The Beatrice Arthur Special January 1980

And Rock looking incredibly different.....much older than he had.

Rock Hudson singing?? WTF???

Costumes by Ret Turner.

because we wouldn't pay for Bob Mackie.

Wow, Bea not only wearing heels but also showing her legs!

Edie and Judd's Second Honeymoon, a dramedy sketch in which a burnt-out couple (Arthur and Hudson) celebrates their 30th anniversary.

Beatrice and Rock Hudson playing a married couple is the height of camp.

Rock should have done a bit with Wayland Flowers and Madame.

Bea singing reminds me of Anne Bancroft's attempts at singing. These women had voices that were unexceptional yet they acted liked this was their hidden and unappreciated talent.

Such a bizarre collection of songs and arrangements. Bea could be really effective as a singer with just piano and a pretty song instead of the overproduced soup from that special .

R8 Well, Anne Bancroft didn't win a Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical (Mame) or appear in The Three Penny Opera or Fiddler On The Roof.

I really wanted the Beatrice Straight TV special.

R11, Beatrice Straight did have a TV special, however it was only 5 minutes long...

I think Miss Arthur had some of the most successful body-reimagining ever accomplished in the history of television actors.

R13 I'm always surprised how little it's talked about - she looked SO different on GG from the way she looked on Maude. And she sounded different too.

R9 one of her nicest moments. Such a pretty song, and it pissed off Blanche.

Rock Hudson singing isn’t that unusual, he starred in the touring company of On he Twentieth Century, and he also appeared in Camelot, and I Do, I Do.

*On The Twentieth Century

Rock/Oscar

[quote]I'm always surprised how little it's talked about - she looked SO different on GG from the way she looked on Maude. And she sounded different too.

Bea lost a lot of weight and had an excellent facelift between Maude and GG. She looked much better on GG than she did on Maude, and she was a decade older!

Bea sings Hard Hearted Hannah on Maude. She was great here.

Except I always loved Maude and felt that Bea was more *real* in that state, looked more real, felt more real. Maybe it's just me.

She looked different but I think she always sounded the same.

While Arthur did look older, the harsh lighting and makeup on “Maude” also contributed to it. Same for Rue McClanahan. And those 70s fashions…

Look at the 1971 “All in the Family” episode that introduces the character of Maude. When there is a tight closeup of Arthur’s face when she says, “You’re fat!” To Archie, you can see her mustache very clearly.

I thought Dorothy was a much kinder, gentler, thoughtful character than Maude.

She was, r24.

Costume designer Judy Evans created distinctive looks for each of the four actresses to suit their characters' personalities and to reflect the Florida setting. According to Evans, "I wanted a sexy, soft, and flowing look for Rue, a tailored, pulled-together look for Bea, a down-home look for Betty, and comfort for Estelle."[60] Anna Wyckoff of the Costume Designers Guild wrote, "Evans took the direction from the producers to create a vibrant look for the four mature leads, and ran with it...redefining what 'dressing your age' looked like."[61] Many of the characters' outfits were designed by Evans and made especially, but seven to ten costume changes per episode were made between the four actresses, which entailed a great deal of off-the-rack shopping.[62] Evans generally dressed the actresses in expensive pieces and high-quality fabrics, despite the recurring theme that the four characters were struggling with money, because, "The main idea was to make them look good. We didn't want the show to be about four dowdy ladies."[62]

Bea Arthur had a preference for wearing loose-fitting clothing, like slacks and long sweaters, along with sandals, because she hated wearing shoes. She had established this signature look while playing Maude, and Evans honored it in her designs for Dorothy.[63] Much of Arthur's wardrobe was custom-made because at the time, finding off-the-rack clothing that was flattering for a taller woman was difficult.

According to Rita Riggs...

she should have gotten Melissa Gilbert for the show.

Rita Riggs should be prosecuted for fashion hate crimes for those hideous Maude outfits.

A Bea Arthur special in 1980. Gee, must’ve swept the Nielsens that week.

Bea was very attractive in that special. She said in an interview in 2001 with the Television Academy Foundation that she wanted Angela Lansbury as the guest star but the network thought Angela wasn't popular enough (that was before Murder She Wrote) so they gave her Roch Hudson instead.

^^Rock Hudson^^

R21 - But to hear Bea tell it, she was nothing like her TV characters (Maude or Dorothy). She was neurotic, reclusive and generally quiet. The irony is that Bea was probably more old-fashioned than her counterpart Jean Stapleton as Edith. Jean was full-on women's libber while Bea was, shall we say, demure.

R33- She wasn't old fashioned when it came to SCISSORING

"No Dorothy - yet. TOTALLY Maude on this special."

You're being kind. Regardless of the show, Bea Arthur only played one character - Bea Arthur. Loud, withering glare, double takes, and moving across the stage as if she didn't think she'd make it to the bathroom in time.

R30- Just like 14 months earlier when Bea starred in the Star ⭐️ Wars Holiday Special.

Bea was ugly during the first season of Maude because of bad hair, no makeup and shitty clothes. In season 2, they went crazy with the makeup and she looked like a drag queen. However, she did look great in seasons 3, 4 and 5. In season 6, her hair and makeup were horrible again but she looked good in the very last episode.

