Lady Elaine Fairchilde

As a little kid I watched shows like Sesame Street, The Electric Company, Zoom, and Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood. My parents must have owned stock in PBS. Anyway, I recently had a suppressed memory surface about one of the characters from Mr. Rogers. I know Fred Rogers is a good guy, but where on earth did he come up with such a freaky puppet as Lady Elaine Fairchilde? Seriously, What on earth?

There were some weird characters on that show. The live actors were almost as strange as the puppets. Mr. McFeely, Handyman Joe Negri, Chef Brocket, and Robert Troll are some names that come to mind from the past. If you are too young to remember those names, then consider yourself blessed. Anyway, back to lady Elaine. She dressed like a Canadian Mountie, was always rude, had an alcoholic nose and looked like she used a hot curling iron to apply blush to her cheeks. She also gave off some vibes that made me unsure of her gender (probably because she was being voiced by a man)

What's my point? I don't know, but I am sure that I am not alone and there are thousands others like me who watched TV in the 70's as kids who are still creeped out to this day by a little puppet lady who was the brain child of Fred Rogers. He may has well have used a little Freddy Kruger puppet instead of her.