INNER TOOB: MEMORY LANE: PATTY & CATHY!

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

MEMORY LANE: PATTY & CATHY!

How come nobody wrote in to Toobworld Central to let us know about this blipvert?

I guess that just shows to go ya how big a fanbase we really have, despite those impressive Site Meter numbers.....

Anyhoo, at least we're finally mentioning this during the month for the sign of the Gemini....

Since January, there's been a PSA for the Social Security department starring Patty Duke as her classic TV cousins Patty and Cathy Lane. They're both seen in black & white moments in their lives as mentioned in the show's theme song, as well as in recreations of actual scenes from the opening credits.

And then as they are reunited in the kitchen, color is restored. Patty - who is still married to Richard - complains about having to trudge down to Brooklyn Heights with all the paperwork needed to sign up for Social Security. But Cathy - always the practical one (who at 62 is looking like Cloris Leachman!) - clues her identical cousin into doing it all online. No matter what question Patty has about the process, Cathy always answers with "Online."

Patty: How did you get so smart?
Cathy: Online.

You can see her/their PSA blipvert at the Social Security site.

At YouTube, there are several variations on the original blipvert, including one in which Patty makes a serlinguist pitch to the audience about how it's easier to apply online for Social Security than it is to re-learn the Watusi. And in another, it's Cathy who takes the advice from Patty about applying online - which means that it must take place in an alternate TV dimension.

This makes Patty and Cathy Lane eligible for induction into the TV Crossover Hall of Fame, since Patty Duke also played both roles in a 1999 TV reunion movie special "The Patty Duke Show: Still Rockin' In Brooklyn Heights". (Because he was mentioned, I think Richard should be eligible as well someday as an honorary inductee.)