THE HAT SQUAD: REMEMBERING ANN MORGAN GUILBERT

Just another Millie Monday.....

YETTA ROSENBERG:
[To Maxwell Sheffield}

She told me that you were going to come home from work, and kiss a perky brunette at the door, and take a terrible fall over the ottoman.

SYLVIA FINE:
Ma, that's the opening for 'The Dick Van Dyke Show'!

YETTA ROSENBERG:
I'm telling you, it was in this very house! 

[Yetta grabs Brighton Sheffield.]  

Here's Richie! 

[Yetta looks in the mirror.]  

And there's Millie!

('The Nanny' - "The Rosie Show")

I don't consider this a Zonk.  'The Dick Van Dyke Show' existed in the main Toobworld as a TV sitcom, even though Rob Petrie and his family & friends also existed in Earth Prime-Time.  That's because the show was based on the book by Rob Petrie.  It was then bought by Alan Brady to be a vehicle for himself when his variety show ended.  And that's what we see with the pilot "Head Of The Family".  However, just as it was in real life with Carl Reiner, it was agreed that Brady was not right for the role of Rob Petrie.  So the life story of Rob Petrie was recast with all of the same people we know from the real world who appeared in the actual 'Dick Van Dyke Show'.

And therefore, Yetta Rosenberg had seen the sitcom and incorporated it into her delusions.  As it happens, she did bear an incredible resemblance to not only to Millie Helper, but also to Ann Morgan Guilbert, who played Millie.

There is a Chicago psychologist named Dr. Bob Hartley who once had a very long dream which had been fueled by Japanese food.  In his nightmare scenario, Dr. Hartley was known as a Vermont innkeeper and author named "Dick Loudon".  It's most likely that Bob incorporated Ann Morgan Guilbert as Millie from the sitcom into the scenario as "Aunt Bess", the former mistress of George Utley's father back during WWII.  ("That's short for World War II." - George Utley)  I don't think that Dr. Hartley knew Millie Helper or Yetta Rosenberg, as they both lived in or near New York City while he was in Chicago.  

SHOWS CITED:

• 'The Nanny' - "The Rosie Show"
• 'Newhart' - "Georgie And Bess"
• 'The Dick Van Dyke Show' - "The Last Chapter"
• "Head Of The Family"

The missing links between those first three episodes are all thanks to Ann Morgan Guilbert, who played Yetta Rosenberg, Aunt Bess, and Millie Helper respectively.  

Sadly, Ms. Guilbert passed away this week.  This is my small tip of the hat to what she contributed to Toobworld as these characters and as herself.

Good night and may God bless.......