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Erma Bombeck

Syndicated in every newspaper market in the country in her day.

Does anyone read her humor collections any more?

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by Anonymousreply 135February 20, 2020 4:14 PM

Like Jean Kerr before her, she had a good run and then was quickly forgotten. Her books are still read briefly at rummage sales, before being returned to the sale table unsold.

by Anonymousreply 1February 18, 2020 5:02 AM

I used to love her when I was a kid and would read her column all the time. One of the dozen things I did that would earn the ol' side-eye from Mom.

She was funny!

by Anonymousreply 2February 18, 2020 5:14 AM

I loved her too R2. Read all her books when I was in 7th / 8th grade. In college I once waited on a very long line in a downtown Chicago bookstore for Bette Midler to sign a copy of “The Saga if Baby Divine,” Erma was also doing a signing in the same store. She came over to kibitz with Bette while I was up near the table - a twofer!

by Anonymousreply 3February 18, 2020 5:52 AM

"Housework! Who needs it?"

by Anonymousreply 4February 18, 2020 5:53 AM

"I worry about scientists discovering that lettuce is fattening!"

by Anonymousreply 5February 18, 2020 6:24 AM

She can motivate you to do things and use up your stuff with her quote, "I wish I would have lit the rose-shaped candle before it melted in storage."

by Anonymousreply 6February 18, 2020 6:25 AM

Her humor was very much of its time, but I loved her. Maybe if she'd lived longer it would've evolved.

by Anonymousreply 7February 18, 2020 6:26 AM

I've only heard of her because she and Dave Berry always take up half the "humor" section at used book stores. Never picked a book of hers up.

by Anonymousreply 8February 18, 2020 6:29 AM

She actually was also funny in person. I always liked her on Johnny Carson because she made him genuinely laugh (although not as hard as Joan Rivers did).

by Anonymousreply 9February 18, 2020 6:32 AM

If life is a bowl of cherries, what am I doing in the pits?

by Anonymousreply 10February 18, 2020 9:53 AM

They used the same picture for her newspapers column for many years. Same with Dear Abby and Ann Landers.

by Anonymousreply 11February 18, 2020 2:52 PM

Erma

That's a name you don't hear anymore, except maybe Midwesterners mocking their own accents with "Erma-guard"

by Anonymousreply 12February 18, 2020 2:57 PM

R5, that line made me cringe. Just the word fattening makes me want to stab myself. All those old bitches did was “diet” and make meatloaf.

by Anonymousreply 13February 18, 2020 2:58 PM

My best friend used to call me Mava, because Mava was Erma's next-door neighbor who would always come over for coffee, and if Erma's husband called, she would say, "I can't talk now, I'm in therapy with Mava."

by Anonymousreply 14February 18, 2020 2:58 PM

She was definitely of her time, can’t imagine her being a thing in today’s world. But there is something very sweet about her gentle humor, and she always seemed compassionate somehow.

by Anonymousreply 15February 18, 2020 3:19 PM

Does anybody else remember the Carol Burnett & Charles Grodin TV movie version of "The Grass Is Always Greener Over The Septic Tank?"

by Anonymousreply 16February 18, 2020 3:21 PM

Was Erma the one who taught us how to get cum stains out of bedsheets by using club soda and a lemon, or was that Heloise?

by Anonymousreply 17February 18, 2020 3:26 PM

Erma changed her name to Erna and moved to Barcelona.

by Anonymousreply 18February 18, 2020 3:33 PM

She was wonderful. I miss her.

by Anonymousreply 19February 18, 2020 3:36 PM

[quote] I've only heard of her because she and Dave Berry

Oh, dear.

by Anonymousreply 20February 18, 2020 3:39 PM

Geeze I haven't thought of her in years. My later mother used to love her, especially her books and newspaper columns.

by Anonymousreply 21February 18, 2020 3:44 PM

[quote]Was Erma the one who taught us how to get cum stains out of bedsheets by using club soda and a lemon, or was that Heloise?

A little club soda will get that out!

