So I took a
trip to Peoria Illinois and had to catch a connecting flight in Atlanta. I had
about an hour and a half to catch that connection and so there was no great
rush and I was able to take my time. After taking the “plane train” to an adjoining
concourse, I arrived at my new gate, but with the overwhelming feeling that
something was wrong. Then it struck me! I had left my back pack on the damned
airplane, and oh joy, I had no idea
what gate that airplane was at! So there was a good five minutes tracking down a
Delta CSR to have her look up the gate for my arriving flight, and then half an
hour to get back to that gate. Just to
make things fun, the Delta rep gave me the wrong
gate and so I literally ended up walking the entire B concourse by the time I
found the plane that I had arrived on. Fortunately they had found my bag and it
was waiting with the gate agent there. I
remember thinking that this was a serious and scary sign of how far my mental
status seems to be degrading lately, and that I’d better make sure that I never do that again.
Yeah, never
do that again you idiot!
Guess what I
did on the way back from Peoria? I kid you not – I got all the way off of the
jet bridge before I realized that I had left my backpack on the plane again! I’m starting to scare my damn self . . .
So this
weekend my wife wanted a little time on her own without the children, and so I
took them shopping for Halloween costumes and stuff. We had about a 45 minute
drive to get there and I was relaxing listening to one of my favorite albums – a compilation of
old TV hits by Ray Conniff. When my daughter asked me what it was, I explained
that these were all songs from movies and TV shows that were popular when I was
her age, and then I explained a little about some of the TV shows.
I was kind
of surprised to realize how many of those shows were ground breaking for
portraying women taking careers and making their own way in a time where it
wasn’t all that common.
I told her
about the series “Police Woman”,
that was all about a female detective, and she wasn’t all of that impressed at
the idea so I tried to put it a little bit in context. I told her that back
then, most women were housewives who were expected to marry and then stay home
and take care of the children. A woman who was not only making her own way
through the world, but was in fact doing it in a very male dominated career
field, was something special and noteworthy. You should have seen the look on
my daughters face.
“Why couldn’t girls get jobs?!” she asked
me with more than a little bit of anger in her voice.
“Well, they
could, but usually not real good ones, and they were usually kind of looked
down on for doing it.” I replied.
“But that’s
not fair!”
“Darn right
it wasn’t fair, but that IS the way that it used to be!”
The next
song that came on was the theme to “The Mary Tyler Moore”
show and my daughter surprised me by asking me what show it went to, and much
to my surprise I realized that it was much the same kind of show.
“Well, that
show was also about a woman who was making
it on her own!” I told her.
“Really?”
she replied, looking kind of skeptical.
“Would I lie
to you?!”
When the
theme to “Welcome
Back Kotter” came on, I volunteered the information about that show before
she asked.
The next song
that came on was the theme From “Laverne and Shirley”,
and before I could offer its story, she asked me about it. I actually hesitated
when it caught me by surprise that it ALSO was very similar to the first two.
“Well, that
was a TV show about two young women
living together and also trying to
make their own way through the world without relying on a husband to do it for
them.”
I dunno, I’m
probably really late to this revelation, but it really did surprise me how many
shows I grew up with that had as a significant part of their story, a woman
making her own way in a male world. Today
most of us , and certainly the young women today, take it for granted that they
are free to have their own careers without being looked down upon.
My hat is
off to “Police Woman”, “Mary Tyler Moore”, and even “Laverne and Shirley” for
helping to teach little girls that it was possible to stand on their own two
feet – that they didn’t have to rely on someone else to take care of them. Well
done ladies!
Believe it
or not, my daughter and I even spoke a bit about how important those shows were
for that very reason.
“So, in a
way they were heroes?” she asked me.
“Honestly, I
think so. They taught little girls what they could do if they wanted to. They
taught little girls that they could be whatever they wanted to be if they were
willing to work for it.”
While my
daughter and I were talking about this, my three year old son was sitting in
the back seat in his car seat, and he perked up at the word “hero”.
“When I grow
up, I wanna be Iron Man and save the world!” said my little super hero. The bad
news is, I think that he has a ways to go. About half an hour later I was
helping the recently potty trained little hero to go potty and he peed all over
daddy’s leg.
I figure we’re
gonna have to hold off on saving the world for a little while yet . . .
What about Bosom Buddies? Is that two guys trying to make it on their own by pretending to be two girls trying to make it on their own.
ReplyDeleteKim,
ReplyDeleteHave you seen the documentary "Miss Representation"? It shows that we still have a long way to go.
Lisa
You're lucky it was just your leg! lol
ReplyDeleteSally Cross
They had TV when you were a kid? ;D
ReplyDeleteAnother show along those lines, sort of, was "Bionic Woman."
And then there's "Maude"
;)
Good post, Kim!
ReplyDeleteKim -
ReplyDeleteIf I ever meet you in person, I'll tell you a factoid about the Mary Tyler Moore show that might be interesting....
M
when my aunt first moved to nj from pa the only place a respectable young lady could get a room was in the YWCA ( back when they had lodging)or with a relative or even at a respectable boarding house run by a older motherly type person. this would have been in the 1940's.
ReplyDeleteyou are correct in that those were great well written shows even though many were comedies.
it's amazing that back then there were only the basic 1-11 channels and yet they had great free shows and now with over 300 channels there is many times nothing worth-while to watch. (accept some of the reruns of the shows you have mentioned).
Here in the UK we only had Laverne and Shirley out of the list you spoke about, I used to watch it every week and can still remember the titles now.
ReplyDeleteHugs n Stuff
Courtz xxx
Remember "Julia" with Diahann Carroll? A black single mom trying to make it on her own with a son. Also very good television.
ReplyDelete