"Family's" 1978 Episode, "Sleeping Gypsy," Proves That When One Does Not Fit In With Suburbia, The Place To Go To Is New York City!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                     As so many of us, including myself, did.

                                    But before going on, does anyone recognize the actress pictured?  I did not, at first, when viewing the episode, but that happens to be Dinah Manoff, Lee Grant's daughter, a good two years before her breakthrough performance as Karen in 1980's "Ordinary People."  And, who knew then, that, a decade later, in 1988, Dinah and Kristy McNichol would be acting again, as siblings, on the comedy series "Empty Nest," with late and wonderful Richard Mulligan, as their father?

                                     Anyway, this episode is pretty much their show.  Though Sada Thompson, as Kate, gets in a few choice words about friendship.

                                     Now, let me say something about Buddy.  In retrospect, it is interesting to watch Kristy play her, considering how she turned out, which is just fine, with me.  But Buddy struggles, in the face of competition from her older sister, Nancy, (wonderfully played by Meredith Baxter Birney) who was something of a high school golden girl, one of the popular kids.  I get Buddy here, because I, too, wanted that.  As it does often, "Family" used its characters and stories as tools for learning.  Nancy's lesson was that high school golden girls don't always turn out as promisingly as they should.  They go on to struggle, too.

                                      "Sleeping Gypsy<" which is less heartbreaking than the last two "Family " episodes I wrote about, concerns Buddy, torn between fitting in with her friends who are on the Dance Decoration Committee, and her friendship with Mara Ireland (Dinah Manoff) an artsy type, who is amazingly talented, dresses like Annie Hall, (very "in," back in 1978) and full of creative ideas, like decorating her bedroom in Japanese, or altering the art work of the dance theme to a tropical jungle one.

                                         But this is Pasadena, California, the home of the Tournament Of Roses Parade, so conformity rules, and someone like Mara does not fit in.  Things come to a head between Buddy and Mara, who seems a neglected child, because her parents are always going away and leaving her alone.  When she seems to fail to come through on her artistic promise, Buddy and the others turn on her.  And it does not help that the Lawrences have taken Mara in.

                                         Mara has an Aunt Rita, who lives in New York City, and says she can come there anytime she wants.  Mara's mother disapproves of her sister living in New York--aha!!!!!!--but Aunt Rita and Mara strike up a relationship by correspondence.

                                            When Pam's (the head of the Dance Decoration Committee) idea falls apart, they all go into the art room to look at what Mara's done, thinking they will have to use it, no matter how crappy it may be.  They are awestruck, and so was I, by the color, and brilliance of detail in Mara's work.  Buddy instantly realizes how wrong she is, how her mother was right.  She calls Kate, to speak to Mara, but is told Mara is running away to her aunt, in New York.

                                               The final scene between the girls at the bus station is poignant.  Buddy apologizes, praises Mara's work, tells her the others love it and apologized.  Mara is glad, but knows, no matter what, she will never fit in here, which is why, she tells Buddy, she is going to live with her aunt, in New York.  I thought there might be a moment where Mara would change her mind, but "Family" was a show that had a lot of integrity for its time.  So, while the girls vow friendship, even as they diverge on to other paths, Mara does get on the bus and heads to the Big Bad Apple.

                                                 I got where Buddy was coming from, but when she temporarily dissed Mara, this was one moment when I did not like her.  But, thanks to Kate pointing the way, she teaches all of us a lesson about friendship with non-conformists, and the option all non-conformists have in this country--get the hell out of the Conformist Capital where you were raised, and head for New York!

                                                   Which is where this is being written from, darlings!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!