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by Anonymousreply 22February 18, 2020 3:47 PM

We used to have her clippings on the fridge. She was very funny and she struck a chord with many housewives and mothers as she took the mystique away from it all. Bombeck basically said houseworks sucks, the house will always be dirty and it's drudgery. She wasn't afraid to show she was imperfect. And women related.

by Anonymousreply 23February 18, 2020 3:48 PM

I used to read her column all the time in Newsday, the Long Island paper.

Funny coincidence, just yesterday I watched a half hour documentary special that was running on some arts channel, narrated by her friend and neighbor Phil Donahue.

There are a lot of Erma Bombeck videos available on YouTube

by Anonymousreply 24February 18, 2020 3:52 PM

Wholesome and a little corny. We don’t have that anymore.

by Anonymousreply 25February 18, 2020 3:53 PM
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by Anonymousreply 26February 18, 2020 4:09 PM

R24, unfortunately, I always felt the videos of her talking were never as funny as she was in print. She was a lovely and delightful person, but she wasn't much of a performer in the way, say, Phyllis Diller or Totie Fields or Joan Rivers (in her early years) were. But in print, Bombeck's humor was delightful and her spirit shone.

by Anonymousreply 27February 18, 2020 4:09 PM

Her hair looks like the ultimate Karen in that Time cover.

by Anonymousreply 28February 18, 2020 4:28 PM

"The only reason that I would take up jogging is so that I could hear heavy breathing again."

by Anonymousreply 29February 18, 2020 4:31 PM

"Did you ever notice that the first piece of luggage on the carousel belongs to no one?"

by Anonymousreply 30February 18, 2020 4:32 PM

I love her.

by Anonymousreply 31February 18, 2020 4:33 PM

Remember, she wrote this decades before Donnie wanted his 4th of July Military Parade with tanks and all:

*

“You have to love a nation that celebrates its independence every July 4, not with a parade of guns, tanks, and soldiers who file by the White House in a show of strength and muscle, but with family picnics where kids throw Frisbees, the potato salad gets iffy, and the flies die from happiness.

by Anonymousreply 32February 18, 2020 4:36 PM

Call me a frau (which I am not), but some of those quotes above are pretty damn witty.

by Anonymousreply 33February 18, 2020 6:47 PM

"Who in their infinite wisdom decreed that Little League uniforms be white? Certainly not a mother."

by Anonymousreply 34February 18, 2020 6:48 PM

"Seize the moment. Remember all those women on the 'Titanic' who waved off the dessert cart."

by Anonymousreply 35February 18, 2020 6:48 PM

My grandmother had all of her paperbacks and I used to read them when we went to visit her.

Of course I also used to read my grandmother's Harold Robbins, Sidney Sheldon and Jackie Collins paperbacks, too.

by Anonymousreply 36February 18, 2020 6:53 PM

She's lovely.

Edgy and snarky are wonderful flavors, but so is kind and lovely. The knifes don't ALWAYS need to be out.

by Anonymousreply 37February 18, 2020 6:56 PM

This is the ultimate frau thread.

What is it doing on Datalounge?

by Anonymousreply 38February 18, 2020 6:59 PM

I remember watching her daily segment on GMA before heading out for school. She was very much a voice of her generation. I've no doubt that if she had lived longer her humor would have moved with the times.

by Anonymousreply 39February 18, 2020 7:00 PM

"I was too old for a paper route, too young for Social Security and too tired for an affair. " -Erma Bombeck

by Anonymousreply 40February 18, 2020 7:13 PM

COULDN'T STAND HER or that eternal asshole Andy Rooney. I hope they're competing for the Most Annoying Awards wherever they are now.

by Anonymousreply 41February 18, 2020 7:20 PM

If these quotes of hers people keep posting were any frauier I'd be able to smell pumpkin spice through my laptop whenever I click on this thread.

Did this stuff really once pass for humor or social commentary? Gag.

by Anonymousreply 42February 18, 2020 7:22 PM

[quote]Did this stuff really once pass for humor or social commentary? Gag.

It was very much of its time, as others have said. My grandmother was of the same generation as Erma Bombeck and thought she was funny.

by Anonymousreply 43February 18, 2020 7:42 PM

After reading this thread, I went to YouTube and watched the first ten minutes of her 'Grass is Greener' TV movie, starring Carol Burnett and Charles Grodin. I couldn't stand watching more than that, mostly because Grodin was so awful, playing his usual shtick. He can be good in some things, but he's terrible when he's passively playing the Whiny Husband.

