Hollywood has a long tradition of stars “borrowing” mementos from their sets. We’ve heard stories of Bryan Cranston taking Walter White’s pork pie hat from “Breaking Bad,” and Ariana Grande snagging prosthetic ears from “Wicked.”
You’d think Mary Tyler Moore would have immediately claimed the iconic hat from the opening of her 1970s hit, “The Mary Tyler Moore Show.” That legendary freeze-frame – Mary Richards, a radiant Midwesterner, joyfully tossing her tam-o’-shanter into the bustling Minneapolis street – is one of television’s most ebullient and famous images. It’s been parodied in shows like “Scrubs” and “The Simpsons,” and even immortalized with a bronze statue at the very spot of the toss. Through all seven seasons and countless opening credit changes, that hat remained a constant symbol.
So, how did she manage to hold onto such a cherished prop?
“Well, you have to remember: She owned the company,” her husband, S. Robert Levine, gently clarified. “I think someone simply placed it in an envelope for her.”
Understandably. As the MTM in MTM Enterprises (the production house behind all 168 episodes from 1970-77), Mary Tyler Moore hardly needed to sneak into the costume department to retrieve her piece of history. Yet, she didn’t treat the woolen cap like a prized possession or a display item; it wasn’t something she’d showcase at gatherings.
“It wasn’t something that we were passing around, no,” Dr. Levine said with a laugh. Ms. Moore had kept The Hat hidden away in a file drawer in her office for years. “It was only when I started to dig into everything that I found it.”
In the eight years following Mary Tyler Moore’s passing at age 80, Dr. Levine’s archival exploration has sometimes been prompted by requests. For example, the director of the 2023 HBO documentary “Being Mary Tyler Moore” asked him to uncover more “personal stuff” for the film. Other times, it’s been a part of the challenging process of, as he described in a recent interview, “finding what ‘next’ is going to be” for her legacy.
This spring, Dr. Levine sold the expansive Greenwich, Connecticut estate where he and Mary spent their final 33 years together for a significant sum. Additionally, a June auction at Doyle featured 347 items from the beloved actress’s estate, including the iconic golden “M” that adorned Mary’s apartment wall in “The Mary Tyler Moore Show.” Lena Waithe, the producer of the HBO documentary, acquired it for $35,200.
“It’s a profound loss, I must admit,” Dr. Levine, 71, shared. “Leaving that beautiful home we built together, and all the memories within it, is difficult. But the time was right.”
The auction’s catalog boasted an array of treasures: bracelets from Tiffany and Cartier, portraits by Leibovitz and Hirschfeld, and a collection of sterling silver fit for royalty. However, conspicuously absent from the bidding were Mary Tyler Moore’s woolen tam-o’-shanter and any other items from her personal clothing collection.
This wasn’t an oversight. Long before the auction took shape, Dr. Levine had already envisioned a different future for his wife’s extensive wardrobe, which included pieces from Armani, Scaasi, and Issey Miyake.
Making It After All
A year after his wife’s passing, Dr. Levine, a retired cardiologist, embarked on a new mission: establishing the Mary Tyler Moore Vision Initiative. This nonprofit aims to combat diabetes-related vision loss and blindness, conditions Mary herself battled for years, eventually leading to near-blindness by the end of her life.
To expand on Mary’s lifelong dedication to advocacy – she was the international chair of Breakthrough T1D, a significant fundraiser for Type 1 diabetes research – Dr. Levine began seeking sponsors for the Vision Initiative.
His quest led him to Elyce Arons, co-founder of the Kate Spade brand and a lifelong friend of Kate Spade herself, who also happened to be a devoted Mary Tyler Moore admirer since childhood. Coincidentally, Ms. Arons was finalizing a memoir detailing over three decades of friendship with Ms. Spade, aptly titled “We Might Just Make It After All,” a nod to the “Mary Tyler Moore Show” theme song.
Ms. Arons first crossed paths with her future business partner, then known as Katy Brosnahan, on her inaugural day at the University of Kansas in August 1981. Both aspiring journalists, they soon realized their shared career aspiration was sparked by the same fictional inspiration: local TV news producer Mary Richards.
“Mary embodied the modern woman,” Ms. Arons, 62, recently reflected from the Manhattan showroom of Frances Valentine, the second fashion brand she co-founded with Ms. Spade. “She was single, she was confident – she truly inspired women of my generation to believe we could achieve the same.”
In a unique collaboration, Ms. Arons is now working alongside Mary Tyler Moore’s legacy.
