Quayle Offers Reassurances to Single Mothers : Television: He joins unwed mothers at season premiere of ‘Murphy Brown’ and sends stuffed elephant gift to the nonexistent newborn.

Vice President Dan Quayle sought to assure Murphy Brown’s baby and voters at large Monday that he has nothing against single mothers. But he called anew for Hollywood to “start reflecting basic values.”

Quayle arranged to join a group of single mothers in Washington on Monday night to watch the season premiere of “Murphy Brown,” the show he chastised last May for “mocking the importance of fathers.”

“I have the greatest respect for single mothers. They’re working hard, often against great odds,” Quayle said in a stop at a supermarket here.

Quayle’s peacemaking gesture to Murphy Brown’s baby--a stuffed elephant and a handwritten note--got less attention than he had hoped.

The gift was not opened nor his note read on the “CBS This Morning” show, which featured interviews with “Murphy Brown” star Candice Bergen and other cast members on the set of the show.

“Dear Baby Brown, I want to be one of the first to welcome you into the world,” wrote Quayle. “You may not realize it yet, but you’ve helped start an important discussion on ways to strengthen our traditional values.”

Quayle assured the nonexistent newborn of “the respect and personal understanding I have for single mothers.”

Quayle made plans to watch the show at the Washington apartment of Zora Brown, a family friend and advocate for breast cancer patients. She seconded Quayle’s nomination at last month’s Republican Convention in Houston.

Brown raised her sister’s children by herself, said David Beckwith, Quayle’s press secretary.

In speeches here and earlier at a home builders’ convention in Lexington, Ky., Quayle depicted Democratic presidential nominee Bill Clinton as a tool of the Hollywood Establishment.

Quayle quoted Clinton, at a fund-raiser in Hollywood last Wednesday, as saying: “I want Hollywood to write the future of America.” It prompted boos from a crowd of 500 at the Bowling Green airport.

Later, Quayle aides said Clinton’s actual remark was: “I want you to write a new future for the United States of America. I want you to be part of the Administration, not just part of the campaign.”