Few people know it, but apparently Walter Neff survived and somehow eventually escaped a long sentence. A credit to the penal system, he eventually assumed the role he apparently coveted--Everybody's Favorite Dad. Check him out in action (at 3 min), as he dispenses helpful advice. I didn't note it initially, but I should mention Katie's(his daughter-in-law's)career conflict that the plot centers on. Katie's career questions reflects the shifts Basinger points out in her analyses of later women's roles.
Peach rightly pointed out "everybody's favorite Dad" would only apply to the white, middle class demographic TV assumed at the time (and, more or less, to this day)rather than to the entire audience, many of whose Dads didn't look like Steve Douglas.
ReplyDeleteOther than my father, there were no non-whites in my world before 1972, when My Three Sons went off the air. All of my classmates were either WASP, Catholic, or Jewish (a large diocese and synagog were in the area). When I stated in class that I knew that other people had white fathers, I meant it! The extraordinarily analytical man I knew as father, was very far removed from the compassionate television persona of Steve Douglas. Because I was very young, the logical conclusion that I made (after watching My Three Sons) was that every (white) child that I knew all had father’s like Steve Douglas, ‘everybody’s favorite Dad.’
ReplyDeleteI had heard about this TV program but had not seen it before. I don't know about other people but "Dad" holds a large title. In today's society, Dad means a variety of definitions. Is there a difference between "Father" and "Dad"? I think it takes a special person to be a "dad" who is understanding and supportive, as television shows and how many families look for a "dad" role in their own lives.
ReplyDeleteI know that at the time, a single "Dad" was unheard of whre I grew up, even as a widower. I thought Stephen Douglas was someone to look up to and admire and still feel that way, but you couldn't find something like this today. But I also admire the idea that another male stepped up to help the father. How would this fit in with the idea of a "masculine" man? He was obciously at home in the kitchen.
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