At the beginning of the movie they're living in The City, in an absurdly small apartment. A very young Eric Stoltz plays their eldest son. Burnett was pretty good.

by Anonymousreply 44February 18, 2020 7:51 PM

"I told my husband he should try out for the Olympics. He can run away from a basket of laundry faster than Bruce Jenner."

by Anonymousreply 45February 18, 2020 7:52 PM

There's earnest and then there's twee. Some of this stuff comes down on the latter.

by Anonymousreply 46February 18, 2020 7:53 PM

I read and enjoyed her during my preteen years. That should tell you everything you need to know about me.

by Anonymousreply 47February 18, 2020 7:54 PM

Her house looks just how I'd imagined it would.

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by Anonymousreply 48February 18, 2020 7:57 PM

I used to go over to her house and watch my dad eat her wet dripping cunt out all the time. It was pretty hot. Erma would scream and scream as she came. I remember my dad lifting up and he would have Erma’s cum dripping all down his face. He would just smile so big and proud then take a towel and wipe his mouth off with a towel. Erma would just lay there like a beat up rag doll. We’d leave without a word being exchanged. Sometimes I’d turn around and wave back to her, goodbye mrs bombeck. She never responded. She just laid there looking into space with this glassy look in her eyes. I guess my dad really gave Mrs. Bombeck one hell of a good eatin’.

by Anonymousreply 49February 18, 2020 8:10 PM

That house is pretty small, why was she always bitching about doing housework? I could probably clean that whole thing in two hours. From all of her complaining, you'd think she lived in some giant manor house.

by Anonymousreply 50February 18, 2020 8:10 PM

Were you expecting Versailles, R48?

by Anonymousreply 51February 18, 2020 8:27 PM

R51=Erma from beyond the grave

by Anonymousreply 52February 18, 2020 8:29 PM

[quote]"I told my husband he should try out for the Olympics. He can run away from a basket of laundry faster than Bruce Jenner."

#ErmaDeadnamedCaitlyn = soon to be trending on Twitter

by Anonymousreply 53February 18, 2020 8:33 PM

[quote]"I told my husband he should try out for the Olympics. He can run away from a basket of laundry faster than Bruce Jenner."

She never said that, if you can believe. But I'm quite happy it got four upvotes.

by Anonymousreply 54February 18, 2020 8:42 PM

More fake Erma wit, please!

by Anonymousreply 55February 18, 2020 8:49 PM

[quote]"Seize the moment. Remember all those women on the 'Titanic' who waved off the dessert cart."

Frau as can be but it's funny.

by Anonymousreply 56February 18, 2020 8:50 PM

"My husband told me to take up exercise. So I ran around town with his checkbook."

by Anonymousreply 57February 18, 2020 8:51 PM

Reminds me of when Peggy Hill got a minor job writing a small column for a local paper and giving such sharp insights as 'Let's face it: Angie Dickinson is losing her looks'.

by Anonymousreply 58February 18, 2020 8:53 PM

"I asked my doctor why I wasn't losing weight with exercise. He told me laps around the buffet don't count."

by Anonymousreply 59February 18, 2020 8:55 PM

"The vacuum stopped working, so I called my husband and asked him to bring home a bag. He said, 'But I already have you.'"

by Anonymousreply 60February 18, 2020 8:57 PM

"Kids, husbands, housework -- amirite, amirite?!"

by Anonymousreply 61February 18, 2020 8:59 PM

"My neighbor's husband gave her a diet book for Christmas. She gave him a divorce petition for his birthday."

by Anonymousreply 62February 18, 2020 9:08 PM

"My husband always leaves his packing to the last minute. We were flying over Utah when he asked me if I'd seen his razor."

by Anonymousreply 63February 18, 2020 9:11 PM

I bought a peek-a-boo nightie. My husband peeked and booed.

by Anonymousreply 64February 18, 2020 9:12 PM

"I went vegetarian to lose weight. I had to quit when Fluffy started looking appetizing."

by Anonymousreply 65February 18, 2020 9:14 PM

She profiled the minutiae of suburban ennui like no other. Are there any contemporaries with half her wit these days?

by Anonymousreply 66February 18, 2020 9:16 PM

Regional theaters are doing a one woman script of erma. It was in AZ a year ago or so. Sounded awful but a friend liked it. Could you sit thru 2 hours of it DL?

by Anonymousreply 67February 18, 2020 9:29 PM

[quote]Regional theaters are doing a one woman script of erma. It was in AZ a year ago or so. Sounded awful but a friend liked it. Could you sit thru 2 hours of it DL?

