Maude Findlay

Maude Findlay (née Chadbourne; formerly Hilliard) is a fictional character and the main title character on the controversial 1970s sitcom Maude. She was portrayed by the Emmy-winning actress Bea Arthur.

Background

Maude Findlay first appeared on All in the Family in December 1971, in the second season episode, "Cousin Maude's Visit", and is the cousin of Edith Bunker. Maude cared for Edith and disliked her husband, Archie Bunker, as shown by Maude telling Edith she could have chosen a much better mate than Archie. Maude was also an ally of Edith's daughter, Gloria (Sally Struthers), and Gloria's husband, Mike Stivic (Rob Reiner). Archie and Maude were both known for getting on each other's nerves, especially since she was a liberal and Archie was a conservative.

In her first appearance on All in the Family, it was said that Maude was widowed twice. Her husband Fred died of brain aneurysm and Bert died of a heart seizure. When Maude premiered, it seemed that Fred was now renamed Barney and Bert became Albert Hilliard, her third husband.

After her appearances on All in the Family, Maude received her own series, which debuted on CBS on September 12 1972. On her own show, Maude lives in Tuckahoe, New York, is quite no-nonsense, and is married to Walter Findlay (Bill Macy), the owner and operator of an appliance store called Findlay's Friendly Appliances. They met during a Democratic convention, where she had ardently supported Hubert Humphrey. Before she met Walter, she dated a writer named Russell Asher (Cesare Danova), who was a womanizer.

Walter's marriage to Maude was his second marriage. His previous wife was a gold digging woman named Marta (Carole Cook), to whom Walter was married for eleven years, and was paying alimony to when he married Maude. Marta, who agreed with Maude that Walter was a cheapskate, and greedy as she had ever been, was engaged to Maude's wealthy Uncle Henry, which truly unnerved her, having her husband's ex-wife as her aunt; but after Henry made it clear that he truly loved Marta and didn't mind her golddigging ways, Maude began to accept the idea.

Walter had ended up incurring Maude's unmatched wrath on numerous occasions, including when he had the nerve to call her Sylvia.

Maude's recently divorced daughter, Carol Traynor (who also disliked Archie Bunker) (Marcia Rodd in the second season episode of All in the Family entitled "Maude", which became the series, Maude; Adrienne Barbeau, thereafter), and Carol's son, Philip (Brian Morrison; Kraig Metzinger), also live with the couple. Carol, who was once married to a man named Pete, who was Philip's father, was the product of Maude's first marriage to a man named Barney, whom she did not really like. Her second marriage to Chester lasted six years. Maude had been married four times in all; Walter was her fourth husband. Much like her mother, Carol, too, was liberal, and clearly shared her mother's opinions, although at times, they would clash.

When Carol got annoyed with Maude, she would call her by her given name, Maude, but mostly, she referred to her as "Mother".

At one point, Carol had dated Maude's old boyfriend, Russell Asher, which distressed Maude. However, after a fight in which Russell called Carol by her mother's name, she saw him for what he really was, a "conceited pompous bore", and both Carol and Maude threw him out of their lives for good. In the series' second season, Carol had a serious relationship with a man named Chris (Fred Grandy), a pediatrician from Boston, whom she was engaged to for a time.

The often loud and opinionated Maude would often tell someone, usually husband Walter, who could and sometimes did perturb her, "God'll get you for that!" (this line served as her catch phrase, other catch phrases included "Watch it!" and "I'll rip his/her heart out!!!"); but she would obey very swiftly whenever Walter, who was Maude's polar opposite, meek on the outside, tiger within, would order, "Maude!!! Sit!" (The latter served as Walter's catch phrase.)

One of the running gags of the show is whenever Maude answered the phone, people would often mistake her for Walter, due to her voice being at a low octave. Usually she would say to whomever it was on the phone, "No, this is not Mr. Findlay, this is MRS. Findlay." followed by a sometimes snide, and offhand remark about Walter.

During the course of the show, Maude and Walter's marriage would take more than a few hits; due to Walter's alcoholism; Walter's business going into bankruptcy; Walter having a heart attack, Maude's political aspirations, among other various things.

Walter tended to be rather old-fashioned, despite his attempts at being progressive. Sometimes, he would even go as far as to stoop to emotional blackmail to get Maude to be a more traditional housewife. He wanted to be the breadwinner, and couldn't stand it that Maude was a feminist. He also could be shown to be very chauvinistic as well, something which Maude would not and did not tolerate.

More often as not, however, Walter's blackmail attempts met with disaster, because it only made Maude all the more determined to do what she wanted to do. Sometimes, Walter and Maude would have very violent arguments in the kitchen which would often end up with some of Maude's priceless dishes being destroyed. Some of their fights would also cause damage in other parts of their house as well (i.e.: the master bedroom windows, where Maude and Walter each threw the other's suitcases through; the kitchen window, which Walter threw a bottle of scotch through, etc.).

In contradiction of her liberal leanings, Maude was never without a housekeeper in her house.

Maude hired the first housekeeper, Florida Evans, an African-American woman who always had the last laugh at Maude's expense. Florida gave Maude a dose of her own medicine, but Florida always knew Maude was mostly a level-headed woman and had a feminist-like attitude. Florida left in 1974. (Esther Rolle got her own show, Good Times which premiered on February 8, 1974). Maude next hired Nell Naugatuck (Hermione Baddeley), a British housekeeper, who was a widow.

