Bea Arthur's Perfect Comic Timing

I was very sad to hear yesterday that Bea Arthur died 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. My wife and I saw Arthur's one-woman show a few years ago and despite her advancing years, she still had it.

I grew up watching "Maude," the first of Bea Arthur's two ground-breaking sitcoms.The pilot for "Maude" 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. Norman Lear deserves a lot of credit for skewering liberals and conservatives with equal gusto. The exchanges between Archie and Maude were some of the funniest moments on 1970s TV. I remember on Arthur's first "All in the Family" appearance, Archie took delight in dissing Maude's hero, Franklin D. Roosevelt. After one particularly long anti-Roosevelt diatribe, Maude slowly turned toward Archie, paused, and said in that inimitable voice of hers, "You're fat." I still laugh when I think of Bea Arthur's delivery of that one line.

Can you think of any actress who had better comic timing? Arthur 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 to Los Angeles 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 she wrote back at all, especially to some snot-nosed kid in Chicago. 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 daughter, Adrienne Barbeau, 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.

Recently I saw a jaw-dropping video from a special Bea Arthur did for CBS in 1980, in between her "Maude" and "Golden Girl" runs. This crazy number was performed by 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

[Gilda]

A very nice tribute to Bea.
Bea Arthur was the bomb! Grew up watching her as Maude. Her comic timing was dead-on and fearless.

Bea Arthur also was a Honorary PETA director for her work and compassion for animals.

In memory of Bea, people can make a donation to PETA, or Easter Seals, an organization helping children, an organization who do not do animal testing and experimentation.

As the March of Dimes bring out their yearly campaign, visit Marchofcrimes.com and find out why,
and where, your chartiable contributions can be better spent elsewhere.

Animal experiments cost millions of dollars that could be spent on people, experiments that cause suffering to the animals they test on. Animal physiology and people physiology differ and forward thinking organization such as Easter Seals promote birth defect research in a compassionate manner.

Thank you Bea for making us laugh, rest in peace.

[ldavis24]

I love Bea Arthur too, don't try to hawk PETA off of her name.
If you want to donate money to animal welfare causes go somewhere else besides PETA!

[ShinjiIkari]

Two lines I recall from Bea Arthur:

in an episode of "Golden Girls", Dorothy broke her leg, and her students visited her and wrote messages on her cast. Dorothy looked at one message, then The Look, then The Pause, then The Zinger: "I'll change that to 'Mrs. Zbornak eats shiitake mushrooms.­'"

In a salute to "Mame" composer Jerry Herman, Ms. Arthur introduced herself as starring in the musical, "Vera." She corrected herself, saying the name of the musical was changed to "Mame" "because Jerry said he couldn't rhyme 'Vera.'" The Pause, the Look, The Zinger: "Sondheim could have rhymed 'Vera!'"

Bea, you've taught comic delivery to at least as many acting students as Lee Strasberg. Good one.

[NothingFades]

Danny -

Thank you for this post, one of the best I have read honoring the brilliant Bea Arthur.
I was born during her days of Maude, grew up on The Golden Girls (her rendition of Berlin's What'll I Do on that show is absolutely one of my favorite moments of tv) and discovered her non-television talents as an adult - from her movie appearances and Broadway accomplishments to seeing her one-woman show a few years back.
With each lift of an eyebrow, delivery of a word or turn of the head I am more and more in awe of her ability. And something tells me that will only continue to grow.

Again thanks for sharing!

[originalprice]

I think the greatest thing about Bea Arthur is that she was, quite simply, a PHENOMENAL actress. That voice, that persona, and oh those inimitable facial expressions!!! She was one of the world's greatest actors, with or without dialogue -- what she could do with a simply raise of the eyebrow or drop of the jaw most actors could not do with pages of dialogue. A true blue GENIUS.

She will be terribly missed.

RIP, my comic friend.

[liviapeacock]

She was a legend and one of the funniest actors around. Thanks so much! Who doesn't love Bea Arthur, Rock Hudson and drugs? It's the feel good song of the year!

[Rjchinook]

What a wonderful gift to have a hand written response from Bea Arthur. I loved the characters she played and her one of a kind humorous style. The look on her face as Dorothy, every time Rose (Betty White) would start telling one of her goofy stories was unparalleled!
She will be missed!

[Buddhistgal]

Danny, what a touching tribute to a very gifted actress. I think her ability to deliver a line resulted from her musical background. Notice how Bea was the lynch pin for all the shows she starred in, In both Maude and Golden Girls, she was the glue that made the shows work. All the actors revolved around her - and without her presence, the shows fell flat. When she left the Golden Girls, and they tried to revive the show without her - the spinoff didn't last one season. She was a gracious lady in every sense of the word and will be sorely missed.

[GwenElle]

Loved Bea Arthur both as Maude and Dorothy. Impeccable timing? You bet! She always made me laugh. Whenever I watched Bea Arthur on those shows, I would fine myself just sitting, waiting, not just for the delivery of the line, but the looks that could strike you alternately dead or dumb. She said as much with a stare as she did with a line. I really would love to see Maude back on the air, for just a weekend retrospective if nothing else.

Thanks for the Tony Awards performance with Lansbury. Very entertaining.

[miranda2060]

Yes, her expressions were PRICELESS!

She will be missed.

[jbgnyc]

What a great post. Came here really down after lousy Yankee lost. You made my night!

[joelaf]

excuse me for saying it, but Bea Arthur was hot. She spoke her mind, she just was.......­.. We will all sorely miss WOMEN like her. I feel a great loss knowing she is gone.

[garlicpowder]

that clip with Rock Hudson couldn't have been more outragous if it was cheech and chong. thank god for drugs and bea arthur!

[FourSordidRms]

What a nice tribute, Danny. I remember that FDR discussion on All in the Family, but still, just reading that line made me laugh out loud. The Bosom Buddy number is very sweet.

[StopherM]

I couldn't agree more. I was huge fan of Bea's on the Golden Girls and was blown away when they brought Maude back on Nick at Night a few years ago. I read an obituary today that said she had wanted to be like June Allyson when she was a young girl. Who doesn't adore June Allyson but I admire and respect Bea Arthur. She proved there is a place for loud, bossy people in this world and I thank her for leading the way.

[Danny Miller - Huffpost Blogger]

Thanks, David. Her show was great fun, a musical tour of her life with the kind of irreverent, perfectly delivered anecdotes you'd expect from her, fairly salty since there were no network censors around to shut her up! I think the Broadway version was recorded and is available on CD.

[Alvin4NY]

I loved the joke from that show about the missing piece of Silver. Her delivery was great, and didn't she come out shoe-less? Wonderful memories. Thanks for putting your thoughts down.

[David Wild - Huffpost Blogger]

Really enjoyed this post.
What was her one woman show like?