

Meredith was born in 1947.
She would have been 14 at the start of Hazel (1961).

BTW, does anyone else see the strong resemblance between mother and daughter? I never noticed it before until I saw Meredith on Oprah a few weeks ago. I think she looks more like her mother as she's aged. I think its her eyes--plus she has a short hairdo.

biffbronson · 03-17-2011, 09:00 AM

Sometimes when a parent mentions something, even to a teenager, it may stick with the child even though it was an offhand remark. Maybe there was just an instance when Whitney thought she was not being cast in her best light, etc. -- and from that perhaps minor frustration, Meredith extrapolated.

I was just reading comments supposedly from Brian Keith first about being angry that Family Affair was cancelled, and then that he was really quite tired of doing the series anyway. These are contradictory, but the latter may have been true on a bad day. Whitney's comments may have also been "bad day" inspired.

Hazel Anyday · 03-17-2011, 04:11 PM

By golly, you're right! I never thought Meredith looked like her mother when she was young, she had more of a buck tooth look than her mother. But now in her old age, if you smoothed out the wrinkles on Meredith, she does indeed look a lot like her beautiful mother. Even her mouth looks like Whitney's now, which I never thought it did before. Seems Meredith has grown into her mother's looks, albeit a wrinkled version. By the way, I'd rather see her wrinkled with a natural looking face and mouth than with plastic surgery and her face all pulled back with her mouth a mile wide the way these poor old plastic surgeoned former starlets look today. Even worse is when they get their lips blown up so they no longer even closely resemble themselves, Cher & Goldie Hawn both look like they've been punched in the mouth.

McGillicuddy · 03-17-2011, 05:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by biffbronson

Sometimes when a parent mentions something, even to a teenager, it may stick with the child even though it was an offhand remark. Maybe there was just an instance when Whitney thought she was not being cast in her best light, etc. -- and from that perhaps minor frustration, Meredith extrapolated.

I was just reading comments supposedly from Brian Keith first about being angry that Family Affair was cancelled, and then that he was really quite tired of doing the series anyway. These are contradictory, but the latter may have been true on a bad day. Whitney's comments may have also been "bad day" inspired.

That's exactly what I was thinking! Did you ever talk about something with one of your parents, older sibling or elder relative about something that happened or was said years ago, and you find out that you had a complete misinterpretation? "Oh I thought it this happened...", "No that never happened at all, where did you get that idea?"

By the way, I got the idea Meredith was younger when her mother was on Hazel, I should have figured that out.

Ronny G · 03-18-2011, 01:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gidgetgrape

Her clothes were better than the uniform Hazel wore.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hazel Anyday

If anyone was dressed drabbily it was Hazel, even when she was out of uniform her dresses were pretty plain and blah looking.

I think you guys hit the nail on the head.
Shirley Booth had to wear that same drab, pale blue maid's uniform in every episode and she was the star of the show! It wouldn't be hard to imagine that she may not want to stand next to someone in a two-shot who was dressed in a beautiful, colorful outfit because they would stand-out, and she might be overshadowed or upstaged (But Hazel had such a strong personality and big voice, plus that red hair, so I don't think that would have been a problem anyway).

On the other hand, I've been watching the show daily, and Whitney is usually dressed in earth tone colors. She does occasionally wear pinks, blues, and reds, so it wasn't always beige or gray.

03-06-2011, 07:15 PM	#1
Ronny G Member Forum Regular Join Date: Oct 14, 2001 Location: Los Angeles Posts: 540	Whitney Blake discussed in Meredith Baxter's Autobiography Meredith Baxter has written her autobiography and she talks about her mother, Whitney, in great length. I skimmed through the book at a bookstore, and I'll probably check it out at the library because it looks interesting. She does talk about Hazel a little bit. Here's what I remember. According to Meredith: Whitney didn't like playing the third banana on Hazel. Whitney didn't like the mundane routine of going to the same old dingy studio 5 days a week. As the star of the show, Shirley Booth, had a lot of clout, and Whitney felt that Shirley was in cahoots with the lightning director to light Whitney badly. Whitney also felt that Shirley had a say in her wardrobe, and made sure that she wore mostly drab gray or beige outfits after the show went to color. Meredith hardly ever saw her mother during the Hazel years. Whitney would leave for the studio at 5am and return home late at night exhausted, and would retire to her bedroom and crash. Whitney made her children call her "Whitney" instead of Mom when they were in public because she didn't want the casting directors or anyone else to think of her as an older mother figure. Whitney and her writer-husband created "One Day at a Time" as a pilot for her. She wanted to play the mother and Meredith the daughter. They shopped it around to the networks. Unfortunately, none of the networks would buy it. When it finally did sell, 5 years later, Whitney was not offered the part because she was considered too old. She was never even invited to audition. When the show became a success, Meredith said her mother was devastated knowing it could have been her in the role that made Bonnie Franklin famous. Meredith also talks about her mother's illness and death. There are also some pictures of Whitney taken in her later years.
	Last edited by Ronny G; 03-06-2011 at 09:29 PM.

