THE HAM THAT ROBS THE CRADLE

THE HAND THAT ROCKS THE CRADLE (1992)
dir: Curtis Hanson

THE HAM THAT ROBS THE CRADLE
MAD #313, September 1992
w: Dick DeBartolo
a: Mort Drucker

Claire Barthel (Annabella Sciorra) reports her gynecologist, Dr. Mott (John DeLancie), for molesting her, causing other patients to come forth, which drives him to suicide rather than face lawsuits. This stresses out Peyton (Rebecca DeMornay), his widow, whose child dies at birth, and she takes the blame out on Claire, seeking revenge by become a nanny to Claire's newborn child and family.

Clarence Thomas, still Supreme Court judge, was the first high profile sexual harassment case in the news.

Peyton acts all innocent at first, but signs of her evil happen slowly over the next couple pages. For now, Claire talks about how great the new nanny's working out to her friend Marlene (Julianne Moore).

One of the first signs is when Claire's daughter Emma (Madeline Zima) tells Peyton one of the kids in school is picking on her, and Peyton goes to the school and threatens the kid. (You used to be able to just go to a schoolyard at one time). When nobody's around, Peyton is breast-feeding the baby herself. Solomon (Ernie Hudson), the handyman, sees this through the window, Peyton sees him watching, and runs out telling him not to tell anyone, and nobody will believe him anyway because he is mentally disabled. She sets him up by putting Emma's underwear with his tools so that the Barthels will find them and fire him. She flirts with Michael and he repeatedly turns her down.

Marlene is a real estate agent handling the late Dr. Mott's house, realizes Peyton is Dr. Mott's widow, and confronts her. She goes to warn Claire but is crushed by the sunroof of the family's greenhouse in a trap made for Claire. The family figures out all the clues, finds out Peyton's motives and kicks her out, but she won't leave and tries to take the baby. This leads to a climactic fight very similar to the one in Fatal Attraction and causes her to fall out the window and be impaled on a fence, while Solomon, who has been watching them all along, has been protecting the children.

THE HAM THAT ROCKS THE CRADLE
Cracked #273, August 1992
w: Tony Frank (Lou Silverstone)
a: Walter Brogan

Instead of framing Solomon so he looks like a pedophile, they make him an adult pervert here. There's a plot point they don't use in MAD where Peyton suggests Michael and Marlene arrange a surprise party for Claire but asks not to take credit. This leads to Michael and Marlene getting together behind Claire's back making her suspicious they're having an affair.