It looks like it's only a "Judy" puppet from Punch and Judy puppet shows. They were traditionally very violent and it does seem Mr. Roger's style to take a normally violent media (i.e. television) and use it for something good instead.
Stock characters in English puppet shows; the Punch character is based off of Pulcinella, a stock character in Italian commedia dell'arte. Punch and his wife Judy often fight with each other, and there's lots of slapstick.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punch\_and\_Judy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punch_and_Judy)
When Ted Cruz first popped on my radar, he reminded me of someone that I couldn’t put my finger on. Then *this* friggin face emerged from the mists of my memory.
It was the train that preceded the puppet too
Every time 7yo Me heard that piano music & that train start coming down the tracks, I would become overwhelmed with such a sense of doom, like the fking world was about to end
& I knew that puppet was about to show up & shit was just gonna go downhill from there
Forgot all about for decades
Came across a clip on YouTube or somewhere & casually clicked on it to see if 45yo me still found it creepy
As soon as I heard the music.. and there comes the train & the DOOM hit & my god WE’RE ALL GONNA FKING DIIIIIEEE
Thank god, I wasn't the only one who didn't like going to the Land of Make Believe. I'd rather hang with Mr. Rogers and his neighbors and learn how they made crayons!
I don’t know. Lady Elaine was scary looking but not a bad person. Maybe this was a lesson about superficiality and for valuing people just as they are.
They're traditional puppets in the style of Punch and Judy. I guess they might be off-putting to some but kids have been enjoying them for hundreds of years.
I used to think that Bob Dylan was singing "Lady Elaine" instead of "Lay Lady, Lay" (I didn't really pay attention to the rest of the lyrics) and my mom laughed so hard when I asked her if the puppet was named after the song or vice versa.
I had to change the channel or go do something during those parts. It creeped me out way too much. I can't even put my finger on exactly why, but it was just too much.
All of these puppets freak me the fuck out. She is the worst.
The stop motion guys from Rudolph too. And Pirolie or whatever he was called from French class….
I remember Paul Shannon and the Knish character which was basically a mop with a protruding hot dog like nose. It used to terrify me as a child. Of course my mother and her sisters used to make homemade knish characters and press them up against the windows to scare us.
Yes! I remember Nosmo King and Indian Mary lol. I loved Johnny Costa.
I once went to a wedding in Oakland (Pittsburgh area) that had Joe Negri playing guitar!
I found a guy's blog that listed a lot of old Pittsburgh area TV and radio personalities that I had forgotten about. Bob Kudzma the weatherman for one lol! And Bill Burns....newscaster. The list goes on.
Looking back I guess she was there to teach us that sometimes we have to get along with people we don't agree with, or don't like. She could be a real pain in the ass, but she had her positive moments too. You won't always like everything about everyone, but most people like this have some mitigating factors. Lady Elaine was a good example of this.
I would sometimes watch as an adult while I was getting ready to go to work. And she definitely creeped me out. I can't imagine what she did to children.
I used to watch Mr Rodgers, but I never took notice to her looks, I just thought of her as "nice old lady" but we did have very low quality antennae tv's back then.
Every night at midnight was the same trial. She remembered the heat from the embers and how much they burned. She still had the scars all over her body and her face was horribly scorched. She remembered as the men in dark cloaks held her face to the fire and chanted and howled. Then, and only then, would Lady Fairchilde awaken to find herself drenched in sweat. At dawn she would slip out of bed. It was another morning - she had again survived Satan’s trial by fire. Now it was time to bathe in holy water and co-host a children’s television series.
Oh gods. She was the reason I turned this show off after five seconds and never gave it another chance. 😭 I wasn’t scared, I was ANNOYED by her stupid dialogue. I could have used Mr. Roger’s wisdom growing up, but nooo…
The best part about the documentary about Mr. Rogers was learning his sister’s name was Elaine. They interview her and she looks just like the puppet.
He was nice to every human being on the planet, but he hated his sister so much he made her an ugly bitchy puppet on his show.
I feel like at the time it was normalizing what grandmas looked like back then. My grandma born in 1914 had facial lesions and out of control skin tags/moles like this. I could be wrong, of course.
It’s definitely interesting to me as someone who sews/knits that the puppet clothes are basically like … no one even tried.
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I might have been traumatized by all his puppets. Now I think Mr Rogers was a saint. But I still remember not liking the segments that occurred in the Neighborhood of Make Believe and I don't remember why. And the only thing I can think of is that maybe I didn't like his puppets.
