the perfection of maggie smith

I have been in love with Maggie Smith for years. I think the first movie I really remember her in was "Hook."  She played Granny Wendy and I thought she was ancient back then.  I recently saw "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie," in which a very young Maggie Smith (pre-Dame designation) played a rather unconventional teacher at a girls' school in England.

The unconventional Miss Brodie has traded her free spirit in for a knock-your-socks-off performance as the formidable Dowager Countess in "Downton Abbey."

It was a good trade.

The matriarch of the Crawley family has quite a few ways one might address her: The Dowager Countess of Grantham, Lady Grantham, Cousin Violet, Mama (accent on the second 'ma') and Granny.  I'm sure there are other, shall I say, less flattering terms that might be whispered behind her back.  But I wouldn't try it.  She's as sharp as a tack and hears EVERYTHING about EVERYONE.

She is a force of nature that cannot be tamed.  Her acerbic wit and sharp tongue have led to quite a few YouTube videos highlighting her one-liners. My favorite?  In a dialogue with Mrs. Crawley (Matthew's mother and quite a commoner, in Violet's eyes), she says something to Isobel, who responds with "Well, I'll take that as a compliment."  Violet turns her back on Isobel and says, "Well, I must have said it wrong."

She is fiercely protective of her family - and the family name - and has conspired on numerous occasions to insure that the good name of Crawley is not besmirched.  I can't even begin to try and calculate how many family secrets she has floating under all those enormous hats she wears.  Makes my brain hurt.

I've never seen Violet lose her composure, but you can tell her displeasure by the pitch of her voice.  The higher it goes, the more outraged she is.  She's as smug as they come when it comes to deciding who's worthy of a seat at the dinner table and isn't above rigging a flower competition so that her perfect rose is given the Grand Prize.  Which, I might add, is a storyline lifted almost in its entirety from "Mrs. Minniver," a fabulous movie from 1942 starring Greer Garson.  I'm not kidding...watch it and see.

One of the most enduring - and endearing - story lines is between The Dowager and Mrs. Crawley.  (Is anyone as confused as I am with all the Crawley's?)  She can match The Dowager quip for quip...most of the time and steadfastly refuses to be demeaned by any of the scathing words directed towards her by Violet.  Mrs. Crawley is a forward thinker, much to the dismay of The Dowager.  Everything Violet views with suspicion, Mrs. Crawley firmly embraces.  It makes for lively dinner conversations.

Violet never shies away from giving her family advice, most often slanted towards what will be best for the family, not necessarily the individual.  She's a shrewd woman, who knows her place in the hierarchy and uses it to her advantage.  It's interesting to me that, when faced with any particularly vexing problem, the Earl goes to Mama first for advice, not Cora, his wife.  Violet still has a firm grip on the goings on at Downton, but in recent seasons she's relaxed a bit as Mary and Tom seek to introduce new methods of maintaining the estate.  Violet is savvy enough to know that their privileged life is becoming more and more of a dinosaur and she has no wish to see Downton go the way of the dodo bird.

So, Dowager, carry on with your dead-on observations and don't let that blessed tongue of yours be tamed.

Because what would be the fun in that?

Next time...below stairs

Note:  I'm getting a new knee this week, so it might be a few days before I can hobble downstairs to post.  Don't look so crestfallen...I'll be back...whether you like it or not!