TV intertextuality: Ted Knight appeared as Mr. Ventrilo, a traveling entertainer, in a 1959 episode of Lassie. Mr. Ventrilo’s puppet dog reappeared on the hand of a ventriloquizing Ted Baxter in a 1973 episode of The Mary Tyler Moore Show.
But wait, there’s more. From the MTM episode “The Ted and Georgette Show” (January 22, 1977). Georgette has some bad news to tell:
Ted: “Nothing you could say to me could affect my performance out there.”In Mr. Ventrilo’s time, Lassie was indeed three dogs. From The New York Times:
Georgette: “That’s not true. Remember the time Murray told you, just before the news, that Lassie was three different dogs? And you had to have ice pressed against the back of your neck before you could go out?”
There was the main Lassie, of course. But there was also the stand-in used in rehearsals, and a stunt double and the fighter dog (the dog who rough-housed with the main Lassie when the script called for a fight scene).One more Lassie–MTM connection: Cloris Leachman, who played Phyllis Lindstrom, was the original Ruth Martin. Jon Provost, who played Timmy Martin: “Cloris did not feel particularly challenged by the role.”
Related reading
All OCA Lassie posts : MTM posts (Pinboard)
[An Oxford comma would make it clearer that the Times sentence is about four dogs, one of them not Lassie.]
comments: 7
One more: Ted played patriarch Ben Turner in the 70s Filmation cartoon Lassie’s Rescue Rangers for all 16 episodes of the series. Since he was already a Filmation mainstay, it was a natural fit.
Thanks for that, joecab. I guess once the Lassieverse gets hold of you, there’s no getting out.
And, once again, the Oxford comma clarifies!
You're probably familiar with the Oakhurst Dairy case, which resulted in a large monetary award, all based on the lack of an Oxford comma. (The decision may be found here, but I couldn't create a link to it for some reason: https://casetext.com/case/oconnor-v-oakhurst-dairy-1)
I found this interesting, not just for the discussion of the Oakhurst Dairy case, and the Oxford comma, in general, but for the lack of an Oxford comma in this:
"However, Chicago style does require Oxford commas. That’s the Chicago Manual of Style, which is commonly used by book publishers, academics and trade publications."
The blog article defends the use of the Oxford comma, criticizes the AP style for its lack of use of it, and still doesn't include an Oxford comma in the quote I pulled, because the site has adopted the AP style. Alanis Morissette would have a field day.
By the way, the Maine legislature, in a stubborn refusal to add the Oxford comma to the statute, amended it (in relevant part in Sec. 3(F)) as follows:
"The canning; processing; preserving; freezing; drying; marketing; storing; packing for shipment; or distributing of:
(1) Agricultural produce;
(2) Meat and fish products; and
(3) Perishable foods."
Where the (incorrectly used) semicolons in the leading sentence, except for before the word "or", were previously commas.
And that show, as I just discovered, overlapped with The Mary Tyler Moore Show. The writers were clearly having some fun.
I missed your comment, Joe, when I was writing my own.
I’ve never understood the AP preference. It’s so simple to include the comma, always, and thereby prevent occasional misreadings. The space-saving absence of the comma reminds me of the way Daily News used to spell cigarette as cigaret.
I remember posting about the dairy case. But what’s the Alanis Morisette connection? The only musical commentary on the Oxford comma that I know about is from Vampire Weekend. It was great fun when teaching to show Stephen Colbert challenging them about their position (back when he was The Colbert Report).
The Alanis Morisette reference is not about the comma, but about the irony of defending the Oxford comma, criticizing the AP style, and yet not using the Oxford comma in the quote I pulled.
Now I understand. Thanks, Joe.
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