Female Sidekicks

My Return to Grey Gardens post made me think about women sidekicks. I mean, Little Edie surely is the star of Grey Gardens and Big Edie her sidekick.

Famously, when I think on this subject (which, believe me, I'm oft to do), I remember -- first and foremost -- Lucy and Ethel. And after that, I really cannot think of a lot until Absolutely Fabulous came along in the '90s!

I suppose, Marilyn Monroe might have been Jane Russell's sidekick in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953). Or was that the other way around?

And a case can definitely be made for Laurie Metcalf being a sidekick to Roseanne Barr on Roseanne (1988-97).  I'm sure there are a ton of sitcom women with their female sidekicks that I'm just not thinking about. Frankly, I don't watch a lot of tv.

Joan Crawford was Bette Davis' sidekick in Whatever Happened to Baby Jane. And kick her in the side she did. Anne Baxter was Bette's sidekick in All About Eve (1950). Or was the sidekick in that film Thelma Ritter or maybe Celeste Holm?

Crawford had a number of sidekicks. Eve Arden in Mildred Pierce, for one. Judy Geeson in Berserk.
Diane Baker in Strait-Jacket. Debbie Reynolds' sidekick was Shelly Winters in What's the Matter \with Helen. Olivia DeHavilland was Bette Davis' sidekick in Hush, Hush, Sweet Charlotte

Can you think of others? Love to see your responses. Remember, this blog is interactive-friendly.

AB FAB: The Movie Is ON, Sweetie Dahlings!

Do you have the champs handy? Ok, sweeties, this is swell! Huffington Post reported today that Jennifer Saunders absolutely fabulously confirmed the making of an "Absolutely Fabulous" feature film on the UK's Jonathan Ross Show over the weekend.

"Rumors about a movie of the classic British sitcom have been swirling all year," writes HuffPost about AbFab.

They went on to tell us: "Yes, well I have to do it now because I've threatened it a lot," said Saunders while on Ross' show this weekend. Saunders then continued, "And then Joanna Lumley kept announcing it and saying, 'Yes, she's going to do it, she's going to do it' and then Dawn French on our radio show at Christmas said, 'I bet £100,000 that you don't write it.' So now I have to write it, otherwise I have to pay her £100,000."

Saunders also revealed that her procrastination is one of the reasons the film has taken so long, as well as "second album syndrome." She explains to Ross, "Once you've had a bit of success, the last thing you want to do is go and make a flop. So the biggest fear in me is that it won't be good enough. I'm really nervous about it."

We're sure the brilliant Ms Saunders will come through with rainbow colors and bells on no doubt.

Thanks, especially, to Queens Our City Radio's Chris Colby for being the first of many to tip me off and encourage me to write this up. And thank you to you all! 

This is such delicious news, we're salivating as we type, dahlings!

Thumbs Up on the Ab Fab Feature!

Well, it's time for good cheer and popping open whatever is on hand because, after quite a long period of buzz, the Absolutely Fabulous film is absolutely fabulously going to happen!

Reports the Daily Mail UK: Appearing on daytime television show This Morning, Jennifer [Saunders] - who was promoting her new book Bonkers - spoke about movie plans: 'There isn't [a movie] but there will be. I'm close to picking up a pen, that's how close it is,' Jennifer revealed. She added: 'But after Christmas. There's so much to do before. I don't want to write it before Christmas, that would be silly. I'll do it after.'

The image above surfaced on the Internet very recently. Expect the movie in 2015, sweety darlings!