Something Different for Dodie Fans

[horizonbeach11]

I came across this on YouTube accidentally when I was looking for episodes of M3S. It's a little bizarre and totally early '70s...a Mother's Day episode of "The Dating Game" with Dawn Lyn asking three bachelors questions for the purpose of choosing one of them to be a date for her mother. She is nine in this episode, it looks like it was made shortly after M3S was cancelled.

Dawn comes across as a very bright and charming little girl and handles the situation very well but the subject matter...well, some of it just has kind of an "ick" factor, like the whole premise for one thing, and then hearing her pose questions to three strange men like, 'Would you make a good daddy?" "My mommy likes a 'man's man', could you explain to me what a 'man's man' is, and remember, I'm only nine years old!" And then when the men say, "I like little girls"...well, I don't know, just kind of...creepy, but that, of course, is measuring it by today's perverted standards. Still, here's the link if you're interested:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3onHa8K_fmA

[stevea]

Interesting. One thing I noticed is that it looked like Dawn needed glasses.

[horizonbeach11]

That's true, I also noticed her squinting a lot and holding the paper she was reading from close to her face. Maybe they felt that wearing glasses would ruin her appearance for the show or something.

I also noticed that even though she was nine years old and wearing full, albeit not extremely heavy, makeup, they still put her in the little girl too short dress and gave her a big rag doll for a gift at the end that looked like it would have been more appropriate for a five year old. It's like show business was pushing her to be grown up while pushing her to be a little girl at the same time.

[stevea]

Yeah I noticed the dress too. Poor kid. They were still embarrassing her, no matter what show she was on.

[PracTz]

I wonder if Miss Lyn has much (or anything) to do with her mother who put her onstage at a very early age and actually had be the 'celeb hook' for her own 'Dating Game' venture? And what kind of mother uses their own preteen daughter to attract new flames anyway? UGH!

I recall her saying that she considered her fellow MTS performers to be her 'brothers' and that she's stayed close to them but I've not heard anything about how she deals with her actual brother Leif Garrett nor their mother who seems to have enabled him in his indulgences for decades.

P.S. Since I've never heard of her mother remarrying, it doesn't look as though this particular venture netted anything worthwhile for her mother either.

[Hazel Anyday]

It's Monday, my My 3 Sons day, am now in Season 12 for the past couple months, today it was "Proxy Parents". This is when Polly wants to have kids and they try it out by babysitting Kate's brats for the weekend while Katie runs off to Peru for 2 days to join Robbie in the jungle.

OK, point here is that Dodie has quite a few real funny lines and comments. She's sort of like a miniature Uncle Charlie, like him she says what everyone's thinking. At one point hapless Chip and Polly are trying to get the triplets to go to sleep. They want a story, this is known thru Dodie, the boys seem incapable of speaking anything intelligible, other than an occasional "yes" or "ok". That's about it for the boys dialog. Anyway Polly cuts out of the bedroom (she needs her sleep) Chip's stuck to think of a story. Dodie tells him, holding her hand to her mouth like she's speaking privately to Chip, "You can tell them anything, they're not too smart."

Later the brats break lamps and Dodie's down in the living room reporting on the havoc they're creating, when a crash of a 2nd lamp is heard, Dodie then exasperated turns around and runs back upstairs, "Now they broke Mama's lamp!"

She also invites her friends Jodie Foster and some chubby girl, sort of a female Larry of Leave It To Beaver, over to stay the weekend too. Of course Polly and Chip don't know how to say "no" so they get in deeper. The chubby girl gets a belly ache in the middle of the night, this happened on Beaver too with Larry.

Well, Dodie was funny in this one, I also liked her longer hair. Chip looks strange with his new Shemp hairstyle parted in the middle. Polly's still as cute as ever. Good show, even gave Fred MacMurray an unusual real close close-up at one point in the show. Watch this one for some good Dodie laughs.

[horizonbeach11]

Originally Posted by PracTz

I wonder if Miss Lyn has much (or anything) to do with her mother who put her onstage at a very early age and actually had be the 'celeb hook' for her own 'Dating Game' venture? And what kind of mother uses their own preteen daughter to attract new flames anyway? UGH!

I recall her saying that she considered her fellow MTS performers to be her 'brothers' and that she's stayed close to them but I've not heard anything about how she deals with her actual brother Leif Garrett nor their mother who seems to have enabled him in his indulgences for decades.

P.S. Since I've never heard of her mother remarrying, it doesn't look as though this particular venture netted anything worthwhile for her mother either.

Good question, is Ms. Stellar still alive? Her biography on IMDB says that she was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2005 and The Wikipedia article on Leif Garrett states that it was stage IV lung cancer. As a hospice nurse, I know that most people don't survive stage IV lung cancer, but I see no mention of her death in either of those articles either.