03-06-2011, 09:14 PM	#2
biffbronson Sentimental Fool Forum Star Join Date: Aug 22, 2009 Location: Near Notre Dame Posts: 10,488	Thanks for the great info! I will definitely look into that.
	__________________ In memory of lovely Erin Moran 1960-2017 ~ Missing you "For you are beautiful ~ And I have loved you dearly ~ More dearly than the spoken word can tell..." "What's the word?" (Paul Martin) ~~ "I don't want money for nothing." (Timmy Martin) -- Lassie ROCKS! WORD UP "It's just a dugout that my dad built... In case the reds* decide to push the button down..."*

03-06-2011, 11:45 PM	#5
catlover79 God Bless Val Forum Addict Join Date: May 29, 2006 Location: Bewitched in Ohio Posts: 70,376	My favorite story about Whitney is when she was ill and a nurse asked if Allan (Whitney's husband) was her son. Allan was a couple of years older than Whitney!! Allan was a nervous wreck because he felt Whitney would explode. Instead, she burst out laughing. I loved that story. Imagine the relief!!
	__________________ "Jesus loves you and He approves this message." "I'm alive. I'm feeling good. I'm trying to live every moment as much as I can." - Valerie Harper, March 2013

03-16-2011, 06:09 PM	#9
Hazel Anyday Member Senior Member Join Date: Apr 12, 2002 Posts: 2,135	Whitney was always dressed looking very sexy on Hazel, those tight sweaters could wake the dead. If anyone was dressed drabbily it was Hazel, even when she was out of uniform her dresses were pretty plain and blah looking. But Whitney was always in top form in a tight dress and top. Vah vah vah vooom! I do have an interview on tape that Whitney did on radio with Tom Snyder a couple years before she died and in it she said she never even knew that Bobby Buntrock had died till several years after (I believe she said it was a decade later!) I remember thinking she didn't sound very sweet, actually kind of hard in the interview. But it's been a long time since I heard it. I have it on tape somewhere, I should listen to it again. But I don't remember much else, don't remember her saying anything negative about Hazel or Shirley Booth, I would have remembered that. I suspect a lot of Meredith's book is made up of negative lies that unfortunately help sell books. Seems no one buys a book unless it's filled with rotten comments on people they've known.
	__________________ Haaazeelll!!

03-06-2011, 09:52 PM	#3
McGillicuddy Member Forum Veteran Join Date: Sep 28, 2002 Posts: 5,179	I didn't even know Whitney Blake was Meredith Baxter's mother!

03-06-2011, 10:08 PM	#4
biffbronson Sentimental Fool Forum Star Join Date: Aug 22, 2009 Location: Near Notre Dame Posts: 10,488	You can get a great look at Whitney at her best on her episode of The Andy Griffith Show, as attorney Lee Drake. Certainly not the grim or heavyset person Andy mentions to Helen (implying that he went to see a male attorney, not a potential female rival)! Whitney was fantastic in that episode. Personally I think Whitney was a true beauty.

03-13-2011, 11:36 PM	#6
dahur1 Member Frequent Poster Join Date: Apr 02, 2007 Location: Alamogordo, NM Posts: 195	As to Whitney in drab dress, or poor lighting, I always thought she was one beautiful woman on Hazel.

03-14-2011, 01:11 PM	#7
MichaelKeith Member Senior Member Join Date: Mar 01, 2007 Posts: 1,139	dahur1, good point above you made. Whitney always looked very attractive on the show. Also, Hazel always speaks well of Missy on the show and they all seem to get along so well I find it hard to believe Shirley Booth would conspire against Whitney.

03-16-2011, 06:13 PM	#10
McGillicuddy Member Forum Veteran Join Date: Sep 28, 2002 Posts: 5,179	...plus Meredith is sharing her memories from when she was 5 or 6 years old.

03-17-2011, 09:00 AM	#12
biffbronson Sentimental Fool Forum Star Join Date: Aug 22, 2009 Location: Near Notre Dame Posts: 10,488	Sometimes when a parent mentions something, even to a teenager, it may stick with the child even though it was an offhand remark. Maybe there was just an instance when Whitney thought she was not being cast in her best light, etc. -- and from that perhaps minor frustration, Meredith extrapolated. I was just reading comments supposedly from Brian Keith first about being angry that Family Affair was cancelled, and then that he was really quite tired of doing the series anyway. These are contradictory, but the latter may have been true on a bad day. Whitney's comments may have also been "bad day" inspired.

03-17-2011, 04:11 PM	#13
Hazel Anyday Member Senior Member Join Date: Apr 12, 2002 Posts: 2,135	By golly, you're right! I never thought Meredith looked like her mother when she was young, she had more of a buck tooth look than her mother. But now in her old age, if you smoothed out the wrinkles on Meredith, she does indeed look a lot like her beautiful mother. Even her mouth looks like Whitney's now, which I never thought it did before. Seems Meredith has grown into her mother's looks, albeit a wrinkled version. By the way, I'd rather see her wrinkled with a natural looking face and mouth than with plastic surgery and her face all pulled back with her mouth a mile wide the way these poor old plastic surgeoned former starlets look today. Even worse is when they get their lips blown up so they no longer even closely resemble themselves, Cher & Goldie Hawn both look like they've been punched in the mouth.