The character of Thelma “Mama” Harper originated as a reoccurring skit, “The Family,” on The Carol Burnett Show. Mama and “The Family” made their debut in 1974 in the skit entitled, “Phillip’s Visit.” The original iteration of Mama featured her as a ill-tempered, somewhat senile, and very quick to insult anyone, even members of her family. Vicki Lawrence, then in her 20s (!) played Mama, with Carol Burnett as Eunice and Harvey Korman as Eunice’s husband, Ed.
In 1983, “The Family” sketch was spun-off into a television sitcom, Mama’s Family, starring Vicki Lawrence, now in her 30s, playing the 60-something Mama. Korman appeared at the beginning of each episode as “Alistair Quince,” to introduce the next installment of Mama’s Family. Korman and Burnett would appear sporadically as Eunice and Ed. New family members were added, including Mama’s son, Vinton aka “Vint” (Ken Berry), neighbor and soon-to-be Vint’s new wife, Naomi (Dorothy Lyman), and Vint’s teenaged children, Buzz (Eric Brown) and Sonja (Karin Argoud). Future stars of The Golden Girls, Betty White and Rue McClanahan, played Mama’s daughter Ellen and Mama’s sister Fran, respectively.
This iteration of Mama’s Family ran for two seasons until it was canceled. The first two seasons were put into reruns and unexpectedly performed well. A couple years later, in 1986, show producer Joe Hamilton (also Carol Burnett’s ex-husband) revived the series for first-run syndication. Hamilton retooled the series. The character of Mama was softened to be less mean and more caring towards her family. However, she was still quick with a smart and witty retort. Vint’s children were removed from the series and never mentioned again. In the original series, Vint was more intelligent and more apt to stand up to his mother. In the new version, Vint is a bit of a dope; but is more loveable. The Naomi character was changed from being sassy and also willing to stand up to Thelma to being a bit of a bimbo and more shrill.
By now, Betty White and Rue McClanahan were busy on The Golden Girls, so their characters did not make an appearance in the new version of the series. Carol Burnett and Vicki Lawrence were somewhat estranged during this time, so Burnett’s character, Eunice, was only mentioned by name. White’s character, Ellen, was also only mentioned by name. McClanahan’s character, Fran, was killed off in the first episode of the new series, with the group arriving home from her funeral. Fran died after choking on a toothpick at the local watering hole, The Bigger Jigger. New characters were added to the series, neighbor Iola (Beverly Archer) and Mama’s grandson (Eunice’s son), Bubba (Allan Kayser). In my opinion, the second version of the series is the best version of the series.
Now onto the episode of Mama’s Family I wanted to discuss, “The Big Nap.” This episode originally aired on January 20, 1990. Throughout the second iteration of the series, Mama is established to be a big fan of classic film. She and Iola watch Bette Davis in “Now Voyager” in an episode on Valentine’s Day and in another episode, Mama falls asleep in the middle of a Deanna Durbin marathon. In “The Big Nap,” Mama is ready to settle in for another evening of the “Private Eye Film Festival,” featuring a triple feature of private eye films. Mama says that she’s planning to watch “Danger My Lovely,” “Murder My Pretty,” and “Kiss Me, Vicious.” The previous night she watched “Kiss of Danger,” “Murder My Vicious,” and “Kill Me, My Lovely.” These films are obviously all fictitious titles, but are similar to well-known film noir titles (“Murder My Sweet,” “Kiss Me Deadly,” “Kiss of Death,” etc.).
Before Mama starts watching her films, neighbor Iola shows up with some startling news: her notoriously large and reclusive mother is missing. While Vint, Naomi, Bubba and Iola are out looking for her, Mama settles in her her movie marathon. Soon, we hear some stereotypical film noir music and typical private eye type narration. It’s obviously fake audio made for the episode, but it sets the tone for the type of film Mama is watching. Mama then starts to feel guilty for not spending her time looking for Iola’s mother. She is then reminded of another private eye film she watched. This then segues into Mama daydreaming about being a private eye.
The scene transitions into sepia tone. Mama provides the narration for the story. She is “T. Harper,” Private Eye. She dons a fedora and trench coat and begins investigating her new case. She works from her home, aka her “showplace,” because she prefers it. Mama’s narration is very funny and uses a lot of the common film noir tropes: slang, metaphors, a jaded tone, her personal thoughts as to what’s going on, a feeling of weariness, etc.
“Things got so bad, I took up hitting the sauce. Just my luck, it needed oregano and I was out.”
Mama then says this funny line:
“This was a job for my girl Friday. Her name was Tuesday. She started on a Monday, and by Wednesday, she’d asked for Thursday off.”
Very cleverly, all the other family members and Iola are seen as characters in Mama’s dream, sporting their familiar character traits. Naomi is Tuesday, Mama’s Girl Friday. She speaks with a thick Brooklyn accent and is a complete bimbo. She’s seen perched at a typewriter, which is what she was doing in the episode prior to Mama’s daydream. Tuesday’s boyfriend, is Vint aka “Johnny Deadbolt,” a take-off of Vint’s job as a locksmith. Johnny is a typical dimwitted gangster. Mama’s neighbor, Iola, shows up in the femme fatale role, as “Miss Neighborly,” a take-off of Mary Astor’s “Miss Wonderley” from The Maltese Falcon. Miss Neighborly has hired Mama to find her mother. Iola’s tendency to whip up meals on the fly is spoofed with her randomly making an eggplant parmigiana in Mama’s kitchen. Throughout Mama’s dream, Miss Neighborly keeps making random meals. She also pays Mama for her work on the case in coupons. Finally, Bubba is Miss Neighborly’s brute of a “chauffeur,” a local hood named Lucky. He also uses a New York-esque accent. All the characters are suspects in Mama’s eyes.
“Coupons. More coupons than I’d ever seen in my whole life. Thirty-cents off cornflakes. Fifty cents off ground chuck. Why, there was even a two-for-one on oregano?”
Mama’s dream ends with her identifying Miss Neighborly as the culprit. She also figures out that Miss Neighborly’s mother wasn’t missing–in fact, she had no mother. Tapping into Iola’s homemaker traits, Miss Neighborly is revealed to have invented a mother who developed fantastic recipes that were shared with the world. Her mother was a sensation, and Miss Neighborly became tired of not getting any credit, so she concocted this story to get rid of her mother.
“I wanted to be more than an orphan. I wanted to be the finest cook in America and make a fortune on my recipes…I was tired. Tired of her getting all the glory. They were my recipes. It was my book. She didn’t create caramel crab cake surprise. I did. Me, the daughter. But mother said, ‘The daughter had to stay in the background.’ But I am the mother. And the daughter. Mother, daughter. Mother, daughter…”
The episode ends with Naomi, Vint, Bubba, and Iola returning, stating that they’d located Iola’s mother. It seems that she heard the ice cream truck and had followed it, until realizing she was three blocks away. Tired, she stopped in the Donut Hut, seated on the first three stools. Mama decides that she’d be better off watching a Shirley Temple Film Festival, instead of a Private Eye Film Festival.
