February 24, 1886
Inventor Thomas Edison was wed for a second time. The widower married Mina Miller in Akron, Ohio, at her family's home known as Oak Place. They honeymooned at the Seminole Lodge in Fort Myers, Florida.
One attendee of note at that wedding was a little girl named Martha. She was about four years old at the time, probably born in 1882. But it would not be until she was about 91 years of age before she came of notice in Toobworld.....
'THE MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW'
"LOU'S FIRST DATE"
WJM news producer Lou Grant was ready to start dating again after his divorce from Edie, and so he asked his associate producer, Mary Richards, to fix him up with somebody whom he could show off at a function which Edie would be attending with her new beau.
Due to a phone miscommunication, Lou got matched up with the intended woman's grandmother, Martha Dudley. This was the Martha who had been the flower girl at the Edison wedding. Martha never saw the WJM newscast because she didn't own a television set; she had a fireplace.
Between 1886 and 1973, all that is known about Martha is that at some point in her life she moved to Minneapolis. It was probably there where she married a man whose last name was Dudley and they had at least one son who had a daughter. That granddaughter was supposed to be Lou's date.
In keeping with Toobworld tradition, Martha Dudley passed away around the same time as the actress who played her, Florence Lake. Ms. Lake died April 11, 1980 at the age of 75. Martha Dudley, however, would have been 98.
One day, one of Florence Lake's TV characters will be inducted into the Television Crossover Hall of Fame, but it won't be Martha. And when I say "one" of her characters, I'm actually combining every role she played in TV shows set in the Los Angeles area where she is credited simply as "Old Lady" or "Woman". I don't see why they all couldn't be the same woman!!!! (It'll be one of my birthday honors listings, so I can get away with it.)
BCnU!
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