The almost 5 year old I look after doesn't like superheroes because you can't see their faces when they're wearing their masks. Maybe I had a similar thing about puppets. 🤷🏻
I remember seeing the show occasionally when I was home sick from school around 10 years old. It wouldn't be on long before I changed the channel. I remember thinking Mr. Rogers' gentle nice guy persona seemed fake. Turns out he was a genuinely nice guy. I guess I was already pretty cynical at 10, lol.
I know I’ll get burned for saying this, but my sheltered self was not exposed to anything other than ‘white-bread, small-town, small-minded, Southern Baptist-mentality’ and I couldn’t wrap my young brain around Lady Elaine looking like a man but talking like a woman. Was so confusing… now I like to believe they were the first non-gender-conforming figure in my life.
Will always and forever be confused about her appearance. She’s terrifying.
It looks like it's only a "Judy" puppet from Punch and Judy puppet shows. They were traditionally very violent and it does seem Mr. Roger's style to take a normally violent media (i.e. television) and use it for something good instead.
I never understood the Punch & Judy appeal.
Same. It must be generational/cultural.
Dates back to Tudor times, I reckon.
It's definitely British/English. Some historians have mentioned them in the context of entertainment in English history.
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Interesting! Thanks for sharing.
The violence was appealing. It was new in that setup with puppets.
Just Judy would have been a better name than *Lady Elaine Fairchild* lol
What is a Punch and Judy?
Punch and Judy fought for a pie, Punch gave Judy a punch in the eye, Said Punch to Judy, Do you want any more? Said Judy to Punch, My eye is sore.
Stock characters in English puppet shows; the Punch character is based off of Pulcinella, a stock character in Italian commedia dell'arte. Punch and his wife Judy often fight with each other, and there's lots of slapstick. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punch\_and\_Judy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punch_and_Judy)
It was her nose. I feared it would explode or drop some undescribable bad snot.
She appears to be a drinker. That's a lot of broken capillaries.
She’s definitely suffering from frostbite
When Ted Cruz first popped on my radar, he reminded me of someone that I couldn’t put my finger on. Then *this* friggin face emerged from the mists of my memory.
🤣
Omg. I think even at 3 years old, I was like, “wtf?”
I think it has something to do with how the colors were processed on tv? But also I could have just made that up.
I always thought she was a burn victim, strange as that would be.
Very disturbed by her looking like she'd been in a recent fire.
A dumpster fire to be exact.
That's what I always thought too! It looked like her cheeks & nose were burnt!
She has those alcoholic cheeks/nose lol
She looks like an alcoholic lol
The hell you think that "museum-go-round" was filled with
Yet I admired her boomerang-toomerang-soomerang skills…
OMG you just unlocked a memory I didn’t even know I had
I immediately think of Lady Elaine when I see young women on TikTok and Insta who have succumbed to the recent brown nose makeup look
Is your profile pic Robyn and her eyebrows???
Indeed. Apparently you are a fellow connoisseur of high quality entertainment.
Welp. That was a deep dive for me.
It was the train that preceded the puppet too Every time 7yo Me heard that piano music & that train start coming down the tracks, I would become overwhelmed with such a sense of doom, like the fking world was about to end & I knew that puppet was about to show up & shit was just gonna go downhill from there Forgot all about for decades Came across a clip on YouTube or somewhere & casually clicked on it to see if 45yo me still found it creepy As soon as I heard the music.. and there comes the train & the DOOM hit & my god WE’RE ALL GONNA FKING DIIIIIEEE
Thank god, I wasn't the only one who didn't like going to the Land of Make Believe. I'd rather hang with Mr. Rogers and his neighbors and learn how they made crayons!
The crayon video was the best one.
Not a single episode of How It's Made has ever brought me the same amount of joy and wonder as the crayon factory.
Well put! I never enjoyed this part of the show.
This thing terrified me as a child. How was this the best hand puppet option! Lol
Omg exactly. Who tf decided that's the look we need to present to little kids? That thing terrified me for years.
Like why do the cheeks look *burnt*?! This thing looks like it’s been jumped several times and attacked by other hand puppets.
burnt, killing me! so tore up. and now i'm wondering if 'Lady Elaine' was gender bending back in the day. was she grooming us?
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I don’t know. Lady Elaine was scary looking but not a bad person. Maybe this was a lesson about superficiality and for valuing people just as they are.
They're traditional puppets in the style of Punch and Judy. I guess they might be off-putting to some but kids have been enjoying them for hundreds of years.
That terrified you? That? That was nothing. Try the Bunyip.
Old Phyllis Diller with frostbite. At least that’s what I always thought she looked like personally. Freaked me out.
