PRE-United: And then there's Stan...!

Among our very favorite TV sitcoms is the 1980s wonder The Golden Girls. (I'm hardly alone. The show has been in constant rotation on several channels for decades now, though I prefer watching the DVDs over the heavily-edited renditions that are currently shown. Sometimes entire scenes are cut out!) Bea Arthur as Dorothy Zbornak had a hate-love relationship with her ex-husband Stan through the course of the series, with comedy veteran Herb Edelman making two-dozen appearances along the way. The couple, having split after "38 years of marriage," went through varying degrees of antagonism, affection, alienation and even a near trip back down the altar once more! The chemistry between Arthur and Edelman was palpable and Edelman's 6'5" stature went a long way in making them a visually compatible couple as well. (Likewise, this lent comic leverage when he was put in his place by the diminutive Estelle Getty as Dorothy's mother Sophia.)

Arthur was a Broadway vet who parlayed a thunderous guest appearance on All in the Family into a series all her own. Called Maude, she was a force of nature, espousing socio- political viewpoints at the polar opposite of Carroll O'Connor's Archie Bunker. And while Maude wasn't the runaway success that All in the Family was, it was a considerable hit and ran for six seasons. 

During the third season of Maude, Arthur was promoted to office manager at her real estate company. This was at a time (1974) of the women's movement for equality in the workplace, when it was common- place for females to be overlooked for promotions, not to mention comparable wages, raises, etc... Having accomplished the impossible in winning the spot, Arthur is distraught at the prospect of overseeing her male coworkers. Faint reassurance comes from her family as well as from best friend Vivian (who was played by Arthur's future Golden Girls costar Rue McClanahan.) 

Congratulations are in order, along with a new briefcase!

Arthur's employees, Tony, Woody and Bud, are anxiously awaiting the arrival of the newly-crowned boss lady.

If the rear view of that balding pate seemed familiar, it should...

...It belongs to Mr. Herb Edelman, playing the sexist, uncooperative Woody. (By the way, check those candles...! Disney thought they had trouble with the artwork for the VHS of The Little Mermaid, 1989?? Ouch! Ha ha ha!!)

As one might expect, Arthur meets with a fair amount of resistance upon her arrival. The other guys are a little awkward, yet respectful.

Naturally, Edelman is a royal jerk to her.

Not exactly a shrinking violet, Arthur attempts to get through to Edelman, "man to man."

With one foot propped on a chair, she takes on the office bully.

Unfortunately, when he tells her to move her boobs out of the way so that he can get back to his desk, it kicks off a mini-meltdown which sends her careening out the door and back home.

Following a pep talk and some much-needed affection from her husband Walter (Bill Macy), she heads back to the office with cigars as a peace offering and an apparent handle on the situation.

Now firmly in charge of Edelman and the office, she's not going to let him get away with his shenanigans any longer.

In what would later be a motif on The Golden Girls, tough guy Edelman breaks down in tears. (One can almost here him wailing, "Dorothy...!" in this shot.

Having finally come to an understanding, things are about to work out fine when suddenly Arthur finds out that, despite her promotion, she's still being grossly underpaid simply because she is female. With that, she heads out the door for an extended lunch hour and into the arms of her husband, who's waiting at home in their master bedroom! Remarkably, in this one, sole, instance of working with one another as actors, Edelman and Arthur had already achieved the dynamics which would later lead to a far more involved pairing on The Golden Girls. Edelman scored big as the "schmuck" Stanley Zbornak and gave Arthur plenty to work with as the alternately wounded and acerbic Dorothy.

You can read a bit more about Miss Bea Arthur here. After Maude ended in 1978, she took some time away from the grueling work of a regular series until attempting Amanda's in 1983. That was finished after just 13 episodes, but in 1985 she accepted the role of Dorothy, which was to be her greatest television success, ending only when she decided to opt out in 1992 (with a two-part appearance on the ill-fated spin off The Golden Palace the season after that marking her final turn in the role.)

As for Edelman, he too had done some work on Broadway and then proceeded to multiple guest roles on television. He also popped up in movies such as Barefoot in the Park (1967), repeating his stage role as the telephone man, The Odd Couple (1968) and The Way We Were (1973) with a moderately successful sitcom, The Good Guys, along the way. It may surprise you to know that he had a 6-year marriage to prolific actress Louise Sorel from 1964-1970. Always busy, his role as Stan arguably stood out as his most notable amid many other parts. He essayed the role one final time on a 1993 episode of The Golden Palace. In 1996, he was taken from us far too early at only age 62 from emphysema, though his work can be seen continuously through reruns of the many shows and movies he worked on.   

Stanley Zbornak has his own place in the pop culture firmament along with the ever popular Golden Girls foursome.