THE HAT SQUAD: REMEMBERING POLLY BERGEN

Actress Polly Bergen has passed away.  Her death had a resonance with me only because she shared the same birth year as my mother.  But she did have several roles in the greater TV Universe that I felt should be given special mention.....

POLLY BERGEN

'THE POLLY BERGEN SHOW'

As a member of the League of Themselves, Ms. Bergen displayed her serlinguistic skills in addressing the Trueniverse audience.  I would imagine this series also exists in Earth Prime-Time while elements from it would be collected in Skitlandia.

HELEN MORGAN

'PLAYHOUSE 90' - "THE HELEN MORGAN STORY"

Morgan was a torch singer and actress from the 1920's and 30's who was most famous for playing Julie LaVerne in two major theatrical productions of "Show Boat" as well as in two movie adaptations.  But her life was marred by alcoholism and she died of cirrhosis at the age of 41.  Ms. Bergen was the first to play her in TV (DInah Shore would do so in 1983, but that would be relegated to Skitlandia.)  The Cineverse portrayal of Helen Morgan's life would go to Ann Blyth in a biopic that would be her last role.

CLAIREE BELCHER

'STEEL MAGNOLIAS'

This was a failed TV pilot for a series based on the hit movie, but which CBS burned off as a TV movie during the summer of 1990.  Ms. Bergen played the role first assayed by Olympia Dukakis in the Cineverse.  This would be the first of two televersions for Clairee Belcher, who would also be played by Phylicia Rashad in Black Toobworld.  Ms. Bergen's version would be in Toobworld-MOTW and until such time as a full TV series is broadcast of "Steel Magnolias", this will also be found in the main Toobworld.

RHODA HENRY

'THE WINDS OF WAR'

'WAR AND REMEMBRANCE'

Even though Polly Bergen played the same role in these two mini-series based on the novels by Herman Wouk, Rhoda Henry was two different women - each the doppelganger of the other in two different dimensions.  Although many of the cast, like Ms. Bergen, carried over to the sequel, too many of the major players were recastaways.  It would be impozz'ble, just impozz'ble, to find a reasonable splainin and still keep it believable.  (For example: Ali McGraw to Jane Seymour as Natalie Jastrow; Jan-Michael Vincent to Hart Bochner as Byron Henry; Ben Murphy to Michael Woods as Warren Henry; and John Houseman to John Gielgud as Aaron Jastrow.  Even Adolph Hitler was recast!)

KATE ALLEN

'COMMANDER IN CHIEF'

This role was something of an in-joke for Ms. Bergen.  In an alternate Toobworld in which Geena Davis played the President of the United States, Kate Allen was the mother of the President. (The POTUS of Toobworld must always be the same as that in the Trueniverse.)  Decades earlier over in the Cinverse, Ms. Bergen herself was the President in "Kisses For My President" (which is probably one of two movies she is best known for; the other being the original "Cape Fear".)  

STELLA WINGFIELD

'DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES'

Another from the "Mom" stage of Ms. Bergen's career, in which she played Lynette's over-bearing mother in one of the most popular TV series from the middle of the new millennium's first decade.

DORIS CAMPBELL

'BABY TALK'

The first of her recurring roles as the main character's Mom.  This was a series based on the movie in which Life was observed by a "talking" baby.  (Okay, his inner thoughts.....)

JANICE GRAHAM & CATHY BRANDON

'DR. KILDARE' - "THE DARK SIDE OF THE MIRROR"

From the IMDb:

A woman will die unless she receives a kidney from her estranged twin sister, but the sister, a model, is unwilling to undergo the surgery to donate it.

I only bring this one-shot (technically a two-shot?) appearance to show that "twins" of Ms. Bergen's characters exist in Toobworld because.....

FRAN FELSTEIN

'THE SOPRANOS' - "IN CAMELOT"

Fran was the mistress of Tony's late father and she regaled him with stories about her relationship with him and with anecdotes from her own life (including a liaison with JFK, but that could have been a tall tale). 

I'm thinking "Felstein" was her married name and that she might even be the twin sister to any number of her guest star roles in other shows:

• EMMA JULIEN: 'JAKE & THE FATMAN' - "BY MYSELF"
• DR. JOCELYN LAIRD: 'MURDER, SHE WROTE' - "SCHOOL FOR SCANDAL"
• EVELYN TAYLOR: 'MY TWO DADS' - "JOEY'S MOTHER-IN-LAW"
• ELIZABETH HASTINGS: 'HOTEL' - "IMAGES"
• ESTHER BRANDELL: 'FANTASY ISLAND' - "LADY OF THE HOUSE/MRS. BRANDELL'S FAVORITES"
• CRYSTAL COE: 'ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS' - "YOU CAN'T TRUST A MAN" 
• BARBARA FOX: "PERRY MASON - THE CASE OF THE SKIN-DEEP SCANDAL"

Among others.....

About the only roles she played as one-shot guest appearances who could not have been a twin sister to Fran Felstein would be in those shows from a different time period like 'Wagon Train' and 'Ellery Queen'.  And Judge Deborah in two episodes of 'Twice In A Lifetime' was (is) some kind of angelic being.....

As for her other TV roles, I think most of the TV movies would remain in Toobworld-MOTW and her appearances on shows like 'The Red Skelton Hour' would be in Skitlandia.

Here's one more theory of relateeveety - Could it be that her roles as Dana Pierce in a two-part 'The Love Boat' ("The Spoonmaker Diamond/Papa Doc/The Role Model/Julie's Tycoon") and as Dana Greenberg in the TV movie "How To Pick Up Girls!" be the same woman?  At best, I think we could say that they are the same woman in two different TV dimensions (Earth Prime-Time & Toobworld-MOTW) whose lives took different paths, based on the difference in their last names.

Good night and may God bless Polly Bergen.....