In an article written shortly after one of her son Leif's arrests for heroin possession in 2006, Ms. Stellar is quoted as saying that she blames herself for his addiction issues and admits she could have done some things differently, and it does take courage to admit that, especially in such a public situation.

https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=1525781&page=1

Based on what I've also seen online, Dawn and Leif's father was absent throughout much of their childhoods, which is sad. No wonder Dawn was so attached to her M3S family, can you imagine how stable people like Fred MacMurray, a notoriously devoted family man, and the Livingston brothers must have seemed to her? I'm glad she had/has them in her life. She seems like a nice person who was forced into some not so nice circumstances over the years by powers out of her control. I hope she has found happiness and stability in her adult life. it is worth mentioning that she has never shown up in one of those sad, sordid "former child star" scandals a la Danny Bonaduce, her own brother Leif Garrett, and so many others. I commend her for that.

[horizonbeach11]

Originally Posted by Hazel Anyday

It's Monday, my My 3 Sons day, am now in Season 12 for the past couple months, today it was "Proxy Parents". This is when Polly wants to have kids and they try it out by babysitting Kate's brats for the weekend while Katie runs off to Peru for 2 days to join Robbie in the jungle.

OK, point here is that Dodie has quite a few real funny lines and comments. She's sort of like a miniature Uncle Charlie, like him she says what everyone's thinking. At one point hapless Chip and Polly are trying to get the triplets to go to sleep. They want a story, this is known thru Dodie, the boys seem incapable of speaking anything intelligible, other than an occasional "yes" or "ok". That's about it for the boys dialog. Anyway Polly cuts out of the bedroom (she needs her sleep) Chip's stuck to think of a story. Dodie tells him, holding her hand to her mouth like she's speaking privately to Chip, "You can tell them anything, they're not too smart."

Later the brats break lamps and Dodie's down in the living room reporting on the havoc they're creating, when a crash of a 2nd lamp is heard, Dodie then exasperated turns around and runs back upstairs, "Now they broke Mama's lamp!"

She also invites her friends Jodie Foster and some chubby girl, sort of a female Larry of Leave It To Beaver, over to stay the weekend too. Of course Polly and Chip don't know how to say "no" so they get in deeper. The chubby girl gets a belly ache in the middle of the night, this happened on Beaver too with Larry.

Well, Dodie was funny in this one, I also liked her longer hair. Chip looks strange with his new Shemp hairstyle parted in the middle. Polly's still as cute as ever. Good show, even gave Fred MacMurray an unusual real close close-up at one point in the show. Watch this one for some good Dodie laughs.

I watched this one last night on YouTube after reading your post and you're right, Dodie had some truly funny lines. It is amazing how much more mature she seems in season 12 than in season 10, like she's aged about four years instead of just two.

I literally laughed out loud when I saw Chip's hair after seeing you refer to it as "his new Shemp hairstyle". LOL, that was a spot on description and it looked TERRIBLE! The way the sides were not just long put pulled down and stuck to the sides of his face...I don't remember men ever wearing their hair like that, even in the hideously tacky early '70s. Ernie had a new 'do in season 12 too, but his looked cute on him. In fact, I think that in season 12 old nerdy Ernie was even a bit of a hottie, definitely much better looking than Chip.

Those triplets...ugh, where do I begin? How old were those kids supposed to be by season 12? Their understanding of the English language was limited to about two words, as you mentioned. Ok, maybe three, "Mama", "Ok", and "Yes", and notice how they were directed to speak in unison, so that on the rare occasion that they did speak (never mind that most pre-schoolers are little Chatty Kathys at this age and are learning new words every day, and why wasn't anyone in the Douglas household concerned at all?) they would all say at the same time, "Mama! Mama! Mama!" That was really taking the whole identical thing too far. Even identical siblings can speak independently of each other in the real world. It's not like they share a brain. Sheesh.

Oh, one more thing that deserves to be mentioned about this episode: who goes tent camping in the wilderness and still goes to bed in full makeup, even down to the false eyelashes? Barbara Douglas, that's who! You can take the girl out of the city...

[stevea]

The triplets were born in season 9, so they should have been 3 by season 12.

Rule one for sitcoms--no matter where the woman is sleeping, she is always in full makeup.

[horizonbeach11]

Originally Posted by stevea

The triplets were born in season 9, so they should have been 3 by season 12.

Rule one for sitcoms--no matter where the woman is sleeping, she is always in full makeup.

Thank you, I knew that they would have been at least three years old. I have to say that besides their lack of speech development, it is also not normal for kids of this age to be as destructive as those kids were. How many three year olds do you know that you can't turn your back for a minute and they are breaking lamps and doing other majorly destructive things? I'm not saying it isn't possible, but holy cow, in pretty much every episode that these kids were in it was like a running gag how out of control and destructive they were. Am I the only one who didn't think that this was cute but actually showed a definite lack of parental discipline and self control on the part of the kids? By three years old you don't just grab everything in sight and destroy it.

