Hollywood is a treasure trove of souvenir snatchers! Stars often brag on red carpets and late-night shows about taking mementos from their sets. Think Bryan Cranston, who snagged Walter White’s iconic pork pie hat from ‘Breaking Bad,’ or Ariana Grande, who walked off with a pair of prosthetic ears from ‘Wicked.’ These tales of pilfered props add a charming, human touch to the glitzy world of celebrity.
Given this tradition, you’d naturally expect Mary Tyler Moore to claim ‘The Hat’ from her iconic 1970s series, ‘The Mary Tyler Moore Show.’ It’s arguably the most famous freeze frame in TV history: Ms. Moore, as the radiant Midwesterner Mary Richards, joyfully tosses her fuzzy tam-o’-shanter into the air amidst a bustling Minneapolis street. This pure, exuberant image has been parodied in shows like ‘Scrubs’ and ‘The Simpsons,’ and even immortalized in a bronze statue at the very spot of the toss. Throughout the show’s seven-season run, despite numerous tweaks to the opening, ‘The Hat’ remained an unwavering symbol.
So, how did she manage to keep such a legendary piece of television history?
“Well, you have to remember: She owned the company,” her husband, S. Robert Levine, chuckled gently, shedding light on the mystery. “I think someone simply tucked it into an envelope for her.”
That makes sense. As the ‘MTM’ of MTM Enterprises, the production company responsible for all 168 episodes of the show from 1970-77, Ms. Moore hardly needed to sneak into the costume department. Yet, she didn’t treat the woolen cap as a mere novelty or a display of conquest; it wasn’t something she paraded out at parties, for instance.
The globally recognized hat toss, a symbol of Mary Richards – an associate producer at a Minneapolis TV news station, as portrayed by Mary Tyler Moore – introduced a groundbreaking vision of feminism to American viewers.
Mary Tyler Moore pictured in 2011, inside the Greenwich, Connecticut home she shared with her husband.
“It wasn’t something we were showing off, no,” Dr. Levine confirmed with a laugh. For years, Ms. Moore had kept the hat tucked away in a file drawer in her office. “I only discovered it when I began sifting through her belongings,” he added.
In the eight years since Ms. Moore’s passing at age 80, this treasure hunt has sometimes been at the request of others. For instance, the director of the 2023 HBO documentary ‘Being Mary Tyler Moore’ asked Dr. Levine to unearth more ‘personal items’ from his basement for the film. At other times, it’s been a part of the more poignant process of, as he described in a recent interview, ‘figuring out what comes next.’
This spring, Dr. Levine sold the expansive Greenwich, Connecticut estate, where he and Ms. Moore spent their last 33 years, for a notable $16.9 million. In June, a Doyle auction featured 347 items from the actress’s estate, including the iconic golden ‘M’ that adorned Mary’s apartment wall in ‘The Mary Tyler Moore Show.’ Lena Waithe, producer of the HBO documentary, acquired it for $35,200.
“It’s a significant loss, and I recognize that,” Dr. Levine, 71, reflected. “Leaving that beautiful home we built together, along with all the memories it held, is hard. But it truly felt like the right moment.”
The auction featured a diverse array of items: exquisite bracelets from Tiffany and Cartier, stunning portraits by Leibovitz and Hirschfeld, and a wealth of sterling silver. Conspicuously absent from the bidding, however, was Ms. Moore’s woolen tam-o’-shanter, or any other pieces from her personal collection.
This absence was no oversight. By the time the auction was organized, Dr. Levine had already set aside different plans for his wife’s extensive collection of Armanis, Scaasis, and Issey Miyakes.
A New Chapter for a Cultural Icon
A year following 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, a cause close to his heart as Ms. Moore herself lived with Type 1 diabetes and endured years of deteriorating eyesight, eventually becoming nearly blind.
Driven to expand on his wife’s lifelong commitment to advocacy – Ms. Moore having served as the international chair of what is now known as Breakthrough T1D, a leading organization in Type 1 diabetes research fundraising – Dr. Levine began seeking out potential 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, as well as a devoted Mary Tyler Moore fan since childhood. At the time, Ms. Arons was preparing to release her memoir, ‘We Might Just Make It After All’ – a title directly inspired by the chorus of ‘The Mary Tyler Moore Show’ theme song – chronicling over three decades of friendship with Ms. Spade.
Ms. Arons first met her future business partner, Katy Brosnahan (later Kate Spade), in August 1981 on their first day at the University of Kansas. Both aspiring journalists, they soon discovered a shared inspiration: the fictional local TV news producer, Mary Richards.
“Mary was a modern woman,” Ms. Arons, 62, recently shared from the Manhattan showroom of Frances Valentine, the second fashion brand she co-founded with Ms. Spade. “She was single, she was confident; she empowered women of my generation to believe we could achieve similar independence.”
Elyce Arons, co-founder and CEO of the fashion brand Frances Valentine, presents design sketches for a forthcoming capsule collection inspired by Mary Tyler Moore to Ms. Moore’s husband, S. Robert Levine.
The iconic woolen tam-o’-shanter, featuring concentric rings of black, navy blue, sky blue, and forest green, topped with a midnight blue pompom. Adjacent is a fashion sketch depicting a woman in a blue peacoat, blue scarf, and a similar blue tam-o’-shanter, hinting at the new collection’s inspiration.
