JEWELIA

JULIA
NBC 1968-1971

JEWELIA
MAD #129, December 1969
w: Stan Hart
a: Mort Drucker

TV sitcom about a single mother (Diahann Carroll) working as a nurse and raising a son. Her co-worker at the office was Nurse Yarby (Lorene Tuttle).

Julia's friend and neighbor Marie (Betty Beaird) often babysat for her son Corey (Marc Copage) while she was at work. Of course, single mothers couldn't just be single, they had to be widowed, and Julia's story was that she her husband in Vietnam. Julia and Ms. Yarby worked for Dr. Chegley (Lloyd Nolan).

As an in-joke, the telephone repairman is Godfrey Cambridge, a stand-up comedian of the time, Corey's best friend was Betty's son Earl Waggedorn (Michael Link).

Marie's husband was played by Hank Brandt. Julia had actual boyfriends but I don't think this is supposed to be Bill Cosby, who we only now know in hindsight not to date. The waiter looks kind of like Duke Ellington, though I don't know if that's who it's supposed to be.

Among the widows are caricatures of Hope Lange (The Ghost and Mrs. Muir) and Doris Day. Her being black has nothing to do with anything and never did on the show, but that fact provoked arguments within the African-American community about whether that meant she was a model for what a black woman can be or that she was“not black enough”.

UPDATE:

Sick #73, January 1970
No credits, but art by Jack Sparling

I was going back and forth about whether or not to 'go there' but if you've visited my blog enough you should know by now, I plaster “different time” disclaimers for exactly this reason.

Confusing Chinese with Japanese cultures. Oh, Sick.