MovieChat Forums > Mama's Family (1983) Discussion > Aunt Effie!

Aunt Effie!

posted 9 years ago by micro22chip
8 replies | jump to latest

I loved when she would show up. The episode where she fell off her roof while shingling it and Mama has to bring her home and care for her was funny. "oatmeal, oatmeal!" lol

Watching reruns on MeTV had me wondering why she was one of the characters on both the NBC series and syndicated. Come to find out she was played by one of the writers of the show.

By the way, the early seasons made it vague whether she was Mama's aunt, or Mama's sister, or sister in law, but the episode shown today, Mama's Girls, Mama referred to her as sister in law and mentioned they were kids together, so I guess she was either Carl's sister or Mama's brother's wife (did Mama have a brother?).

[–] tinkerbell_jonna 9 years ago

I'm pretty sure she is Carl's sister officially b/c she's usually refered to as Effie Harper... But it seems like maybe in an earlier episode she is supposed to be Mama's sister.

[–] micro22chip 9 years ago

Oh right, I forgot about that. I guess Thelma, Carl and Effie grew up together.

[–] 9 years ago

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[–] elaphe-1 9 years ago

Dorothy Van ("Effie") is from my hometown region of the Quad Cities.

[–] s007davis 9 years ago

In the season 2 episode "No Room At The Inn", Effie's last name is Crowley and she is Thelma's cousin. Of course, technically she still could've married Carl's brother and been Thelma's sister-in-law also.

[–] 9 years ago

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[–] dakotasdad 9 years ago

Effie was never one of my favorite MF characters.

[–] freebird1987 9 years ago

Mama had a brother named Clyde, but I think Effie is Carl's sister.