Every family has a "Maude" somewhere. Only CBS has her once a week. The "Maude" of my acquaintance is limited to two telephone calls to my wife and one dinner a year. Any more than that and I would probably be a prime candidate for a Murder One rap.

However, you can get a vicarious thrill with your feet propped up on a hassock watching Beatrice Arthur order those about her around with impunity and enjoy -- because she isn't in your life except for that 30-minute period each week.

If there is any danger in Maude, it is that she may become a basic training ground for all the latent Maudes in our society: Let's face it, they have their place, but I wouldn't want one to marry my brother.

If anyone could have brought the larger-than-life character of Maude to vivid reality, it is Beatrice Arthur. And much has been written regarding the characterization of Maude as the alter-ego of that other CBS blockbuster, "All in the Family," and its star, Carroll (Archie Bunker) O'Connor.

The depth of these two roles is underscored by the fact that both Miss Arthur and O'Connor are well-trained professionals, having mastered their craft in both serious and comedic roles before ever heading up a TV comedy series.

A lesson may be learned from this by those whose job it has become to cast leads in television series.

Miss Arthur was born in New York and graduated from Cambridge (Md.) High School. She holds a degree from the Franklin Institute of Sciences and Art in Boston. After studying for several years wuth Erwin Piscator at the Dramatic Workshop of the New School for Social Research in New York, Miss Arthur made her professional debut in 1947. (And God is going to punish me for publishing the year -- right Maudie?)

Through the years, Miss Arthur kept busy either in New York or working summer stock while polishing her talents. When not on the boards, as they say in the acting business, she worked her own nightclub act and was a headliner in spots such as The Blue Angel, Reuben Bleu and Number One Fifth Avenue.

Miss Arthur's television appearances range from spots with George Gobel, Sid Caesar and Jack Paar to continuing roles in the madcap antics of Wayne and Shuster when Ed Sullivan thought they were the funniest men alive.

Although the characterization of Maude as interpreted by Miss Arthur is the main cog of the successful show, no piece on its rise should be written without mentioning the tremendous role played by Bill Macy.

In the series he plays Walter, Maude's fourth husband, and for many viewers -- myself included -- he makes the show go.

The Maude in my family, incidentally, is a widow.

 

*from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer TV Prevues, December 10, 1972