The Golden Girls Episode: Old Friends

"The Golden Girls" was a comedy series set in Miami, Florida (it wasn't filmed in Miami) and originally telecast on NBC from 1985 through 1992. The basic gist of the show is that four women, 3 widowed and 1 divorced, share a house together and develop such a strong family-like friendship, they deal with and overcome their differing personality conflicts, as they support each other in life's challenges, including that of aging.  

This episode first aired in September 1987. Sadly the story became a reality several years later for Estelle Getty, who suffered from a type of dementia. 

Cast for this episode:

Sophia ............................................ Estelle Getty
Rose Nylund .................................. Betty White
Dorothy Zbornak ........................... Bea Arthur
Blanche Devereaux ....................... Rue McClanahan
Alvin Newcastle ............................ Joe Seneca
Sandra ........................................... Janet MacLachlan
Daisy ............................................. Jenny Lewis

Daisy is a neighborhood girl and a member of a girls' group called the "Sunshine Cadets." She helps Blanche organize a donation Blanche and the others are making for a charity rummage sale. For her help, Blanche gives Daisy a teddy bear, not realizing it has been dear to Rose for decades and that it was not meant to be part of the donated things. When Rose comes home, she can't find the teddy bear, which she named "Fernando," and she gets upset.

In the meantime, Sophia goes to the boardwalk at the beach. She and an older man, named Alvin Newcastle, begin talking, and within a short time, they become friends, complete with the hassles and one liners tossed each other's way. The two seniors begin to meet up regularly at the same bench on the boardwalk, where they talk, joke and watch the people wade along to see if they can tell which ones just peed in the ocean. But one day the two are talking and Alvin seems to become a bit disoriented and he cries on Sophia's shoulder. Both seem happy to have found each other and they enjoy their times together at the boardwalk.

At home, after days of looking for Fernando, Rose is still upset and Blanche tells Dorothy that she mistakenly gave the teddy bear to Daisy, who is using the stuffed animal to try to extract a bicycle from her. When Daisy comes to the house, she uses a water pistol filled with red ink pointed at Fernando to threaten Blanche and Dorothy to get her a bicycle. Rose comes in and now becomes aware of what has been happening, prompting Daisy to leave to think over her strategy.

Back at the boardwalk, Alvin shows up one day terribly angry and confused. He and Sophia quarrel and Alvin walks off. Later Sophia tells the others at home what happened.

At the house, Daisy comes back to tell the girls she now no longer wants a bicycle in exchange for Fernando, she wants CASH! When Blanche says she'll get her purse, Rose won't allow it and says she'll just have to accept the loss of Fernando. Now Daisy will get nothing for her nastiness, as Rose grabs the teddy and shoves Daisy out the door; problem solved.

The next day at the boardwalk Alvin shows up, but he doesn't remember his argument with Sophia from the day before. Sophia holds onto Alvin's hand as they sit looking out at the ocean. Dorothy, concerned about her mother after Sophia's argument with Alvin, follows Sophia to that part of the boardwalk. She meets Alvin's daughter there and Dorothy learns that Alvin is seriously ill. Later at home, Dorothy goes to Sophia's room to talk with her about Alvin, and in a sad scene, Sophia tells her daughter, "Maybe I don't want to hear what you have to say. Maybe I don't want to know anything." Dorothy tells her mother that Alvin has Alzheimer's Disease and that his daughter will be sending him to New York for treatment soon. Sophia says, "You know Dorothy, people think if you reach my age you should be grateful just to be alive. Well, that's not how it works. You need a reason to get up in the morning and sometimes even after you find one, life can turn right around and spit in your face."

At some undefined point, Sophia is seen sitting alone on the boardwalk. Dorothy goes to her and tells her Alvin is not going to come back. Sophia had been making a scarf for Alvin and she has finished it. Dorothy suggests her mother take the scarf to Alvin when they visit New York, but Sophia says she'd rather mail it, "that way I'll always picture him right here on the boardwalk."

One of life's nasty turns has put distance between friends.

Did I mention that Alvin was black?

Photo is of the 2005 Buena Vista Home Entertainment Season 3 DVD set

WORD HISTORY:
Heir/Heredity-These words go back to Indo European "ghe-ro," which had the notion, "to leave behind, to abandon, to go about." (Heir) The Indo European form gave Latin "heres," meaning "heir/heiress" ("one who by birthright or by designation can inherit the property of another"), which passed into Latin-based Old French as "oir/eir," which was "eir/heir" in the French of the Normans in England. English borrowed the word circa 1300 as "eir/heir." (Heredity) Latin "heres" produced "hereditas," meaning, "state of being an heir, inheritance." This passed to Old French as "eredite," and and later became "heredité," and English borrowed the word in about the mid 1500s. The more extended meaning of "biological characteristics passed through generations" seems to have been popularized in the mid 1800s through  the writings of Charles Darwin, Herbert Spencer, et al.