Golden Girls Forever

by Jim Colucci

  Overall, the show’s much-esteemed designer explains, “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.” And while for Rose and Sophia’s outfits, she could usually find selections “off-the-rack, with a lot of alterations to make them fit,” Dorothy and Blanche’s more unique looks had to be her own custom creations. Outfitting the four in such separate styles, she remembers, “amounted to a lot of shopping and sewing, because often the ladies could have seven to ten costume changes per show.”

  During the show’s run, Judy received “a tremendous amount of fan mail” from viewers wanting to know where she got Dorothy’s vest or Blanche’s skirt. (And, not wanting to break their hearts with news that the items were not available in stores, she often enclosed a photocopy of her design sketch and a swatch of fabric along with her reply.) Judy was never surprised at the strong viewer response. “There are so many designs from the show that would have helped women in that age group,” she agrees. Because while there may be a lack of fashionable choices even today, in the eighties, off-the-rack “clothes for mature women were pretty sad,” Judy remembers. Particularly for a taller woman like Bea Arthur, “there was nothing really wonderful out there that would fit her.”

  Now, with the era’s couture back in full force, the Girls’ ensembles continue to captivate. Designer Zulema Griffin particularly admires Dorothy’s wardrobe, full of cowl-neck, oversized tops, wide-leg capri bottoms, and slouchy boots, a style that she calls “unique and flattering to tall women.” And although designer John Bartlett derides Dorothy’s style as “beyond freaky,” he does appreciate Blanche’s excellent taste in Florida day wear.

  Betty and Rue in male golfer drag, season 4, “You Gotta Have Hope.”

  Photo courtesy of the ESTATE OF RUE McCLANAHAN, estateofrue.com.

  “The Golden Girls is definitely an eighties show,” Judy admits. “But I think looking back, I get the ‘what were we thinking?’ feeling less than I would on other shows. I think a lot of those clothes you could probably get away with today.

  “Yes, I definitely took chances, and remember: Bob Mackie could do the most stupendous design, and half the people will love it, half will hate it. I don’t think you can get everybody to agree,” Judy adds. “As a costume designer, you have a very short time to put these things together, and if you go out on a limb, you either make a wonderful statement or you end up doing something you wouldn’t do again.”

  Fashion photos by JEFF BLANCHARD.

  SEASON 4, “VALENTINE’S DAY”: The ladies had figures, so I couldn’t always do a fitted waistline. Diagonal looks like on this blue linen tunic top are slimming. And rather than a tighter turtleneck, I like the white cowl-neck underneath because it’s softer, feminine, and more flowing. Bea and Dorothy were both long skirt people, and the taupe suede boots complete the look of the skirt without looking choppy. I don’t think a sandal or a flat would have worked—and Bea, who hated wearing shoes in general, would never wear heels.

  SEASON 2, “ISN’T IT ROMANTIC?” Even at night, we wanted the women looking good, not matronly. This nightgown of Blanche’s is made up of several layers of peach silk chiffon, edged in white lace trim and cut to different sleeve lengths to create the layered effect. It was very Rue.

  SEASON 2, “DIAMOND IN THE ROUGH”: I sketched this formal gown for Dorothy in magenta, but made it in navy blue. I originally envisioned it as a simple column dress in jersey fabric with a drape of sequins attached at the shoulder and then crossing down below. But when working with the fabric, the sequins wouldn’t drape the way I wanted, so I reversed the design. This was very simple, and very Bea—very much something she’d wear in her own life, and she did borrow this.

  SEASON 6, “THERE GOES THE BRIDE” For this night-time ensemble for Blanche, I overlaid a white embroidered material over the bodice of a white nightgown, and then used the same embroidery as trim for her blue, green, and cream-print robe.

  SEASON 2, “EMPTY NESTS” This lounging outfit is one of my favorite designs for the show, and we must have repeated Blanche wearing it umpteen times. I loved this “paw-print” fabric the moment I saw that it came in four tones—blue, beige, pink, and peach—that went so well together. It’s made in many layers, a pink top with sleeves, a blue tank, and a robe in beige with blue sleeves.

