Isadora Was the First Bra Burner

Sometimes I feel like writing about something very topical. Last weekend’s devastating earthquake in south Asia that killed over 30,000 people? No, can’t deal with that right now. The continuing chaos in Iraq? Nah. The after-effects of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita? How about Bush’s unorthodox choices for the Supreme Court? Oy, leave me alone. There’s only one subject on my mind tonight that is of critical importance to Americans everywhere:

Bea Arthur.

More specifically, Bea Arthur in the groundbreaking 1970s sitcom “Maude.” I’ve been thinking of “Maude” this week because we saw our friend Marcia Rodd at Kendall’s mom’s house the other day. Marcia played Bea Arthur’s daughter on the pilot for “Maude” which was the 1972 season finale of “All in the Family.” I was only 12 years old but I can practically remember every line of dialogue from “All in the Family’s” first season. It’s hard to imagine the extent to which that show changed the face of television. Even a simple thing like the sound of a toilet flushing created such a sensation that they had to trim the audience's reaction in the editing room because it was one of the longest laughs in television history. (Before Archie, Edith, Mike, and Gloria, no one on TV ever had to go to the bathroom.) My parents had divorced just before “All in the Family” premiered so the show’s shocking realism punctuated the shocking realism in my own home. Bea Arthur had already appeared in an earlier episode of “All in the Family” as Edith Bunker’s ultra-liberal cousin Maude. Following Edith’s subservience to her husband and Mike Stivic’s hysteria over Archie’s every move, it was a relief to finally see someone who could stare Archie down and give him hell. The twist was that Maude, the polar opposite of Archie Bunker, was just as trapped by her extreme attitudes as Archie was.

Marcia Rodd (who was also in an earlier “All in the Family” that season but as a different character) played Carol, Maude’s daughter, who is about to be married but breaks up with her Jewish fiancé in the episode (thanks to Archie Bunker’s interference). Marcia turned down the role of Carol when the pilot was picked up and became a regular series that fall. I think she didn’t want to leave New York, the theatre, and her current boyfriend. Oy, Marcia,  just don’t think about those residual checks you could’ve had! Marcia was, and is, a brilliant actress and is now doing a lot of directing as well. Her world premiere production of Aram Saroyan's "At the Beach House" opens next Friday at the Lost Studio in Los Angeles. If you haven't seen Marcia Rodd’s amazing performance as Patsy Newquist in Jules Feiffer’s 1971 “Little Murders,” get thee to your Netflix queue immediately! I can’t believe she didn’t get an Oscar nomination for that role, which was the most astute look at the darker side of the counter-culture ever put on film. And what a cast. Marcia’s parents in “Little Murders” were played by Vincent Gardenia (later Frank Lorenzo on “All in the Family”) and Elizabeth Wilson (Benjamin Braddock’s mother in “The Graduate”) and her co-stars were Elliot Gould, Donald Sutherland, and Alan Arkin. The film was clearly ahead of its time in 1971, and possibly hit too close to home with the random shootings and that were going on at the time of the film’s release. I can still hear Marcia telling her boyfriend Elliot Gould, “I'm not saying that I'm any better or stronger than you are. It's just that you and I have different temperaments. And my temperament is better and stronger than yours!”

But back to “Maude.” Can you think of a single actress who had better timing than Bea Arthur? She could take a so-so line and make it as memorable as Lucy’s “Vitameatavegamin” routine. I attended a taping of “The Golden Girls” when I first moved out here and in one scene Estelle Getty kept messing up a line so they had to do it over and over again. Every time Bea Arthur repeated her line I burst into laughter as if I was hearing it for the first time. Who needed laugh tracks with that dame?

