I love Michelle Obama and thought she looked great at the inauguration. I'm glad she wore gloves and I like them but. . . . whenever I see them I think of this character in an Amelia Bedelia book I had when I was little. Amelia Bedelia is doing her best (as ever) and her boss (a doctor?) is berating her for something and he wears these red, baggy gloves. His face is red too (to indicate his frustration with Amelia Bedelia). He's horrifying! He's kind of a precursor to Steve Martin's Dr. Maxwell from Sgt.Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, which is also horrifying if you see it as a kid and don't yet understand the difference between the Beatles and the BeeGees.
It must have really made an impression on me because every time I caught a glimpse of Michelle's gloves--yes, even holding the Lincoln bible--I thought of the horrible baggy gloves on Amelia's impatient and abusive boss. You might assume that this cruel man and his distinctive, haunting gloves are my earliest memory of terror--but you would be wrong. Ever heard of the child catcher?
He wears gloves too, has a whip, and can smell children with his long nose. What an awful person. I hate him. We have Roald Dahl to thank for that.
I guess the only thing more frightening at the time was:
Anyway, her ballgown was really pretty too.
That last picture is going to give me nightmares! As my two year olds would say, "too scary!"
ReplyDeleteI love how the Obama family wears J. Crew. It appeals to me on SO many levels. I always like to think that if I became a celebrated actress, I would show up on the red carpet in Ann Taylor and say, "what do you want from me? I'm from DC." Seriously - I've had that fantasy. And then Michelle shows up on The View in Donna Ricco. I had a couple of Donna Ricco off the rack dresses back when I was young and went to formal events. SO not couture. I love it.
AH! The child catcher used to scare the crap out of me. I always wanted to fast forward through that part. Also the part where Truly sings that horrible song on the lawn.
ReplyDeleteI definitely remember the doctor with the red baggy gloves.
ReplyDeleteI always remember Amelia Bedelia dressing the chicken. And how it made me want to dress up a chicken too.
ReplyDeleteI think we should talk more about the Obama girls' dress/coat ensembles, in particular the pink/orange combination. So cute. We also need to talk less about Dr. Maxwell, and even less about that movie. (But I own it. It was a birthday present, I mean, a birthday NIGHTMARE.)
ReplyDeleteWE JUST watched CCBB over the weekend and realized that we spent two days of our lovely fall Euro-Vacay IN THE VILLAGE OF THE CHILD CATCHER! ROTHENBURG! Roald Dahl's an evil genius.
ReplyDeleteMichelle is a fly first lady. Love her.
My verification is "taboododu"
OOOHHHhhh the child catcher. I find him more frightening than Ozzy.
ReplyDeleteHmm - and they think the stuff they have now is scary!!
ReplyDeleteYeah, WHO makes a movie for kids where the villian is an evil child snatcher who can smell you?
ReplyDeleteMichelle's gloves were from J.Crew, and when I heard that I thought, "Wow. I've heard of J. Crew. I could possibly afford those gloves." And then it made me feel proud that I could afford something that the first lady wears. And then I felt a little weird that she's so...accessible.
Sorry, that last comment was me. I don't know where Law Talk came from...
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