Only if the ageless Miss Dunaway plays Erna. "Tea at 5? After cleaning the house all day I'll need something stronger than that!"

by Anonymousreply 68February 18, 2020 9:36 PM

Carol Burnett did a tv movie based on one of her books.

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by Anonymousreply 69February 18, 2020 9:40 PM

For her time, Erma was humorously subversive.

Look at the advertising of the time and you'll see how confining women's roles still were. Only those seen as politically active feminists were willing to openly challenge them. Mothers were expected to focus on children, "wifely duties", and waxing the kitchen floor. They couldn't get a bank loan or a credit card without a man's co-signing for it.

The fact that motherly perfection was an illusion was still a secret. Erma tapped into the frustrations of many women who didn't consider themselves feminists even though they found their very traditional lives to be stifling and unfulfilling. Whiter whites were not bringing them the joy that the ads had promised, but they didn't identify with bra-burners, either.

Husbands/kids/housework--yes, it's predictable, but for the many women who were forced into that fraudom, Erma re-framed that drudgery and created a community that could laugh at the absurdities of it. She gave permission to be imperfect and even find virtue in those imperfections.

So yes, the humor was of its time, but her relevance extended beyond simple hausfrau musings. It wasn't in-your-face, but it did speak to the masses in ways that more radical, less humorous, approaches could ever have.

It might have been "feminism for moms", but it was very relevant.

by Anonymousreply 70February 19, 2020 2:11 AM

I never liked her.

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by Anonymousreply 71February 19, 2020 2:18 AM

She disdained you, r71.

by Anonymousreply 72February 19, 2020 2:27 AM

My husband should become a competitive eater. He can kill a bucket of chicken faster than Bruce Jenner can kill an elderly woman in a Lexus.

by Anonymousreply 73February 19, 2020 3:33 AM

[quote]They couldn't get a bank loan or a credit card without a man's co-signing for it.

That seems insane. And it wasn't even that long ago. I'm surprised there wasn't an uprising sooner.

by Anonymousreply 74February 19, 2020 3:37 AM

And it will be that way again soon, if we don't get out and vote for the eventual Democratic nominee.

by Anonymousreply 75February 19, 2020 3:47 AM

"My mother criticizes my housework. She says, 'People can drink out of MY toilet!' What a hostess!"

by Anonymousreply 76February 19, 2020 4:25 AM

R61 you forgot diets and meatloaf.

Peggy Hill is definitely inspired by Erma Bombeck.

by Anonymousreply 77February 19, 2020 4:34 AM

"After a day of laundry, cooking, and kids, I'm too tired to shave my legs so I can pretend my husband get in me."

by Anonymousreply 78February 19, 2020 4:45 AM

Loved her . My mom and I would read her column together and just giggle away . My father would look horrified .

by Anonymousreply 79February 19, 2020 4:46 AM

"My husband is always pestering me to be adventurous and let him 'in the back door' when I'm feeling full from lasagne. I just point at his thing and say, 'Like I need ANOTHER thing to clean tonight!'"

by Anonymousreply 80February 19, 2020 4:49 AM

"I'll take lipstick on a collar over anything found on the tighy-whiteys, anyday!"

by Anonymousreply 81February 19, 2020 6:10 AM

"There are only two things in life that are guaranteed - housework and your husband wanting you to put a ball gag in his mouth and then shove your fist up his ass. Am I right, ladies? Am I right?"

by Anonymousreply 82February 19, 2020 7:08 AM

As the goody-goody to my fucked up brother’s exploits this quote from her meant the world to me and I had it written down in my memory book.

