Bea Arthur

I was sad to hear that Bea Arthur died this morning here in Los Angeles. I knew the actress was 86 years old and wasn't going to live forever, but it still seems unreal that she's gone. She was such a strong presence on TV for so many years she seemed indomitable. Kendall and I saw Arthur's one-woman show several years ago and despite her advancing years, she still had it.

I wrote about Bea Arthur in 2005, in reference to "Maude," the first of her two ground-breaking sitcoms. Our friend Marcia Rodd played Arthur’s daughter on the pilot for “Maude” which was the 1972 season finale of “All in the Family.” Bea had already appeared in an earlier episode of that show as Edith Bunker’s ultra-liberal cousin Maude. With Edith’s subservience to her husband and Mike Stivic’s hysteria over Archie’s every move, it was a relief to 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.

Can you think of a single actress who had better comic timing than Bea Arthur? She could take a so-so line and make it as memorable as Lucy Ricardo’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?

I once wrote to Bea Arthur during her “Maude” days and received this letter in return. Nothing very personal, but today I still marvel that any of those people wrote back at all. Does anyone answer their own fan mail today? 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 (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 an 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: Francie, this is Florida. My dear, dear friend, probably the best friend I have in the whole world.
Florida: I'm the maid.

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

Maude: Francie, I hope you're hungry. We're having fried chicken for dinner.
Francie: Good, I win a buck.
Maude: You win a buck?
Francie: I bet that dumb brother of mine that you'd have fried chicken for me the first thing off.
Maude: 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.

I next wrote about Bea Arthur two years ago when I discovered a jaw-dropping video from a 1980 special she did for CBS, in between her "Maude" and "Golden Girl" runs. This crazy number was performed by Bea Arthur and Rock Hudson on the Emmy-nominated special and when I saw it I just had one little question: WHAT WERE THEY THINKING? In the number, Bea and Rock played a couple of boozing, middle-aged suburbanites who were musing about the happy-go-lucky drug-addled kids of the day. Arthur and Hudson seemed to view all forms of recreational drug use with amusement and mirth. Try getting this number past the network censors today:     

Few people will ever come close to Bea Arthur's perfect timing. In addition to her iconic TV roles as Maude Findlay and Dorothy Zbornak, Arthur had an accomplished stage career, appearing in the original "Threepenny Opera" on Broadway, creating the role of Yenta in "Fiddler on the Roof," and winning a Tony Award in 1966 for her role as Vera Charles in "Mame" opposite her friend Angela Lansbury. Decades later the two repeated their famous number on the Tony Awards. Take a look as we say goodbye to another true original:

Comments

[La Framéricaine]

Thank you for a lovely tribute to an actress that I loved. I was a big fan of the Golden Girls and would still watch them if I found them on TV in syndication! I was not familiar with Maude or Bea Arthur's stage career but it doesn't surprise me. She had the most incredible voice and reminded me of my mother in stature and some facial expressions.

By way of 6 virtual degrees of separation, I used to know a man who was married for a time to a woman who was best friends with Adrienne Barbeau (high school, if I recall correctly) until AB became too famous to have plebs for friends--according to her old friend, naturally! What a curious web unites people in the world.

Amitiés,

[Anne]

Thanks for a good post on Bea Arthur. I was driving across Ohio today when I heard that she had passed, and like you was surprised that she was 86......I guess I did expect her to last forever!

[OldOldLady Of The Hills]

I was sad to see that today too, Danny. I had just sent her the "Betty Garrett's 90th Birthday Bash" letter---I had no idea she was ill....!
I saw her in "MAME" back on Broadway...And it was FABULOUS....It was really such a shame that they did NOT get to do the film together!
I am amazed that you have kept all these letters and postcards, etc from the Stars you have written to---You must have a HUGE file and you sure are very organized, my dear!
BY THE WAY: Did you ask Matthew about the DVD

[OldOldLady Of The Hills]

I forgot to say, I am unable to see ANY Videos on any blogs--Including my own--I can see them on YouTube, but not anywhere else. It is so Frigging aggrivating...I cannot tell you. Grrrrrrrr!
I don't know why this started happening---And it's NOT the Adobe Flash Player thing....It is something else!

[Pam G]

My brother and I saw Bea's one-woman show in Scottsdale, AZ, in Feb. 2006, and are so glad now we took the time to do that during what was, for me, a busy business trip. I think that was one of her last performances of it. Ken was the one who called me late yesterday from his office in Colorado to tell me that Bea had died and we had a nice chat remembering her wonderful career and our going to her one-woman show just three years ago.

Bea's character Maude was such an influence on me and surely played an important role in forming my own progressive opinions. I would love to watch those shows again from an adult perspective and see if I feel as you do about the Walter/Maude relationship.

I hadn't realized that Bea was in Three Penny Opera with Lotte Lenya (!), whom she cited as a major influence, although I certainly knew a lot about her career on stage and recall Brett Somers talking about knowing Bea way back then.

Goodbye, Bea. You will be missed by many. Another "childhood icon" gone.

[Sue Katz]

Oh Danny. I was just going to sit down and write about Bea while I found your perfect tribute. The clips are priceless - as are your memories and correspondence. Thanks, as always, Sue.

[Scott G]

You can tell it was the 70s because Eisenhower's likeness was sent to the federal backwaters of the 8 cent post card stamp.

[Amadaes]

I loved Bea. The only tv show I would watch as a child was Maude. My mom and I stayed up on schoolnights to watch the Maude re-runs at midnight. Special times special memories... Just me and my mom and Maude fending off a cruel patriarchal world. My parents were in the middle of a beastly divorce and Maude gave me hope... and I laughed and felt better.

