[LMB] [OT:] Modes of Parental Address

[Peter Granzeau]

At 08:44 AM 7/31/2009, Howard Brazee wrote:
>Pat Mathews wrote:
>> Store clerks learned, some time in the 90s, that people my age disliked being called "Patricia" and "William" so they switched to Ma'am and Sir for a while - only to find certain customers reaming them out for making them feel old. So now the latest thing is "Miss" - which to someone my age calls forth images of what used to be stigmatized as "an old maid." The poor kids can't win. 
>>   
>I remember the opening of the TV Show Big Valley mentioned staring "Miss 
>Barbara Stanwyck", when she was about 60 years old.  (She was divorced)

Actresses were called Miss Whatever for a number of years in mid-century, regardless of their marital status.  Usually, their billing was as their maiden name (or, more likely in mid-century, their stage name--Stanwyck, for instance, was born Ruby Stevens), and the "unmarried" status was an assumption.  In fact, Hollywood for many years tried to hide the fact that actors and actresses did, in fact, get married.  The "Miss" appears to have been added to Stanwyck's billing to show that her presence on the show was special.  The rest of those people were TV actors, but Stanwyck was a Movie Star.

-- 
Regards, Pete
pgranzeau at cox.net