Jolie Rouge
02-18-2004, 02:50 PM
You knew her as Madge the Manicurist, who promoted Palmolive dishwashing soap with that trademark line she uttered to disbelieving women who were having their nails done: "You're soaking in it!" Jan Miner, the actress who played Madge in Palmolive TV commercials from 1966 to 1992, died in Bethel, Conn., on Sunday at the age of 86, reports The Associated Press.
As Washington Post reporter Hank Stuever says, Madge the Manicurist made her TV debut in an age of "blissful, new-and-improved consumer disbelief." Fine restaurants secretly replaced their coffee with Folgers. We tried to fool Mother Nature into thinking margarine was better than butter. And Madge tricked many an unsuspecting woman into soaking her delicate hands in a shallow bowl filled with green suds that were really Palmolive dishwashing soap. Aghast, the ladies always tried to yank their hands out of the bowl, but Madge gently held them down. It makes you want to go wash some dishes right now.
In addition to being Madge for an amazing 26 years, Miner was a serious stage and film actress. She studied under Lee Strasberg. She acted in the American Shakespeare Festival in Stratford for six seasons. She appeared on stage both on and off Broadway. She played Gertrude Stein on stage in the 1980s. She even did a guest stint on "Law & Order" in 1994. But Madge was her claim to fame. Or in Germany, she was known as Tilly. In France, she was Françoise. Miner never tried to downplay the role. Instead, she embraced it. She once told The Boston Globe that she was lucky to have been Madge, calling commercials a "present from heaven for actors." She knew a present when she saw it. Miner once said, "I'd dip my hands in Palmolive the rest of my life."
As Washington Post reporter Hank Stuever says, Madge the Manicurist made her TV debut in an age of "blissful, new-and-improved consumer disbelief." Fine restaurants secretly replaced their coffee with Folgers. We tried to fool Mother Nature into thinking margarine was better than butter. And Madge tricked many an unsuspecting woman into soaking her delicate hands in a shallow bowl filled with green suds that were really Palmolive dishwashing soap. Aghast, the ladies always tried to yank their hands out of the bowl, but Madge gently held them down. It makes you want to go wash some dishes right now.
In addition to being Madge for an amazing 26 years, Miner was a serious stage and film actress. She studied under Lee Strasberg. She acted in the American Shakespeare Festival in Stratford for six seasons. She appeared on stage both on and off Broadway. She played Gertrude Stein on stage in the 1980s. She even did a guest stint on "Law & Order" in 1994. But Madge was her claim to fame. Or in Germany, she was known as Tilly. In France, she was Françoise. Miner never tried to downplay the role. Instead, she embraced it. She once told The Boston Globe that she was lucky to have been Madge, calling commercials a "present from heaven for actors." She knew a present when she saw it. Miner once said, "I'd dip my hands in Palmolive the rest of my life."