Due to Mary Tyler Moore having a flare-up of her diabetes, during a good portion of filming the The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970)), Mary Tyler Moore, she was left weak and drained - with some weeks being 'better' (less incapacitating) than others. During the times Ms Moore wasn't feeling terrific, efforts were made to make her workload easier; one way this was accomplished was to lessen the amount of time she needed to be in makeup and hair, by having her wear a wig. Although this was kept quiet, the wig Ms Moore wore (as seen in this episode), wasn't very similair to Mary's usual hair style; a variation on a simple, side-parted hair style. Her eyes were also extremely sensitive at this time, and in several episodes, Ms Moore couldn't wear the false eyelashes (most actresses wear).
Beverly Garland wore a wig, just in case Lou's parting gesture didn't work on the first take. Fortunately, Ed Asner got the gesture right in one attempt.
While the relationship here was said to have taken place about 30 years earlier, in fact 17 years earlier in 1958 both
Beverly Garland and Edward Asner appeared together in An Eye for an Eye (1958), where both played NYPD officers. Asner was actually too young to have served in WW2, as he was born in November 1929.