Saturday Matinee: And Then There's Madame

It's the weekend. What better time to relax by the flickering light of grainy old videos uploaded to the Internet? Thanks once again to YouTube - man's greatest-ever invention - it's another edition of Saturday Matinee.

Today's installment features two grand dames who made their mark in 1970s show business, Bea Arthur and Madame. Bea, of course, needs no introduction. But for those of you who weren't around or have suppressed your memories, Madame cut a wide swath through the puppet-loving heart of middle America in the late stagflation years. She even had her own show, Madame's Place - which locally used to air on Sunday nights just before my bedtime, and may explain why Lombaire Fan is still a light sleeper.

SPOILER: the following footage is disturbing on multiple levels. Enjoy.



You can add Madame to your MySpace list here.

Belated Condolences

This happened a few weeks ago, so I didn't get to comment at the time but I'm sure we all heard about the assassination of Sheik Ahmed Yassin.

Regardless of what one thinks about Mr. Yassin's political views or his leadership of a terrorist organization, I think we can all agree that he did a terrific job playing Bea Arthur's husband on the Maude show some years back.



Why this period of his life has been ignored in all the news accounts, I have no idea. But as with OJ Simpson's work in the Naked Gun series, I hope someday a sense of perspective can be reached.