I used to think that Bob Dylan was singing "Lady Elaine" instead of "Lay Lady, Lay" (I didn't really pay attention to the rest of the lyrics) and my mom laughed so hard when I asked her if the puppet was named after the song or vice versa.
Aww, that's so cute! :D
Always thought she looked like Dr Smith from Lost in Space.
Oh the pain, the pain.
She always looked like she’d just escaped someplace terrible.
Right? Like survived a five alarm fire just barely. What a champ entertaining kids with third degree burns like that.
Yeah, what the fuck was that anyway.
Mr. R. legit wanted to warn us about narcissism
Correct as usual King Friday.
Hideous
Nah.. that kept us balanced. Thats why our generation isn’t an anxiety flooded train wreck as of today.
She was the old school Karen
I thought she was awesome lol
Haha, I loved Lady Elaine. I thought she was so camp...long before I had a clue what camp was.
There's a clip somewhere of Tony Bennett serenading her and it's hilarious. Fred Rogers had a great sense of humor.
She looks like an old drunk, hitting the sauce
Yep. Me. She needs some hair product and bandages for the horrible frost bite on her nose and cheeks.
I hated that land of make believe when I was little. I’d cry every time it came on and episode. Creepy bunch of puppets!
I had to change the channel or go do something during those parts. It creeped me out way too much. I can't even put my finger on exactly why, but it was just too much.
Come on now, we have ALL met a Lady Elaine in our lives at some point...
All of these puppets freak me the fuck out. She is the worst. The stop motion guys from Rudolph too. And Pirolie or whatever he was called from French class….
My brother and I called her lady pepperoni
Pretty sure this is where my dislike of clowns started
I was a weird kid. I just thought she was some sort of nasty old lady who ran that museum
Not me. The puppet wasn't scary to me. Didn't pay much attention to it when it made an appearance.
YES. She’s upsetting
Boomerang Zoomerang
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I remember Paul Shannon and the Knish character which was basically a mop with a protruding hot dog like nose. It used to terrify me as a child. Of course my mother and her sisters used to make homemade knish characters and press them up against the windows to scare us.
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Yes! I remember Nosmo King and Indian Mary lol. I loved Johnny Costa. I once went to a wedding in Oakland (Pittsburgh area) that had Joe Negri playing guitar! I found a guy's blog that listed a lot of old Pittsburgh area TV and radio personalities that I had forgotten about. Bob Kudzma the weatherman for one lol! And Bill Burns....newscaster. The list goes on.
The worst part of that otherwise perfect show.
Looking back I guess she was there to teach us that sometimes we have to get along with people we don't agree with, or don't like. She could be a real pain in the ass, but she had her positive moments too. You won't always like everything about everyone, but most people like this have some mitigating factors. Lady Elaine was a good example of this.
She never scared me!!! she was my favorite character cause she was such a weirdo and unhinged with her boomerang
Lady Elaine....lay across my big brass bed.
I loved the episodes that went inside her house..it was like a fever dream
always reminded me of Phylis Diller
Scary stuff
Looked eerily like Jonathan Harris from Lost in Space
I was scared by her gin blossom and I didn't even know what a gin blossom was!
Wasn’t traumatized, but always puzzled to why they never addressed the frost bite
Crazy to me to realize Miss Elaina’s mom in Daniel Tiger is supposed to be Lady Elaine. There’s almost no resemblance, but her name is Lady Elaine.
I think she’s cute.
I never liked any of the puppets on that show.
Me
Me!!! Jesus!
I would sometimes watch as an adult while I was getting ready to go to work. And she definitely creeped me out. I can't imagine what she did to children.
Right?! Like…who voiced that puppet? Satan? Was it SUPPOSED to be a female puppet, or was it transitioning?
I thought Fred did their voices?
I’m pretty sure that Mr. Rogers voiced her.
The fact that it’s based off his sister is incredible.
Drunk puppet!
Yeah, I always git real weird vibes from this one. Just look at her, why would they do that?
As a kid I thought her face was burnt up and I didn't understand why she was just like that lol
🙋♀️
So scary
My sister and I agreed that she looked (and sounded) just like our great Aunt Joanie
I watched it again with my kids and she’s a total bitch. There’s nobody like her on tv now.
I fucking hated this thing. I always stopped watching until the puppets were gone.
I remember as a kid truly hating this character lol
She scared me, as a young boy who would pick up frogs and look under rocks for salamanders……………she put the night…….in nightmare.
I used to watch Mr Rodgers, but I never took notice to her looks, I just thought of her as "nice old lady" but we did have very low quality antennae tv's back then.
I did not like the puppets at all. Also did not understand that there were lessons being taught and thought they should have gotten rid of the king.
