Thelma Harper

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Thelma Mae Crowley-Harper
First appearance	"Vint and the Kids Move In"
Last appearance	"Bye-bye–Baby!"
Created by	Dick Clair Jenna McMahon
Portrayed by	Vicki Lawrence
Episode count	130
Information
Nickname(s)	"Mama"
Aliases	Thelma Crowley (maiden name)
Gender	Female
Age	60s
Date of birth	March 17, 1925
Occupation	Church lady, Customer consultant, Supermarket checker, Travel agent, Cashier, Mayor
Title	Mayor of Raytown, President of Church Ladies League
Spouse(s)	Carl Harper (1942-1973)
Children	Ellen Jackson Eunice Higgins Vinton Harper
Relatives	Fran Crowley (sister; deceased) Effie Harper (sister-in-law) Grandma Crowley (mother; deceased) Clyde Crowley (brother) Uncle Oscar (uncle; deceased) Gert Corey (cousin) Cousin Lydia (cousin) Aunt Ina (aunt; deceased) Cousin Leota (cousin) Uncle Don (uncle) Aunt Lorraine (aunt) Cousin Cora (cousin) Cousin Ludie (cousin; deceased) Aunt Mae (aunt; deceased) Aunt Eloise (aunt; deceased) Grandma Harper (mother-in-law; deceased) Uncle Vurne (brother-in-law; deceased) Aunt Ada (sister-in-law; deceased) Effie Harper (sister-in-law) Aunt Sonya (sister-in-law; deceased) Roy Harper (brother-in-law) Aunt Myrtis (aunt by marriage; deceased) Uncle Bertram (uncle by marriage; deceased) Uncle Willis (uncle by marriage; deceased) Cousin Iggy (cousin by marriage) Cousin Ida Sue (cousin by marriage) Aunt Fern (aunt by marriage) Aunt Penelope (sister presumbly, deceased) Cousin Lucille (cousin, deceased) Cousin Leroy (cousin; deceased)

This article is about the fictional character. For the member of the Tennessee Senate, see Thelma Harper (politician).

Thelma Mae Crowley Harper (Born on March 17th, 1925 and better known as "Mama"), is a fictional character, who originally appeared in the ongoing The Family sketches on The Carol Burnett Show, and later in the sitcom, Mama's Family. She was portrayed by Vicki Lawrence. In her autobiography, Vicki called Thelma, "the only role which I got to go to makeup to get ugly!" Thelma was Lawrence's most famous role.

As between The Family sketches, the NBC version of Mama's Family, and the syndicated version, Thelma Harper went through many altering traits. On The Family sketches, Mama was always grumpy and trying to start arguments, as the sketches were full of bickering between she, her daughter Eunice Higgins, and her son-in-law Ed Higgins. She was also quite senile, dependent, and behaved more elderly on The Family. The NBC version saw the most easygoing version of Mama, as she was cool, calm, and collected, and known for her wisecracking remarks. By the time the syndicated version came out, Mama became loud, crude, with a smart mouth. Unlike the Family sketches, in the syndicated version, Mama didn't argue nearly as much with her family, but had a lot of control over them instead. Also, more than any other version, the syndicated version saw the most energetic, independent, and least senile version of Mama. For instance, Mama was involved in the Church Ladies League, dirty dancing, and various other activities in the syndicated version of the show. Mama could also be cheerful in the syndicated version, unlike The Family sketches.

[edit] Childhood

She was born Thelma Mae Crowley in on March 17th, 1925 in Raytown, Missouri to a farmer who spent most of his time with his favorite son, Clyde, and prize-winning hen, Bonita and a mother, who was a "she-devil" put Thelma still showed her some respect. Thelma and her younger sister, Fran, had a close relationship ever since Frannie saved Thelma as little girls when they went camping together. Thelma took tap dancing lessons as a child, along with her future sister-in-law, Effie Harper.

Thelma had close relationships with her cousins as well. She and her "perfect" cousin, Lydia, who was 6-months younger than Thelma use to have sleepovers as little girls. Thelma and her other cousin, Gert use to pull pranks on Frannie and the other cousins. On her family's farm, they use to have old fashionable family Christmas with her cousin, Leota. Mama told Iola, that they made homemade gifts and they would have a big ole feast, "stuffed goose with all the trimmings, candied yams, mint pies and plum pudding."

When Thelma was 9, she and her 12-year-old aunt, Mae, couldn't stand each other. Her favorite uncle was her mother's brother, Oscar Crowley, who owned the Jolly Rogers Boat Rental.

[edit] Adulthood

Thelma and her late husband, Carl Harper, had three kids: Ellen, Eunice, and Vinton, of whom Ellen was always her clear favorite. In one The Family sketches Alan Alda played a fourth child of Thelma's named Larry. Her husband, Carl was usually portrayed in voice only, in the main floor bathroom. Thelma was in her late 60s during the 1980s sitcom. Lawrence was in her 30s during this time and will actually be 60 in 2009.

Her squabbles and offhand disregard for daughter Eunice and Eunice's husband, Ed, and son, Bubba, was the ongoing theme of "The Family" sketch.

