MovieChat Forums > All in the Family (1971) Discussion > Zabo wanting to paint Gloria in the nude

Zabo wanting to paint Gloria in the nude

posted 5 years ago by Mister Babadook (2621)
24 replies | jump to latest

Did anyone else get the vibe this weirdo just wanted to see her naked? From the moment he came through the door he was grabbing Gloria, kissing her and to me was just waiting for an excuse to offer to paint her nude.

I'm sorry but if i was Mike i'd be pissed as fuck if this guy came in picking my wife up, kissing her, constantly going on about how beautiful she is. Then at the end saying "look at her, with the face of a doll and the body of a woman!" then picks her up kissing her aggressively sounding as if he wants to devour her. While Mike stood there like an idiot as if it was perfectly fine.

Archie was the only one with any sense in this episode.

It would be one thing if the guy conducted himself like a professional and didn't show any affection for Gloria, but the guy came in acting horny as fuck over her, kissing her, picking her up, dude was clearly just a creep who wanted to see her naked.

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[–] [email protected] (5495) 5 years ago

That's artists for you! Very bohemian. haha

Mike should have exhibited a normal husband's concern that his FRIEND wanted to paint his wife in the nude. The guy was not "conducting himself like a professional" as you wrote.

But for artists in general, it's no big deal. Art students have models pose in the nude for them so they can sketch the human body.

Often Mike seemed to act like everything was cool just to be different from Archie. But he DID lose his cool when he got home and he thought Gloria was still with Zabo. He didn't know that she was already home and he freaked out.

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[–] zaq123 (2389) 5 years ago

I would rule out drawing nude males if I went to art school.

I would demand to only draw attractive females. 18-35.

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[–] Mister Babadook (2621) 5 years ago

Yeah he did lose his cool when he thought she was still out with Zabo late, but he should have lost his cool when his friend was kissing his wife and picking her up.

Lol i loved Archie's line "well i feel like Misses Algeria's cow yelling fire fire fire and no ones listening!".

Another funny line
Archie- Zabo huh? Zabo what?
Mike- Daborba
Archie- He's a gypsy (The look on Archie's face as he said that line kills me everytime).
Mike- He's Hungarian
Archie- Same thing, that guy was born in an empty store as sure as i'm standing here

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[–] [email protected] (5495) 5 years ago

LOL Archie had the funniest lines.

I was wondering about Mike's behavior. Maybe I'm over analyzing it, but perhaps he enjoyed being the object of Zabo's envy. He had a pretty new wife and his friend thought she was hot. That reminds me of when a guy gets a new car and his friends are all over it. They want to sit behind the wheel. Some guys are okay with that, but they draw the line at allowing their friends to actually DRIVE it. lol

Seems like Mike enjoyed his friend's admiration of his wife as long as he, Mike, was in the room. He didn't want Zabo "admiring" his wife by keeping her out late!

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[–] Mister Babadook (2621) 5 years ago

Yeah i get what you're saying and it makes sense, i didn't think about it that way.

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[–] marktayloruk (2375) 2 years ago

Gloria was beautiful. Wouldn't any normal bloke have wanted to get her clothes off?

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[–] Mister Babadook (2621) 2 years ago

Sure lol but the way he was trying to play it off like it was all professional and had nothing to do with wanting to see her naked just irked me, cause he clearly wanted to fuck her. And Mike should've been more concerned over his friend coming in and picking her up and kissing her, if a guy came into my house acting like he had a hard on for my wife i'd definitely be less friendly about it than Mike was.

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[–] Owlwise (1488) a year ago

That's Mrs. O'Leary's cow, alleged by folklore to have started the Great Fire of Chicago in 1871 by kicking over a lantern in the O'Leary barn.

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[–] Keelai (31779) 5 years ago

Very true. I went to an art university and by my senior year, most of the students were bored of nudes. It was bizarre because a nude person was posed in the front the class while most students ignored him/her by talking to each other, reading a book, napping, etc. A few students said they wanted the model to put clothes on. The point is to study muscles, skeleton, how they move, light and shadow on the body, etc. but eventually the instructors should have introduced clothing to study the way clothes hang on the body. Oh well!