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by Anonymousreply 83February 19, 2020 7:20 AM

R15, what a kind person you must be. I remember my mom had one or two of her books, though I don’t think she ever read them. I did, out of curiosity. I was young, and even though the content wasn’t something I could relate to all that well, I remember what you mentioned about her “sweet and gentle humor.” It was from another time, a life I never experienced, but even as a kid, it gave me a sense of nostalgia. A simpler time, I guess. I hope you have a good day, R15, wherever you may be.

by Anonymousreply 84February 19, 2020 8:25 AM

Her maiden name was Erma Fiste.

She suffered from polycystic kidney disease, which she had diagnosed at age 20. She had to have daily dialysis, and the disease eventually killed her when both kidneys failed. She also had a mastectomy.

by Anonymousreply 85February 19, 2020 8:43 AM

I liked her newspaper column photo, she looked fed up with housework. It was not a Dear Abby/Ann Landers glamour shot.

by Anonymousreply 86February 19, 2020 9:09 AM

R85 Wow! You do have to admire her persistence after being dealt those cards. I’d take death over dialysis any day.

by Anonymousreply 87February 19, 2020 9:16 AM

Dig too-cool-for-school R38.

by Anonymousreply 88February 19, 2020 9:44 AM

^and R42.

by Anonymousreply 89February 19, 2020 9:46 AM

"We just finished converting the garage. Now the whole house is Lutheran."

by Anonymousreply 90February 19, 2020 9:49 AM

If you can't make it better, you can laugh at it.

When humor goes, there goes civilization.

If a man watches three football games in a row, he should be declared legally dead.

Don't confuse fame with success. Madonna is one; Helen Keller is the other.

I have a theory about the human mind. A brain is a lot like a computer. It will only take so many facts, and then it will go on overload and blow up.

No one ever died from sleeping in an unmade bed. I have known mothers who remake the bed after their children do it because there is wrinkle in the spread or the blanket is on crooked. This is sick.

There is nothing more miserable in the world than to arrive in paradise and look like your passport photo.

Erma is old school OG cool Frau. Today’s Fraus are too busy side eyeing people, drinking wine and complaining to have a sense of humor.

by Anonymousreply 91February 19, 2020 9:57 AM

[quote]I have a theory about the human mind. A brain is a lot like a computer. It will only take so many facts, and then it will go on overload and blow up.

I love this delightfully quaint understanding of computers.

by Anonymousreply 92February 19, 2020 10:00 AM

I don’t know why I chose to borrow her books as a kid, but I read them when I had no life experience and still liked them. She has a story about a mother (maybe she was dying?) writing a letter to her three sons and basically telling each one they were her favourite. For some reason this always stayed with me, maybe because I am the youngest and she categorised the sons in terms of birth order, and I wondered if my parents would also lie about loving us all equally.

I don’t see her humour as frau-ish, not even the quotes posted here. There’s an edge and a bitter awareness to a lot of it. Funny that she’s being called a frau when she’s undermining the whole system as being ‘good’.

by Anonymousreply 93February 19, 2020 10:50 AM

I agree, R93. She could be corny and sentimental, but she was sometimes surprisingly sharp. She was a wit in her own way.

At one point, her books were ubiquitous in used bookstores, with multiple copies of every title on hand. I wonder if that’s still the case.

I didn’t know that she had kidney disease. She must’ve been tough to survive do long and be so productive while undergoing daily (really?) dialysis.

by Anonymousreply 94February 19, 2020 11:57 AM

[quote] This is the ultimate frau thread. What is it doing on Datalounge?

Just curl up on a bench and cradle a mug and relax!

by Anonymousreply 95February 19, 2020 12:02 PM

[quote]They couldn't get a bank loan or a credit card without a man's co-signing for it.

[quote]That seems insane. And it wasn't even that long ago. I'm surprised there wasn't an uprising sooner.

My older sister and I took our mom to the bank to get her first credit and debit cards in her name.

She was 80.

A year later she was diagnosed with Alzheimer's.

by Anonymousreply 96February 19, 2020 12:21 PM

Erma wasn't a Frau - she was the Anti-Frau. The fact that she LOOKED like the ultimate mug-cradler only increased her power. She kept her kidney disease from the public until 3 years before it killed her - that's one tough person, not a whiney Karen.

by Anonymousreply 97February 19, 2020 3:56 PM

"I'm for gay rights. For example, my hair has a right to look gay."

by Anonymousreply 98February 19, 2020 4:22 PM

[quote]I love this delightfully quaint understanding of computers.