To benefit the foundation, Ms. Arons and the Frances Valentine team are developing a Fall 2026 capsule collection. The designs draw inspiration from Mary Tyler Moore’s earliest beloved characters: Laura Petrie from “The Dick Van Dyke Show” and, naturally, Mary Richards.
The very confidence and spirit of Mary Tyler Moore that inspired both Ms. Arons and Ms. Spade will soon be accessible to women today, channeled through pieces like cigarette pants, mock turtlenecks, plaid jackets, and ribbed knits. A generous twenty percent of the net sales from this collection will directly support the Mary Tyler Moore Vision Initiative.
This past March, Dr. Levine traveled from Connecticut to the city to evaluate the brand. Impressed by what he witnessed, he extended an invitation to Ms. Arons to visit Greenwich and explore his wife’s wardrobe. She didn’t hesitate for a moment.
“I immediately thought, ‘When can I be there?'” she recounted.
The day of the visit, Ms. Arons was understandably ecstatic, as one might imagine when granted access to a fashion icon’s closet. Video from the day captures her joy, twirling in various outfits like a scene from a makeover montage. “It felt just like Christmas morning,” she exclaimed. Yet, her happiness was bittersweet, shadowed by the absence of her dear friend.
“I desperately wanted to call Katy and tell her, ‘You won’t believe where I am right now!'” Ms. Arons shared, lamenting that her late friend, Kate Spade, who passed away in 2018, couldn’t share the moment.
Her thoughts also turned to how she could extend this extraordinary experience with Mary Tyler Moore’s clothing to a wider audience.
“Our team immediately suggested these pieces belong in a museum,” Ms. Arons recollected. “They envisioned them at the Met, F.I.T., or the Smithsonian – somewhere truly significant.”
“Maybe It Was All a Little Naïve of Us”
The Frances Valentine showroom, nestled within the historic Beaux-Arts Building overlooking Bryant Park – a structure that once housed the studio of Jazz Age artist Florine Stetteimer – became the setting for a late-July Wednesday morning. There, bathed in sunlight, Dr. Levine and Ms. Arons sat surrounded by design sketches and photographs of Mary Tyler Moore’s inspiring looks.
And there it was: The Hat. A low, saucer-shaped woolen cap, adorned with concentric rings of black, indigo, and forest green, its midnight blue pompom possibly a bit flattened after decades tucked away in a Manila envelope.
During our interview, Dr. Levine shared his vision for Mary Tyler Moore’s extensive wardrobe. While unable to give an exact count of her garments, he noted that she had meticulously planned for 100 linear feet of closet space in their Greenwich home, ensuring it was “all well filled.” Although Mary’s will didn’t specify the fate of her clothes, Dr. Levine hopes they will find a permanent home in a major institution. There’s a consensus that The Hat, above all, is undeniably a museum-worthy artifact.
Admittedly, the search for a permanent institutional home for these treasures has progressed slower than anticipated.
Upon contacting the Fashion Institute of Technology, Valerie Steele, director and chief curator of the Museum at F.I.T., informed Dr. Levine and Ms. Arons that her institution wasn’t “the right venue to accept MTM’s garments,” citing it wasn’t within their mission. She suggested alternative venues like the Museum of the Moving Image in Queens or the Paley Center for Media instead.
Ms. Arons also mentioned discussions with the Costume Institute, the esteemed fashion department of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, renowned for its annual Met Gala. “We’ve been speaking with them quite recently,” Ms. Arons noted. “I believe they’re interested in a few select pieces.” A spokesperson for the Costume Institute refrained from commenting on these discussions.
Dini von Mueffling, Ms. Arons’ publicist, highlighted a significant challenge: major exhibitions at prestigious institutions are typically scheduled two to five years in advance. “Perhaps it was a bit naive of us to assume, ‘They’ll want it immediately – it’s Mary Tyler Moore!‘” she quipped.
Was it naivete, or simply optimism? Dr. Levine observed a familiar exuberance in Ms. Arons’s “incredibly positive energy,” an echo of his late wife. This connection likely made it easier for him to grant access to Mary’s cherished wardrobe to someone he had met only once prior.
“What other choice did I have?” he pondered aloud. “If I consider the best possible use for all of Mary’s possessions, it’s to share them. It’s a way to honor her memory and allow the world to discover another facet of who she was.”
While he’s set aside a few personal items, including a magnificent Givenchy shawl, Dr. Levine has largely accepted that his wife’s wardrobe deserves a new chapter – on public display. “That’s its rightful place,” he affirmed. “It needs to live on.”