[Gordon]

Dear Danny,
Thanks for the very nice tribute.
I am someone who was transformed from hating Bea Arthur as Maude, to loving her as Dorothy.
And, I'm probably the only person alive who thinks that Angela Lansbury has a dreadful singing voice. LOL.

[Danny]

But Gordon, I trust you'll agree that Lansbury's voice is a thousand times better than Lucille Ball's and that casting Lucy in the movie version of "Mame" made for one of the worst stage-to-screen transfers in history. Bea Arthur reprised her role in the film only because her husband was directing and he talked her into it. She later called the film an unmitigated disaster.

[Leslie]

That's some number performed by Rock and Bea. Maybe it was before recreational drugs were bad for us. Sort of like what Woody Allen said about red meat and sunshine. They were healthy 40 years ago. Thank you for the laugh-out-loud post...especially the lines you recited from the ghetto show.

[jamie]

The only childhood letters that i wrote were to President Johnson and (Chicago Tribune columnist) Bob Greene. If only i had reached out to my tv mentors: mary tyler moore and bea arthur. they showed us indy girls the way out of the 70s. great post, danny!

[OldOldLady Of The Hills]

Danny...Thanks so much for your LOVELY comment about my photographs...I have been taking pictures forever! And back in the 1970's, after I got my first Pentax SLR, I took probably 1000 slides of Larry's Rose Garden, among other things...I am unable to scan them in, or I would! There are some stunners, if I do say so, myself...Close, Close, Close...And then I did a whole bunch of Ron Rifkin'd English Garden...Those too, were some fabulous pictures...More Slides...Same Problem about scanning. I need a REALLY Fine Scanner specifically for Slides and Transparencies.

Someone from your comments came to my blog to suggest I turn off my "Pop Up Blocker" and then I would be able to see the Videos. I did it. It didn't work. I have a Computer Wizard but he cannot remember what it is I need to do....UGH!!!!! So, thank you, whomever you are for the suggestion...But, it is not the answer to this Video Problem

[Julie Schreiber]

Danny - Thanks for the Bea Arthur tribute. She was always one of my personal favorites. I was so sad to hear that she had passed away, I will definitely miss her. I am jealous that you have a letter from her. As an aside, didn't she remind you of Aunt Toni (or vice -versa? They were both broads and I love that! BTW, I am sure you are wondering how I have time for this , and the answer is very simple. I don't and I guess I am procrastinating. See you soon, thanks for the post.

[Pearl]

You never cease to disappoint us, Danny. When I heard that Bea Arthur had passed away, I anticipated a blog post of yours would come our way.

Danny Miller: Capturing the Pulse of Life (and its opposite)!

[churlita]

I'm so sad she's gone, but she did have a great run. She was one of the few decent role models I had growing up in the 70's.

[Dave]

What a great post Danny. I don't think I've seen an episode of Maude since it first aired and I was a little kid. I do, now, remember Walter telling her to "sit" and thinking nothing of it. Now I'm a little horrified.

I don't know if stars write letters to fans anymore. I hope they do.

Again, thanks for the sad, but wonderful post.

[Judy]

I must say, you never disappoint!!! Your writing is so wonderful. While sitting shiva in soho(my Mom died 4/17), I've been checking in on your writing. Although I hated the nazi photos, I recall being overly concerned about his birthday at a time when i was not held together tight. But that was a very long time ago, and now
remember columbine instead. I can't look objectively at any of his photos...too much pain surrounds his vibe....like those black spirits in the movie, Ghost (can't recall if that's the title with Patrick Swaysie,Demi Moore and Whoopi.

[Judy]

OOPs, I forgot to tell you that I enjoyed that duet with Rock Hudson immensely. Where did that come from? I want to play it for everyone I know. I'll have to direct them to your blog, it's that good. When I'm in upstate NY, my dial-up prevents me from seeing your videos. This summer, I can imagine myself driving to Panera Bakery every week to see videos on my laptop.

[little edie]

thanks for the post. though foolish on my part, bea is one of the celebrities that i chose to, "make my own." i know there's no sense to it, but like lots of people, certain entertainers have "spoken" to me & i made them mine. i was going to post a link to a piece of video from the pamela anderson roast from a few years ago. i'd put it on my facebook page, but when i just went back to retrieve it, i found that the video has been pulled because of copyright. too bad. i'm sure you've seen it....bea, reading filthy, filthy garbage from anderson's "novel". utterly amazing, what an amazing performer arthur was. (LOVE those letters from the girls! a teeny bit green, i am.)

[Tricia Hicks]

When I heard that Bea Arthur had died, I immediately thought "Danny will surely write about it on his blog". Danny, you and I couldn't be more different. I am a WASP (Southern Baptist at that) born and raised in the great state of Tennessee, but I really enjoy reading your blog.

[jodi]

Years ago I was a talent agent and too "sophisticated" for fan letters, until I saw Dame Maggie Smith on stage. I wrote a thank you note and surprisingly, I got a personal handwritten note back. I'm not surprised you got one from Bea. Class is class.

Nice post. particularly like the Rock Hudson/Bea Arthur piece of the puzzle -- but,no warm cuddly memories of Marilyn Chambers or Sable Starr who also passed this month? Both stars and icons in their own ways.

[Jay Burr]

Hi, Danny...

Thanks for this most excellent tribute to the one and only Beatrice Arthur. I saw her in February 2006 at her one-woman show in Los Angeles, and had the privilege of meeting her afterwards. She was most gracious and asked if I had REALLY enjoyed the show and if I thought it was still relevant. I informed her that of course it had been and thanked her for the endless hours and years of laughter that she had been responsible for giving me! She was a gem that evening and I took a wonderful photo with her that is framed in my office and always will be!! Again, thanks for having this site...I will check it regularly!

-Jay Burr, 40
San Diego, CA