I don’t watch a lot of prime time television- I’m no elitist. I have my peculiar tastes just as everyone does. I can just as readily be entertained by the Internet. But, what I like to do is turn on the tv with the remote control provided by my local cable company and click the menu guide. It displays to the screen a time calendar in grid form of all shows by channel with a brief synopsis of each. I go up and down the roster stopping to read the few description capsules that interest me.
One that usually catches my eye is TV Land. The station shows mostly old sitcoms from the 1950’s through the end of the last century. It has recently started airing brand new, first-run shows starring actors and actresses from many of the shows of the older vintage. One of the shows listed was headlined by Betty White. The lady is eighty-nine and still cooking. In the brief write-up the menu guide indicated that Mary Tyler Moore would be guesting with her.
I flipped to the TV Land station and got ready to watch the show as it was soon airing. In the opening scene, Betty is sitting inside a prison cell expressing her woes to herself and anyone else nearby willing to listen. Lying on the other cot with her back to the camera was a tough talking dame who is commiserating with Betty. Eventually, she turns to sit up and face the camera. Instantly she is recognized as Betty’s longtime friend and cast mate Mary Tyler Moore. One closer, intensified look, though, made me shudder. Mary looked like her face had been run over by a car. She was the Exhibit A of the reason not to get a facelift- in fact, probably more than one.
What had happened to sweet Mary, the reason for Dick Van Dyke’s affection and devotion fifty years earlier? What is the vanity in a human being that causes one to torture his or her face so that it won’t sag? I know that she had gone through issues in her life such as the loss of a son at the age of 24 due to accidental gun play. She had also dealt with the plague of Juvenile Diabetes that not only affects ones physical but also emotional health. But, dammit, was it that necessary to further ravage her health as a sacrifice to false notions that anyone cared that she aged? Her dear friend Betty accepted her own loss of glamor with dignity and humor and became more the loved for it.
Joan Rivers is another who has opened herself to ridicule. Jennifer Gray had her nose cut down to a button and she does look prettier but she lost the personality that made her a winner with breakout roles in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and Dirty Dancing. Frankly, I found her attractive with the big nose.
Not just to call out women but even Kenny Rogers made a mockery of his career by doing a total re-do of his previously rugged looks into what is now a caricature of a man with a plan.
The E’ Entertainment Channel used to run a pseudo documentary show chronicling several people’s efforts to have plastic surgery done not only to their face but other parts of the body. Granted, some people truly needed work done. But others were left with scars that will never heal.
I’ve read and heard of some women who have had certain parts of their body, ahem, perked up to give them a more rounded look. I’ve not seen any up close nor would know for certain even if I did see them. Who knows- maybe there is an uplifting message to this feel good story.