Death, taxes, and The Simpsons killing off an animated character; these things happen. Anyone who caught this weekend’s newest episode of the series is likely already aware that Alice Glick, who apparently replaced Gertie as the organ player at the First Church Of Springfield at some point, has died. She died as she so often lived: At the organ bench. In the episode, as Reverend Lovejoy is speaking, there is a great crash from the organ pipes, at which point it is revealed that poor Alice has died and her head has crashed into the keys. She made her first appearance in 1991, where she was voiced by Chloris Leechman. Tress MacNeille provided the voice for the rest of Alice’s time in Springfield.
In a supernatural turn of events, this is not the first time Alice Glick died, nor is it the first time She previously passed over in “Replaceable You” from The Simpsons‘ 23rd season. However, the show appears to really mean it this time. “In a sense, Alice the organist will live forever, through the beautiful music she made,” co-executive producer Tim Long told Entertainment Weekly. “But in another, more important sense, yep, she’s dead as a doornail.”
The Simpsons has never been particularly shy about killing off characters, going back to Bleeding Gums Murphy in season 6 and, most famously, Maude Flanders in season 11. Edna Krapable, Rabbi Hyman Krustofsky, and Larry Dalrymple have all kicked the bucket in the past decade or so. Other characters have simply been retired, like Troy McClure, who hasn’t appeared since season 10 out of respect for Phil Hartman. Earlier this year, the show also teased a flash-forward sequence wherein Marge Simpson died; Matt Selman subsequently reassured fans by saying “Marge will probably never be dead ever again” and that “The Simpsons doesn’t even have a canon.”
