The last words of her NYT obituary are an Onion headline:Arguably Ms. Pleshette’s most memorable television moment was not in “The Bob Newhart Show” but in the final episode of “Newhart.” On May 21, 1990, Mr. Newhart’s character, Dick Loudon, was hit in the head by a golf ball and woke up to find himself in Dr. Robert Hartley’s bed, with his beautiful, unfailingly sane wife, Emily, at his side. The whole second sitcom had been a nightmare.
The episode was considered one of the most successful series finales in television history, partly because it managed to remain a secret until it was broadcast. As time passed, some found the scene a useful metaphor for hopes that a difficult situation might turn out to be just a bad dream. In 1999, a headline in the humor publication The Onion read, “Universe Ends as God Wakes Up Next to Suzanne Pleshette.”
And
here's the original Onion squib:
The 15-billion-year-old universe came to a surprise-twist end Tuesday, when God woke up next to actress Suzanne Pleshette. "What a crazy dream I just had," God said to Pleshette at the conclusion of the popular, long-running universe. "I was the Creator of all things, I had this crazy Son who was always getting arrested and wouldn't get a haircut, and My children were always hurting and killing each other in My name." Pleshette reassured God that He had imagined the whole thing and urged the beleaguered, well-intentioned deity to go back to sleep.
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29 comments:
I had a crush on Suzanne Pleshette when I was a boy in elementary school and the feeling never left me.
God she had a sultry voice!
A sultry voice... and lung cancer.
Do you think the two were connected?
I just learned for the first time about her delayed romance with Tom Poston. Sweet and touching.
...uh, isn't Sam the Butcher worthy of a mention on this Blog ?
Yikes, she was born on my birthday! Ernie Banks and Nolan Ryan also better not kick off soon...
She was born in Brooklyn Heights. I expect you'll scout out that location and post some photos. Noticed how many famous Brooklyn Heights folks have died while you're there?...Death blogging....Althouse laughs at death.
Poor Annie Hayworth.
If the Birds hadn't gotten her, the cigarettes would have.
Brett Farve just woke up next to Suzanne Pleshette and found out he was dead.
GIANTS WIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
GIANTS WIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
SUPERBOWL BABY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Great headline, Ann.
I always wanted to grow up and be Suzanne Pleshette. Beautiful, brunette, and brainy!
"...the beleaguered, well-intentioned deity..."
too funny!
God woke up next to Suzanne Pleshette and all He did was go back to sleep?
Suzanne Pleshette reprised the Newhart finale on "Saturday Night Live" in 1995 -- and she was still sexy.
Maxine, who's Sam the Butcher? Anyway, Corporal Henshaw also died yesterday.
Meade:
God she had a sultry voice!
Ann:
A sultry voice... and lung cancer.
Meade:
Do you think the two were connected?
She was a heavy smoker for 50 years. If you watch some of her earlier stuff, like say as in the Hitchcock film The Birds, you'll see that her voice wasn't like that back then.
So, yes, it unfortunately appears that there was a connection.
But she was a beautiful woman and had a persona that just about everybody liked.
Then obviously it was a smoky voice, not sultry.
Smoldering?
If God woke up next to Laura Petrie they would have separate beds.
If God woke up next to Ann Althouse He would ask her to quit typing.
If God woke up next to Christopher Hitchens He would be alone.
In the background:
Al di la del bene piu prezioso, ci sei tu.
Al di la del sogno piu ambizioso, ci sei tu.
Suzanne: "What does Al Di La mean?"
Troy: "It's kind of hard to explain. It means 'far far away, beyond the beyond, beyond this world.' That's how much he loves her in this song."
Ci sei tu, al di la, ci sei tu per me.
La la la la.
La la la la.
Ci sei tu.
Ms. Pleshette's passing brings up a fond memory of my late mother, who loved movies and TV (and always beat her daughter the smart-ass at Trivial Pursuit thanks to her complete mastery of "Entertainment" and "Sports and Leisure").
I was sixteen and watching with my mom when the final episode of "Newhart" aired. Immediately after the golf ball hit, my mom turned to me and said, "You just wait. He's going to wake up in bed with Suzanne Pleshette."
I said, "Who's Suzanne Pleshette?" I still remember Mom hooting with satisfaction at her correct prediction of the ending.
Wonder if Daryl and his other brother Daryl will attend her funeral?
I did not know any of this.
Sam the Butcher was Alice's boyfriend on the Brady Bunch. Not sure why Maxine made the reference.
Sam the Butcher was Alice's boyfriend on the Brady Bunch. Not sure why Maxine made the reference.
Because character actor Allen Melvin just died, too. Along with Sgt. Bilko and the Brady Bunch, he was the voice of Magilla Gorilla. IMDB reports he appeared in episodes of Grindl and Hank, as well.
Actually Sam the Butcher was a button man for the Chicago combination and worked with Paul the Waiter and Vinnie Sausages after the suicide of Frank Niti.
Sam the Butcher was also one of Maxine's lovers in her heyday as a Hollywood party girl in the '40. They had a three way with Virginia Hill in a booth in the Brown Derby in 1949.
Sam was not a hitman, despite his nickname. He was actually more of financial wizard similar to Meyer Lansky in a weaselly sort of way. He got his nickname because of his habit of screaming at the top of lungs "Eat the Meat, BITCH!" while shoving the sausage to whatever bimbo he was banging at the time. He was in fact Jewish and first came up on the lower east side in the Bugs and Meyer gang. He is the reason for Maxine's long time anti-semitism
Jef said: I had a crush on Suzanne Pleshette when I was a boy in elementary school and the feeling never left me.
Yeah, me too. I'm bummed.
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