So, What's Your Problem, Dolls??????????????????

                                                      "You know, I always knew Joyce was going to
                                                        be a psychologist.  I would call her to come to
                                                        the dinner table, and she would say, 'Mother,
                                                        what do you mean, by that?'"--
                                                           Dr. Joyce Brothers' mother on a TV
                                                                  commercial

                                          It is the end of an era, of sorts, loves!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Yesterday, at 85, Dr. Joyce Brothers, who pioneered psychology on TV and paved the way for such self-help gurus as Dr. Wayne Dyer and Dr, Phil, passed on, at the age of 85.  And in Fort Lee, New Jersey, of all places; the home or Mr. Richard Feder!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                          My earliest memories of Dr. Brothers came during my childhood, when I was eight or nine.  There was a morning series I was fond of, and would watch when school was out, called "Birthday House," hosted by a veteran kid show emcee named Paul Tripp!!!!!!!!!  The idea was a birthday party every day.  I can still recite the song; hell, I can sing it, but I will save that for another time.

                                           "Birthday House" ran for a full hour, which was pretty exceptional at the time for a children's TV show. It was followed by Dr. Joyce Brothers, and, while I really had no understanding of who she was, or what she was dealing with, her on camera presence was fascinating.  The theatrical in me always had an eye for that, even at this early age, loves!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                              Her blonde hair and soothing voice (the most soothing I had heard since Dr. Frances Howarth, of "Ding Dong School!!!!!!!!") made me want to listen to her.  And, as I grew older, the topics she dealt with became fascinating for me, as I came to understand them more and more.

                                                Dr. Brothers was a real Ph.D, darlings, Cornell and Columbia educated, no less.  She even had a sense of humor about herself, and it was wonderful to see her camping it up in self-parodies or guest appearances on mainstream TV shows.

                                                   For baby boomers like myself, it seems she had been around "forever." And the thought of her not was inconceivable. And yet that time has come. But she left behind a  visual, aural and written legacy that will be remembered.  Today's self-appointed gurus, I am sure, are aware they owe a debt of gratitude to her; where would they be, if not for she?

                                                      I shall miss Dr. Joyce Brothers.  But I just love that snappy answer she gave to  her mother, back when she was young--

                                                                                 "What do you mean, by that?"