A fashion sketch showcasing a striped top paired with sleek black cigarette pants, reflecting the style of Laura Petrie. As the homemaker Laura Petrie on “The Dick Van Dyke Show,” Ms. Moore famously broke norms by wearing cigarette pants for housework.
In a remarkable turn, Ms. Arons now finds herself in a unique business partnership, channeling the spirit of Mary Tyler Moore herself.
To generate funds for the foundation, Ms. Arons and the Frances Valentine team embarked on creating a Fall 2026 capsule collection. Its designs are a tribute to two of Ms. Moore’s most beloved early characters: Laura Petrie from ‘The Dick Van Dyke Show’ and, naturally, Mary Richards.
The very confidence and spirit of Ms. Moore that inspired both Ms. Arons and Ms. Spade will now be accessible to contemporary women – especially those looking to embody her style through cigarette pants, mock turtlenecks, plaid jackets, and ribbed knits. A significant 20 percent of the net sales from this collection will directly benefit the Mary Tyler Moore Vision Initiative.
In March, Dr. Levine traveled from Connecticut to the city to evaluate the brand. Clearly impressed, he extended an invitation to Ms. Arons to visit Greenwich and explore his wife’s extensive wardrobe. She didn’t hesitate for a moment.
“I was like, ‘When *exactly* can I be there?’” she exclaimed.
The day of the visit, Ms. Arons reacted with the joyous enthusiasm one would expect when granted unrestricted access to a hero’s closet. Video from the day captures her twirling out in a series of different outfits, reminiscent of a classic makeover montage. “It felt like Christmas morning,” she recounted, though the experience was bittersweet, shadowed by the absence of a dear friend with whom she wished she could share it.
“I desperately wanted to call Katy and tell her, ‘You won’t believe where I am right now,’” Ms. Arons shared, “because she absolutely should have been there with me.” (Ms. Spade tragically passed away by suicide in 2018.)
Beyond her personal experience, Ms. Arons also considered how to broaden the reach of Ms. Moore’s remarkable wardrobe, allowing more people to connect with its legacy.
“Our team immediately agreed that these pieces belong in a museum,” Ms. Arons recounted. “They deserve a prominent place at institutions like the Met, F.I.T., or the Smithsonian. They need to be somewhere truly significant.”
The Journey to a Permanent Home: Unforeseen Hurdles
The Frances Valentine showroom is nestled within the historic Beaux-Arts Building, a turn-of-the-century gem overlooking Bryant Park, once home to Jazz Age painter and poet Florine Stettheimer’s studio. On a sun-drenched Wednesday morning in late July, Dr. Levine and Ms. Arons sat at a white table, adorned with design sketches and photographs of Mary Tyler Moore’s iconic looks that fueled their inspiration.
And there it was: The Hat. A low, saucer-shaped woolen cap, sporting concentric rings of black, indigo, and forest green. Its central midnight blue pompom, after decades nestled in a Manila envelope, looked as though it might appreciate a gentle fluffing.
During a recent interview, Dr. Levine shared his vision for Ms. Moore’s impressive wardrobe. While he couldn’t pinpoint the exact number of garments, he recalled her insistence on 100 linear feet of closet space when designing their Greenwich home, remarking, “You can be assured that she had that all well filled.” Although his wife hadn’t specified what to do with her clothes in her will, Dr. Levine hopes to see them housed in a major institution, perhaps as a permanent exhibit. Everyone involved seems to concur: The Hat, especially, is a prime candidate for a museum.
A curated look at Ms. Moore’s wardrobe. From the top: The elegant George Stavropoulos gown she wore to host the 1980 Tony Awards; a stunning beaded floral ensemble by Arnold Scaasi, donned at a 1992 Museum of Television & Radio event; and a dazzling Scaasi dress from a 1994 literacy gala.
It’s safe to say that finding a permanent home for these cherished items has proven to be a more protracted process than anticipated.
Their initial outreach to the Fashion Institute of Technology revealed an unexpected hurdle. Valerie Steele, director and chief curator of the Museum at F.I.T., communicated via email that her institution was “not the right venue to accept MTM’s garments,” explaining, “It’s not our mission.” She thoughtfully recommended the Museum of the Moving Image in Queens or the Paley Center for Media as more suitable alternatives.
Ms. Arons confirmed that they had also initiated discussions with the Costume Institute, the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s esteemed fashion conservation department, famous for hosting the annual Met Gala. “We’ve been in conversation with them quite recently,” she stated, adding, “They seem interested in certain pieces.” A representative for the Costume Institute, however, declined to comment on these ongoing discussions.
Dini von Mueffling, Ms. Arons’s publicist, noted 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 think, ‘Of course they’ll want it immediately – it’s *Mary Tyler Moore*!’” she mused.
Was it naiveté or pure optimism? Dr. Levine observed a reflection of his wife’s lively spirit in Ms. Arons’s “unwavering positive energy.” This connection likely eased his decision to grant access to his wife’s cherished wardrobe to someone he had met only once before.
“What else could I do?” he pondered aloud. “When considering the best use for Mary’s belongings, it became clear that sharing them was the ultimate way to honor her legacy and reveal another facet of who she was to the world.”
He has set aside a select few of his wife’s possessions for himself, including a notable Givenchy shawl. However, for the majority of her wardrobe, he has come to terms with the idea of it finding new life through public display. “That’s what it deserves,” he asserted. “It needs to live on.”