It was back in “Maude” days when I used to write to my favorite stars and I received a nice letter back from Beatrice Arthur. It was standard fare as those kinds of letters go, nothing very personal, but today I still marvel that any of those people wrote back at all. Do any stars today answer their own fan mail? Maude Findlay was ostensibly one of TV’s first feminists but you had to wonder. In retrospect it seems to me that her husband Walter (played by Bill Macy) was a patriarchal slavemaster of the worst kind. His constant condescension of Maude, her daughter, and her grandson would be hard to stomach today. Maude often told Walter to go to hell (“God will get you for that, Walter!”) but when she was getting a little too uppity Walter’s trademark bark of “Maude! SIT!” would do the trick every time. Oy. Still, the show broke even more taboos than “All in the Family” and was taken off the air by more stations in protest. It was only a few months after Roe v. Wade when Maude suddenly found out she was pregnant on the show (gulp! Bea Arthur was 49 at the time…) and became the first (and last?) TV sitcom character to have an abortion. Think of how daring that was back then. Can you imagine Laurie Partridge, Billie Joe Bradley, or Mary Richards even saying the word abortion? The show also dealt with racism, therapy, menopause, alcoholism, homosexuality, plastic surgery, swinging, the legalization of marijuana,  and other topics that would have sent poor Jim and Margaret Anderson of “Father Knows Best” straight to Marcus Welby, M.D. for some emergency care. (On the other hand, I still maintain that Jim and Margaret’s 1954 relationship was more equitable than the supposedly enlightened Maude and Walter’s.)

I also wrote to Maude’s replacement daughter Adrienne Barbeau (forgive me, Marcia!) and got this postcard reply: “Dear Danny. Thank you for your letter. I’m sorry I’m so late in answering. I hope you are continuing to enjoy the show—I’ll bet you liked the one where the girl came to visit us from the ghetto. Another case of reverse prejudice from Maude! My best, Adrienne Barbeau.” I remember receiving that postcard and being touched by the “came to visit US,” as if she really were Maude’s daughter and were telling a friend another anecdote about her crazy mom. That episode stands out, especially the scene where Maude was trying to convince the ghetto girl Francie that she had black friends there in the suburbs of upstate New York. She tries to pawn off her housekeeper Florida Evans (played by the great Esther Rolle ) as her pal:

Maude Findlay: Francie, this is Florida. My dear, dear friend, probably the best friend I have in the whole world.
Florida Evans: I'm the maid.

And then later when they’re about to sit down for dinner:

Maude Findlay: Francie, I hope you're hungry. We're having fried chicken for dinner.
Francie Potter: Good, I win a buck.
Maude Findlay: You win a buck?
Francie Potter: I bet that dumb brother of mine that you'd have fried chicken for me the first thing off.
Maude Findlay: Ha ha ha. I love a person with a sense of humor. Excuse me. (Maude turns around and whispers to her daughter) Carol, for Heaven's sake, go into the kitchen and throw out the grits.

Esther Rolle’s character would later spin off from “Maude” and get her own series, “Good Times,” set in the infamous Cabrini-Green housing projects of Chicago, only to quit a few seasons later when the show was taken over by the embarrassing antics of her TV son’s character who made Stepin Fetchit look like James Earl Jones. Did you know that at one time both Jay Leno and David Letterman were staff writers on “Good Times?” It’s obvious both had their fingers on the pulse of the 1970s African-American experience.

Kendall and I saw Bea Arthur’s one-woman show a couple of years ago and she still has it. She’s 82 today if you can believe it. Two of Maude Findlay’s all-time idols were Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt. Archie Bunker used to drive Maude nuts when he trashed the Roosevelts and tried to convince an enraged Maude that Richard Nixon was a better President. Whatever part of TV heaven Maude Findlay inhabits, I know she’s celebrating because today is Eleanor Roosevelt’s 121st birthday. And I have no doubt that Maude would agree that the words to her own theme song would fit Eleanor perfectly:

Lady Godiva was a freedom rider
She didn't care if the whole world looked.
Joan of Arc with the Lord to guide her
She was a sister who really cooked.

Isadora was the first bra burner
Ain't you glad she showed up. (Oh yeah)
And when the country was falling apart
Betsy Ross got it all sewed up.

And then there's Maude. (And then there's Maude.)
And then there's Maude. (And then there's Maude.)
And then there's Maude. (And then there's Maude.)
And then there's ...

