Barbara Billingsley

Barbara Billingsley also passed away this past weekend. I wasn't going to write anything about her at first because I didn't remember her work besides being America's most perfect mother on Leave It To Beaver.

And I figured, its sad she passed away, but I never even really watched Leave It To Beaver in reruns. But then the coverage of her passing reminded me that she had somewhat of resurgence in the eighties and early nineties. She, of course, was involved in one of the most famous scenes from the movie, Airplane:

But almost as close to my heart is the fact that she voiced the unseen Nanny on one of my Saturday morning cartoon staples growing up, Muppet Babies:

Whoa. That Muppet Babies clip opens up with a shot from Aliens. They used to do that all the time, mix clumsily mix live action and the cartoon. I used to get amped when they'd show clips from stuff I liked like Star Wars. But, at that age, I wouldn't have caught Aliens. I remember one time the Muppet Babies had to go down to the basement and Kermit or Fozzie referred to it as the "Temple Of Doom" and they showed a clip of the Kali Ma statue from Temple of Doom. That was awesome.

Where was I? Oh, Barbara Billingsley. In the eighties and nineties she was in a lot of sitcoms like Murphy Brown and Parker Lewis Can't Lose. She was also in a movie I quite enjoyed when I was young, and am not sure how it holds up today. It's the movie where Annette Funicello and Frankie Avalon reunite called Back To The Beach in 1987. I should watch it again. But I remember her playing an announcer during the final surfing contest (don't ask). And her sons from Leave It To Beaver played Siskel and Ebert-like judges for said contest. At the end instead of calling Frankie Avalon "The Big Kahuna", she called him, "The Big Crapola". It was funny when she said it (at the time). But I'll be damned if I could find a clip of it. I couldn't even find a picture of her in it. The only reason I probably saw the movie is because men of my Dad's age are still nursing a crush on Annette Funicello that exists to this day, so he really wanted to see it. 

But just for s's and g's, here's an odd clip from the movie where Annette Funicello sings a song called "Jamaica Ska" accompanied by Fishbone. No joke.