Molly Murphy's wild, unpredictable wait staff plans reunion

By Ann DeFrange
The Oklahoman

If you went to dinner at Molly Murphy's House of Fine Repute during the 1970s, '80s or '90s, you never quite knew what was going to arrive at your table -- and I don't mean how the steak was cooked.

The restaurant on S Meridian with its bizarre decorating scheme was part of the flamboyant oil boom, anything-goes, period of Oklahoma history. The appeal wasn't the food; it was the waiters. They dressed in character costumes and harangued and insulted the customers, created a rowdy, risque entertainment venue that became so famous and infamous tourists came to town to see.
Minnie Mouse or Groucho Marx might fill your glass. The Bag Lady or Prince, Alfalfa or Little Red Riding Hood might take your order, which might be delivered by a pirate or a doctor or a French maid.

Dottie Pearson worked there for 10 years. You might remember her as the Girl Scout. Dottie sang at the tables, presented the bill with Taps on her toy trumpet, and when she was really inspired, she climbed on a table and lit a campfire.
There was, as could be expected, a turnover in the staff. "Waiters stayed one day, or a lifetime," Dottie said. "A lot of us were in theater, wanted to be actors."
Their shifts started with a rendition of the William Tell Overture "to get us going in high gear." They took orders, delivered meals at a pace of 100 customers an hour, sang and danced, and never, never broke character. They loved their jobs. They became friends.
Molly Murphy's closed in 1996 and made its way into legend. Founder, owner and the controversial genius behind the restaurant, Bob Tayar, moved to California. He died in an auto accident there in February.
Dottie, 42 now, went to OU, moved to Nashville, worked in the hotel industry, came home to Fairview. She runs a restaurant at the Fairview Country Club. "Everything I'm using I learned at Molly's," although, she admitted, Major County isn't the venue for the kind of antics that happened in Molly's.

Many of the waiters kept in touch. Most took their uniforms with them; some can even still fit into them. And the death of their former boss has inspired them to stage "one last turn."
"We all want to get back together," Dottie said. They're trying to gather as many of the staff as possible for a reunion in 2006. The delay is to accommodate the search for as many of the crew as they can find. They met last week at Dottie's in Fairview, and they're planning other meetings.

Any member of the classic cast can call Dottie Pearson at (580) 227-3225.