Why an ALICE blog?

In the early 1980s (after Celia Weston joined the cast), this billboard stood just a block or two from Warner Brothers Studios in Burbank in tribute to ALICE.   I have never seen photos of it before or since, so enjoy!

I really don't recall the first ALICE episode that I watched.   I know I missed both the pilot (featuring Alfred Lutter) and the season one premiere.   But somewhere along the way in 1976 or early 1977, I found myself strangely drawn to CBS' television sitcom ALICE, and would rearrange my schedule (yep, even as a 12 year old) to ENSURE that I was able to watch on Sunday nights.

I have thought back on what it was about ALICE that so strongly endeared me to that show.   I am still not entirely certain.   I did like all of the characters, but none of them were an absolute favorite to the point that I liked the show solely because of this character or that.  

I suppose I'd have to go with the fact that I just liked the business setting of a diner, as my father owned a supermarket at the time, and being the impressionable age of 12, it all seemed kind of real watching it every week.   I also was within six months of Philip McKeon's age, and like Tommy, I spent a great deal of time in my father's business, so seeing Tommy in the diner was rather intriguing to me.   I mean, what other sitcom had kids spending time at their parent's workplace on such a regular basis?  

From the beginning, I thought of Alice (Linda Lavin) as the star, though I knew nothing about her personally.   I think my brother caught on before I did that at some point, Alice's husband had died in a truck wreck.    As was common with sitcoms in those days, most episodes were not connected with each other, and a lot of background and continuity was lost by not seeing every episode.

When we first started watching the show (I recruited the whole family to watch, mind you!), my father made the remark that Linda Lavin was Italian.   This illustrates how little we knew about diversity ... while Lavin isn't the most common Jewish name you'll find, it would probably NEVER be mistaken as Italian.   But Linda had dark hair and perhaps that's all the classification my father could come up with.   The show did nothing to help us figure out more about the cast, as we didn't have resources to go to (like the internet).   So at first, my family didn't know that Linda and Marvin Kaplan ("Henry") were Jewish, nor that Vic Tayback ("Mel") was Syrian/Lebanese, as if it really mattered.   I would find out these things myself, though, as a kid who read EVERYTHING I could find about the show and it's cast.    But just to let you know, I went into the whole ALICE fanship thing pretty stupid to about everything in the world.   (If it isn't highly obvious, my family background is about as middle America white bread as you get.)   I learned much about the world, and in particular, acting, television production and Hollywood, just by reading EVERYTHING I could find on the subject of ALICE or its stars.

Over the years, I remained extremely loyal.   I read somewhere that I could write to Linda Lavin at CBS-TV (7800 Beverly Blvd., which I still remember).   I took the time to write Linda a letter (there's no telling what I said -- it was either typed or handwritten, I don't recall which, but no doubt complimentary.)    Linda actually answered me with the nicest reply, including a cool photo (which I still have to this day), and invited me to see the show taped at Warner Brothers.   Well, I'm sure I wasn't the ONLY person she invited, but it felt quite personal, and I began negotiating for my family to take a trip to Burbank and see ALICE taped.  

We would make the ALICE pilgrimage three times (1981, 1982 and 1983).   I will leave more to write about later, but suffice to say that I became one of the show's most dedicated and perhaps knowledgeable fans.   I met most all of the cast, some more than once.  ALICE grew larger than life to me, if it wasn't from the very beginning, and I enjoy many elements of it to this day.   This blog will highlight a lot of my experiences, my thoughts and my findings.   Hope you enjoy it!!