So long, Esmerelda

Man, this has not be a good past few months for the TV touchstones of my misspent youth. Actress Alice Ghostley has died.

Of course, I knew her mostly from Bewitched and, much later, Designing Women, always in daffy roles, always a study in frantic comic timing, and, of course, as a wicked stepsister opposite Kaye Ballard in the original TV Cinderella.

I had the pleasure several years ago of being introduced to her by a mutual friend in Los Angeles. We had a brief chat while we waited to be seated with our respective parties at dinner. I remember her as quite gracious, self-deprecating and—like Esmerelda—I had the distinct impression she was a bit abashed by my attention and might turn invisible at any second. We talked about our mutual Missouri roots, mostly; she hailed from little ol' Eve in the southwest part of the state.

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