I love seeing Mary Wickes in movies and TV shows. Her face and voice are just instantly recognizable. Sez Wikipedia:
Mary Wickes (born Mary Isabella Wickenhauser; June 13, 1910 – October 22, 1995) was an American film and television character actress. She often played supporting roles as prim, professional women, secretaries, nurses, nuns, and housekeepers, who made sarcastic quips when the leading characters fell short of her high standards.
I first saw this marvelous comedienne in my favorite holiday film, “White Christmas.” She plays Emma, the front desk clerk and switchboard operator. And even though her character’s snooping results in the almost-sad-ending-but-you-know-it’ll-all-come-out-all-right, she’s still a likeable character. She even helps keep General Waverly (the equally stellar Dean Jagger) from seeing Bob Wallace’s pitch to the old Army gang on television:
“Oh, my word, if I wasn’t such a mean old biddy, I’d break right down and cry.”
I’m seeing a lot of Mary Wickes on the “Make Room For Daddy” reruns I DVR every week…she had a reocurring role as Danny’s press agent, and right now they’re running the “between wives” season where Danny Williams struggles to raise his kids while keeping his nightclub engagements. She pops up to give Danny fathering advice and even gets a dramatic spotlight in one episode, where she finds a boyfriend but it turns out he’s only interested in her to get his comedy material in front of Danny. (This reminds me of a “Dick Van Dyke” episode where Sally has a beau who’s only dating her to get her to write comedy material for him. But then, I’ve frittered away so many hours watching reruns that every episode reminds me of another episode.)
Mary Wickes also worked with Lucille Ball in 19 episodes of her various series. She played such an important role in Lucy history that she receives entrance applause in her appearance on the 1977 special “Lucy Calls The President.”
Her most famous appearance with the redhead is this classic scene as ballet instructor Madame Lamond (named after Bob Lamond, the announcer of Lucy’s old radio series “My Favorite Husband.”)
One last video…she was a frequent “Match Game” panelist and this is her first appearance, complete with passionate necking with Gene Rayburn. Never thought I’d type that sentence.
Mary Wickes, like Burt Mustin, William Schallert, Charles Lane, Margaret Hamilton and so many more, just worked non-stop. As late as 1997 she was doing animation voices! It’s fun to see her pop up.
Loved her in, where angels go..trouble follows