The title is based on the operetta 'The Merry Widow' by composer Franz Lehar.
When Grandma Romano returns from an evening out with Schneider, she tells Ann and Barbara one of the jokes she learned from him: "Did you hear the one about the sex maniac who was [hebadeened]" (the last word is barely mumbled). Ann says, "What?" and Grandma Romano says, "hard of hearing". The joke has layers of meaning, as the actress playing Grandma Romano, Nanette Fabray, who suffered herself from a significant hearing loss, was for decades a well-known advocate for the rights of the deaf and hard-of-hearing [source: Wikipedia].