Little Roundheaded Boy

For one thing, I stand for the idea that all of the stars should be rescued from being overly identified with The Golden Girls. Long before Dorothy Zbornak, Bea Arthur was established as a Broadway and Television legend. The Golden Girls was mostly icing after that.

It’s hard to explain, in some sense, why Arthur was iconic; in some ways she was an improbable star. In another her stardom was too obvious: she was such a physical presence, so towering, so indomitable. Neither, really, is entirely fair.

I wouldn’t make you watch Mame to prove it, but what moments there are to improve the proceedings come in large measure from Arthur’s turn reprising her role as Vera Charles, Mame’s bosom buddy.

That turn on Broadway – after also launching the role of Yente in Fiddler – is what made her a star (she maintained the real name of the show was “Vera”). By the time of the film in 1974, Arthur was already making her mark in television as well: after guesting on All in the Family as Edith’s cousin, she’d moved onto her own spinoff, Maude.

It’s hard, now, to imagine how challenging Maude was: the lead wasn’t entirely likable – not something normal among leading women roles in a sitcom (even now), and Maude’s politics were always up front and direct.

It was easy to assume that Arthur was as direct, confrontational and political as her character (which, in real life, was actually developed from Frances Lear, Norman Lear’s wife), but really, that’s just how strong an actress she was, and she paid for it with a unique kind of stardom.

Controversy borne from her work, not from who she was. She was a big gal with a deep voice and it was easy to assume… many things. But none of our assumptions kept her, basically, from doing the work she wanted to do.

In that sense, it’s not hard to see how we wound up with Dorothy and the Golden Girls: after years of being seen as outspoken and challenging, Dorothy Zbornak was largely warm and nonconfrontational, and so was the show.

Yet, at her age it was undeniable that Arthur, Betty White and Rue McClanahan (who’d also been on Maude), as wellas Estelle Getty, were all comic veterans with impeccable timing and skills. It goes a long way to explaining why Golden Girls is what it was: safe, non threatening, extremely funny… but often mush.

Bea Arthur could still be acid-tongued and perfect with a well timed zinger… but the zings were framed by a warmth and supportiveness. If it devolved into shtick… it was still incredibly well honed, well done shtick.

In retrospect, I think Bea Arthur is someone who did it right – it’s the work we’ll remember, the roles we’ll admire. As a person and a celebrity she seemed less knowable, distant, eager to let the work speak for her.

And it should; it was good work. I just hope time will be kind enough to see Arthur’s roles in their totality, that she gets the credit she deserves, still, for Maude (really… who’s doing anything like that, these days?), and Vera, and all the rest… even as we get inundated, once more, with Golden Girls reruns. I could live with that.