I get it, this is just a sitcom, not real life (thank God!) but I found it disturbing to watch sometimes, how out of control yet unable to communicate these kids were. In comparison, Dodie was a genius and a model of self control.

[Hazel Anyday]

I really had the best laugh of my day reading your responses, Horizon, thanks for that laugh, I needed it.

And while I'm beefing, what's with Chip's teeth? They suddenly now are super white and extremely straight. I don't remember Chip's teeth ever being crooked before but they never looked like a fresh new pair of dentures either. I still can't figure out how he changed his teeth. His hair was just unnatural looking, was it a wig? I was a teen in the '70's and I never went Shempstyle, my hair was more like Chip or Ernie's in previous years, with bangs but parted on the side.

And if you think Katie's kids are morons who talk only like cavemen now, wait till you see then in future season 12 episodes being herded all together all tethered to leashes!!! YES, Steve and at another time Kate both have all 3 kids all hooked up to 3 different leashes or harnesses!! I can see why, every one of them is headed in a different direction all at the same time like a bunch rabid goats. What was Katie feedin' them boys anyway?

[horizonbeach11]

Originally Posted by Hazel Anyday

I really had the best laugh of my day reading your responses, Horizon, thanks for that laugh, I needed it.

And while I'm beefing, what's with Chip's teeth? They suddenly now are super white and extremely straight. I don't remember Chip's teeth ever being crooked before but they never looked like a fresh new pair of dentures either. I still can't figure out how he changed his teeth. His hair was just unnatural looking, was it a wig? I was a teen in the '70's and I never went Shempstyle, my hair was more like Chip or Ernie's in previous years, with bangs but parted on the side.

And if you think Katie's kids are morons who talk only like cavemen now, wait till you see then in future season 12 episodes being herded all together all tethered to leashes!!! YES, Steve and at another time Kate both have all 3 kids all hooked up to 3 different leashes or harnesses!! I can see why, every one of them is headed in a different direction all at the same time like a bunch rabid goats. What was Katie feedin' them boys anyway?

Chip did look decidedly different in season 12, it was like someone gave him a total makeover except that he looked worse instead of better. Meanwhile, Ernie still had the nerdy horn-rimmed glasses which are now cool again, but his hair looked a lot better and he was coming into his own.

I also think that Ernie was a lot nicer than Chip. I feel like Chip is always just a bit exasperated with Polly for some reason in those episodes and with her being so insecure to begin with, she seems to pick up on it and try that much harder to please her man. It's like he picks up on her underlying insecurity and uses it to control her a bit, like in the episode where he studies with the other attractive women and doesn't even seem to notice that it might be a bit offensive or hurtful to her. She becomes so insecure from it that she goes out and completely redoes herself, even going to "charm school" to be more appealing to him and she is already just completely adorable. Shame on Chip.

The triplets and the leashes...I have seen those, ugh. There is that last episode of season 11 where Robbie gets laid off down at the plant and he and Katie move to San Francisco. They try in vain to find an apartment that will accept the triplets. It is illegal to deny someone housing based on their having kids unless it is a senior designated building or you can prove that there are too many people for the number of bedrooms with the kids included, but oh well, that reality wouldn't advance the story line, so Robbie and Kate continue to search in vain. They come across a building with a sitcom standard crusty old landlady with a hidden heart of gold who tells Rob no deal until Katie enters with those language challenged toddlers all on leashes and they proceed to scream and carry on like little baby chimps (or rabid goats, that's a good one, ha, ha!) and assault the landlady en masse as if she is their long lost grandmother, and instead of being completely turned off and glad that she decided to discriminate, she of course (with her sitcom heart of gold), proceeds to fall head over heels in love with them and immediately agree to break her own rules and give them a place to live. We know that this is going to happen because the landlady is played by veteran sitcom character actress Pat Carroll and we are not so secretly being set up for a potential new M3S spinoff (that obviously never came to be).

There are so many weird triplet moments that it could be a topic for its own thread, but the bottom line is, them kids ain't right. They break lamps and ashtrays with reckless abandon and without consequence and the adults all act lovingly exasperated with them instead of laying down the law. If they had been teenagers during these episodes, they would have probably been selling dope at the Whisky a Go Go on the weekends, so it's a good thing that sensible Chip and Ernie were the teens instead, crisis averted.

[biffbronson]

Dawn's acting overall on M3S I would say was not bad. When some of the little actors playing her friends come off as artificial in comparison, it makes you realize why she was wanted for Nanny & the Professor and why so much went along with the legalities of that.

Stan Livingston as Chip was pushing the limits of longer hair in Season 12 -- there's no question that was his real hair. Barry now had a feathered cut for the first time. And Dawn was looking better as she was growing up. Her brother Leif appeared on Family Affair in the '70-'71 season with quite a long style for boys of those years (Larry Pennel episode).

I thought Stan looked his best in Season 11.