Why did Bea Arthur always wear those long flowing vests on Maude? I’ve never seen any other woman wear these things and she sports them in just about every scene. My guess is they’re custom made, must have cost a fortune and were insisted upon by Bea herself.
I’ve often suspected there’s a story in there but never heard what it had been.
A couple of guesses:
The look was flattering to Bea Arthur and
They went with the character of a woman who rebelled against the behavior expected of proper suburban matrons.
I think they were made for especially for Bea Arthur. She’s quite tall (I think 6’ or more) and broad shouldered. If you look at the clothes she wore in Maude and compare them to the clothes she wore in the Golden Girls, the cut and style are eerily similar. Except in the 80’s, it was pastels and nuetrals instead of those hideous print designs everyone was wearing in the 70’s. Thank god polyester went out of style.
My Mom, who used to be tall, also wore vests like that in the 70s. And as they help to camouflage those of us a bit broad in the beam I also wear one from time to time. The catalog I got it from called it a gilet.
I’ve also noticed she often covers a good deal of her neck, in addition to the long, flowy vests. I remember one scene in Maude where she and Arthur were going to sleep, and her nightgown had a scarf! I think there’s a story there too…
Um. I lived in the 70’s. Long vests, tunic style tops with pants were a style.
what I recall (no site) re: scarves was that she had a goiter scar on her neck? or am I confusing her with some other star?
If Maude is sleeping with Arthur, Walter is going to be pissed.[sup]*[/sup]
*[sub]Actually she and Arthur did sleep in the same bed in one episode, but they were drunk at the time ane nothing happened.[/sub]
“Um. I lived in the 70’s. Long vests, tunic style tops with pants were a style.”
—Yup. I can second this. Caftans and long vests were very popular in that most-hideous-of-all decades. I had a number of great-aunts who dressed like Maude. Unlike Bea Arthur, though, my great-aunts were about 4’8", and their raiments trailed behind them . . .
Who’s Bea Arthur? Maude was played by Ruth Gordon. (And I don’t particularly remember the vests of which you speak.)
not Maude as in Harold & the movie, but Maude as in the TV show spin off from “all in the family”. Starring Bea Arthur as Maude (who went on to be a 'Golden Girl’0 and Adriene Barboobs* as her divorced daughter.
*[sub] what? that isn’t her name? Really. Barbeau? Are you sure? hmm. well, whatever [/sub]
crap. just noticed the smiley face in Spritle’s post.
dammit. Sorry. My bad.
" . . . Adriene Barboobs . . . "
—Funny; I’d always thought her name was Adrienne Bimbeaux. Or Adrienne Barbells . . . Wasn’t she in a 1970s TV movie with Joyce DeHalfwitt and Ann Jigglin?
As for the scarf, I read that Bea Arthur was self-conscious about her neck (I don’t know whether it was wrinkles, a scar or a protruding Adam’s apple) and wore scarves to keep it covered.
Barbara Billingsley was also self-conscious about a scar on her neck in Leave It to Beaver, which is why she always wore pearls.
FWIW Maude in the show had a facelift, but Bea Arthur did not until sometime later.
I asked a similar question in this line
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=4537