"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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The Auction is the eleventh episode of the fourth season of The Golden Girls and the eighty-eighth episode overall. Directed by Terry Hughes and written by Eric Cohen, it premiered on NBC-TV on January 14th, 1989.
The girls face a badly-leaking roof, but cannot afford to replace it. To get their minds off their troubles, they head to a gallery opening at Blanche's museum, where the obnoxious and rude Jasper DeKimmel is being feted. When Sophia reveals that DeKimmel is dying of a rare blood disease, Blanche hatches a scheme to purchase one of his paintings on the cheap and then sell it for a big profit after he passes away.
Blanche's house must be huge. The roofer estimates a new roof will cost $10,000. The average cost of a new roof in 2017 dollars is $5,000 to $15,000 depending on materials used and the square footage of the house. Converted to 1988 dollars, that would be approximately $2,410 to $7,240.
The ladies couldn't afford to pay $10,000 for a new roof. Dorothy said they could barely afford the $200 patch job. At the auction, they bought the painting for $9,000. Add in Sophia's $3,000, and they somehow spent $6,000 -- which still seemed unaffordable.
Cultural references[]
After Rose details the sweets she ate, Dorothy responds, "I'm surprised you didn't try to kill the mayor of San Francisco." This is in reference to Dan White, who killed San Francisco mayor George Moscone and Mayoral Supervisor Harvey Milk. An urban legend has sprung up that White's attorney said that sweets contributed to White's depression, and this came to be known as the "Twinkie defense". In reality, the actual argument was that his junk food consumption was a symptom of mental illness, not the cause of it.
The girls observe the roofer talking harshly on the phone and they fear asking him for a deal on the roof. The same joke is used in two episodes of Family Ties: "Margin of Error" and "The Job Not Taken".
Goofs[]
Depending on landlord-tenant laws in Florida before January 1989, Blanche most likely bears the ultimate financial responsibility of providing the other three girls a new roof since she is the landlord and homeowner, so they would have no incentive to chip in on a work of art by Jasper DeKimmel in order to pay for it.
Blanche describes a piece of Jasper DeKimmel's on a brochure as non-representational art. Less than ten seconds later, she starts pointing out elements of said piece as representing, signifying, or standing for certain real-life things.