This was technically true when there were computers in use but they were not set up for the Internet.

by Anonymousreply 99February 19, 2020 4:28 PM

I'm imaging a computer exploding before Erma right after she entered too many facts and then she takes a sip from her mug, shakes her head, and says to herself 'And they say teenagers fly off the handle!'

by Anonymousreply 100February 19, 2020 4:38 PM

Where’s the one woman Erm Bombeck show we need so badly and who would play her?

by Anonymousreply 101February 19, 2020 4:42 PM

In fairness, Erma probably wrote that on a computer with 17K of memory.

by Anonymousreply 102February 19, 2020 4:43 PM

Another '70s kid here who loved her dry humor, in particular her disdain for whatever silly self-help fad was hot at the moment.

by Anonymousreply 103February 19, 2020 4:43 PM

She created a short-lived ABC sitcom called [italic]Maggie[/italic] in the early '80s.

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by Anonymousreply 104February 19, 2020 4:47 PM

"My vagina is to condoms what my dryer is to socks: half of them get lost in there!"

by Anonymousreply 105February 19, 2020 4:50 PM

[quote]Her humor was very much of its time, but I loved her. Maybe if she'd lived longer it would've evolved.

She'd have hot takes galore about reality TV, social media, oblivious kids hypnotized their phones, and trying to look young when you're old.

by Anonymousreply 106February 19, 2020 5:06 PM

"If these kids want to learn how to ignore their iPhones, they should pretend they're married to them."

-- Erma, 2020

by Anonymousreply 107February 19, 2020 5:17 PM

There was a "Donahue" on not long before she died, maybe a few years, and her husband and kids were in the studio but Erma was remote from her home in Arizona where the family moved to after leaving the Midwest. I thought at the time it was odd that an episode about her did not have her in the studio but she must have been far too sick to travel by then.

by Anonymousreply 108February 19, 2020 5:18 PM

From her final column, right before she died. April 1996:

"My deeds will be measured not by my youthful appearance, but by the concern lines on my forehead, the laugh lines around my mouth, and the chins from seeing what can be done for those smaller than me or who have fallen."

It was a good run and a good way to sign off.

by Anonymousreply 109February 19, 2020 5:22 PM

Here's Erma on dieting: “In two decades I've lost a total of 789 pounds. I should be hanging from a charm bracelet.”

by Anonymousreply 110February 19, 2020 5:29 PM

A Frau Among Fraus.

by Anonymousreply 111February 19, 2020 5:39 PM

Im a mean cynical old grump now,but I laughed several times during this thread . Sadly I hadnt thought of her in a while ,but Im so glad someone did . She was hilarious .

by Anonymousreply 112February 19, 2020 5:49 PM

Aw, R84, you made my day! Thank you, sweetheart! 😘

I grew up in NYC so some of the touchstones of suburbia were lost on me (septic tank??) but yes, in my young teens I actually bought and read several of her books in paperback. Like many here, I was an odd child and didn’t have a stay at home mom, so there was something comforting about her. Her subject matter was home, family, motherhood, middle age...but she was clever and funny, and somehow made it relatable, even to me. I’d forgotten her completely until I saw this thread and it made me smile.

Have an AWESOME day, wherever you are!

by Anonymousreply 113February 19, 2020 6:21 PM

"I'm not saying my neighbor is a tramp, but she gets more male visitors than Mecca."

by Anonymousreply 114February 19, 2020 6:25 PM

"If you believe that, then you'll believe Nancy Reagan watches 'Falcon Crest' every Friday night."

by Anonymousreply 115February 19, 2020 6:29 PM

That's funny.

by Anonymousreply 116February 19, 2020 6:31 PM

"Putting wall-to-wall carpeting in a powder room is like putting throw pillows in a litter box."

by Anonymousreply 117February 19, 2020 6:46 PM

Her celebrity status allowed her to jump the line for a kidney transplant, but she refused. She died while waiting for the transplant.

