In the spirit of maxoverdrive's recent discovery of a higher resolution version of the great Rhonda Shear "Up All Night" Pieings (and thanks very much for that--it's great to see this in better resolution after all these years, and for the first time since I sat "Up All Night" recording the messy bits with my VCR in vastly inferior fidelity), here's the COMPLETE "Barbara Mandrell & The Mandrell Sisters" Episode with the running plot line involving a series of slapstick pranks pulled on Barbara and Louise by their younger sister Irlene Mandrell--culminating, of course, in the justly legendary "Dial-a-Pie" finale where Barbara and Louise get COMPLETELY plastered with two perfect banana cream pies.

It's rather difficult today to explain the impact that seeign this on Television had on me as a youngster--I was already fully cognizant of the feelings that seeing women get messy (particularly pied) caused in me well before then, but in the course of my random-selection televsion viewing (with NO cable, NO video recording, and NO internet, these were indeed the dark ages), I'd almost consistently been treated to a series of GUYS getting the pie in the face, which was titillating to be sure if a pretty girl was throwing the pie, but definitely not what I'd been hoping for. For me THIS was the scene that finally provided COMPLETE messy satisfaction for perhaps the first time--the build-up over the course of the show was just slow and methodical enough, the anticipation associated with the "Dial-a-Pie" revenge plan that Barbara and Louise hatch (Would Irlene finally get it? Would the revenge even involve a pie?) was almost unbearable, and the payoff--with the Double-Twist Backfire that resulted in Barbara and Louise getting plastered with the VERY SAME pies they'd carefully arranged to be thrown in Irlene's face--was SO satisfying and exciting...and, finally, the WOMEN got the pie in the face for a change, and got it GOOD!

Anyway, here's the complete episode, graciously provided by a diehard Barbara Mandrell fan (and presumed non-WAMmer) who's also posted about 50 other complete shows from this now hard-to-find series on his channel. I wasn't sure who the guest stars on this episode were, but after about 45 minutes of trial and error I was finally able to locate it. The video quality is still not pristine, but it's decidedly superior to the clips that have been floating around in the P.D. in recent years. It also allows you to see a good deal more "aftermath" than the usual clips (including Louise WIPING OUT and knocking Barbara and Irlene down like bowling pins when she slips on the pie-splattered studio floor in her high heels--I hope she didn't get a concussion!)--Irlene smearing the pie into Barbara's face while Barbara stands there with a perfect "I can't believe this just happened" expression on her face is one of my favorite moments in the whole scene, but most clips that circulate cut off before this point. Eventually it would be nice to cobble a complete set of the relevant scenes involving the prank war, but until then be sure to fast forward around a bit to catch the build-up (especially the segment just before the last one, where Louise has Barbara phone "a certain company" that she thinks will "cure" Irlene of her prank-pulling). The "Dial-a-Pie" scene is the very last one, at the end of the episode, just before and during the credit roll:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QclYcbjiDnE&index=6&list=FL5QQuuC6ri_VNqsekTFlngA

I'm sure most of you have seen this scene before, of course, but I thought some of you might enjoy seeing the entire sequence of events leading to a mainstream pieing that has to be one of the very best in television history.

P.S. If you want to see Steve Allen introduce this clip (sans the Louise pieing that followed Barbara's) inacurrately as a "blooper", click on this link from his short-lived "Foul Ups, Bleeps and Blunders" series from the early 1980s and fast forward to the 40 second mark (again, video quality is a bit better here, but more truncated than usual):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2JwKAHjC2c&list=FL5QQuuC6ri_VNqsekTFlngA&index=6

Thanks for indulging me!

Full disclosure: While this scene wasn't a "game changer" for me personally (I'd already had a few years of random Sesame Street and Electric Company pies, then later the early YCDTOTV and possibly the Brady Bunch), it's still a near-and-dear clip.

I actually caught a truncated version on a DIFFERENT "bloopers" show... The classic Dick Clark/Ed McMahon one. Not sure exactly what year, but it's funny that the clips and the edits are basically identical to the ones Steve Allen shows. (Probably from the same company, just repackaged.)

At some point I must've figured out that it occurred on the Barbara Mandrell show itself... and thus the next year of my life (no, seriously) included taping EVERY episode of this stupid show off TNN (The Nashville Network), waiting for the one with the pies. Which, of course, was basically one of the last ones they showed....

Anyway, with a LOT of hard work, I eventually had a complete version on my own VHS. Not like you kids today with your YouTube! You don't know how good you have it! Now get off my lawn!!!

This is definitely "One of the Great Ones" for me! I either saw a preview, or one of the "Bloopers" shows and knew I had to catch this! I think I watched a bunch of them, like Rich did, until this episode finally came on. (And even after this one, in case they did any other pies!). And 33 years ago! That WAS the dark ages! it makes me feel ancient! But I did record it on my VCR.

The "double twist backfire" that Baker in the Rye mentioned was what really made it for me! Not only did Barbara get it instead of Irlene, but when Louise said, "You've got the WRONG Miss Mandrell", then SHE got it! And the pies were so goopy that they really splattered!

When Louise fell, it looked like she really hit her head *hard* on the floor! When Barbara fell on top of her, it looked like she was saying, "Get up! Get up!" (The show must go on!)

I have VERY fond memories of this episode! :lovestruck:

As an epilogue; A few years later, I was at a business conference held at Opryland in Nashville. Louise was doing a show in one of the theatres. I went, just to see if she might do something "slapstick". She started talking about how Barbara was always in the middle of the 3 (as the star and biggest name) when they were standing together, and how she always wanted to be the one in the middle. Then she walked offstage and "onto" a huge video screen, where she and her sisters did a pre-recorded skit. AND, the skit was that she was in the middle, and her two sisters plastered her with a bunch of pies! I couldn't believe it! The only thing that would have been better would have been if it was live! But, of course, with clean-up, that would have been impractical for a live show. I couldn't believe that I lucked into seeing that, and no one would ever see it unless they went to her show! Wow!

