By Lee Pfeiffer
Last Sunday, Mary Tyler Moore was honored with a special ceremony at The Players, the legendary club for the arts at New York's Gramercy Park. Miss Moore, who looked as stunning as ever, was obviously delighted to be among her friends and colleagues at the black tie event. She mingled during the cocktail hour, then laughed during the post-dinner on-stage tributes from Elaine Stritch, Bernadette Peters (who sang an impromptu song about her friendship with Moore) and sitcom director and writer Bill Persky (who wrote some of the best episodes of The Dick Van Dyke Show.) Persky pointed out that he had admired Moore long before he even knew what she looked like, as she was the sexy "legs" protruding from a dancing pack of cigarettes in a TV commercial. Persky also related that Moore had tested for the part of Danny Thomas' daughter in his sitcom, but Thomas turned her down because no one would believe the cute actress with the button nose could have been the off-spring of a man with a protuding schnozzola. A couple of years later, when casting for the role of Laura Petrie in The Dick Van Dyke Show, Thomas, who was producing the series, remembered Moore and said "Get me the girl without the nose!"
Following a gourmet dinner, Miss Moore was treated to a remarkable compilation of video clips from her career. The club's executive director John Martello, who created the video tribute, correctly observed that Moore's Mary Richards on The Mary Tyler Moore Show was the first "liberated" woman on TV - and became a role model for a generation of young girls.The clips also included Moore guest starring opposite Steve McQueen in Wanted: Dead or Alive and her extraordinary, Oscar-nominated performance in Robert Redford's Ordinary People.In her remarks on stage, Miss Moore spoke about her long battle against diabetes and announced her forthcoming book, which was written to help others cope with the disease. At the conclusion of the event, many attendees retired to the famous Grill Room where once the likes of Cagney and Sinatra held court. I was introduced to the seemingly ageless Tony Bennett and couldn't help but remind him of his performance as the immortal "Hymie Kelly" in the 1966 guilty pleasure The Oscar. "Oh God!", he exclaimed, "Why would anyone want to remember that!" I did assure him that, compared to Stephen Boyd's over-the-top performance, he came across looking like Olivier, which elicited a big laugh.Also in attendance was the great TV talk show host Dick Cavett, whose 1970s chat show won critical acclaim but fell victim to Johnny Carson's ratings juggernaut. When I told Cavett I used to watch the program regularly he joked, "So you were the one!"
In all, another memorable night on the town in good old Gotham.