A Very Mary Easter

Having now perused several galleries of vintage stills for this weekend's holiday (including this very special one from which the treasure above is culled), I can tell you one thing:

There is virtually no way to combine models, stuffed rabbits and/or rabbit costumes, giant colored eggs, or any other of the paraphernalia of this annual observance that isn't disturbing on some level, one that ranges from mildly unnerving to flat-out psychotic.  Which puts our old pal here, Miss Tyler Moore in one of her earlier and even perkier incarnations, somewhere only in the bottom half of the holiday-upset scale.  Had I not done my research, this would have surprised me greatly.

And it doesn't get better, really, when you go to the video; something about Easter, even in song, unsettles.  Last year we featured the inimitable (thank God) Miss Jo Ann Castle, possibly at the very moment she suffered the first of the repeated breakdowns that have peppered her life ever since.  My search for anything equally diverting this year was alas in vain, although if you have the energy, feel free to check out - and don't say you weren't warned - such little gems as either Agnes Moorehead or Robert Goulet on (separate, sadly) Oral Roberts Easter specials.  The latter seems to have been wakened up only moments before being pushed on stage, and if this was in fact filmed on an Easter Sunday, I can only speculate that it must have been a hell of a Saturday night in Tulsa.  A little better, if regrettably lip-synched, is dear Miss Kate Bush on what seems to be an Abba Easter special, but sadly there's nothing at all specifically seasonal about it (although I'll never cavil at an opportunity to hear one of my favorites of her songs, "Wow").

As for us, we're planning a quiet Easter.  In Egypt, this is the season for a holiday even older than the Christian one, the observance of Sham el Nessim.  Celebrated by all Egyptians regardless of creed, and with its origins buried deep in the pharaonic past, Sham el Nessim is a day for picnicking and eating herring and fermented fish; we may do the former (or at least walk the dogs in a nearby park), but I'll leave the latter to Mr. Muscato.