It happened four years after the start of The Golden Girls, which explains why they looked friendly during interviews during the first three years and why they didn't sit next to each other after that. Bea was a very very insecure woman. Here's an interesting little interview with a man who saw what happened that day.

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And true to form, Betty had the class to keep that abuse from Bea to herself, and not blab about it in either of her books, or in interviews. I admire Bea Arthur's acting ability. But I'll never feel warmly about her as a person. :rolleyes:

Maybe Bea felt that Betty was taunting her for messing up her lines.

If you know that someone is sensitive about their work and their image, and they are having a tough time getting something right, it's not exactly good form to mock them in front of the studio audience. It doesn't help anything.

Betty got a laugh at Bea's expense. At this point Betty would know Bea well enough to know that Bea would not appreciate that comment.

Bea over reacted. No one probably ever did that to her before. Betty meant well and went for a laugh. No big deal. Betty never had a mean bone in her body. Both were very experienced with TV and audiences.
I love both but most bloopers are good chances to laugh and lighten the mood.

I agree that Bea overreacted. She has a right to her feelings but there was no need to yell at Betty the way she apparently did.

But I do not think Betty "meant well." She went for a laugh at the expense of someone she knew was overly sensitive. Betty always seemed sharp and witty, confident, at ease, charming. She had to know there was a possibility that Bea would react the way she did. They were co-workers who knew each other.

Maybe the only good thing that came out of it was Bea drawing a line about how she expected to be treated/respected and Betty respected that line and never crossed it again.

I would love to know the episode and the line she had trouble with

That's sad. This reminds me so much of how I would do my own thing at The Price Is Right with the audience out in line when I was a CBS Page in 2007 during Bob Barker's final season and my ex best friend (who has done many shady things out in LA and is still there working in the biz) told me "That's my audience. Don't take that away from me." Years later, when he started getting one liners, he called me when I felt destroyed at what that place had done to me as I was used out there by so many and he was accepted and given more work for being shady and brown nosing and told me "That was Bob's audience, not ours. You ruined your own reputation by doing your thing with the audience, nobody would have hired you, you were a joke." It was as if what he did was perfect (and he did a lot of shady things with that audience which I never did)... Such a hypocrite. Bea was just like that to Betty where my ex friend was like that to me. Betty was just interacting with the audience and Bea felt Betty was ganging up on her or taking the spotlight or something. The girls were all there together, representing the show. Nobody should have been jealous or whatever. This is something I don't like about Hollywood. I wish those who act that way are stopped. But that will never happen. Hollywood likes that sort of BS.

Sounds to me like Bea Arthur was a nasty, miserable, and hateful woman who really didn't like anybody.

Ed.