My father had a little ritual that he did almost without fail. Folks would be talking about anything, and someone would say, “I like xyz.” Of course folks being folks someone else would say, “I like abc,” or perhaps, “I like xyz too.” And so it would go around the room. At some point my father would pipe up with, “I like Maude Adams.” He always thought this extremely hilarious, but it did have the effect of causing a lull in the conversation.
I have found myself doing this from time to time, much to the consternation of my bride who has a tendency to reply, “No you don’t.”
I came across a quote the other day from Maude Adams. So I went looking for a picture of her. Turns out she is stage actress who lived from 1872 to 1953. She appeared in numerous Broadway productions. Here is a link to the Wikipedia article on Maude Adams. She was also a very beautiful woman and from that perspective there is much to like about her. Having found that, I began to wonder about the origin of the phrase, “I like Maude Adams.” I found a couple difference references. One was in a 1950 movie, The Happy Years, based on a book by Owen Johnson. I found the following posted on an online movie board: Continue reading “I like Maude Adams”