Bea Arthur and Angela Lansbury: Just Being Their Best Selves

As depressing and infuriating as it often is around the internet, now and then it manages to redeem itself and bring a big ole smile to your face.

Case in point: A while back, I stumbled on a killer meme of Bea Arthur (may she rest in power) and Angela Lansbury (still rockin' in her '90s), just hanging out at an awards show, being effortlessly amazing together.

"What the ever-loving f--"

"Girllllll..."

While I have no idea what was actually happening when these photos were snapped at the 41st Emmy Awards in 1989—although part of me really hopes Bea's rolling her eyes at that smarmy hunk on the left—I'm happy to report that it's easily one of the coolest thing on the internet. Ever. It captures a wonderful moment between two legends. Note how Bea and Angela look off in the distance in the first shot, almost identical "WTF" expressions on their faces. Then, in the second, glorious shot, they show us youngsters what it really means to throw shade. Epic.

If these moments in time don't make your heart sing, then you probably didn't watch The Golden Girls and Murder, She Wrote with your parents in the 1980s and early 1990s. Or, maybe you're just dead inside.

Of the two shows, The Golden Girls was definitely my favorite, and the one I still enjoy and appreciate even more today. If the internet is any indication, The Golden Girls also meant a great deal to many other people in my generation—of any sex or gender. For years it seems we kept our devotion to this beloved NBC sitcom a secret, mostly during the fragile teen and young adult years (had to maintain our cool cred, of course). But then a funny thing happened: the internet blew up and knocked down the walls of pop culture. Suddenly, it was okay to express our love for any bit of pop culture we truly, unabashedly loved. For many of us, this meant finally raving in public about those lovable Florida retirees, bantering sarcastically out on the lanai—Dorothy, Rose, Blanche, and Sophia. In other words, we could finally have our cheesecake and eat it too.

So the internet sucks much of the time, sure. Sometimes, though, it reminds you of things that mattered to you once, and still resonate with you today. I used to love watching Lansbury solve one murder mystery after another—for a writer, she worked more homicides per year than most police officer in the nation! And when I think of Arthur as Dorothy Zbornak, I'm reminded of the feisty, tell-it-like-is Italian women in my family, and I feel like I'm home again.

I think it's time to break out the cheesecake, don't you?

Comments

Paul SMay 3, 2019 at 7:20 AM
Wonderful. This post mad me smile and that doesn't happen very often nowadays. It might be a cliché, but a picture can say a thousand words. I love the chemistry between Bea and Angela here, as you say, they're effortlessly amazing.
I'm sure I've never seen an episode of Golden Girls, although I was aware of it, who wasn't. Murder She Wrote was a staple of 80's television and still is. It's very rare there's a Sunday it isn't shown on British television, long may that tradition continue.
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