Page 30 - ARUBA TODAY

A30 PEOPLE & ARTS
Thursday 13 april 2017
David Letterman’s mom, who

became unlikely star, dies at 95

NEW YORK (AP) — David acerbity. two winter games, wearing
Letterman’s mother Doro- Her first appearances bulky snow gear that made
thy Mengering, a Midwest- came via satellite from her tiny self almost invisible,
ern homemaker who be- her Carmel, Indiana, kitch- and oozing pure sincerity
came an unlikely celeb- en for a segment called even in absurd bits Letter-
rity in her 70s as she baked “Guess Mom’s Pies,” which man’s writers had her per-
mystery pies and covered became a Thanksgiving form. “After Lillehammer, I
the Olympics for her son’s tradition. Letterman would couldn’t believe how it all
late-night show, has died. make a huge production took off,” Mengering told
In this May 16, 2004, file photo, David Letterman’s mother, Doro- She was 95. of the bit before finally de- The New York Times in 1996.
thy Mengering, talks with Timothy Kirby after she autographed a Letterman’s publicist Tom claring, usually correctly, “I think it’s about the idea
few of her cookbooks he bought at a grill in Muncie, Ind. Keaney confirmed Men- “chocolate chiffon!” or of mom and of a family.”
Associated Press gering’s death Tuesday for “rhubarb!” When he was Mengering lived all her life
The Associated Press. wrong, she would take on in Indiana. She married
Letterman had been on a comforting tone like he Letterman’s father, a florist
the air for years, and had was a boy who had lost a named Harry Letterman, in
made ironic celebrities out little-league game. 1942. He died in 1973, and
of dozens of nobodies, be- She soon started making she married structural en-
fore he thought to bring on annual Mother’s Day ap- gineer Hans P. Mengering,
his mom. pearances too. who died in 2013.
But the moment he did, She really became a star Once famous, she put out
she became a hit, with a when the show took her a cookbook, 1996’s “Home
cheerful “Hi, David!” in her out of the kitchen. Cookin’ With Dave’s Mom,”
Indiana accent starting ev- Mengering was a corre- that included recipes such
ery appearance. spondent for the Letter- as “Dave’s Fried Baloney
The two had great on-air man’s Late Show on CBS at Sandwich” and the se-
chemistry, her homespun the 1994 Winter Olympics in crets behind many of the
sincerity proving the per- Lillehammer Norway, a role pies she had baked for the
fect foil for her son’s urban she reprised for the next show.q