  SEASON 4, “YOU GOTTA HAVE HOPE” I drew this Dorothy design in red, but I found a great gold-yellow knit fabric instead. The top is on the theme of a dressed-up sweatshirt, with a white shawl collar and slimming diagonal lines. Underneath is a separate long-sleeved white shirt, over matching culottes. Separates were great because we could mix and match them again later.

  SEASON 1, “NICE AND EASY” Lingerie was something we would reuse often, so this Blanche ensemble would pop up again and again. It’s in two pieces: a robe over a nightgown, both in blue silk with small white polka dots. The robe is cut on the bias with a scalloped collar to make it fall a certain way. The matching trim on both pieces looks like lace, but it’s a printed white silk as well. Blues and greens were great colors for the show, because they looked great against all the warm tones on the set.

  SEASON 6, “HENNY PENNY—STRAIGHT, NO CHASER” Not only did these costumes have to look like the animals in the play, but they also had to show Rose, Blanche, and Dorothy’s personalities at the same time. I had worked on commercials for Toys “R” Us, with their giraffe mascots, so I had experience in working with foam costumes. I sketched the Henny Penny costumes with rounded bellies almost like a pregnant woman’s, and big rear ends. These were complicated to build, with foam pieces sewn into bodysuits, and then covered with glued-on feathers. Blanche wore pearls to look sexy and feminine, but Rose and Dorothy’s costumes then had an additional layer, with little fabric vests fitted on top.

  Photo courtesy of the ESTATE OF RUE MCCLANAHAN, estateofrue.com.

  SEASON 4, “BANG THE DRUM, STANLEY” Betty and Rue both had great legs, so these Cats costumes were a great way to show them off. The arms were tight, up to a burst of fluff at the cuff, and the wide feather-trimmed shoulders helped to narrow the waist. I sketched this costume for Blanche in tiger stripe, but I ended up finding a great, stretchy leopard-print fabric. The hairdressing department pinned little matching ears into their hair, and the two actresses had so much fun with the end result.

  The label for Rue McClanahan’s late ‘80s clothing line, “A Touch of Rue.”

  Photo courtesy of the Estate of RUE MCCLANAHAN, estateofrue.com.

  A Touch of Rue

  AS THE GOLDEN Girls went off the air, Judy recalls, Betty White, Bea Arthur, and Estelle Getty were each permitted to select a small number of items from their characters’ collection to keep. But not Rue McClanahan—she took them all.

  “Rue used to have it built into her contracts that she got to keep all wardrobe,” reveals her friend Michael J. LaRue. As evidenced by photos of the actress in her day-to-day life afterward, he adds, “She’d wear the pieces, too.

  “A true clotheshorse,” Michael says, Rue filled thirteen closets and several backyard storage units behind her Manhattan apartment with a lifetime worth of fashion, including her teal prom dress from 1949. A personal shopper continually supplemented the wardrobe with expensive items from Madison Avenue boutiques.

  In the late 1980s, during a Golden Girls summer hiatus, Rue capitalized on her fashionable reputation by launching her own clothing line, Very Rue (changed to A Touch of Rue when it debuted on QVC). As she wrote in her 2007 memoir, My First Five Husbands . . . And the Ones Who Got Away, “I selected fabrics I loved, and designed Blanche-inspired garments with my own practical spin, making the exquisite Blanche creations wearable in real life and available at affordable prices.”

  With its label cheekily warning, “We bear no responsibility for remarkable results,” A Touch of Rue was a hit. As Michael notes, “Rue knew what women wanted, and the pieces she personally designed would always sell out.” />
  THEME SONG

  Singer Cindy Fee, circa 1985.

  ONE OF FANS’ favorite parts of watching The Golden Girls is singing along to the show’s now-famous theme song. But the historic pairing of The Golden Girls and Andrew Gold almost didn’t happen.

  As late as May 1985, the new show’s producers were still pursuing use of “(You Got to Have) Friends” to play over the stock images they selected for the opening credits, such as a plane crossing the golden Miami sun. But when licensing of a one-minute snippet of Bette Midler’s 1973 hit, written by Buzzy Linhart and Mark “Moogy” Klingman, proved too expensive, the producers began to brainstorm a list of other songs touching on the theme of friendship.

