Mommie’s Catch Up

Can you believe it’s been almost 20 years since “The Mommies" first set foot on stage? They were neighbors looking for an outlet and struck a comical and comforting note with suburban moms all over the nation. Advertising it as a “show for women who don’t want sex more than once a month”, their audiences asked Dad to “baby-sit”, donned their corduroy blazers, fluffed up their permed hair, hopped in their minivans and cheered the two best friends on to stardom.

Within only two short years of making women laugh at night and driving carpool the next morning, the neighbors landed an NBC sitcom appropriately called “The Mommies.” After three seasons, the duo starred in a Showtime Comedy Special titled “My Kid Beat Up Your Honor Student,” where they were nominated for both writing and acting. Next came the ABC talk show, “Caryl and Marilyn: Real Friends.” They are also remembered for dancing around in the kitchen hawking Palmolive dishwashing soap.

Next adventure: writing. Caryl and Marilyn went on to pen a very successful Erma Bombeck anecdotal called The Mother Load (HarperCollins). Marilyn continued on to also write Not Your Mother’s Midlife: A Ten Step Guide to Fearless Aging (Andrews/McMeel) with Nancy Alspaugh; and a beautiful photo essay, Fearless Women: Midlife Portraits (Stewart, Tabori, Chang) with Nancy Alspaugh and Mary Ann Halpin.

Today Caryl is a college counseler at a college prep school in Los Angeles and her students love her

Marilyn spends most of her time ghostwriting, doing speaking events, facilitating her “Fearless Women” support groups and creating jewelry.

The two are still great friends and continue to share gossip, a laugh and sometimes a tear with each other whenever they can.

Contact Caryl at oksanabg@aol.com
Contact Marilyn at marilynkentz@aol.com

THE LATEST:

“We have a wedding coming up!” Marilyn’s oldest son will be getting married this summer. “I need to look cute for the wedding and nothing fits!” Rachel Ray and Jillian Michaels to the rescue. Jillian (trainer from The Biggest loser) challenged Marilyn to lose 20 pounds in one month. They will both appear on the Rachel Ray talk show in early May. Tune in to see if Marilyn was able to pull it off.

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This Spring, Marilyn opened three new “Fearless Women” support groups in the San Francisco Bay Area. Though she is still living in Los Angeles, she heads north each month to facilitate one group in Alameda and two in Santa Rosa. It’s her passion to help women make clear choices as to what they want to do for the second half of their lives. Her Alameda group is multigenerational, which adds another layer of support.

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Marilyn intends to move to Berkeley within the next year. “I still love LA – don’t get me wrong. It’s just that my kids all live in northern California. And, besides, I want to hang out with my kind. In LA I’m surrounded by the tiny, size 2s of the world. It’s time I live among the old, fat hippies.”