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Betty White as Rose Nylund
"It's like we say in St. Olaf, Christmas without fruitcake is like St. Sigmund's Day without the headless boy."

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Beauty and the Beast is the third episode of the seventh season of The Golden Girls and the one-hundred and fifty-seventh episode overall. Directed by Lex Passaris and written by Mitchell Hurwitz, it premiered on NBC-TV on October 5th, 1991.

Summary[]

Blanche signs her granddaughter Melissa up for the Little Miss Miami Pageant, but she becomes so focused on winning that it makes Melissa miserable. With Sophia reliant on a wheelchair, Dorothy hires a nurse to take care of her. Not only does the nurse's bossiness anger Rose and Blanche, but when she and Sophia bond, it makes Dorothy jealous.

Plot[]

With Sophia dealing with two sprained ankles, Dorothy decides to hire a nurse to take care of her since she will be busy with an Education Conference. Blanche is worried that she doesn’t know how to entertain her visiting granddaughter Melissa whom she eventually decides to enter in a beauty pageant, even though Rose and Dorothy think it's a bad idea. The nurse that Dorothy hired used to work at Shady Pines, a retirement home that Sophia once lived in. Reluctant at first, Sophia agrees to let Nurse DeFarge stay. To the other girls surprise, Sophia and the Nurse get along almost too well, to the point where they are becoming an annoyance around the house. Dorothy attempts to fire the Nurse but Sophia claims she’s the only one that can take care of her. The nurse says she will leave once Sophia is able to walk again but the girls don’t know that Sophia plans on milking out the injury for a while. Meanwhile, Melissa is not happy with the pageant, and gets stage fright after Blanche pushes her on to the stage. Sophia gets caught walking and the Nurse leaves.[1]

Tall Tales[]

Clinton Avenue Memoirs[]

To be added.

Back in St. Olaf...[]

To be added.

Cast[]

Main Cast[]

Guest Stars[]

  • Edie McClurg as Nurse DeFarge
  • Alisan Porter as Melissa Blackmore
  • Barbara Alyn Woods as Woman
  • Mindy Ann Martin as Clarice
  • Robert Gould as Stage Manager

Notes[]

  • Betty White, Bea Arthur, Rue McClanahan, and Estelle Getty autographed the sun backdrop used in the episode and gave it to Alisan Porter as a gift.

Production[]

  • In Golden Girls Forever, Edie McClurg said she hated running over Betty White's foot in the scene where she wheels Estelle Getty between the couch and the coffee table. The coffee table had been moved away from the couch during rehearsals, but not on tape night. Edie said she tried to get through as best she could, but added that Betty did a good job improvising, which allowed the take to still be of use in the episode.[2]
  • Melissa is said to be seven, but Alisan Porter was ten years old when this episode aired.

Cultural references[]

  • The episode's title is a play on the title of the 1991 Disney animated film Beauty and the Beast.
  • The book Melissa reads from is The Illustrated Treasury of Children's Literature by Margaret E. Martignoni, famous for its publication of Alice in Wonderland..
  • Nurse DeFarge is a reference to Madame Defarge from Charles Dickens's novel A Tale of Two Cities. Similarly to Nurse DeFarge, Madame Defarge is an antagonist in the novel.

Goofs[]

  • When Blanche is trying to get Melissa to sing at the pageant, you can clearly see that Melissa is trying not to laugh.
  • The boom mic is visible several times in the episode.

Site Navigation[]

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List of The Golden Girls episodes

