Bea Arthur’s presence and sonorous voice were mainstays and formidable parts of America’s funny ladies, feminist movement and the senior lifestyle landscape. She was a champion of animal rights and the care of LGBT youth. She was a mother, best friend and gracious co-worker to those in her inner circle. She was an icon for the gay community and a fashion figure for tall women of character. Whom among us did she not affect in a positive way?

Everyone loved Bea because she loved everyone back – well, maybe not everyone as a few of the wonderful stories shared that day might attest. But certainly she was a character among characters with a deep and generous heart.

I knew the event would be one not to miss because of the extraordinary group of people that came to speak, sing and laugh in their sharing and celebration of Bea. This was truly a remarkable collection of American treasures, and time being what it is, I suspect we will not have an opportunity to gather this late generation as such ever again.

There to speak, sing and wax hilarious were:
Angela Lansbury (actress in the role Auntie Mame from the 1966 musical Mame opposite Bea’s Vera Charles), Adrienne Barbeau (actress in the role of Carol Traynor from “Maude”), Zoe Caldwell (actress, friend and neighbor to Bea), Billy Goldenberg (composer and accompanist to Bea), Sheldon Harnick (lyricist Fiddler on the Roof), Charlie Hauck (producer “Maude”), Norman Lear (Developer and Producer of “All in the Family” and “Maude”), Clinton Leupp (aka Miss Coco Peru, friend to Bea), Rue McClanahan (actress in the role of Blanche Devereaux from “The Golden Girls”), John McDaniel (Bandleader for the “Rosie O’Donnell Show”), Rosie O’Donnell, Anne Meara, Jerry Stiller, Chita Rivera, Daryl Roth, Billy Stritch, and Bea’s family, sister Kay Gray and sons Matt and Daniel Saks.

After the memorial was the proverbial ‘after party’ at Chez Josephine’s on 42nd Street. It was my pleasure to get to meet and chat with Zoe Caldwell, Angela Lansbury and Norman Lear (briefly), but mostly I enjoyed chatting with Bea’s daughter-in-law and her sons Daniel and Matt.

While I did not know Bea, like most of us, I grew up knowing Maude and later Dorothy. I knew that deep chesty voice. I knew she was a model of a woman who could lead, challenge the status quo and speak a thousand words with one silent deadly look.

As a girl I remember getting stuck in snow storm with my family returning from a camping trip in Colorado. We managed to make it safely to a motel where we stayed the night. With my brothers in the other bed, I considered myself lucky to be wedged between my parents in one of the two full-sized beds under an orange and green polyester bed spread. With the faint smell of old cigarettes in the air, I fell asleep with “Maude” on the television.

Maude made us laugh. But more than that, she was a reminder to people like my mother and me that the lives of women could make a difference. I knew Bea Arthur was someone to contend with even at age 7 in 1977 and there in that cheap motel safely tucked between my parents and with Maude on the tv, I knew I had arrived. I too could one day be a strong woman capable of addressing the injustices of the world.

While during research for a production of “The Three Penny Opera” in graduate school in 1996 at the University of North Carolina, I came upon a vinyl recording of the 1954-1961 off-Broadway cast of “Three Penny”. There I heard for the first time, the voice of famed Brechtian Lotte Lenya. And then there was this other voice. I knew that voice. Maude? I checked the album cover and was delighted to confirm that yes, that was Beatrice Arthur. Very young, but the voice was undeniably and uniquely hers. This was a voice I could never forget, but the sound of it meant considerably more to me than the role for which it spoke. Bea Arthur brought character to every character she ever played and that was what made her dear to the generations that knew her.

Like many film and television actors and actresses of her generation, Bea started in the theatre and eventually returned to it. But when she did so, she did so with purpose. Her one woman show, “Just Between Friends” was not only a gran dame return to the stage, but a practical means whereby Bea was able to service the financial needs of the various causes on the behalf of which she so strongly advocated.

One of these is the Ali Forney Center, the nation’s largest organization serving homeless Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender youth. Bea not only raised considerable amounts of money for this organization to serve these young people via her show, she also remembered them generously in her passing. The Ali Forney Center is preparing now to purchase a residential home that will be called The Bea Arthur Residence for LGBT Homeless Youth. To learn more about this organization or contribute to their mission, please visit: The Ali Forney Center

While I am aware that there is some controversy surrounding the trend now to invite the public to memorial services for recently passed stars, (see The New York Times) and further know that Bea did not wish for there to be such an event, I feel it was extremely important to both her personal and professional relations as well as to the fans who filled the theatre to have had the opportunity to come together in remembrance of this incredible life. Her professional presence spanned seven decades. Her performances and characters touched the lives of millions of people. I was honored to share in the celebration and grief that come with addressing the passing of a great person. It was a special experience to me.

And for the generations of women whose struggles and issues were taken up by the characters she played, I take my bra off to Bea Arthur.

There was considerable media coverage on this event, if you would like to read more here are a couple of links to follow: The New York Post and Playbill.com

This evening marks my official launching of my new and improved website. I’ve been on a soft launch for awhile, but now things are all up-to-date and ready for the world. If you are reading this, you may very well be one of the people who has received a recent up-date email. If so, please let me know if you encounter any snafus or have any thoughts about the site. I would really appreciate your feedback.

For those of you that might be interested, I recently managed a personal home move – number eight in my 11 years in New York. This one is significant in that it is my first solo venture. I’m still happily in Harlem and only four doors down from ME, so it’s not as dramatic as it might sound. It is a sweet studio and I’ve been enjoying settling in over the past couple of weeks. A small housewarming party this afternoon confirmed that I am sharing the building with some other artistic souls – musicians downstairs and a writer next door. Just my style.

September finds me having just completed an application for a residency at MacDowell for 2010. Keep fingers crossed. I have some acting activities on the horizon and teaching resumes next week. An edit of material shot in Alaska has my attention these days. I also am looking forward to another wine country trip in a couple of weeks. (It is becoming a thing.)

Sarah E Shively

IMDB has given CONTEMPLATING EMILY a page. Next step, we need to give them all the data. But cool, right?

I’m teaching this month intensely between Columbia University and Hunter College. My advanced students at CU are reading “The Tempest“. It is always a pleasure for me to dive into a Shakespearean play, and this one I haven’t worked on in years. At Hunter I have a group of French mechanical engineering students doing an intensive. They are so, French. Let’s hear it for the French. Anyone want to weigh in on the Sarkozy Burqa ban?

Open Sesame Productions, Inc. had a bit-o-work this past week. Marilys managed it all in beautiful Marilys fashion.

On the writing front, there has been a burst of journal writing on my part – too personal to discuss here, but the pen is moving. Hopefully I can get it to move into story mode soon.

New headshots are sitting on my desk awaiting a mass mailing that might just have to wait a couple of weeks yet given my teaching demands.

I’m swimming – a lot these days – actually in a pool. I think of Michael Phelps and pretend I am he. (Then, I think of Michael Jackson and feel a little bad.)

I have been in Harlem for the deaths of James Brown and Michael Jackson as well as the election of Barak Obama. People in Harlem know how to celebrate the ones they love. It is a beautiful thing.

Many, many thanks to Marilys, Karl and Ashleigh for redesigning and programming my new website. It’s a go ahead. Launching in process.

Better and Best, Sarah