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[–] Otter (24464) 5 years ago

That was my experience, back in the day I thought there was nothing less sexy, and it's the same for most people at figure classes. Nevertheless, some artists have been hitting on models since... well, probably the beginning of representational art.

I think there was a big upswing in this during the sixties and early seventies.

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[–] Keelai (31779) 5 years ago

Like being a doctor. I've never met an artist who hit on or dated a model. But, I think in the past,there were artists who hired models they found attractive. Different from a classroom setting.

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[–] Otter (24464) 5 years ago

I seriously doubt that artists who hire models they find attractive is a thing of the past!

Although I do suspect that being open about hitting on artist's models or bragging about it is kind of a thing of a past. Or maybe not, maybe it's something straight men are open about with each other, but I don't think you'll find people like that at Moviechat.

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[–] [email protected] (5495) 5 years ago

That seems to be human nature. Whenever we have a whole lot of something, we lose interest!

I remember reading about a popular phrase from around the turn of the century. I mean the turn from the 1800's to the 1900's. It was that men liked a glimpse of "a well turned ankle". Since women wore long skirts. any glimpse of a female leg was a huge deal. Can you imagine any man today getting excited over seeing an ankle??

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[–] Keelai (31779) 5 years ago

It was never a sexual thing. All the models were around the same age and weight which means drawing the same thing for four years. It would've been more interesting to have different age groups, weights and levels of fitness and finally clothed in different types of materials.

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[–] [email protected] (5495) 5 years ago

Just caught this episode again. I hadn't seen it for a long time. Archie is so hilarious when he is warning Mike about his friend Zabo. He tells Mike that his friend is better looking than he is, '...which by the way, aint hard to do."

Was Archie really worried that Zabo could come between Mike and Gloria? If so, it was the perfect way for Archie to get rid of his Meathead son-in-law. Did Archie actually like Mike but didn't want to admit it?

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[–] Keelai (31779) 5 years ago

I just rewatched it, too. Still funny!

Different values. Archie wants Gloria's virtue protected. Since she's married, that's her husband's job which Mike isn't doing. From Archie's point of view, allowing a wife to be alone with another man especially nude is not done. Hugging and kissing another man's wife isn't done either.

I was surprised that Archie allowed himself to look at the nude painting of Gloria even if it was abstract.

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[–] [email protected] (5495) 5 years ago

"Allowing a wife to be alone with another man"... Archie asked what if he allowed his best friend to paint Edith in the nude! Edith was so funny the way she covered up and looked so shocked at the thought of it.

Another thing, I think it did bother Mike before he admitted it. Gloria was rushing out the door in the morning to pose for Zabo and he didn't want her to go. She said that she knew when he was really upset because he got a funny twitch in his left eye. As soon as she left, his eye started to twitch.

Mike acted so indifferent at first partly because Archie was so aghast at the idea. Mike was so used to being on the opposite side of Archie in any argument that he automatically took the opposing view. This time, he agreed with Archie but didn't want to admit it. He was acting so cool with his, "OUR generation trusts," Ha! Right. Every generation thinks it's reinventing the wheel, but in reality human nature doesn't change all that much.

Mike wasn't exactly the "liberated man" that he claimed to be. Remember how Gloria said that their marriage was an equal partnership, 50/50?
Mike agreed but added, "I'M the fifty that should be heard from FIRST!"

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[–] Keelai (31779) 5 years ago

I'm not surprised by Edith's reaction. Edith often looked embarrassed if Gloria talked to her about s-e-x.

It bothered Mike, but not to the extent that it bothered Archie. Mike didn't have the same hangups about nudity that Archie grew-up with but he was still a jealous husband.

Archie was upset about "The Kiss" sculpture by Rodin that the Stivics had brought in to the house.