This thread has made me a bit sentimental and miss my mom, who loved her. We could use a little Erma today.

by Anonymousreply 118February 19, 2020 7:26 PM

[quote] She suffered from polycystic kidney disease, which she had diagnosed at age 20. She had to have daily dialysis, and the disease eventually killed her

This can't be right. She died at age 69. You're saying she had daily dialysis for 49 years? I'm not sure that's medically possible. The average is 5-10 years with the extreme being 30 years, and that's not daily. My mom lasted 8 months on dialysis and she had it between 3-4x per week. Not only did it weaken her heart but it (indirectly) caused dementia (because of the damage to the heart which caused lower blood flow.)

by Anonymousreply 119February 19, 2020 8:23 PM

I enjoyed her but really Shirley Jackson's domestic comedies with a touch of the sinister were superior.

by Anonymousreply 120February 19, 2020 8:42 PM

From the article at link.

From 1992 until her death in 1996, she underwent dialysis four times a day at her home.

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by Anonymousreply 121February 19, 2020 8:43 PM

She was diagnosed with the incurable, progressive disease at 20 - I have not read at what age she started dialysis - perhaps an MD, or someone with more knowledge of polycystic kidney disease could weigh in as to when that would be likely. She went public with her illness about 3 years before she died.

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by Anonymousreply 122February 19, 2020 8:43 PM

"If you let a man go to the bathroom in your mouth, he won't respect you. But at least you'll have something in common."

by Anonymousreply 123February 19, 2020 9:16 PM

She's pretty much forgotten now.

by Anonymousreply 124February 20, 2020 1:18 AM

Whatever your point is, R124

by Anonymousreply 125February 20, 2020 2:24 AM

R93, that’s exactly how I remember Erma Bombeck. After I read it 1,000 years ago, I still remember the three sons story. All three of her sons were her favorites, for different reasons. It was so beautifully written with love and humor.

by Anonymousreply 126February 20, 2020 2:25 AM

Her sons Andy and Matt also had kidney transplants.

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by Anonymousreply 127February 20, 2020 2:37 AM

Of her time and place--Phyllis Diller, the "I hate to cook" cookbook, etc. Not as funny now, but housewives like her aren't as central to pop culture either. Her kind of umor was the sort of thing women of her generation would exchange by email.

by Anonymousreply 128February 20, 2020 2:56 AM

She was also neighbors and friends with Bil Keane. They did a book together as well. I read all of her books, her column each day it was in the paper and loved her early stuff on GMA. I agree she isn’t a frau but anti-frau. She would have had Karen’s number for sure.

by Anonymousreply 129February 20, 2020 3:25 AM

OK, am I understanding this right? Erma Bombeck had a known lethal genetic disease that has a 50% rate of passing on to her children. At first she chose to adopt a child, but than had two biological children who both developed the disease. And she converted to Catholicism after getting an education at a religious college, meaning there’s the possibility that they purposely avoided pregnancy at first, but then may have gotten pregnant accidentally twice and had the children knowing that they were at high risk for her same ailment? This could potentially change my opinion of her if that’s the case.

by Anonymousreply 130February 20, 2020 3:27 AM

They probably knew rather little about the genetics of her disorder when she was diagnosed. It's not like she had a ton of kids and her first was probably a big surprise. I wouldn't get all Protestant about her.

by Anonymousreply 131February 20, 2020 3:39 AM

Genetics were barely understood back then.

by Anonymousreply 132February 20, 2020 3:49 AM

"Doctors keep telling me I need a new kidney, but have they seen my neck?"

by Anonymousreply 133February 20, 2020 4:22 AM

Google 'peritoneal dialysis', which is a type of dialysis that is much less harsh on the body than hemodialysis. It only became largely available in the 1980s, as all the clinical research had to be done and the technique fixed. If Erma was doing daily dialysis, then this is what she was doing in her later years, but she endured hemodialysis for decades, which is remarkable.

by Anonymousreply 134February 20, 2020 1:41 PM

"If plastic grapes ever come to life, my Italian mother-in-law's living room will be good for five bottles of wine."

by Anonymousreply 135February 20, 2020 4:14 PM
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