True. But her original age doesn’t exactly fit with a typical aunt of a teenager. In old comic books, parents are often old. I mean, even parents of people in their 20s have white hair. Though I do think that had faded a bit even by the late '60s, and definitely by the '80s (though legacy characters may still be older-looking).
I think you have something there.
I like to think that I don’t look so old here in my mid-fifties but I am certain that some things show my age to the younger generation.
I have no tattoos. I have only one earring (that was radical as all hell in the 70s). I’m sure the length of shorts I choose show me to be an old man. I probably use my cell phone like some type of barely trained ape (Oh, isn’t it cute how he thinks he’s Snapchatting!)
The signs of age have changed since we were the young ones.
Not a mee-maw, but from the 1960s. . . my 49-year-old uncle
Define staying fashionable and fighting the frump. I’m serious. I don’t dress like my grandmother did at 55 ( which was like Edith Bunker) or like my mother did at 55 (sweatpants, polyester pants and jeans with elastic waists). I don’t wear my hair the same way they did at 55 either. But I also don’t dress like my 28 year old daughter- and the 55 year old women who try to do that usually look ridiculous ( I remember describing one as “mutton dressed as lamb” because she looked that ridiculous.)
But in the same way that I don't dress differently from other currently 55 year old women, my mother and grandmother didn't dress differently from their peers. And neither did Archie and Edith- they looked like most people in their mid-fifties did in the seventies.
If people today had to wear their non dyed non tinted hair there would be as many greyhaired folk as ever.
Don’t forget that in the 60s and 70s middle aged people had grown up in the depression and World War II. Working in a factory or on a farm or the hedgerows of Normandy is pretty hard on your body.
So Carroll O’Connor was born in 1924, which would make him 10 in 1934 in the middle of the depression, 20 in 1944 in the middle of WWII, 30 in 1954 in the middle of the post-war economic boom, and 50 in 1974 in the middle of All in the Family. Going through those decades as a child and young adult is going to age you prematurely.
It also explains the “cranky old man” attitudes of middle aged people in the 60s and 70s and the generation gap. They went through the depression and WWII, and then came home to peace and prosperity, and the kids today do nothing but complain, they never had real hardship like we did.
I agree with you about people dressing too young for their age, especially women who shop in the Junior department. It is very unattractive on many levels.
I just mean wearing modestly classic clothes in modern colors and prints that fit you well. Taking good care of your skin and hair and keeping that make up and hairstyle up to date goes a long way, too.
I also find that wearing less make up looks better on me as I age. Older women who really pile it on look clownish.
Just things like that…your energy and attitude about yourself accounts for most of it at the end of the day.
Damn, Earl, was he hurt in the war?
A lot better nutrition makes a huge difference too.
Raquel Welch is 77 on Date My Dad, as a “meemaw”. Her character is also supposed to be … sexually very active so she dresses flashily.
Her real-life kid? Older than the 33-year-old playing her daughter on that show.
Robert Downey, Jr. is 52 and Jodie Foster is 54.
Oh, how times have changed.
digs, MeeMaw is Sheldon’s nickname for his grandmother on Big Bang Theory.
I think part of it is also that Young Sheldon’s main character is so young. With him 9, that takes his mom and grandma both having kids at 25 or younger.
Meemaw, if she were to be on Big Bang Theory, would be in her 80’s, closer to what we think of as a grandmother, I think.
Also, her character takes care of herself and is concerned about her looks.
Golden Girls is a good example, Rose and Dorothy look like ‘grandmothers’, but Blanche, who has 6 kids certainly doesn’t.
Peter Parker is a teenager. 53 is a realistic age for his aunt. She could even be younger.
And here’s Sheldon’s Meemaw as she appeared on TBBT. Note that the actress playing her is actually 88 years old.
Fun Fact: She played a stripper in the original Broadway production of Gypsy.
Tom Cruise is 55, will be 56 when the next MISSION:IMPOSSIBLE comes out.
There’s a decent chance that he’s doing sit-ups as I write this.
Annie Potts was born October 28, 1952. June Squibb was born November 6, 1929. So the actress playing Meemaw on The Big Bang Theory is almost 23 years older than the actress playing that character on Young Sheldon. That’s actually not quite enough of a difference in age to fit the story of the two shows. When Young Sheldon came on the air in 2017, we were told it was set in 1989. So to get the age difference perfectly, the difference in ages between the two actresses should be 28 years. Yeah, yeah, I know that’s nitpicking. I don’t think anyone notices.
I blame Mad magazine. Even though I don’t remember specifics, they had an article about the future (many of them, but this is a particular one) where the old fashioned granny (Aunt Bea from “Andy Griffith”) would be replaced by a swingin’ grandma.
Meemaw, Mamaw, Papaw, and all the other southern terms can go to hell.
I guess that means sixtysomething Sela Ward would be missing it closer?