  As the show’s music coordinator, Scott Gale, remembers, “Someone in the room—it may have been Paul Witt—remembered ‘Thank You for Being a Friend,’ and we all agreed it just seemed to fit perfectly.” Singer/songwriter Gold’s recording had been a modest hit in 1978, reaching number twenty-five on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. But now, producers opted to create their own rendition of Gold’s opening verse and chorus, with a female lead vocal to match the spirit of the Girls.

  By 1985, twenty-three-year-old Cindy Fee was already one of Los Angeles’s most in-demand session singers, known for performing jingles for such advertisers as Avon and Wheaties. As Scott recalls, Cindy came into a rented sound studio one summer day in 1985, improvised some tuneful lyrical “licks” over the instrumental track, and finished the entire recording session in well under an hour. “I’ll never forget. She said, ‘I’m really busy, so I’ll do this in one take.’ And she literally did. This was just one in a long list of sessions for her, and no one knew this show was going to be a big deal. So she nailed it, and was out of there. It was perfect.”

  Cindy, too, remembers her performance of “Thank You for Being a Friend” being, at the time, just part of a day’s work. “At the time, commercial jingles were in their heyday, so I was doing about four sessions a day,” she explains. “I just remember going in and thinking, ‘This is cool. I like this song.’ But I didn’t even know what the show was about, which is often the way it works as a singer.” Cindy notes that she recorded three other theme songs that same year, for pilots that never proceeded to series. “The first inkling I got that The Golden Girls would end up being special was when, right after the show got picked up, the producers made cast T-shirts and sent me one. That was when I realized: ‘This is going to be something interesting.’”

  Proposed shot list for the Golden Girls opening credits, 1985.

  Photo courtesy of CIND Y FEE, From the collection of LEXPASSARIS.

  Eventually, Cindy now marvels, the quickie gig she had performed so nonchalantly in her youth would prove lucrative enough to put her two sons through college. “It never stops playing. And so even if I did nothing else, I make a pretty good living just from The Golden Girls alone every year.” Today, the Michigan-based singer continues to record and sell albums on iTunes, and to perform live concerts. She continues to receive Golden Girls fan mail, and finds that “when I book a show, and do an interview with the local newspaper, a lot of people will show up because of The Golden Girls.”

  Cindy doesn’t perform “Thank You for Being a Friend” at her shows—but nonetheless finds herself sometimes getting requests for it in the strangest places. On one recent summer day, she recalls, a particularly persistent fan disrupted the Zen of picking blueberries at her friend’s Michigan farm. “I didn’t know this girl, but she kept coming up to me and saying, ‘Sing it for me!’” Cindy remembers with a laugh. “And I had to say, ‘Well, I’m kind of busy right now.’”

  WHICH

  GOLDEN GIRL

  ARE YOU, & WHY?

  SOPHIA.

  I have a very sharp tongue sometimes, just like Sophia with her one-liners. Estelle Getty had a gift that she could deliver a stinging one liner, but it would always be from a place of love. My family knows all about my own tendency toward zingers, and my teammates, too. I’ll let my teammates tell those stories later.

  –JASON COLLINS, CENTER, BROOKLYN NETS

  DOROTHY.

  I love a withering stare. And like her, I’m analytical, self-assured, and opinionated.

  –ZACHARY QUINTO, ACTOR

  ROSE.

  She’s seemingly naïve, but with a little twinkle in her eye.

  –JONATHAN GROFF, ACTOR

  I’M A BLANCHE.

  As thousands of men will confirm.

  – PETER PAIGE, ACTOR/WRITER/PRODUCER

  BLANCHE.

  I don’t think I am anymore, but I was slutty. And like Blanche, I used to be kind of delusional about how fabulous I am, and I would tell tall tales about my sex life. But really, the most brilliant thing about Blanche and the way that Rue McClanahan played her is that she seemed slutty, but she really just wanted to be loved, and appreciated and accepted. And that’s really what I’ve always wanted, too.

  –LAVERNE COX, ACTOR

  ROSE.

  even though people think she’s a dummy. She’s open minded, creative, and seems lighthearted on the surface but has an inner depth. She’s a many-layered onion.