Unlike Florida, who commuted to Tuckahoe from her home in Harlem to work for the Findlays, Mrs. Naugatuck lived with them for a time. She moved in with the Findlays, over Walter's initial objections, and had a tendency to drink too much and constantly lie. She won Walter over by being the proper maid, which infuriated Maude. Also, unlike Florida, whom she considered a friend, Maude and Mrs. Naugatuck had a kind of semi-antagonistic relationship, due to the latter's lying, her vulgarity and her constant drinking. They respected one another, although they could get angry at one another.

In the episode called "The Case of the Broken Punch Bowl, both of Mrs. Naugatuck's faults came into play when Maude was trying to find out who broke her Antique Waterford Crystal punch bowl at a party, and, thanks to Carol, it was shown that Mrs. Naugatuck had deliberately thrown it while drunk and broke it.

Mrs. Naugatuck left in 1977 with her second husband, Bert Beasley (J. Pat O'Malley) to move to Ireland to care for Bert's mother. And in the final season (1977—1978), Maude hired Victoria Butterfield (Marlene Warfield), whom Maude had accused of pickpocketing while she was in New York, and she remained with the series until it ended.

Maude also had neighbors: The Harmons, Vivian Cavender-Harmon (Rue McClanahan) and Dr. Arthur Harmon (Conrad Bain). Maude got along with Vivian, having known her since they were in college; Vivian was well-meaning and compassionate but very scatterbrained.

Maude did not, however, get along with Arthur as well as she did with Vivian.

Arthur, who was conservative and Walter's best friend (the two had served together in World War II and it was Arthur who introduced Walter to Maude) was Maude's foil in lieu of Archie Bunker; and he simply called her "Maudie". Maude explained that Maudie had been a hated nickname given by her aunt Gertrude whom she cursed when she was fourteen and thirty three years later passed on. (Arthur's infrequently used catch phrase was "So, that's it for America, huh?")

Maude and Arthur were always clashing about something; usually political or moral issues. Arthur could become very bombastic at times when he was confronting Maude. At various times Carol would also join in the argument, usually on Maude's side, although she was able to get along with Arthur better than her mother did (though at times, she would also get annoyed with him). Walter, although he did agree with Maude, would, on the other hand, tend to side more with Arthur, because of his long-standing friendship with him.

However, in spite of their wide ideological differences, Arthur showed that he really did care a great deal about Maude, as was evidenced in the episode "Maude's Big Decision" when he calmly explained to a very distraught Maude that she shouldn't feel responsible for Walter beginning to drink again (Walter was an alcoholic). "You've got to detach yourself with love, Maudie," Arthur said, "because he's going to drink no matter what you do."

In the episode, which was part of a longer story arc centering on the possible end of the Findlay marriage, Walter had, characteristically, stooped to blackmail to get Maude to stop her run for State Senate (the incident which had led to Maude and Walter separating). He told her that if she didn't drop her run for office, he would walk out on her and never come back. He, chauvinistically, felt that Maude's only real job was to take care of him and the family. She had no business doing anything else.

Arthur then finally confronted his friend on his selfishness. Walter had bragged about his victory in forcing Maude to give up her plans of running for office."Let's have a drink to celebrate," Walter bragged, "I WON!" Arthur then lost his temper with Walter, "Won? Won what?!" he snapped, "Happiness through blackmail?! You know, you're like a baby throwing a temper tantrum. Everyone has to give in to Walter Findlay because he's an alcoholic. I don't like you very much right now, Walter!"

However, after watching Maude on TV during a Morning show interview with the rest of the family, Walter eventually relented and allowed her to run for office. However, she lost the primary, but supported her former challenger, a James Kunkle, and both celebrated when he won.

Widower Arthur (his late wife's name was Agnes) and Vivian met each other (thanks to Maude) after she divorced her husband, Chuck Cavender after 21 years, and the two (Arthur and Vivian) were married in the middle of the second season of Maude (1973—1974).

In the series, Maude mostly dealt with the events happening in her life, but in the most-watched and controversial two-part episode of the first season, entitled Maude's Dilemma, Maude discovered at age 47 that she was pregnant. Maude and her entire family and friends are shocked, and Carol tries to persuade Maude to get an abortion, which is now legal in New York. Arthur also tried to convince Walter to get a vasectomy. The episode was seen by an estimated 9.94 million viewers.^{[citation needed]}. The show had also dealt with menopause, boredom, and women's liberation.

A season Four two-part episode called "Maude's Moods" revealed that Maude has bipolar disorder (more specifically, manic depression). She attempted to run actor Henry Fonda for President, and as she did, her moods swung from very high happiness, to the very pits of depression. She eventually went to see a psychiatrist about her condition.

In the final episode, Maude, who unexpectly achieved her political goals, is tapped to take over the unfinished term of a congresswoman she supported and admired who had died while in office, and she and Walter move to Washington, D.C.. Arthur and Vivian had moved to Idaho, where he accepted a job as a doctor; and Carol (who had long since ended her engagement to Chris) and Phillip had moved to Denver, Colorado, after she had acquired a job there.

Reception

In May 2012, Maude was one of the 12 moms chosen by users of iVillage on their list of "Mommy Dearest: The TV Moms You Love".^[1]

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Maude Findlay.

• Maude at the Internet Movie Database
• Maude at TV.com

References