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Bang the Drum, Stanley is the fifth episode of the fourth season of The Golden Girls and the eighty-first episode overall. Directed by Terry Hughes and written by Robert Bruce and Martin Weiss, it premiered on NBC-TV on November 12th, 1988.
Summary[]
Stan, hard-pressed for money, asks Dorothy and Sophia to a baseball game to butter up his ex-wife and get a loan. When Sophia is hit on the head by a fly ball at the game, Stan hatches a scheme to sue the ballpark, while Blanche and Rose prepare to be in a local musical production of Cats.
Plot[]
The episode starts off with Sophia and Dorothy in the living room alone looking at pictures of Dorothy when she was young. Sophia claiming Dorothy was adorable until she was 15. When Rose and Blanche walk in from outside, Dorothy asks how their audition for the musical Cats went and Rose claims that Dorothy should have auditioned as well since everyone else was stinky. Blanche claims Dorothy wouldn’t have got a part and Dorothy claims that’s because Blanche has “given some of her best performances in back allies” which reminds Blanche to give her friend Ed Tyler a call so she goes in her bedroom. Rose also goes in her own bedroom claiming that Blanche is a character and a cheap slut. Dorothy opens the door when the doorbell rings and sees it’s Stan but doesn’t care. Stan invites her to see a baseball game with him. When Stan confuses a memory of going to a Dodgers game with his work friends with a memory of going to a Dodgers game with Dorothy (who reminds him that they never went to a Dodgers game together) she tries to brush him off but Stan continues to convince her by saying she’ll have the time of her life, but Dorothy reminds him that the last time he said that she ended up three months pregnant at her own wedding. Stan then says he has three tickets but doesn’t have many friends. Sophia claims he doesn’t have any friends at all and offers to go with him. Dorothy is still defiant and she says there’s nothing she would want to do less, but when Stan asks to sleep with her she quickly changes her mind and decides to go.
At the game Stanley claims that baseball was meant to be seen from bleachers in a park with real grass and that he hates artificial turf, but Sophia claims it didn’t stop him from wearing it on his head. Dorothy is just glad that she's not sitting next to some fat sweaty guy who takes his shirt off but one comes right after she says that statement and she asks what kept him. When Stanley reveals the real reason that he invited them which is that he is bankrupt and needs money from Dorothy, Dorothy is quick to grab Sophia and tell her that they’re leaving but Sophia has them stay to see at least one man bat. The man bats so hard that the ball gets all the way up to where the three of them are sitting. Stan gets close to catching the ball but it hits Sophia who is sitting right next to him and she gets amnesia. When Dorothy asks if she is okay, she answers thinking she’s talking to her late husband, Salvadore. She quickly passes out after.
Blanche and Rose visit Sophia in her hospital room straight from rehearsal, therefore they are still in costume dressed up as cats. Sophia is being accompanied by Dorothy and Stan. Not long after, Blanche and Rose exit the room to go to the coffee shop to meet some cute doctors. Sophia’s doctor then walks in the room. Blanche tries to flirt with him but when Dorothy tells her that he’s married, she continues on her way. When the doctor wakes Sophia up she asks questions like where she is, who she is, and why she is so wrinkled. The doctor states that she has temporary amnesia which is common. Stan asks her if she remembers him and she does. They know when she uses words to describe him such as his head looks like a monkey’s behind, Stan claims that she’ll definitely be okay. Sophia claims she’s fine and is ready to go home but the doctor tells her that they want her to stay for 48 more hours. Sophia once again claims that she is in tip-top shape but when Blanche and Rose reenter the room she yells medic due to their costumes.
At home, Sophia is being bothered by Rose and Blanche’s cat like behavior. Rose says it’s because their director told them to get in character. Dorothy opens the door when the doorbell rings and it’s Stan who came to check on Sophia. When Dorothy goes into the kitchen to help Blanche and Rose rehearse, Stanley presents to Sophia a way to make money which is to sue the baseball club and the baseball park by pretending that she’s severely injured. When Stan mentions that they could win at least 100 grand, Sophia falls on the ground. When Dorothy, Blanche, and Rose reenter the living room from the kitchen she acts like she’s paralyzed but refuses to go to the hospital. Stan also tries to keep Dorothy from calling the hospital by calling in a doctor friend of his who is also in on his plan to sue the baseball park and club. When Sophia starts to act like she love’s Stan, and Dorothy is suspicious, Sophia tries to fool her into thinking that when she was unconscious she heard God’s voice saying before she can enter Heaven she must fix her problems with her ex son-in-law. When the doctor arrives he takes one look in Sophia’s mouth and claims she’s paralyzed. Now, Dorothy knows he’s a phony and kicks him out. Rose and Blanche both exit saying that they wouldn’t go to bed with him. Sophia is still defiant to go to the hospital, Dorothy thinks that Sophia is trying to tell her that there is nothing wrong with her, but Sophia says that she feels better lying there, when Stan backs her up, Dorothy says it didn’t sound right on their honeymoon and still doesn’t sound right. While Dorothy’s out, Sophia is right in front of the TV watching sports, and when she hears Dorothy coming in, she rushes to her wheelchair and accidentally puts her knee brace on her neck and Dorothy points it out her when she come’s inside the house. When Dorothy walks into the kitchen she tells Blanche and Rose that she knows her mother is lying. Rose says that Dorothy is in denial, but Dorothy is is not in denial, but Rose says Dorothy’s just denying that she’s in denial, but Dorothy says she isn’t denying that she’s in denial which Rose said would mean Dorothy is still in denial.[1]
Tall Tales[]
Tales from the Old South[]
To be added.
Cast[]
Main Cast[]
- Bea Arthur as Dorothy Zbornak
- Rue McClanahan as Blanche Devereaux
- Betty White as Rose Nylund
- Estelle Getty as Sophia Petrillo
Guest Stars[]
- Herb Edelman as Stanley Zbornak
- Ben Rawnsley as Dr. Jerry
- William Denis as Dr. Cauley
- Helen Duffy as Woman in Wheelchair
- Matthew Brooks as Timmy
Notes[]
- Miami did not have a major league baseball team until 1993.
Cultural references[]
- The title is a reference to the 1973 film Bang The Drum Slowly. The film depicts a hotshot pitcher's confident attitude quickly winning over his teammates, only for him to become closer to the team's simpleminded catcher when he discovers the catcher has been hiding a fatal cancer diagnosis.
Goofs[]
- Rose heads to her room which is shown in other episodes as down the hall and to the left. Instead, she heads to her immediate right where we know she is simply backstage
- As Rose and Blanche head out of Sophia's hospital room and the doctor walks in, a boom mic can be seen on top of the right door frame.
[]
References[]
- ↑ The Golden Girls, Season 4, Episode 5, “Bang the Drum, Stanley”. Weiss, Martin and Bruce, Robert (writers) & Hughes, Terry (director) (November 12th, 1988)