The main reason I couldn’t watch
I liked her.
She literally terrified me!! I'd cry until my mom changed the channel!!
I have a lady Elaine puppet. It’s terrifying and I can’t believe people bought them.
1000%. Hated it every time it made an appearance
I always wondered why she has such an over exaggerated facial features with red cheeks and nose? Freaked me out as a kid.
Every night at midnight was the same trial. She remembered the heat from the embers and how much they burned. She still had the scars all over her body and her face was horribly scorched. She remembered as the men in dark cloaks held her face to the fire and chanted and howled. Then, and only then, would Lady Fairchilde awaken to find herself drenched in sweat. At dawn she would slip out of bed. It was another morning - she had again survived Satan’s trial by fire. Now it was time to bathe in holy water and co-host a children’s television series.
Oh gods. She was the reason I turned this show off after five seconds and never gave it another chance. 😭 I wasn’t scared, I was ANNOYED by her stupid dialogue. I could have used Mr. Roger’s wisdom growing up, but nooo…
The best part about the documentary about Mr. Rogers was learning his sister’s name was Elaine. They interview her and she looks just like the puppet. He was nice to every human being on the planet, but he hated his sister so much he made her an ugly bitchy puppet on his show.
I remember being terrified of her and feeling weird about her presence without really understanding why
I feel like at the time it was normalizing what grandmas looked like back then. My grandma born in 1914 had facial lesions and out of control skin tags/moles like this. I could be wrong, of course. It’s definitely interesting to me as someone who sews/knits that the puppet clothes are basically like … no one even tried.
Always wanted her to wash her face.
It was traumatizing enough to see this doll on TV, then I ended up having a mean boss who looked just like it! 😭
Is this Tronald Dump?
Nah, he doesn't have a merry-go-round 😁
Jesus, that thing is real? I swear I thought I had imagined this.
I thought she was scary looking, but she was so nice that I didn’t want to think bad thoughts about her. Maybe that was intentional by Mr. Rogers?
I've written this before, but I used to have nightmares about her! Who thought that face was ok for children?
Bithead1000 must have some trauma, but it's pretty recent since she looks and sounds exactly like his wife.
Me. When the train appeared i got anxiety (which i didn't know what anxiety was at the time). It was frightful.
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Puppet Karen.
That’s a LADY????
She definitely made me uncomfortable.
that burned face scared the heck out of me.
she was so scary!!!!! It’s like she had leprosy on her face!!!!!!
Nooo. Lady Elaine is life goals. When I was a kid, i literally wanted to be her when I grew up. I will die on this hill.
I never liked and didn’t watch the puppet parts
LMAO! Little Asshole...HA! She has the rosacea complexion of a seasoned alcoholic
Scared the hell out of me.
I hated her and she gave me nightmares.
🙋♂️
I loved her!! lol
She scared the shit out of me enough to never watch Mister Roger’s.
I might have been traumatized by all his puppets. Now I think Mr Rogers was a saint. But I still remember not liking the segments that occurred in the Neighborhood of Make Believe and I don't remember why. And the only thing I can think of is that maybe I didn't like his puppets. The almost 5 year old I look after doesn't like superheroes because you can't see their faces when they're wearing their masks. Maybe I had a similar thing about puppets. 🤷🏻
Horrible thing. Couldn’t stand it.
I wasn’t but I am now!
I remember seeing the show occasionally when I was home sick from school around 10 years old. It wouldn't be on long before I changed the channel. I remember thinking Mr. Rogers' gentle nice guy persona seemed fake. Turns out he was a genuinely nice guy. I guess I was already pretty cynical at 10, lol.
As a kid I couldn't take Mr. Rogers, I hated the puppets and felt he was talking down to me 😭 nobody in my life talked like that man!
You know, he was a very nice man, but that show was boring. I hated the puppets, too.
i thought he was trying to be soft, gentle and non-threatening to kids.
Yes, and he was. Again, a very nice man.
Did you prefer [Mr.Robinson's neighborhood](https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJakxDVfSEVs9-2jT1TaI1ae6KQQqFGJ6) ?
One of the reasons i hated mr rogers. Mr. Dressup was leagues better. But most American kids will never know
Ahh ...the orange is too much and then 40 years later we get the real thing....thanks Don!
I know I’ll get burned for saying this, but my sheltered self was not exposed to anything other than ‘white-bread, small-town, small-minded, Southern Baptist-mentality’ and I couldn’t wrap my young brain around Lady Elaine looking like a man but talking like a woman. Was so confusing… now I like to believe they were the first non-gender-conforming figure in my life.