Remember those eight notes, darlings????? During my formulated Sixties childhood, Saturday was THE big television night!!!! And each Saturday, around 8:30, on CBS, would appear the image of Fred MacMurray, sitting in a kitchen, saying, "Hi! Welcome to our show...for Quaker Oats Company," and the like. The image would dissolve into the cartoon above, the music would start, and the foot farthest right would start tapping. Often, mine too. Over all this, an announcer would announce the title--"My Three Sons," following that with, as words appeared on the screen, "starring Fred MacMurray...
pause...and, as Uncle Charley, William Demarest." Followed, unvoiced by the boys ..."And Don Grady as Robbie....Stanley Livingston as Chip...Barry Livingston as Ernie." Saturdays were just not complete without this!!!!!
So, it was multiply sad when I heard of the death of Don Grady. Not only was it like bookmarking the end of an era, it revived memories of the death, in 2001 (can you believe it has been eleven years already????) of the passing his younger sister, Lani O'Grady, who was about my age (!!!!) and, of course, best known for playing eldest, intellectual daughter, Mary Bradford, on the TV series "Eight Is Enough," with Dick Van Patten, who, at 83, is still thriving!!!!!! Darlings, I am telling you, when Lani played Mary, it made me want to go into the sciences!!!!! And I never even came close to taking Advanced Placement Biology!!!!!!!
But, back to Don!!!! His passing is sad, not only for the above, but because, in many ways, it does mark the end of an era. Not only was Don Robbie; earlier, he and another "My Three Sons" alum, Tim Considine (who played oldest OLDEST son, Mike) were both Disney Mouseketeers during the height of
TV's "Mickey Mouse Club" craze!!!! How historical is that?????
Actually, I related more to that, than Robbie. There was something novel about "My Three Sons" at its time--an all-male household, ruled by Uncle Charley, in an era when the kitchen was No Man's Land, for men!!!!!!!!!! Especially as represented on TV, then!!!!!!!!! I never felt like one of these boys, or wanted to be (though Ernie and I were close to the same age!!!!) but, like so many of those shows back then, it was comforting to children struggling to grow up in a world where they could see problems ahead, but where, here, those problems could be eradicated in half an hour. And some may have been fractured by this, psychologically!!!! But, for me, it was a chance to unwind and relax after a long week; rather like what I do now; only, in an interesting change of times, I have gone from sitcoms to serial killers!!!!!!!!!!
Don Grady's passing leaves a void in the memories of those of us who grew up watching "My Three Sons." And it is a poignant reminder of our own, encroaching mortality.
So, a fond farewell to Don, and, again, to Lani!!!! Footsteps on Heavenly clouds will be tapping!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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