Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Favorite Fictional Character --- Lady Elaine Fairchilde


It's only a few block away from Sesame Street but Mr. Roger's Neighborhood is just around the corner from almost every block in the United States.  Once you find your way to his home you are greeted by a warm, gentle man who's main goal in life is to teach and entertain children.  Luckily he is joined in this quest by many of his friends, including the inhabitants of the Neighborhood of Make-Believe.


One such resident is Lady Elaine Fairchilde, the resident caretaker of the Museum-Go-Round.  In her wondrous home, which never seems to run out of rooms, you will find displays and artifacts on almost any subject.  Anything you ever wanted to know from music to dinosaurs is to be found, waiting to be discovered.

Now you would think that such a woman, entrusted with such a magnificent duty, would be kind and gentle.  Instead, Lady Elaine Fairchilde is anything but.  She is temperamental, cranky, and always has a scheme up her sleeve.  She always has her trust Boomerang-Toomerang-Zoomerang around just in case she needs to get up to something in grand style.  It's her favorite tool to commit mischief and she shows off her handiwork with a sense of glee that if not so serious, would be endearing.

Such a woman wouldn't be tolerated by her neighbors, would she?  How could anyone stand living around such a woman?  Despite all of her meanness and at times scariness, her neighbors love her and have an almost infinite amount of patience with her.  They see her for who she really is.  Lady Elaine is a insecure woman who has always had a rather low sense of self esteem.  This causes her to lash out at people out of fear of being hurt by them.  At the same time she wants their attention so she pulls off hair brained ideas just to get that attention focused back on her.  She wants to be loved.  What she doesn't understand, at least not enough, is that she already is loved.

Her neighbors understand this and that's way they allow Lady Elaine to come to the right conclusions all on her own.  She will always admit to making a mistake and, when necessary, use her Boomerang-Toomerang-Zoomerang to fix the mess she made.  Often times, her neighbors use her stubbornness to their advantage.  When King Friday is digging his heels in, it's Lady Elaine that is able to get through to him.  She is the one that can make him understand that he's being silly and that he needs to admit he's wrong.  Her interference is needed so much around the palace that she is the adopted auntie for Prince Tuesday.

Lady Elaine is one of those people, that once you get past their thick walls of gruffness and animosity, is one of the most generous souls around.  She has a heart of gold, waiting to be found by anyone willing to find it.  She will teach you anything you want to know and is always willing to answer a question.  When you meet her though, don't offer her a cheeseburger.  She is a strict vegetarian and you don't want to get on her bad side by offering a piece of meat for dinner.

4 comments:

Michelle Stockard Miller said...

I really used to watch Mr. Rogers...not sure why, but I think it was because of the puppets. I really liked Lady Fairchilde, although she was a little creepy in a Phyllis Diller as a puppet kind of way. LOL!

joemmama said...

Puppets scare the whiz out of me! Even cute smiley ones....just sayin

bermudaonion said...

I didn't watch Mr. Rogers as a kid, because I was too old when it came out. When I'd turn it on for my son, it always looked kind of cheesy to me, but he loved it and would be captivated the whole time. I guess that proves gentleness really goes a long way with kids.

Kaye said...

I'm more of the Kaptain Kangaroo generation but my kids occasionally watched Mr. Rogers and one day I came home to find hubby with nary a kid in sight watching the show. Somebody was making bread and he was fascinated - go figure!