Mike would talk about equal rights for minorities, but he was sexist when it came to women. That was realistic too. Women fighting for minority rights would complain about sexism within the movement.

I wish Norman Lear would put together another show for today, but he's 96.

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[–] [email protected] (5495) 5 years ago

Edith didn't like to talk about s-e-x. But she admitted that she liked it! Later after baby Joey was born, Edith seemed to loosen up a little with Gloria and she talked more.
She told Gloria that after she was born, her mother had said to Edith, "I see you were doing your wifely duty." At first Edith thought she meant the laundry. Edith said that she didn't tell her mom it didn't seem like a duty, she liked it!

Frank Lorenzo's "The Kiss"! Irene lent it to Gloria and he wanted it back. "My Kiss, My Kiss!!"
Gloria said that it was a reproduction and Archie countered that he didn't want "reproducting" on his coffee table. haha
I think Mike was sincere about equal rights for everyone, but he balked when it got too close to home. In an early episode Gloria talked about women entering a lot of different fields and Mike agreed. But when she said a woman manager for the Mets, Mike hesitated.
As I get older I realize that there are places that men don't want women and vice versa. There are some masculine domains. It's the same for women. Some women sports reporters made a big deal out of being allowed in locker rooms after games to get interviews. I may be old fashioned but "yikes!" The last thing I need to see is a bunch of naked guys running around to the showers and lockers. I can wait until they get dressed and come outside.
The older I get the more I realize that men and women should be equal but there ARE inherent differences. I heard an explanation of equality. Four quarters and a one dollar bill have equal value, but they are different.

Mike was all for equal rights until it hit him personally. Remember when he was a college instructor and he and a fellow instructor who was black were both up for the same position in Minnesota. He knew the minority candidate would have a better chance and Mike's first reaction was that it wasn't fair.

I think Norman Lear used Mike as an example of the NIMBY philosophy. We are often "all for" a great idea untl it might inconvenience us personally.

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[–] Keelai (31779) 5 years ago

The women sports reporters were missing out on the scoops. Both genders should have equal access to the athletes. They should do interviews outside the locker rooms which make the most sense. Personally, I would want my privacy if I were an athlete.

Realistically, the standard is male. The work force was set-up from a male viewpoint for men. For instance, if men gave birth, then paid parental leave would be a law.

Women weren't supposed to enjoy sex before the sexual revolution. And never talk about it.

Mike liked to think of himself as progressive re: race, but remember when Lionel called him out for bringing up "black topics" with him all the time? Someone who was really progressive wouldn't do that. Edith appeared to be more color-blind than Mike.

I really believe Mike was sexist, though.

At least Mike knew his thinking was wrong re: the job. The NIMBY episode was extremely rare. It was more about an older man who sees his world changing dramatically. Mike was everything Archie feared: atheist, non-WASP, liberal, long-haired hippie, jobless - and married to his daughter!

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[–] [email protected] (5495) 5 years ago

Yes that's true about the women reporters missing out on scoops. It only makes sense that there should be equal access to the athletes, but outside the locker room. I don't think I'd want to be interviewed on my way to the showers or undressing!

I remember when Lionel got on Mike's case for bringing up "black issues" all the time. Remember it was when they were playing that "Truth" board game with the Lorenzos.

Lionel just wanted to be talked to like a regular person and not a "representative of the whole black race."

Mike was frustrate and asked if he should talk about the weather.

I always liked Lionel's reply. "Yes! Black people have weather too. We get rained on and everything."

Mike went to the extreme of being patronizing to minorities just to show how open minded he was. He was pro-woman, on paper that is! But I don't think he believed a lot of what he spouted.

Edith was one of those rare people who was truly accepting of everyone. In fact in that same game, Lionel told her that his family was scared at first about moving into an all white neighborhood. But they knew with Edith, they had one true friend for sure.

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[–] Keelai (31779) 5 years ago

That was a good episode.

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[–] marktayloruk (2375) 2 years ago

It's called being human.

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[–] LolaVerdon (130) 5 years ago

Crazy episode.

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