GAME OF THE NAME - A VIEW OF PAROO

The sixth season finale of ‘Endeavour’ – “Deguello” - aired on PBS last night.  It had already been broadcast back in March in the United Kingdom.

Through the fifth season I was worried that TV Crossover Hall of Fame member Russell Lewis was pulling back on all the trivial connections he was liberally sprinkling throughout the earlier seasons.  But it looks like he was getting back to form with these four episodes.

Here’s one to kick off the week….

The assistant librarian at the Bodleian Library was named Lucy Paroo.  Musical fans should recognize that last name – Marian the Librarian is the leading lady in “The Music Man” and her full name is Marian Paroo.

“The Music Man” was performed on television in 2003, but I don’t include it in Earth Prime-Time, the main Toobworld.  Instead it is in a TV dimension in which the musical demon Mr. Sweet holds sway.  For Toobworld, “The Music Man” is a Broadway show and a movie.

Based on the age of Precious Mustapha, who played Lucy Paroo, I believe Lucy was born in 1947.  The musical debuted on Broadway in 1957 when Lucy was ten years old; and the movie came out when she turned fifteen, in 1962. 

The Broadway musical would not have had an effect on her, but she certainly could have seen the movie in 1962.  And it must have been quite a kick for her to see that Shirley Jones was playing a character with the same last name as she had.  And I think that might have started her thinking that perhaps she too could one day have a career as a librarian.

I realize it’s not the wild connection that some of Team Toobworld have come to expect from me, but sometimes it’s best to just go with a simple O’Bservation.  And in this case, it does sort of expand Lucy Paroo’s life beyond the episode into the greater world of the Toob.

BCnU!