How accurate is Vicki Lawrence's accent as Thelma Harper?

[TMC]

The show was if I'm not mistaken, set in Raytown, Missouri, a suburb of Kansas City. I don't know if were accent was supposed to be interpreted as being a southern and/or midland accents of the United States. Vicki Lawrence was by the way, born and raised in Inglewood, California. So was she just doing a rural "country" accent you can find in basically every state? And was there any time where it was revealed that Thelma Harper originally came from the south?

[TheLittleFaerie]

Originally Posted by TMC

The show was if I'm not mistaken, set in Raytown, Missouri, a suburb of Kansas City. I don't know if were accent was supposed to be interpreted as being a southern and/or midland accents of the United States. Vicki Lawrence was by the way, born and raised in Inglewood, California. So was she just doing a rural "country" accent you can find in basically every state? And was there any time where it was revealed that Thelma Harper originally came from the south?

Well, in the syndicated accent, Mama's southern accent is gone, as well as most all the former southern content in the show... I think Mama has a pretty good mid-Western accent in the syndicated years.

I usually go with Missouri for Raytown's location, but it's not definite. Originally it was not supposed to be based in the south, but Carol wanted it to be southern I think.

['80sSitcoms]

The Family characters when Carol first read them for her variety show reminded her of her relatives in Texas and Arkansas. She is the one who created that special rural accent, and Vicki just copied her. Consequently, when Beverly Archer came on board as Iola, she copied the accent Vicki was doing.

Vicki has confirmed in an online interview with Frank DeCaro several years ago promoting the release of the series on DVD that Raytown is pretty much supposed to be Missouri. She said this when a caller asked her if she could confirm or deny this detail because he noticed in the episode where Mama buys a used car, you can see Missouri license plates.

[TheLittleFaerie]

Originally Posted by '80sSitcoms

The Family characters when Carol first read them for her variety show reminded her of her relatives in Texas and Arkansas. She is the one who created that special rural accent, and Vicki just copied her. Consequently, when Beverly Archer came on board as Iola, she copied the accent Vicki was doing.

Vicki has confirmed in an online interview with Frank DeCaro several years ago promoting the release of the series on DVD that Raytown is pretty much supposed to be Missouri. She said this when a caller asked her if she could confirm or deny this detail because he noticed in the episode where Mama buys a used car, you can see Missouri license plates.

I always loved how they went to great lengths to keep Raytown's exact location a secret lol... when Mama was on Jeopardy and all the contestants were saying where they were from, Mama is the ONLY one who didn't give a state.... she just says, "I am from Raytown".... realistically I think Alex would have inquired, "Ah, now WHERE is Raytown?" Or else it sorta leads one to believe perhaps Raytown is in California.... often times when ppl give their town, they don't give a state if they're already IN that state.