Just Some Moore Durante

A month ago, my pal Mark Evanier wrote about a debate online about whether a video of the very old Jimmy Durante TV show from 1956 featured a very young Mary Tyler Moore, who began her career as a dancer.  You can read about it and see the video here.

(I'm a bit late writing about this here.  I did write to Mark, but the time needed to prepare the material for a column was interrupted by the trip to Chicago.)

As I love Jimmy Durante, and was intrigued by the mention of Mary Tyler Moore, like Mark I wasn't sure about what I saw in the video.  Though I leaned towards, “Hmm, maybe it is.”  So, I decided to do some research, which was very tough going.
 
But uphill as the effort was, after honing in on things to look for I did find on the iMDB database that the very next year, in 1957, Durante was in an episode of a variety show called Club Oasis.  And in the cast that night, Mary Tyler Moore is listed as “Chorus Girl.”
 
That isn’t proof, of course, that she’s in that video on his show – but enough evidence to make me keep looking.
 
What I next found was a customer review on Amazon of a DVD documentary about Jimmy Durante, where the person comments that Mary Tyler Moore is sitting next to Durante during an early production number.  Now, that, of course, isn’t proof either.  So, I went on YouTube to see if someone had posted the video of the DVD.  And…someone did.  So, I started scrolling through it…
 
And at the 10:40 mark, I found the scene that the guy was referring to.  And having watched it just once (let alone repeated viewings and pausing)…there is no question in my mind that it’s Mary Tyler Moore.  She’s sitting next to him for two minutes, so it’s not a case of a quick glance as she dances by.  It’s absolutely her, compounded by all those other “hints.”
 
Here’s the link – jump to the 10:40 mark and watch for the next two minutes.
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But if you’re swamped at the moment and don’t have the time to watch the video, here’s a screenshot I took.  I won't point out which of the women I'm certain is Mary Tyler Moore.  You take a look and decide if you can figure it out --

So, did anyone have trouble picking out the woman here who looks exactly like Mary Tyler Moore?
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​That’s pretty compelling, I think.  But when you see the scene in action for two minutes -- with her moving, thinking, smiling, turning and even a close-up for almost half a minute of just her and Durante, as she reacts to him, not merely a still photo -- it’s even more clear.

I understand why there is a debate from that video making its way around the Internet.  But given that there is documented evidence that it's on the record that she began her career as a dancer, and that she actually did really appear with Jimmy Durante the next year after that video and is listed as "Chorus Girl" and this video evidence, whether on his show or on the Club Oasis show the next year -- I can only state that I am not only positive that that is Mary Tyler Moore on Jimmy Durante's show...but I'm on the edge of bewildered why there is still any uncertainty.

And as long was we're talking about not just Mary Tyler Moore, but also Jimmy Durante, who as I said I love, I thought I'd give him his due and post one of my favorite numbers he did.  I know it was a staple for his act, and did it on TV several times, and that this isn't the best version -- but it's still a very good version, and the only one I could find.  It comes from April 4, 1970, and is the last original episode of a TV program, Jimmy Durante Presents the Lennon Sisters Hour.  This is his bit -- "A Piano is a Delicate Thing."

And yes, for anyone unsure, I'll end the debate here:  that is​ Jimmy Durante.