Mollywood BLVD

Molly Penny is a local radio personality and MNSU alum. It was her love of pop culture that got her interested in doing a radio show for KOWZ 100.9, and she is now the music and promotions director at KOWZ & KRUE Radio in Owatonna. She resides in Mankato with her movie buff husband and YouTube obsessed children. Catch her on Twitter at @ mollyhoodUSA.

The Golden Life of Betty White:

National treasure Betty White turns 100 this month! That’s right, America’s ‘golden girl’ was born back on Jan. 17, 1922.

I know I am not alone in wishing that we could literally assign her national security and wrap her in bubble wrap until then, in fact there is an entire Twitter thread dedicated to it! The star credits hot dogs and vodka as the key to her long life. Over the last decade, with the popularity of social media sites, Betty White has become somewhat of a pop culture icon. In a polarized climate, there is one thing all Americans agree on: Betty is the bomb.

The star is probably most well known as Rose Nyland on The Golden Girls or the man crazy Sue Ann Nivens on The Mary Tyler Moore Show. Hailing from Oak Park Illinois, Betty Marion White (Ludden) originally dreamt of being a forest ranger. In several interviews, White explained that when she was a little girl dreaming of being a forest ranger it was unheard of- women weren’t allowed to do that then.

She has had a life-long dedication to protecting wilderness and wildlife and was proclaimed an honorary forest ranger by the U.S Forest Service in 2010. She continues to volunteer and advocate for animals and wildlife and serves on various commissions and foundations.

Her family moved to California when she was a baby. Her first role as an actress occurred on a radio program called Empire Builders when she was just 8 years old. She went on to graduate from Beverly Hills High in 1939 and found her knack for entertainment when she wrote and starred in a graduation play at Horace Mann school.

She married a few times; meeting her first husband, US Air Force pilot Dick Barter, while volunteering with the American Women’s Voluntary Service. The couple moved to an Ohio chicken farm following the war… Not exactly the life the star was destined for, so they divorced. Back to L.A. she went where she married Lane Allen, a Hollywood talent agent.

White appeared on television with small parts and low-paying cameos on various game shows, eventually landing her own radio show, The Betty White Show, in 1949; She divorced Allen later that same year. As one of few women in entertainment and a two-time divorcee, White befriended Lucille Ball. Both stars were filming

shows at Culver Studios in the 1950’s.

Like Ball, a kindred pioneer of early television, White has always been a trailblazer. She cofounded Bandy Productions with writer George Tibbles and producer Don Fedderson while hosting Hollywood on Television.

The trio worked to create sketches using characters from the existing show to create the television comedy Life with Elizabeth which garnered her the title of “(4th) Honorary Mayor of Hollywood.”

In 1954, NBC picked up The Betty White Show as a daily talk show for television audiences. As the show producer, White was criticized for having Arthur Duncan, a black tap dancer on. Her answer to the studio was, “I’m sorry, live with it.” Certain Southern stations threatened to boycott as she gave Duncan more airtime and NBC quietly pulled the show shortly thereafter.

This controversy did not stop White. She went on to be a staple guest star on game shows and late-night talk shows throughout the 60’s & 70’s including recurring guest appearances on the show Password where she married host Allen Ludden, the unequivocal love of her life who passed away from cancer in 1981.

She never remarried, stating, “Once you’ve had the best, who needs the rest?” Her sharp wit and bubbly personality continued to provide her gigs. White was offered the lead hosting gig on NBC’s Today but turned it down because she did not want to relocate to New York City permanently.

She continued to be a familiar face on television with cameos and bit characters on everything from The Carol Burnette Show, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, and The Match Game to a mainstay host of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Betty White became the first woman to win a Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Game Show Host for her hosting of the NBC game show Just Men in 1983.

The biggest role of her career followed shortly after when she was cast in a signature role as the adorably naïve and infectiously cheerful Rose Nyland, a St. Olaf Minnesota native, on The Golden Girls.

The show, which also starred Bea Arthur, Estelle Getty and Rue McClanahan as four widowed and divorced women living out their ‘golden years’ in a shared home in Miami, was immensely popular and won both critical acclaim and other accolades. It ran from 1985-1992 and earned White another Emmy, this time for Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series as well as a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

The Golden Girls is aired in syndication to this day. The star believes that her positivity created a strained friendship with her cynical Golden Girls co-star, Bea Arthur. Reportedly, if Betty came to set in an overly positive mood, Bea would in turn be grumpy that day. Still, the actresses were often seen leaving together as filming wrapped each night and remained friends long after the show ended.

Following Arthur’s death in 2009, White was quoted to say, “I knew it would hurt, I just didn’t know it would hurt this much.” White, the eldest of the ‘girls’, is the last surviving cast-member.

The fact that she is the last remaining ‘Golden Girl’ has certainly played a part in her rise to pop culture icon status, but things really ramped up when she starred (alongside Abe Vigoda) in a Snickers Super Bowl commercial for Super Bowl XLIV. In the commercial we see Betty (and later Abe) among a group of guys playing tackle football in the mud.

As she goes for a pass, another player tackles her in the mud. When she gets up, her teammates refer to her as ‘Mike’ and tell her she is “playing like Betty White out there.” She then takes a bite of a Snickers bar and turns back into the young male, ‘Mike’. The ad ends with the slogan, “You’re not you when you’re hungry.” The commercial won Mars Inc. the top spot of the Super Bowl Ad Meter and spurred public demand for more Betty.

A grassroots campaign was started on Facebook in January 2010 called “Betty White to Host SNL (Please).” The group reached 500,000 members and NBC went ahead and gave her the gig for the May 8th episode. She was 88 years old. Since then, she has continued to cameo on popular television shows while her name and likeness pop up frequently on social media and in conversation. She has also remained close with her stepchildren and their families, so while she has no biological children, she is still a beloved grandmother.

With Betty White reaching centenarian status this month many of us are on edge- dreading the day that we wake up to the news of her death. We know it will hurt and we are afraid of how much because she is not just some actress from our parents’ generation. She is a household name with a legacy that has touched every generation. In these turbulent times millions of people find comfort in knowing that she’s still alive and kicking. In fact, the star is in fabulous health. To use a famous line from her Golden Girls character Rose, “The older you get, the better you get, unless you’re a banana.” Indeed, the older you get, the better you get, especially when

you are Betty White.

Happy birthday, Queen. 

VESELI, MN

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