Some folks were disappointed when Viola Davis didn’t win a 2012 Oscar Award for her performance last night in “The Help“ at the 84th Annual Academy Awards. Others were upset that she was nominated for playing, to put it frankly, a maid. But, in the video clip posted below, is an excellent segment of an episode from the 70’s show “Maude” [starring Bea Arthur, best known as"Dorothy" from the "Golden Girls". RIP] where her maid in the show, Florida Evans [played by Esther Rolle, star off the spin off “Good TImes”, RIP] gives an award worthy performance as a maid asked to quit her job by her chauvinistic husband Henry, who is seemingly disgusted by his wife’s job and doesn’t want her to be a maid anymore. Watch the clip to see how Florida handles her husband’s issues. It’s a great performance, and way ahead of it’s time for the racial climate and television landscape of the 1970’s. The take away from this; Esther Rolle played a maid for most of her acting career and was a great role model as well even if the role of her character – as with many women in real life – was as a maid.  I believe she deserves an honorary Oscar/Emmy just because, but as you will see, it was a phenomenal performance regardless of whether she received any accolades or not.

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Troy Monaco
@troymonaco on Twitter
everythingYNTK for VIBEVixen.com