RubySoho
Winston
Goodbye Golden Girl
April 26th 2009 12:41
First we watch this:
Is it hard to believe that the favourite show of a pre-pubescent 12 year old girl in Sydney Australia could be about the personal and (shock, horror!), sex lives of a quartet of post-menopausal women living in Miami Beach?
It didn't seem so surprising to me back then. 7.30 Fridays was Golden Girls time. And I hardly ever missed it. Granted, that was largely the due to the fact that my strict parents would rarely let me out of the house save for school and the odd visit to the relos. But still, the fact that I was largely housebound in my youth does not explain the affinity I had for this show.
I first heard about The Golden Girls well before I saw it. My sister and I were watching an Emmy Awards telecast and it seemed like every second award was won by the incredible team behind this show. And I remember how, even in my tender years I realised that this was something extraordinary. That these women who were getting up accepting these awards were not young, no longer pretty, past their prime if you will. And yet, in the late 80s they owned Prime Time. This show was a massive success despite the fact that there were no major male characters and even more astonishingly no women under the age of 50. My curiosity was piqued and when the show was broadcast I was immediately hooked.
So what was it about this show? When I watch the odd repeat, it seems rather cheesy and a little hackneyed, the simpleness of Betty White's 'Rose' was overdone and Estelle Getty's 'old person' makeup is quite laughable. But then it is a rare television show that doesn't date. Television, is after all, a product of its time, to watch any show decades after its initial run is to watch it deleted of much of its social and political relevance (even the highly 'controversial' final season of Murphy Brown seems rather tame these days. A single pregnant woman? So what? It's easy to forget just what an impact that storyline made in the US and why).
But back to the Golden Girls. When I think about that show I do wonder why I loved it so, why I continue to love it, why have these four women left such an indelible impression on me? Finally after two decades of discovering who I am and what has made me the way I am, I am beginning to be able to answer that question. Because I grew up in a world that still valued women primarily by the way they looked. Because when you caught an aeroplane the airline stewardesses were all under the age of 30 (or at least looked like they were). Because Catherine Craft, an American newsreader was fired from her job at the age of 36 for being "too old and ugly". Because the primary role models of young girls were the Barbie doll and the living dolls on the cover Dolly. Because usually, when women got to a 'certain age' they disappeared from public view altogether.
And yet. And yet, here were these women, these golden girls, in their fifties and beyond who refused to be shut away. Here they were living and laughing, dating, having sex. These women knew who they were and they were not about to apologise for it. They showed us that women, even older women, were, you know, actual people, who still had so much to give and so much life to live. And I do confess Dorothy Zbornak was always my favourite. The five foot nine Amazon with the raspy voice and the mind like a razor blade. This woman forced by circumstances into an unhappy marriage at far too young an age but determined to make up for it in her older years. Her independence was hard fought and won, she never shied away from speaking her mind and she wouldn't change who she was for anybody. What a lucky twelve year old girl I was, to be able to switch on the television and have that sort of role model.
I've never forgotten Dorothy Zbornak and I'll never forget Bea Arthur, the incredible actor who brought her to life. Who made her such a real person in my life. I have tears in my eyes as I write this. How is that even possible for someone I never actually met? How incredible it is that the work of another human being can touch me in this way. How sad to accept that the world has lost this wonderful performer. But, oh how lucky we were to have her in the first place.
Goodbye Bea Arthur and thank you for being a friend.
Is it hard to believe that the favourite show of a pre-pubescent 12 year old girl in Sydney Australia could be about the personal and (shock, horror!), sex lives of a quartet of post-menopausal women living in Miami Beach?
It didn't seem so surprising to me back then. 7.30 Fridays was Golden Girls time. And I hardly ever missed it. Granted, that was largely the due to the fact that my strict parents would rarely let me out of the house save for school and the odd visit to the relos. But still, the fact that I was largely housebound in my youth does not explain the affinity I had for this show.