  – JONATHAN ADLER, DESIGNER

  SOPHIA.

  Sophia, because I am a sarcastic wise ass.

  – LANCE BASS, SINGER/ACTOR/TALK SHOW HOST, SIRIUS XM OUT Q RADIO

  SOPHIA.

  I’m the Sophia in my group of friends. Because I’m always giving people advice, whether they want it or not.

  – CHRIS COLFER, ACTOR

  ROSE.

  Although for a brief moment in high school, I had a perm on my bangs, and my friends told me I looked like Rue McClanahan. So I’m a little bit Blanche, too. I think it’s a good mix. I’m kind of dumb and slutty.

  –JAKE SHEARS, LEAD MALE SINGER OF SCISSOR SISTERS AND INTERNATIONAL DJ

  DOROTHY.

  Particularly as I get older, it becomes clearer. There is something about her practicality and cynicism that I really relate to. She also has this protective side and a great capacity to love that I would like to think that I share. But if you are acting like a jackass, no matter how much she loves you, Dorothy will put you in your place. I respect that.

  – ANDREW RANNELLS, ACTOR

  ROSE.

  A little naive and constantly saying outrageous things rather inadvertently.

  – REX LEE, ACTOR

  BLANCHE, DUH.

  She taps right into my inner Southern Slut. Every gay New York Jew has got one.

  – DAN BUCATINSKY, ACTOR/WRITER/PRODUCER

  ROSE.

  While it’s a trait I have that has improved (and by that I mean “faded away”) the longer I live, I have always been more gullible than most and, still to this day, I tend to misunderstand the point of certain conversations happening right in front of my face. I think I also identify with her optimistic view of life.

  – JIM PARSONS, ACTOR

  DEFINITELY DOROTHY.

  I have a certain affinity with her. Bea and Dorothy were both forces of nature, and I identify with that. Dorothy was the one who was too smart for her own sake, and deserved better than the lousy husband she ended up with. She was a faithful friend, but not a silly person. And nothing makes me laugh harder than seeing a scene where Dorothy is trying to be feminine, or watching her try to flirt. It’s like watching an elephant trying to sit delicately down on a flower.

  – HARVEY FIERSTEIN, ACTOR/PLAYWRIGHT

  DOROTHY.

  I’m usually the sane one in my group of friends -- the voice of reason. I roll my eyes a lot at the antics of my friends.

  – KEVIN CHAMBERLIN, ACTOR

  SOPHIA.

  I’m petite, cranky, and I tend to say what’s on my mind. Everyone wants to be as withering as Dorothy, as attractive as Blanche and as sweet as Rose. But I’m thinking of carrying a handbag at all times, so I’m definitely Sophia.

  – ALEC MAPA, ACTOR

  ROSE.

  I guess my parents were pretty
successful in sheltering me growing up, because there’s still so much about sex and drugs and other grown-up stuff that comes as a shock to me. (What’s going on there? People actually do that?!) I’m not saying I’m all that innocent, just clueless.

  – MO ROCCA, JOURNALIST/AUTHOR/ACTOR

  I’M A HYBRID OF 60% ROSE

  (sweet, kind and slightly dumb) and 40% Dorothy (a natural leader who can cut a bitch when pushed).

  – ROSS MATHEWS, TALK SHOW HOST

  SOPHIA.

  I’ve got a snarky retort for most situations, and I keep my purse on my lap at all times.

  – WENDI McLENDON COVEY, ACTOR

  DOROTHY.

  I’m intuitive in figuring out people’s motives and subtext. I don’t miss anything that isn’t being said in a room full of people. And I have a killer double/triple take.

  – CHEYENNE JACKSON, ACTOR

  I’M BLANCHE.

  After one cocktail, I’m Blanche. Isn’t everyone?

  – BRUCE VILANCH, WRITER/PERFORMER

  WHEN & WITH WHOM DID YOU

  FIRST WATCH

  THE GOLDEN GIRLS?

  . . . RIGHT FROM THE START.

  It feels like I’ve always watched The Golden Girls. As to with whom, spouse, family, friends, road crew, you name it!