Norman

I think all of us VHS-era people are slowly turning into Abe Simpson.

That's a great story, Norman! I'm sure the tape capturing that performance-within-a-performance has long since vanished into the ether (or had a Country Music Awards Show or a Mandrell baby's first steps or something taped over it), but it's cool to learn that there was a sequel of sorts to the "Dial-a-Pie" scene, and that the Mandrell sisters seem to have loved a good pie in the face so much (though this means that Irlene is now 30+ years overdue for payback!).

As a follow-up to that, I just found this story from a University Student Newspaper which indicates that messy pranks were indeed a regular thing when Mandrell sisters got together on their own time (and provides a messy "scoop" for some aspiring student reporter):
________________________________________________________________

J-TAC, Tarleton State University of Stephenville, Tex. from April 27, 1982:

"Mandrell Describes Close Family Ties":

"...She [Louise Mandrell] said people want to know if she, Barbara and Irlene are like they are on the show. She said the closest they come are the dressing room scenes and at the end of the show.

On one show Irlene was playing practical jokes on Louise and Barbara. At the end Irlene was supposed to get a pie in the face, but Louise and Barbara got pies in the face instead.

During the scene, Louise fell and hurt her leg. She couldn't get up for a minute. She said Barbara was saying, "Get up. Act like you're not hurt." They had to play music over the scene so they wouldn't have to do it over. [By the way, good call on that one, Norman!]

Louise said she came close to doing something like the show recently when she had a surprise party for Barbara at Barbara's house. She invited 90 people...When the cake was brought out and Barbara was going to blow the candles out, Louise pushed a button and the cake blew up in Barbara's face."

__________________________________________________________________

Anyway, thanks again for the story!

* Also, in the spirit of Abraham Simpson (whom all WAMmers over the age of 35 are slowly morphing into, apparently): I had a few more comments to make but accidentally deleted them on this computer tube thing, so I'll try to reconstruct them later...that never would have happened if I could still buy ribbons for my old Underwood Upright, dagnabit!

Wow! I love that Student Newspaper story!

And I can't believe I was that close on what happened! But I thought Louise hurt her head. When she did get up, she was sliding her legs back & forth in the pie, and I sure couldn't tell her leg was hurt.

And Louise blew a cake up in Barbara's face! I'd love to see the home movies of *that*!

Norman

Same here, Norman--I didn't see the leg injury, but you can almost HEAR how hard she came down on the back of her head there, even with the canned music playing over the studio audio. That was always the only downside to this scene for me--it looks like Louise might have had a SERIOUS concussion after that fall.

Imagine how THAT might have changed WAM history:

----"Louise Mandrell, 26, Co-star of "Barbara Mandrell & The Mandrell Sisters", Dies in Pie in the Face Mishap"

----"First Lady Nancy Reagan Launches 'Just Say No to Slapstick' Campaign in Response to Louise Mandrell Pieing Tragedy / Plans to Appear As Self on Sitcom 'Diff'rent Strokes' to Stop Senseless Brady Bunch-esque Drummond Family Pie Fight at Film Studio"

Yep ...... we can laugh about it because it *didn't* happen. I love your scenario of "what might have been, if ..."! And the Nancy Reagan part is right on the money!

Also, I forgot to mention above how annoying and abrupt I thought the canned music was when it came in at the end! I did always think that Barbara's voice-over at the end was funny: "The part of Irby Mandrell was played by my father, Irby Mandrell. Great casting, Huh?!" (Or something to that effect)

Norman

Thanks for sharing this, Baker! This truly is one of the all-time great television scenes. I remember reading about this in the 90s and saw some of the still photos from it. When I finally watched it, WOW did it live up to expectations! It's really a shame that more pies onscreen weren't THESE perfect pies.

Norman, your story of Louise's video from her live show is tremendous. Plus, I love how you described the humor of her wanting to be the center of the act and then "getting it". I bet that was incredible to see. After seeing the show clip, I noticed there's a related link and checked it out. It's an episode of Oprah's show where she's interviewing Barbara Mandrell, with the other two appearing in the second half. Louise looks great! She mentions her show at one point so since it's the same time frame it's easy to see how beautiful she must have been when she was pied in her video.

Dammit! Now I feel the need to track down this taped Louise Mandrell pie bit!!!

(It's probably a needle in a haystack, but the fact that is was clearly a taped bit actually helps... It means it wasn't just a random live thing and the same bit WAS shown over and over again, and *might* still exist in someone's archives somewhere....)

Go for it, Rich! I'd love to see it again ..... and again, .....and again!

I would never have considered this even a possibility, so I never even thought about it as a "Holy Grail". But, wow, if you were ever able to find it, it would definitely be the other Holy Grail for me (along with the Steve Allen/ Jayne Meadows "Taming of the Shrew" pie fight)!

Norman

You said it, Rich!
So great to learn of this. It could end up being one of those dream clips, but hey, sometimes dreams come true (the "You've Come a Long Way Baby" clip comes to mind).

yup, great, "classic" female slapstick scene...the set up was great (you knew something bigger was going to happen from the earlier prank backfires on Barbara)...my intial reation was "wow, they got surprise pied!"...but then (watching the repeat) I realized two things: the 'dial a pie' guy brought TWO pies (both intended for the little sister? Not likely)...and, Barbara had her hair tied /clipped back (which she never had done in any of her shows, nor during the earlier part of the same show)...so, of course, they were all in on it..cheers for the Mandrell's for not taking their beauty seriously!