I first heard about The Golden Girls well before I saw it. My sister and I were watching an Emmy Awards telecast and it seemed like every second award was won by the incredible team behind this show. And I remember how, even in my tender years I realised that this was something extraordinary. That these women who were getting up accepting these awards were not young, no longer pretty, past their prime if you will. And yet, in the late 80s they owned Prime Time. This show was a massive success despite the fact that there were no major male characters and even more astonishingly no women under the age of 50. My curiosity was piqued and when the show was broadcast I was immediately hooked.
So what was it about this show? When I watch the odd repeat, it seems rather cheesy and a little hackneyed, the simpleness of Betty White's 'Rose' was overdone and Estelle Getty's 'old person' makeup is quite laughable. But then it is a rare television show that doesn't date. Television, is after all, a product of its time, to watch any show decades after its initial run is to watch it deleted of much of its social and political relevance (even the highly 'controversial' final season of Murphy Brown seems rather tame these days. A single pregnant woman? So what? It's easy to forget just what an impact that storyline made in the US and why).
But back to the Golden Girls. When I think about that show I do wonder why I loved it so, why I continue to love it, why have these four women left such an indelible impression on me? Finally after two decades of discovering who I am and what has made me the way I am, I am beginning to be able to answer that question. Because I grew up in a world that still valued women primarily by the way they looked. Because when you caught an aeroplane the airline stewardesses were all under the age of 30 (or at least looked like they were). Because Catherine Craft, an American newsreader was fired from her job at the age of 36 for being "too old and ugly". Because the primary role models of young girls were the Barbie doll and the living dolls on the cover Dolly. Because usually, when women got to a 'certain age' they disappeared from public view altogether.
And yet. And yet, here were these women, these golden girls, in their fifties and beyond who refused to be shut away. Here they were living and laughing, dating, having sex. These women knew who they were and they were not about to apologise for it. They showed us that women, even older women, were, you know, actual people, who still had so much to give and so much life to live. And I do confess Dorothy Zbornak was always my favourite. The five foot nine Amazon with the raspy voice and the mind like a razor blade. This woman forced by circumstances into an unhappy marriage at far too young an age but determined to make up for it in her older years. Her independence was hard fought and won, she never shied away from speaking her mind and she wouldn't change who she was for anybody. What a lucky twelve year old girl I was, to be able to switch on the television and have that sort of role model.
I've never forgotten Dorothy Zbornak and I'll never forget Bea Arthur, the incredible actor who brought her to life. Who made her such a real person in my life. I have tears in my eyes as I write this. How is that even possible for someone I never actually met? How incredible it is that the work of another human being can touch me in this way. How sad to accept that the world has lost this wonderful performer. But, oh how lucky we were to have her in the first place.
Goodbye Bea Arthur and thank you for being a friend.
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Comment by Mau-Medellin
Mau-Medellin
Comment by moonglow
A Lot of Scrap
Paranormal Paranormal
Teacup Tales
Rubber Ball
In Zoo
I've always loved her, and am grateful Golden Girls reruns are still on the air.
Comment by Edward Allen
Sanity Road
We will miss Bea Arthur. She did so much to add a strong persona for older women, and for that matter, women of all ages.
Keep on writing. You set a high standard for the rest of us.
Thank you so much for this post.
Lake Wales, Florida
Comment by Janet Collins
Acceptable Etiquette
The Social Critic
Janet Collins Blog
Sad loss.
Comment by Morgan Bell
Science News
Deep Pencil
Business News
Movie Train
ive been out of town and didnt hear the news . . . what a sad loss
i too enjoyed The Golden Girls, and i know many people my age who love it and quote from it all the time - they were some foxy nannas!
the theme song will forever be a tribute to the joys of friendship!
Comment by Carolyn Cordon
Light Within
How do You Express Your Creativity?
Food Leaf
Vale the most Golden of Golden Girls, Goodbye Bea.
Comment by Jeff Musall
Comment by Nevar
Is Why
This is a fitting tribute, well done.
Comment by Norm
Consumption Malfunction
Equal and Opposite
Arses and Elbows
Footy Power