HBO To Take a Whack at Lizzie Borden

[Starbreaker]

Sorry I copied the tile. It was just too good not to share.

Chloe Sevigny is set to play the title role in a miniseries about 1892 hatchet murders of Lizzie's father and stepmother.


Lizzie Borden took an axe,
And gave her mother forty whacks,
When she saw what she had done,
She gave her father forty-one.

Link

 

[JustAFriend]

They're going to have to go far to beat the
1975 version with Elizabeth Montgomery (yes, Bewitched)

That was really good for a TV movie...

 

[auntiehill]

^Yes, it was. I still remember it well.

 

[Greg Cox]

They're going to have to go far to beat the
1975 version with Elizabeth Montgomery (yes, Bewitched)

That was really good for a TV movie...

I would love to see that again. Maybe this will inspire someone to reissue it on DVD.

 

[Christopher]

Lizzie Borden took an axe,
And gave her mother forty whacks,
When she saw what she had done,
She gave her father forty-one.

Allegedly. What the poem leaves out is that she was acquitted of the murders due to insufficient evidence. (Also, the murder weapon was a hatchet, and her stepmother received 18 or 19 blows, her father only 11.) There are conflicting theories on whether she was innocent or guilty. I wonder which theory of the crime this miniseries will go with.

And Borden was actually a distant cousin of Elizabeth Montgomery, who played her in the aforementioned movie.

 

[Argus Skyhawk]

I wonder if there is any chance she could be portrayed as an innocent wrongly accused. After all, she was acquitted, and there are alternate theories about who else might have committed the murders.

 

[Christopher]

^There has been at least one screen version of the story that pinned the murders on the Bordens' maid Bridget Sullivan, and at least one play that implied Sullivan was the killer. So it could happen.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lizzie_Borden#Television_and_film

 

[scotpens]

. . . What the poem leaves out is that she was acquitted of the murders due to insufficient evidence. (Also, the murder weapon was a hatchet, and her stepmother received 18 or 19 blows, her father only 11.)

But “Lizzie Borden took a hatchet/And gave her stepmother 18 or 19 whacks” doesn’t scan. Or rhyme.

 

[Christopher]

Hmm...

An unknown person took a hatchet
And gave nineteen or twenty smashes
To Lizzie Borden's poor stepmom,
Then gave her father ten and one.
Then Lizzie for the crime was bound,
But certain proof could not be found.
And so a killer did run free,
But Lizzie damn'd by verse would be.

 

[ancientone51]

^ impressive verse!

I too like the Elizabeth Montgomery TV version.

I read a book years ago that made a case for a cousin, male, that was not terrible well adjusted.

 

[Christopher]

^ impressive verse!

Thanks!

 

[Forbin]

The last History Channel doc i saw on the subject blamed the maid as well.

 

[Argus Skyhawk]

Hmm...

An unknown person took a hatchet
And gave nineteen or twenty smashes
To Lizzie Borden's poor stepmom,
Then gave her father ten and one.
Then Lizzie for the crime was bound,
But certain proof could not be found.
And so a killer did run free,
But Lizzie damn'd by verse would be.

I like it!

 

[Starbreaker]

Why in the world did by grandmother and mom sing me that song/poem when I was little? WTF

 

[Greg Cox]

C'mon. Everybody knows that Lizzie was possessed by a cursed compact. I saw it on Warehouse 13!

 

[Velocity]

The last History Channel doc i saw on the subject blamed the maid as well.

Possible, but during the investigation Lizzie took the opportunity to burn a dress that was covered with "paint" in front of a witness and she changed her story of where she was and what she was doing during the murders.

 

[Christopher]

^Which only creates suspicion. It does not constitute proof beyond a reasonable doubt. There could be innocuous explanations for those things.

 

[scotpens]

Hmm...

An unknown person took a hatchet
And gave nineteen or twenty smashes
To Lizzie Borden's poor stepmom,
Then gave her father ten and one.
Then Lizzie for the crime was bound,
But certain proof could not be found.
And so a killer did run free,
But Lizzie damn'd by verse would be.

impressive verse!

Good use of slant rhyme in the first and second couplets.

Why in the world did by grandmother and mom sing me that song/poem when I was little? WTF

Your family’s name wouldn’t be Addams, would it?

 

[Christopher]

Good use of slant rhyme in the first and second couplets.

You're too kind. I didn't even know there was such a thing as "slant rhyme." I just found the closest approximations I could think of on the fly.

 

[Velocity]

^Which only creates suspicion. It does not constitute proof beyond a reasonable doubt. There could be innocuous explanations for those things.

it was enough to bring her to trial, not enough to convict.