Blues in the night

So when your 86-year-old mother shows up at a Halloween party as one of the Blues Brothers, it gets your attention. 

"The Blues Brothers" is a cultural touchstone for Baby Boomers, not a woman in her ninth decade. Before the party, Mom didn't know a blues brother from a twisted sister. 

In truth, the Halloween costume was a surprise to her from a devoted family friend who was her partner that night and provided both of them with the appropriate suits, sunglasses and cigars to play Jake and Elwood.

There were other cultural flash points for my generation at the party, including the characters of Regan in "The Exorcist" and Sandy in "Grease." (Just for the record, I was terrified when I first saw "The Exorcist," while my mother, who otherwise scares easily, laughed all the way through.) 

A couple days later, she told me she had watched "Fargo," with its black comedy nastiness. It gave her pause, not least during the scene where Steve "Beechimi" gets ground up in a wood chipper. 

"Fargo," of course, hadn't been on her cultural radar before. Not like, say, "The Bridge on the River Kwai," better known as "The Bridges of Madison County," which was more to her liking: a cut-and-dried romance with Meryl "Street" and Clint Eastwood as an Italian immigrant farm wife and the commitment-free photographer who awakens her sense of adventure and romance in an otherwise mundane life.

Now that's a movie.

But for entertainment value, mom says almost nothing beats the "I Love Lucy" reruns she catches each day from 1 to 2 in the afternoon. (Unless it's her umpteenth viewing of Bette Davis in "Now, Voyager.") 

Today's episode: Lucy accompanies Ricky to the eye doctor, then has the tables turned on her when the doctor says she's the one with the eye problem. He puts drops in her eyes that nearly blind her, and in a situation that's so Lucy, she has to dance the jitterbug that night in Ricky's show.

You know what happens, not least because Lucy's predicaments are so familiar. We even have a shorthand for our favorite episodes: Lucy in the grape vat. Lucy at the Brown Derby. Lucy gets drunk during a commercial. Lucy in the candy factory.

Never mind that the official titles of these episodes don't always jibe with the memories we conjure. The candy factory episode, for instance, is actually called "Job Switching," since Ricky and Fred, to once again satirize gender roles, man the home front while their wives look for work. (My favorite line from that episode: "I'm a dipper from way back. They used to call me the big dipper.")

As a cultural touchstone, Lucille Ball has spanned every generation, which is why she has been described as the most familiar face in the world. So maybe mom can dress up like Lucy Ricardo next Halloween. We could ply her with alcohol from a "bittle ottle" and have her recite Lucy's Vitameatavegamin routine.

That would be "poopular."



 

   










 


 

  

  



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