Season 1 The EngagementGuess Who's Coming to the WeddingRose the PrudeTransplantThe TriangleOn Golden GirlsThe CompetitionBreak-InBlanche and the Younger ManThe Heart AttackThe Return of Dorothy's ExThe Custody BattleA Little RomanceThat Was No LadyIn a Bed of Rose'sThe Truth Will OutNice and EasyThe OperationSecond MotherhoodAdult EducationThe FluJob HuntingBlind AmbitionsBig DaddyThe Way We Met
Season 2 End of the CurseLadies of the EveningTake Him, He's MineIt's a Miserable LifeIsn't It RomanticBig Daddy's Little LadyFamily AffairVacationJoust Between FriendsLove, Rose'Twas The Nightmare Before ChristmasThe SistersThe Stan Who Came to DinnerThe ActorBefore and AfterAnd Then There Was OneBedtime StoryForgive Me, FatherLong Day's Journey into MarinaraWhose Face is This, Anyway?Dorothy's Prized PupilDiamond in the RoughSon-in-Law DearestTo Catch a NeighborA Piece of CakeEmpty Nests
Season 3 Old FriendsOne for the MoneyBringing Up BabyThe HousekeeperNothing to Fear But Fear ItselfLetter to GorbachevStrange BedfellowsBrotherly LoveA Visit from Little SvenThe AuditThree on a CouchCharlie's BuddyThe ArtistBlanche's Little GirlDorothy's New FriendGrab That DoughMy Brother, My FatherGolden Moments, Part 1Golden Moments, Part 2And Ma Makes ThreeLarceny and Old LaceRose's Big AdventureMixed BlessingsMister TerrificMother's Day
Season 4 Yes, We Have No HavanasThe Days and Nights of Sophia PetrilloThe One That Got AwayYokel HeroBang the Drum, StanleySophia's Wedding, Part 1Sophia's Wedding, Part 2Brother, Can You Spare That JacketScared StraightStan Takes a WifeThe AuctionBlind DateThe Impotence of Being ErnestLove Me TenderValentine's DayTwo Rode TogetherYou Gotta Have HopeFiddler On the RopesTill Death Do We VolleyHigh AnxietyLittle SisterSophia's ChoiceRites of SpringForeign ExchangeWe're Outta Here, Part 1We're Outta Here, Part 2
Season 5 Sick and Tired, Part 1Sick and Tired, Part 2The Accurate ConceptionRose Fights BackLove Under the Big TopDancing in the DarkNot Another MondayThat Old FeelingComedy of ErrorsAll That JazzEbb TideHave Yourself a Very Little ChristmasMary Has a Little LambTriple PlayClinton Avenue MemoirsLike the Beep Beep Beep of the Tom-TomAn Illegitimate Concern72 HoursTwice In a LifetimeSisters and Other StrangersCheatersThe Mangiacavallo Curse Makes a Lousy Wedding PresentAll Bets Are OffThe President's Coming! The President's Coming!, Part 1The President's Coming! The President's Coming!, Part 2
Season 6 Blanche DeliversOnce, In St. OlafIf At Last You Do SucceedSnap Out Of ItWham, Bam, Thank You MammyFeelingsZborn AgainHow Do You Solve a Problem Like Sophia?Mrs. George DevereauxGirls Just Wanna Have Fun... Before They DieStand By Your ManEbbtide's RevengeThe Bloom Is Off the RoseSisters of the BrideMiles to GoThere Goes the Bride, Part 1There Goes the Bride, Part 2Older and WiserMelodramaEven Grandmas Get the BluesWitnessWhat a Difference a Date MakesLove for SaleNever Yell Fire in a Crowded Retirement Home, Part 1Never Yell Fire in a Crowded Retirement Home, Part 2Henny Penny — Straight, No Chaser
Season 7 Hey, Look Me OverThe Case of the Libertine BelleBeauty and the BeastThat's For Me to KnowWhere's Charlie?Mother LoadDateline: MiamiThe Monkey Show, Part 1The Monkey Show, Part 2Ro$e Love$ Mile$Room SevenFrom Here to the PharmacyThe Pope's RingOld BoyfriendsGoodbye, Mr. GordonThe CommitmentsQuestions and AnswersEbbtide VI: The Wrath of StanJourney to the Center of AttentionA Midwinter Night's Dream, Part 1A Midwinter Night's Dream, Part 2Rose: Portrait of a WomanHome Again, Rose, Part 1Home Again, Rose, Part 2One Flew Out of the Cuckoo's Nest, Part 1One Flew Out of the Cuckoo's Nest, Part 2

References[]

  1. The Golden Girls, Season 7, Episode 3, “Beauty and the Beast”. Cherry, Marc and Wooten, Jamie (writers) & Passaris, Lex (director) (October 5th, 1991)
  2. Colucci, Jim. Golden Girls Forever: An Unauthorized Look Behind the Lanai. Harper Collins Publishers Design, 2016.
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