Edith and Archie

Ah geez, Jean Stapleton is gone. Yeah, we all gotta go sometime and she was 90 -- a good long run, she had.

She was most famous, of course, for her turn as Edith Bunker on Norman Lear’s television show All In The Family.

From Wikipedia: 

 Produced by Norman Lear and Bud Yorkin, All in the Family revolved around the life of a working class bigot and his family. It is based on the British television comedy series Till Death Us Do Part. Despite being considerably softer in its approach than its BBC predecessor, the show broke ground in its depiction of issues previously considered unsuitable for U.S. network television comedy, such as racism, homosexuality, women's liberation, rape, miscarriage, abortion, breast cancer, the Vietnam War, menopause, and impotence. Through depicting these controversial issues, the series became arguably one of television's most influential comedic programs, as it injected the sitcom format with real-life conflicts.

The show first came on in 1971, the year I turned 13. Adolescents aren’t exactly known for having sophisticated senses of humor and I was no exception.

I hated the show -- it made no sense to me. How was Archie Bunker, a bullying, bigoted, asswipe of a human, in any way funny? How was Edith amusing -- her character, a dim bulb who stayed with and even loved a man who disrespected her, who treated her like hired help.

Now, nebbishy Bob Newhart was funny. Maude -- liberal, tart tongued and big boned -- awesome! Hawkeye and Trapper John on MASH were hilarious and made me believe that YES the good guys could be witty, handsome and, better still, triumphant!

Can you see a theme here? I wanted to see shows with folks I could like and relate to and I most certainly couldn’t relate to Archie or Edith.

The CBS pre-show disclaimer:

"The program you are about to see is All in the Family. It seeks to throw a humorous spotlight on our frailties, prejudices, and concerns. By making them a source of laughter, we hope to show -- in a mature fashion -- just how absurd they are."

My father absolutely LOVED All In The Family. He got the humor. He understood the premise -- that Archie was NOT the hero. Archie was a symbol of what would, we all hoped, soon be inevitably, inexorably past.

Vati and Muti in 1976

At the same time, my father likened himself to Archie and Mother to Edith -- saying they were so similar. Nothing could have been farther from reality -- my folks being liberal intellectuals. Daddy could relate though to Archie’s blustering, bullying demeanor and felt Mother could be Edith-like at times.

I SO didn’t want my parents compared to these roles!

From The AV Club:

by the second season, wife Edith (Jean Stapleton) assumes the show’s voice for optimism and compassion, and her slow struggle to pull Archie away from his comfort zone of suspicion and bitterness becomes the main theme of the series.

In a 1972 New York Time interview Stapleton said of her character:

"What Edith represents is the housewife who is still in bondage to the male figure, very submissive and restricted to the home. She is very naive, and she kind of thinks through a mist, and she lacks the education to expand her world. I would hope that most housewives are not like that," said Stapleton, whose character regularly obeyed her husband's demand to "stifle yourself."
But Edith was honest and compassionate, and "in most situations she says the truth and pricks Archie's inflated ego," she added.

The show and the characters, apart from Archie, grew, expanded and evolved. I came to understand the premise though it was never something I’d watch on my own.

I recall seeing Jean Stapleton on some chat show, years after All in the Family was over, and being stunned by how different she was from Edith. Yes, I knew she was playing a part on TV but I honestly expected some of Edith’s warmth to be present/obvious in Stapleton. Not in this interview though -- she came off as more than a bit grand.

I wished I’d seen her when she embodied Eleanor Roosevelt or any of her character turns on Broadway.

Jean Stapleton R.I.P