La Maison Derrière
La Maison Derrière is a creepy-looking house which Nelson damages while playing outside with Milhouse's model airplane in the episode "Bart After Dark". The house is rumored to belong to a witch, though some (Ralph) claimed a 'Frankenstein' lives there and others (Milhouse) believe is the home of an evil scientist who creates a race of 'super-zombies'. The kids ring the doorbell on the property's gate and a pre-recorded voice says "go away, no children" while a robot arm of an old lady partly pulls back the house's curtain. Bart, ever the brave one and never to be deterred, ventures onto the property of the house. Bart climbs onto the roof to retrieve the model airplane but slips and falls after performing a dance while spelling the word success. Bart hangs on the house's roof line, but a caterpillar walks across his fingers, causing him to fall onto a bush in the front of the house.
Bart's fall gets the attention of Belle, the property's owner. Belle drags Bart home to Homer, who she finds wearing a paper bag instead of pants, and demands that he make Bart pay for the damage. Bart suggests that Homer make him taste beer as punishment, but Homer declines and instead makes Bart do chores for Belle.
When Bart arrives at the house he sees gambling, drinking and a burlesque show and exclaims to Belle that he has been wrongly informed about witches. Bart eventually takes on a number of odd jobs around Maison Derriere, including taking over as M.C. one evening. He tells the joke: "nudist camps are everywhere these days. I would like to go but I cannot iron the wrinkles out of my birthday suit" and gets a huge laugh from the audience.
Alas, the fun is short lived as Principal Skinner sees Bart at the house and tells Marge, Reverend Lovejoy, and the Flanders. The moral police call a town meeting where Marge incites the town's citizens to form an angry mob which mob then flocks to the house to try to bulldoze it to the ground.
Maison Derriere is fortunately saved (at least in part) after Homer leads the townfolk in the song The Spring in Springfield. Unfortunately, for Marge, she damages Maison Derriere and has to work for Belle to pay for the damage. She puts on a bad comedy act during which Bart has to remove Homer for yelling at Marge to "take it off".
Notable patrons of La Maison Derriere include:
- Mayor Quimby - who states that it "could be any Mayor"
- Principal Skinner
- Barney
- Krusty the Clown
- Chief Wiggum
- Julius Hibbert
- Cletus the slack jawed yokel
- Waylon Smithers - who claims his parents insisted he give it a try
- Patty Bouvier
- Lionel Hutz
- Disco Stu
- Rich Texan
- Abe Simpson
- Jasper Beardley
- Larry (Moe's barfly)
- Sam (Moe's barfly)
- Reverend Lovejoy's Father
- Kent Brockman
- Herman
- President Eisenhower - in the hallway there is a photo of him at Maison Derriere (not shown, Mrs. Eisenhower).
Even though Belle called it a place where she provides cheeky, fun entertainment for men, some women patrons (besides Patty Bouvier) are seen. Some may be prostitutes, on a date, or to get a drink.