In the television show, Thelma lived originally with her late sister, newspaper writer Fran Crowley, but in the first episode, her son and his two children, Vinton "Buzz" Harper, Jr. and Sonja Harper, moved in after his divorce from a woman named Mitzi, who fled for Las Vegas, to become a showgirl, not to mention that he and his family had been evicted from their house.

Also living with her was his second wife, Naomi Harper, whom she despised, first as a neighbor, and then as her daughter-in-law. She did, however, consent to having them marry in her living room.

Her relationships with her grandchildren were different. She got along rather well with Buzz, since he wasn't always worrying her into the grave, the way his older sister seemed to and that her own children had done when they were younger. In fact, Buzz seemed to have a bond with his grandmother.

Thelma was best friends with across the street neighbor, Iola Boylan who was crazy about Vinton and agreed with Thelma that Naomi wasn't the right kind of wife for him, in fact, Iola thought she would be his perfect mate. She and Iola often spent time together, and Iola was often over for dinner, when she wasn't helping her eccentric and infirmed parents.

Although they are best friends, Iola and Thelma have had their share of disagreements as well. Most of them had been instigated by outside forces, but usually, they patched their differences and were friends again.

After Buzz and Sonja moved out of the house for parts unknown, and Fran had died, she was joined by her other grandson, Bubba. Her relationship with him was vastly different than she had been with Buzz. Bubba was certainly his mother's son, and while not as contentious and selfish as Eunice was, he certainly was headstrong and stubborn. He certainly made no fan of his Uncle Vint and his Aunt Naomi when he gained Fran's old bedroom, when they certainly wanted it, and were relegated to the basement yet again. However, given what he had gone through, his father and his eternally selfish mother leaving him in Raytown while gallivanting off to Florida without even one word of good-bye, they were not about to begrudge him a bedroom.

Thelma has a very strong aversion to her grandchildren drinking alcohol. Although it's a hypocritical, as she herself drinks a lot of beer. When Bubba came home, drunk after several beers, she really lowers the boom on him.

At first, nobody in her family understands why she is really punishing him hard; considering how often she drinks beer, until Iola explains about a really terrible situation with Bubba's mother, Eunice. During a Mother-Daughter banquet, Eunice shows up quite intoxicated; and during a song, Eunice and Thelma start having a violent argument on stage. Which would perhaps explain just why Eunice and her mother don't get along to this day. Needless to say, Bubba swore off the beer from then on in.

Ironically, her embattled relationship with Eunice was not unlike the somewhat contentious relationship she had with her own mother. In her mind, Thelma's mother had no liking for anything Thelma did. In an episode where she dealt with her own austere mother who was haunting her for entertaining the idea of seling her brooch, Thelma called her the same epithet that Eunice sometimes uses on her, "Old lady". At the end, Thelma's mother's haunting was ended when Thelma went ahead and sold the brooch, and then screamed at her mother's apparition, "Get the hell out of my life!!!"

Meanwhile, Thelma has held various jobs in Raytown. She works with Meals on Wheels; had a stint as Mayor of Raytown; worked at a travel agency; worked at local grocery store, "Food Circus", to Naomi's disgust; went to night school; worked at a fast food restaurant. She wore many hats.

One of Thelma's life long dreams is to go to Hawaii. She got her wish when she appeared on Jeopardy! While Thelma lost the main part of the competition, she did win a Hawaiian vacation as a consolation prize. The next two-part episode featured Thelma, Iola, Vint, Naomi and Bubba's adventures in Hawaii.

As a former president of the CLL (Church Ladies League), Thelma has had to deal with the ladies of the church, including the gossipy pastor's wife, Alberta Meechum, who brazenly tried to break up Thelma and Iola's friendship by suggesting that Iola run for president of the CLL. (Ms. Meechum did this because Thelma had helped Alberta's husband spank their grandson, Little Eugene, for causing trouble for the Harpers and for kicking her husband in his sore leg. In her mind, Little Eugene was an angel, and helping to hurt him was a huge "no-no".) Neither Thelma or Iola won and Thelma's eventual successor was a woman named Lolly Perdue, (Doris Hess; Marge Redmond) who won because she was the only person big enough to separate the squabbling Thelma and Iola.

Some time later, Lolly was the target of an impeachment attempt by Thelma and Iola, but they ended up backing down when they discovered Lolly was illiterate. Thelma also had to contend with Reverend Lloyd Meechum, who had married Vint and Naomi. She also babysat their grandson, a little demon named Eugene, with disastrous results.

Thelma was also known for her somewhat uneasy relations with her neighbors, back from when Naomi lived next door. Most of whom wouldn't mind seeing her and her entire dysfunctional family move away and never come back. That animosity came about during an aborted attempt to knock down the neighborhood to replace it with a landfill. To Thelma's shock, the house she had lived in since she had been married had once been a house of ill-repute where the town's founder, James A. Ray, had died. Thus, it was made a Raytown historical landmark, to mayor Alvin Tutweiler's chagrin, and her neighbors ire. They wanted a lot of money to leave that neighborhood and lose Thelma as a neighbor, but it was not to be. Even Iola was irate.

Lawrence has resurrected the character (still in her late 60s) several times on the game show Hollywood Squares and on stage in her two-woman show.

Mama's Family