DVD Release party

[James"Thunder"Early]

Posted on Fri, Nov. 19, 2004





'The Golden Girls' Reunite for DVD Release

MIKE CIDONI

Associated Press


BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. - Nearly 20 years after they first appeared on television's "The Golden Girls," stars Bea Arthur, Rue McClanahan and Betty White were together again.

They reunited at The Museum of Television & Radio Thursday night to celebrate the DVD release of "The Golden Girls: The Complete First Season."

"We're just like sorority sisters who haven't seen each other since college," bubbled McClanahan. "We just pick right up."

"The Golden Girls," which aired on NBC from 1985-92, followed the misadventures of three middle-aged women and one senior citizen, played by Estelle Getty, living together in suburban Miami.

The DVD release serves up each episode from the 1985-86 season, "When we were all oh, so young and beautiful and fresh," noted McClanahan.

"Well, two out of three ain't bad," joked White, 82.

White said she knew she struck gold the minute she read the show's first script, AP Television News reported.

"Oh, and it was such a thrill," she said. "You do a lot of shows over the years. I've been in the business for 55 years."

Enter McClanahan: "She started out in silent television."

"Yeah, I was a pioneer in silent television," White fired back. "But the fact that, after all these years, you've read a lot of bad scripts, you've done a lot of bad shows. We kind of knew after the first show that, `Whoops! We're onto something.'"

"The Golden Girls" is a programming staple on the Lifetime cable network, where it fills some 30 hours of the weekly schedule. But success isn't limited to the United States.

"We get mail from all over," White explained. "Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Fiji, Finland, I just did a half-hour interview with Finland. And you think, `What do they see in these countries in these four old broads?' But somehow it works."

The DVD celebration included a big-screen showing of the series' pilot episode, as well as a brief question-and-answer session with the stars and some key crew members.

Arthur, White and McClanahan had done some work together in late spring for a Lifetime special "TV's Greatest Sidekicks," airing Nov. 25.

But, Arthur noted, getting together now isn't at all like the old days.

"No," she said, flatly.

After all, Getty, 81, was conspicuously absent. Getty retired in 2000, after announcing she had Parkinson's disease.

Arthur could barely get through a sentence, choking up when talking about how Getty's memory had faded.

And McClanahan detailed her own recent phone conversation with her former co-star.

"I said, `Hey, Estelle, how ya doin'?' And all she said was ... `Yes.'


I uploaded the photos from the party to the gallery.

[adrian@Germany]

thank u so much for the wonderful pictures. I enjoyed them ver much. I would like to see the girls togeher on Larry King Live. That would be a good promotion for the DVD.