RIP Farrah

Rest in peace Farrah.

Man I loved Charlie’s Angels. I’m a little surprised I was allowed to watch a show that inspired the phrase “jiggle television”, but I was, and I did . I’m sure there are others who remember much more about the show then I do. I mostly remember the teaser of never seeing Charlie’s face, Bosley’s deep laugh and the great outfits. (And of course the episode where they broke out of prison... but really, who doesn’t remember that one?)

Many a summer afternoon you could find Erin, Cathy and I playing ‘Charlie’s Angels” (as, I am sure, were thousands of other girls across the country) First there was the ritual argument of who got to be which angel. Everyone wanted to be Jill, (and subsequently her sister Chris). I rarely got to be Jill, I usually ended up being Sabrina. I honestly can’t remember if I was Sabrina by default or if I just opted to be her to get onto the playing of the game. After divvying up the roles there would be major discussion on what outfits we were wearing (we’d use our bubble gum Charlie’s Angels trading cards as guidelines). Sometimes Cathy would show up with written instructions from Charlie that she would have painstakingly created the night before. Other times we’d just wing it. We’d hop on our bikes and go off into the neighborhood to solve our case. The capers never lasted long however, eventually Erin and I would get sick of Cathy always insisting, since she wrote the instructions, she got to be Jill. Because even as we were young enough to still be playing make-believe, we were beginning to understand the power of sexuality and beauty. And man, did Farrah have both.

I don’t know where I first saw “THE” poster. My guess it was in one of two taboo stores of my childhood Spencer’s (they had that all mysterious and giggle inducing ‘adults’ only section in the back) or Co-Op Records (the local head shop). I do remember thinking, “Wow, she’s beautiful” and feeling some sort of longing within. I certainly had no idea what the longing was and couldn’t tell you why she produced the same longings that Donny Osmund and Scott Baio did. I just knew she had a power that was too big to be ignored. I understood that her power resided in that red suit and those long flowing locks. And for years afterwards I longed for both the figure and the hair.

While I know Farrah went on to do some much more serious and powerful acting (I loved her in the Apostle) it is the gift of ‘awakening’ that I will remember her for most of all. And though it was a gift, like Pandora’s box, that was full of unknowns and frights, it would eventually prove to be a gift worth keeping, no matter how many years it took me to begin to understand it.

RIP Farrah.