Sunday, June 2, 2013

Song of the Day - Those Were the Days - All in the Family - R.I.P. Jean Stapleton


Today's Song of the Day post is in tribute to Jean Stapleton, who passed away yesterday of natural causes at the age of 90.  Of course, Stapleton will forever be an indelible part of American pop culture for her portrayal as Archie Bunker's wife on the hit TV series All in the Family.  Edith Bunker is one of the most lovable television characters of all time, with an authentic goodness of someone we all wish was in our lives.

Boy the way Glen Miller played...

This opening words to this song, and in fact all of the words to this song can be sung verbatim by virtually anyone who was around in the heyday of the show. These opening credits exemplify the best of how Stapleton and Carroll O'Connor worked together as the polar opposite duo of Archie and Edith Bunker.  Click play and relive the memory...

 

All in the Family was one of my favorite shows of all time, and Edith playing dingbat to Archie's bigoted, working class, rough and tumble Archie provided the setting for some side-splitting laughter.  Here's a classic Archie-Edith scene in which the couple is in a waiting room at the hospital and Archie unwittingly gives Edith a magazine to read.  Check it out...



And then, of course, there those many hysterically funny times when Edith would go into one of her long-winded stories, much to Archie's chagrin.  Watch as Edith's stories drive Archie to some pretty-damned funny pantomime suicides:
  

Well I could go on and on with some classically funny Edith scenes, but I think you get the point.  I know I'll be watching some old All in the Family episodes in the coming weeks because it's been too long.  So rest in peace, Jean, and thanks for the laughs!

  

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