MUSEUM OF TELEVISION & RADIO SEMINAR SERIES, THE: MARY HARTMAN, MARY HARTMAN: REUNION, REUNION {LONG VERSION}
Summary
One in this series of seminars conducted by The Museum of Television & Radio. Held at The Museum of Television & Radio in Los Angeles, and moderated by Los Angeles Museum vice president and director Steven A. Bell, this seminar features a discussion with members of the creative team behind Norman Lear's offbeat soap-opera parody from the seventies. Bell introduces highlights from the series and describes the importance of the series by quoting Ted Morgan's comment in The New York Times: "The dreams and nightmares of the American people are reflected darkly through the glass of 'Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman.'" Panelists include series writers Gail Parent and Ann Marcus; creative supervisor Al Burton; and cast members Claudia Lamb, Debralee Scott, Graham Jarvis, Mary Kay Place, Greg Mullavey, and Louise Lasser. Parent and Burton begin by talking about Norman Lear's concept for a different kind of soap opera. They go on to touch on their development of the program's blue-collar theme using a real town in Ohio as their model, the three major networks' preliminary involvement in the project, and the necessity of hiring Marcus to inject a daytime-serial sensibility into the proceedings. Next, each cast member offers comments on working on the series. Lasser describes turning down the role multiple times and recalls her problems grasping the subtle and serious type of humor utilized; Mullavey explains the creative freedom and lack of improvisation on the set, as well as the repertory feeling of the cast; Place recalls originally being offered the role of Cathy Shumway, noting that the addition of the element of comedy to the soap-opera format gave the series a special dimension; Scott tells how she was "coerced" into accepting her role by Lasser and series director Joan Darling and describes the cast's sense of family; and Lamb recalls her perspective as a child on the set. Questions from the audience lead to a discussion of the following topics: Burton and Parent agree that the show's pilot doubled as the series premiere; Lasser reveals the history behind her trademark hairstyle and explains how the cast coped without the use of cue cards; Scott compares the demands on the cast to those of typical soap operas; Place recalls the events that led up to the commercial release of some of her character's musical numbers; Burton explains Ben Stein's importance in making the series a syndicated hit and recalls the decision to air "Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman" late at night; Scott remembers the role of consumerism and advertising in the overall scheme of the storylines; and Lasser ends the evening with an examination of Tom Hartman's return to blue collar life, the only scene in the series ever censored, and of Mary's nervous collapse as a symbol of the breakdown of America.
Details
- NETWORK: Paley
- DATE: June 20, 2000 Tuesday 7:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 1:28:50
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: T:60306
- GENRE: Seminars
- SUBJECT HEADING: She Made It Collection (Ann Marcus); She Made It Collection (Gail Parent)
- SERIES RUN: N/A
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Steven A. Bell … Moderator
- Al Burton … Panelist
- Graham Jarvis … Panelist
- Claudia Lamb … Panelist
- Louise Lasser … Panelist
- Ann Marcus … Panelist
- Greg Mullavey … Panelist
- Gail Parent … Panelist
- Mary Kay Place … Panelist
- Debralee Scott … Panelist
- Joan Darling
- Norman Lear
- Ted Morgan
- Ben Stein