That uncompromisin', enterprisin', anything but tranquilizing,
Right on Maude.

Comments

[The Retropolitan]

Oddly enough, when I went on vacation a few weeks ago, I took along a copy of "Little Murders." My housemates vetoed watching it (the trailer doesn't sell it too well), and I still never ended up watching it. Hopefully I'll manage to pop it into the DVD player soon, especially since my brother is gung-ho about it and nags me about seeing it whenever I talk to him.

I also have a soft spot for Ms. Barbeau, on account of that she was married to John Carpenter and was in "Swamp Thing."

[Heather]

I have never seen Maude but I know the theme song! I hadn't realized that Good Times was a spin-off, too; they sure were spin-off-happy back then! Maude, The Jeffersons, Good Times... any others that came from All in the Family? Thanks for the education, as usual, Danny!

[Pearl]

Danny,

Glad to know I'm not the only one who wrote fan letters over the years. In that same time era as Maude, All in the Family, was The Carol Burnett Show. She was one that I opted to write to in those years; I remember how thrilling it was to get an answer from her then when I was in my early teens.

Bea Arthur has a beautiful handwriting, from the looks of it.

I can imagine Danny Miller as a young man--he probably didn't invite girls in "to see my etchings"; he invited them in "to see the personal letters I've gotten from actors/actresses."

[OldLady Of The Hills]

Great post, Danny...Now Bea Arthur is one of those incredibly talented people who, it seems to me, got caught up in 'plastic-you-know-what', and is unrecognizable, sad to say...When I was an apprentice in stock, back in '08, Vince Gardenia was 'jobbed' in to one of the plays we did. (Can't remember which one, right now,) and then,all those years later--I remember how excited I was to know he was Betty G's. husband in "All In The Family". A very dear man. He died too young, you know? I love that you can put all these photo's on your blog, Danny...it gives it such a richness....thanks for the memories, my dear...

[Vicki]

Love it! Especially the quote from Little Murders. Priceless.

[nappy40]

Thanks Danny. I remember that theme song too, even though I was so young. Exactly how or why did Florida and her family move from NY to Chicago?

[david]

Danny, I loved that wise-cracking broad, I really did. I even had a crush on Adrienne Barbeau there, for a while. Thanks for reminding me of that, and of Good Times, which Jimmy Walker helped make one of the most infuriating TV shows of the era.

[Danny]

When they spun Florida off into "Good Times," they never referred to her previous job as Maude's maid in Tuckahoe, NY, it was as if they'd always lived in the projects of Chicago. I used to watch "Good Times" religiously but it was sad what happened to that show (which I'm sure had mostly white writers). Esther Rolle wasn't the only one disgusted by Jimmie "Kid DYN-O-MITE" Walker's character. John Amos, the father, also quit the show and his character was killed off. Did you know that was Willona from "Good Times" singing the theme song on "The Jeffersons?" And remember Janet Jackson as Willona's adopted daughter? Hollywood's view of 1970s ghetto life was skewed, but at least they were putting more black people on TV.

[Randi]

Danny, I said it before, I'll say it again...you are my television hero! I grew up in the 50's, 60's and 70's, an avid tv watcher (Laugh In, also ground breaking). I remember our family sitting around the tv to watch All in the Family in shear disbelief. Let's see how good you really are...I bet you don't remember, "I Married Joan", "Life of Riley", "Topper", "Love that Bob", or "Make Room for Daddy"...WELL............?

[nappy40]

I remember Janet Jackson as the abused kid, but I didn't know Wilona was singing The Jefferson's theme song.

[Marlee MacLeod]

Excellent. Just excellent. Finally, someone who gets how important '70s TV really was. Every show I watched growing up had people hollering at each other, which was a much more accurate portrayal of real life than what came before.

My personal favorite was One Day At A Time. I have the theme song to it and to Maude on my iPod. Great songs in their own right, those. Pop songs distilled to their necessary elements...

Do you remember Maude's "wide-mouthed frog" joke?

