When
I was asked to do the now infamous Sex and the City spoof
for the TV Land Awards, I had never seen the show. I don’t watch
that much television, except for Curb Your Enthusiasm, The Daily
Show..and I’m a sucker for Judge Judy. They had
to show me a tape of Sex and the City and I thought it was
wonderful. I don’t even remember the particular episode I saw,
but everybody told me how good the spoof was. I really couldn’t
be the judge of that, yet everyone said, “No, no, you really
captured the essence of Carrie and the show.”
But
I do notice the effects of The Golden Girls on shows like
Sex and the City, Designing Women, and more recently,
Desperate Housewives. I’m not familiar with those shows,
but from what I hear and see, how could you say they were not helped
along by the paths paved by Dorothy, Blanche, Sophia and Rose? We
were outrageous. We were anti-establishment. We tackled a lot of issues
that hadn’t been tackled. There was an honesty in the show.
It was so funny, yet so adult.
Funny
thing: My agent told me I was on the show before I even knew it existed.
When I finally got the script, it said: “Dorothy, a Beatrice
Arthur type.” So they wanted me. I’m down-to-earth, I
hate bullshit. I’m the great bubble-pricker. And as far as Golden
Girls was concerned, I was the only sane character on
the show. If I hadn’t been there, who knows what would have
happened?
The
most shocking thing was that The Golden Girls showed older
women who were well-groomed and had active sex lives. I can see the
bond that gay men have with that show. Like the episode where Blanche’s
brother comes out. And the episode I loved where Dorothy had a brother
who wore women’s clothes. Remember, he died, and in the casket
he was wearing a teddy? People hadn’t seen that on primetime
TV before. That episode, it had to do with our love for him no matter
what people thought his “problem” was.
And
it’s not just Golden Girls. I recently did my one-woman
show in Provincetown—oh my god, it was like I was visiting royalty.
Truly, truly, I’ve never felt so loved and wanted and needed
in my life. The audience’s laughter and cheers added about 20
minutes to the evening. But I’m a little older than you think,
because I also played the title character in Maude in the
1970s, where a lot of the verboten subjects were touched upon. I think
that’s where the gay following started.
I
can’t really understand exactly what the show means to each
individual gay guy, but so many very unhappy young people found solace
in the show, maybe because everybody wanted their mothers and grandmothers
to be as “cool” as us.
Not
long ago, I flew to Amsterdam where I was matron of honor at the wedding
of my show’s stage manager and his fella of six years. That
was something quite beautiful. Plus, our stage manager is to nibble
on, he’s so delicious. The ceremony was held in the Rembrandt
House, where Rembrandt lived and worked. It was amazing that both
sets of parents were there to celebrate it. I was so glad I was able
to be a part of that. And also to be a part of The Golden Girls,
Maude and so many gay men’s lives.
I’ve
always been against injustice, whether it’s to animals or people.
I came from a very small town in Maryland, and there was a gay guy
there, and I think they institutionalized him. This was many years
ago, but there is still so much intolerance. We need to change that.
