Aunt Jenny | Aunt Edna

Aunt Jenny/”The Brady Bunch”
Aunt Edna/”National Lampoon’s Vacation”
(Imogene Coca)

Aunt Jenny
If you’re a diehard Brady Bunch fan, you remember the Aunt Jenny episode. [It was the one where I officially and unequivocally decided Jan is a pain in the ass.] But if you haven’t seen the episode, here’s the deal: While the family is cleaning the attic, Jan finds a picture of Aunt Jenny who looked exactly like Jan when Aunt Jenny was Jan's age. So, Jan absolutely must meet Aunt Jenny because she wants an idea of how she’ll look when she’s Aunt Jenny’s age. Well, in walks Aunt Jenny and I swear I saw Jan throw up in her mouth because Aunt Jenny wasn’t beautiful. Effin’ Jan. Nice.

Anyway, I completely adored Aunt Jenny because she was a funny, wild, adventurous, “groovy” globetrotting woman who was BFFs with Wilt Chamberlain, Indira Gandhi, Golda Meir and Aristotle and Jackie Onassis.

And yeah, all right, Jan finally warmed up to Aunt Jenny and realized “beauty is only skin deep” and that she was wrong for having judged Aunt Jenny based on her looks. Stupid Jan.

Aunt Edna
Oh, how couldn’t you love crabby old Aunt Edna who pretended to need a walker and who Clark Griswold hated with a passion? Really nothing more than a meal ticket for Cousin Eddie and his creepy family, Aunt Edna had reason to be surly. Good thing she had her killer dog, Dinky, since he was her only friend. Until Clark accidentally killed the pooch, which I think ultimately lead to Aunt Edna’s demise, too.

Poor Aunt Edna, hoisted on top of the roof of the station wagon, strapped under a tarp and placed sitting upright against some suitcases, taking her to her final destination, Phoenix, only to be left in the backyard on a lawn chair with a note pinned to her explaining what happened to her. That’s messed up.

Aunt Jenny and Aunt Edna. God love ‘em.