Over the past week, I’ve been getting bits and pieces of an old TV show popping up in my memory, starting with the punchline. Drove me crazy at first, trying to identify it, but the more I think about it, the more I think it was a Mary Tyke Moore episode.
Am I remembering this MTM episode correctly?
Mary discovers it’s Lou’s birthday, plans a surprise party for him at her apartment. Invites Lou over on the pretext of some work that needs to be done. (Nowadays, of course, no way Lou would turn up in the evening to a single woman employee’s apartment to do some work, but autre temps, autre moeurs. )
But Lou rumbles what’s going on and is about to leave because he hates birthdays. But then the gang arrives and is waiting outside. Mary talks him into staying and he says he can only stay for a little while.
Mary opens the door and a huge crowd of well-wishers comes in. Lou dives into the crowd, shaking hands.
Then they suddenly realise Lou just walked through the crowd and left. They turn to Mary, who is nonplussed, but stammers out “He did say he could only stay for a little while.”
It was that punch line that I remembered, and the rest I’ve gradually reconstructed.
Do I have it right?