On Golden Girls, she looked her best in the last 2 seasons. The hair, makeup and the classy way Judy Evans dressed her was perfection. Her hair was too short in the earlier seasons and she had lost too much weight. She regained a bit of the weight in the later seasons and looked much better.

[quote] Bea was ugly during the first season of Maude because of bad hair, no makeup and shitty clothes. In season 2, they went crazy with the makeup and she looked like a drag queen.

What's funny is that in the earlier season, for some reason, there are multiple times that Arthur (or even another actor) refers to Maude as gorgeous and stunningly beautiful. Arthur is what we used to call a handsome woman, but hardly a beauty queen. I always wondered if these lines were meant to be ironic (which would presumably be offensive to Arthur, well known for her insecurities), or if they were just humoring Arthur which frankly isn't much better.

R38, I think that was in season 2 when Maude had a facelift. In reality, it was just makeup and a new hairstyle. Bea said during an interview that she didn't have a facelift at that time because he doctor didn't think she was ready. She's also called an attractive woman by the black father of her second black maid in the 4th or 5th season. I do think Bea believed at some point that she was very attractive.

Bea and Madam talking about sex symbol Rock Hudson "he would never take advantage of a woman." Five years before he died of AIDS.

Her final hairstyle on GG has not aged well. Combine the hair with that wedding dress and Yeesh.

I liked that hairstyle R41. Much better than her super short hair in the first season.

Just watched this on Youtube. Very cringey and Melba is the only one who comes across as a truly gifted singer/entertainer. My jaw just about dropped open at what was a blatant gay joke and then listening to Rock and Bea sing about amyl nitrate, poppers, and coke. Good Lord! Looks like CBS buried it on a Saturday night hoping no one would ever actually see it.

A Mother's Kisses

I liked Bea's warddrobe in "The Golden Girls". It was so unique and sophisticated.

[quote]On Golden Girls, she looked her best in the last 2 seasons.

Her hairstyle in the last season was awful. The English lawyer look from season 5 and 6 really suited her, and the perm from season 4 wasn't so bad either.

Bea looked great with longer hair. She was a beautiful woman. That they made so many jokes about her being ugly was unfortunate.

And Dorothy became such a one note character by the end of the run, I can see why Bea wanted out.

I remembered reading that the original concept was for Bea to actually have a facelift after the first of the two parter. They'd take a hiatus and she'd have the procedure and return with a new face for the second half. But after the doctor said no, they reverted to lights and makeup. I don't know if rue really had one but she looks much younger and better with the styling. One of Bill Macy's lines to Rue: You look 100 years younger. Susan Harris wrote the episodes which were hilarious.

R8- You’re telling me.

Linda Lavin has a rich voice, she would have been great singing jazz standards. Her performances on Alice were sublime. She should have done more albums.

Bea's "What'll I Do?" is my favorite rendition of the song, bar none.

R43, that was "Hey there, Good Times" from "I Love My Wife" and was actually somewhat popular with cabaret singers on TV. I even heard Rita Moreno do it on the Tonight show.

[quote]Looks like CBS buried it on a Saturday night hoping no one would ever actually see it.

Nobody did.

It finished dead last in that week's ratings.

I just got that joke. "If I Could Bea With You"

Not surprised by the time slot and low ratings. Bea had low Q ratings because of Maude. Conservatives hated the show and hated the Maude Findlay character. It was on their shitlist after the abortion episode early in the first season.

This was also the reason why Brandon Tartikoff was reluctant to cast Bea in Golden Girls.

Was Tartikoff? I've never heard that story before. I have heard that Bea was reluctant to take the part of Dorothy in TGG because she didn't want to do a variation of Maude and Vivian meets Sueann Nivens and became much more amenable to the idea when she found out that Rue and Betty were switching parts. I always heard that Bea was the last to sign on and don't recall any reluctance on TPTB's part to her casting. Wasn't Elaine Stritch the other option?

It was both R54. Bea didn't want to do it, but Brandon was leery of casting Bea as well. NBC had started its dominance of TV, and Tartikoff was afraid of taking a risk. But Susan was adamant that it had to be Bea, that no one else could play that role. Around this time, Bea accepted the offer. That's when the four came in and auditioned for the network executives, who realized the casting was perfect.

Interestingly, Estelle would go on to have the highest Q ratings out of everyone on TV for the duration of the shows run.

The bango player is a dead ringer for my creepy neighbor who thinks COVID was sent out by a Soviet space ship.

Who's idea was it for Bea to sing "Don't Rain On My Parade"?

I have to laugh at how Beatrice slowly inches over Melba Moore in the opening song.

R53, I was at UCLA when Warren Littlefield came to talk. He extensively talked about Golden Girls, including its genesis, i.e. Selma Diamond at an Awards Show discussing "Miami Nice." He talked about casting and said that no one was ever really considered except Bea and said that Susan Harris was both his and Tartikoff's heroine because they were so in love with her work on Soap. He also said that there were several other actresses that agents offered to the network and would have cost considerably less, but no one wanted anyone but Bea.

Beatrice does Cher before The Golden Girls.

R40 then dueting on "A Good Man is Hard to Find."