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Rhoda
Season One

Episode 9: "Rhoda's Wedding" (part 2)

First aired October 28, 1974

Writers: James L. Brooks, Allan Burns, David Davis, Lorenzo Music, Norman Barasch, Carroll Moore, David Lloyd.
Director: Robert Moore
Cast: Valerie Harper as Rhoda Morgenstern, Julie Kavner as Brenda Morgenstern, Harold J. Gould as Martin Morgenstern, Nancy Walker as Ida Morgenstern, David Groh as Joe Gerard, Cloris Leachman as Phyllis Lindstom, Mary Tyler Moore as Mary Richards, Georgia Engel as Georgette Franklin, Paula Victor as Joe's Mother, Bella Bruck as Ida's neighbor, Ed Asner as Lou Grant, Gavin Macleod as Murray Slaughter, L. Music as Carlton the Doorman

Special Guest Stars: The stars of TMTMS are all present, except for Ted Knight.

Series co-creator James L. Brooks makes an uncredited cameo as the man on the subway platform reading a newspaper.

Memorable Quotes:
Carlton: "Oh good, it'll give me a chance to kiss the bride."
Rhoda: "Carlton-- there's a buck in it for you if you keep your hands off the bride."

Mary: "Rhoda, I come from a small town in the Midwest, I can't say that."
Brenda: "I'm from the Bronx, I can."

Pop (quoting Ida): " 'Martin, is my crying making it hard for you to sleep?' "

Brenda: "And Sara Lee is just a cheescake."

How we rate it:
Sarah: 9.5
Suzie: 9.7

The Short Version: The second part of this two-hour long episode centers on the events of the happy day itself and the ceremony.

The Long Version: The episode opens with a recap of episode eight, before the credits roll.  While Rhoda helps Brenda with her makeup, Bren presents her with a gift: a marriage manual from 1900.  Ida calls as Rhoda does her hair and Rho sends Bren over to help calm Ida down.  We cut to Rhoda on the phone; she is trying to find out where Phyllis is and why she is so terribly late picking her up. Rhoda begins to panic.  She finds a sweater and goes out into the streets of New York City. Then we cut to Ida's, which is standing room only. Ma is starting to panic. Phyllis shows up at Ida and Martin's apartment... without Rhoda. In true Phyllis fashion, she's so self-involved that she has totally forgotten to pick her up.  We then cut back to Rhoda, who is still trying to find a taxi-- eventually she runs to the subway and catches it. Meanwhile, Phyllis is trying to apologize to the wedding party and all of the guests.   Georgette finally forgives her.  Rhoda finally makes it to the lobby of her parents' apartment.  Martin comes down to get her.  As they reach the apartment, Rhoda realizes that she doesn't have the bouquet and as Martin goes in to get it, they start playing The Wedding March.  Rhoda and Joe vow their love to one another and are finally married.

Special Notices:Special notices go to Cloris Leachman, Valerie Harper, and especially Harold Gould and Nancy Walker.  This episode, with its slew of brilliant writers, offers the talented cast especially good material this episode.

Rhoda's scene with Bella Bruck is terrific. As Rhoda is on her way into her wedding, in her wedding dress, Bella asks her "What's new" and Rhoda says "Nothing much."

What We Noticed:

The freeze frame at the beginning of this episode is the only thing cut out of part 2 in syndication.

As Rhoda is yelling for a taxi, a man yells at her, "Hey out of the street, sister!"

Richard Masur, who normally plays Nick Lobo, is not the accordionist at the wedding. Masur will appear in the next episode (number 10, 'Honeymoon,') where we will be told that he *was* the accordionist at the wedding. Don't believe it!

Valerie Harper is standing on 76th Street in Manhattan before she gets on the subway. However, the subway station she enters is in a completely different part of the city. There is no subway station near 76th Street.

This was one of the few episodes of "Rhoda" filmed on location in New York City.

This episode has extra incidental music, which is not heard in the other episodes, a special end theme, which incorporates bits of "Here Comes the Bride," and different end credits.

Obscure References:

Rhoda: "There you are-- you look beautiful Brenda, just like a painting."
Brenda: "Oh yeah-- I can even see the little numbers."

Paint by numbers kits were all the rage during the do it yourself trend of the 1970s and were popular into the early eighties.

70's Trendy Topics:

Rhoda: "There was this one wierdo who tried to write graffiti on me..."
Although graffiti has been around since ancient times, it coalesced into a cultural movement in this country in the seventies.

(From the wedding vows of Rhoda and Joe): "As long as you both shall love..."
Once again, we see the influence of the seventies culture of divorce...Joe has been married and divorced already and is all too personally aware of how marriage is not always 'til death do us part.

What's Going On

10/25/74 The U.S. Air Force successfully fires the first intercontinental ballistic missile from a plane.
10/26/74 $4.3 million in cash is stolen from Chicago’s Purolator Security-- the largest cash theft in U.S. history.
10/26/74 Dionne Warwick & Spinners ‘"Then Came You" is the #1 pop single.
10/27/74 The first televised showing of the megahit "The Poseidon Adventure" (ABC.)

Ring of Truth:
63 million viewers tuned in to watch this famous episode. Some threw their own "Rhoda and Joe" parties. And some even sent wedding gifts to Valerie Harper and David Groh.

Valerie Harper actually did run all over the city to film this episode, followed by a large camera crew.

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