Asleep on a Sunbeam
By Monica Ayres, Arts & Entertainment Editor

Betty White Out

Rose Nylund and Sophia Petrillo are tied for my favorite Golden Girls. Unfortunately, the series that was a retirement-home version of “Now and Then” (with Blanche as Teeny and Dorothy as the semi-masculine Roberta) had to come to an end. Contrary to popular belief, Estelle Getty, who played Sophia, did not die, but Betty White’s career did.

For seven seasons, Rose Nylund brought us such memorable quotes as, “I never had PMS but I had a BMW once” and “Blanche, I don’t think you realize how powerful sex is. Once, Charlie and I did it till the cows came home! Of course, I was wearing a bell.”

Chock-full of stories from St. Olaf, White created one of the most easily lovable golden girls. This, combined with her previous experience on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” and “Mama’s Family,” should surely set her up for other great roles, right? Wrong!

Since the GGs, Betty White hasn’t done too much to remember. Sure, she’s been on “Boston Legal” and “The Bold and the Beautiful,” but none of these can even hold a candle to her many years as Rose.

An avid “Golden Girls” re-run watcher, I was incredibly disappointed when I realized the latest role good ole Betty has to add to her resume is “Pet Meds Commercial.”

Betty White’s only role that even remotely stands for animal rights is in “Lake Placid” where she was the crazy old lady that fed the alligators. On “Golden Girls” she occasionally questioned why people have to kill minks or begged to keep a pet pig, but as Rose Nylund, she didn’t have much to do with animals. So how did she make the transition from Golden Girl to Pet Meds spokeswoman?

Well, ladies and gents, there is no easy answer. As Rose Nylund would say, “The older you get, the better you get, unless you’re a banana.” This apparently holds true for Betty White, too.

E-mail Monica at
ayres91@newpaltz.edu