[Danny]

Randi, I've heard of all those shows, of course, but most were before my time. I do remember watching "Make Room for Daddy" (with my Penny Robinson/Brigitta von Trapp idol, Angela Cartwright) and its later sequel, "Make Room for Granddaddy."

I've seen a few episodes of "I Married Joan" and I'm always interested in people like Joan Davis who were huge superstars at one point but are virtually forgotten today. Maybe because she died so young? Remember Thurston Howell III (Jim Backus) as her husband and that her own daughter played her sister on the show.

"The Life of Riley" is also forgotten and now I want to go watch some episodes at the Museum of Television here in L.A. Remember "What a revoltin' development this is!" The actress who played Riley's wife, Marjorie Reynolds, was cast as Andy Hardy's mother in a 1962 pilot MGM made to try to resurrect the Hardy franchise but it never became a series.

I have seen the TV version of "Topper" and on one of Kendall and my first dates (a Friars roast for Ann Miller--oy!), we had dinner at the same table with Anne Jeffreys who played Marion Kirby in that series.

I know that both Alice from "The Brady Bunch" and Miss Hathaway from "The Beverly Hillbillies" got their starts in "Love That Bob" but my favorite Bob Cummings TV series was "My Living Doll" with Julie Newmar as Rhoda the robot who was there to serve Bob (always playing a womanizer). I already wrote about that one on here!

Marlee, no, I don't remember the wide-mouthed frog joke!

[Randi]

Danny, you are amazing...(I hope you haven't cheated by googling!)...It seems that so many memories of childhood are connected to television. I thought it was just a condition of baby-boomers, but it seems to hit every generation. Even my kids, who are in their later teens, remember back to "the good old days" of original Nickelodeon programming...it just seems to be part of the tapestry of our lives...not unlike music and movies. One day, you and I will have a "t.v.-off" (like a chili cook-off!)...to see who can remember more shows! Thanks for the memories!

[Aaron]

I have to say, I find it intriguing that someone remembers Marcia as the original actor who played Carol. I do know I enjoy both Rodd and Barbeau's interpretations of the role. The only thing that I will say for certain is Marcia's approach was more in line with the character of Maude; Adrienne's was more relaxed and mellow, creating a balance of reason within the Findlay household. Both are equally compatible. I remember seeing Marcia in an old commercial for Maxwell House Coffee that was from the 1970s which they ran on TVLand for years... Marcia, if you by any chance read this ...please know there is a twenty-two-year-old who loves your work immensely and find you both a creative and passionate performer.

[Ginny]

A small correction: Maude never dealt with the topic of menopause on her show. I have all seasons on DVD, so I know! :) The closest to that was an episode in which she thinks she may need a hysterectomy, but iit is never said that she definitely will have it done, she just worries about it.

I wasn't old enough to watch this in the 70s, but I love it now. I'd watch Bea Arthur in anything, but her Maude role is her best.

I don't understand your issue with Walter, though! Maude is very capable of standing up for herself, and she does. Often. (Unlike Edith from All in the Family. It pains me to watch the workings of her relationship with Archie.)

[MadMAMMA]

Are you still there? Just found your 2005 post on Bea Arthur. After the show ended, my sister and I used to catch 11:30 reruns because we needed to laugh after the scary show we had just watched (The only one I can remember now is "The Reincarnation of Peter Proud" -- not too frightening, if I recall correctly) Anyway. I am also a big Bea fan. But my real question is, Who was Isadora? I kept thinking that the song referred to Pia Zadora. But that can't be right. Can you answer? P.S. We used to refer to Maude's daughter as Adrian Bar-boobs.

[Ralph DeMattia]

Could any of you really die-hard Maude fans tell me who the real ISADORA was?

[Tim Markin]

Just got Maude season 1 on DVD, haven't seen an episode since the 70s when I was too young to get the topical humor. Walter seems like a drunk from the few episodes I've watched so far. And Conrad Bain's character just seems like a narrow minded jerk. And watching Good Times reruns now, I think JJ is pretty funny but find Michael's racism and radicalism against whites kind of annoying. I didn't grow up around a lot of blacks when I was a child but the ones I knew weren't like him.