“72 hours” A portrait of Betty White & Rue McClanahan
August 3, 2022New NFT available on voice.com
This portrait of Betty White & Rue McClanahan as Rose & Blanche is inspired by the episode “72 hours” from the show “The Golden Girls”.
It’s about courage, speaking up, when everyone else stays silent, about compassion and my gratitude for those using their voice.
In the episode that aired in February 1990 Rose receives a letter from the hospital where she had her gallbladder removed. They warn her that during her transfusion she might have been exposed to blood containing HIV antibodies. As the ladies accompany her to the hospital to get tested,
Blanche comforts a very frightened Rose by explaining that she too had the test and knows what her friend is going through. While Rose endures
waiting the requisite 72 hours to receive her test results, tensions run high as the women deal with fear and confusion surrounding HIV and AIDS.
PETER D. BEYT (editor of the episode) about his experience while editing the episode:
“…
So here I was, editing away, watching the episode for the first time. And I got to the point where there’s an argument between Rose and Blanche. I
looked up at the screen in time for Blanche to say, “AIDS is not a bad person’s disease, Rose. It is not God punishing people for their sins!”
My heart stopped. All of a sudden, unexpectedly, here was this woman on a sitcom I was cutting, talking about what I was feeling. I always admired
Rue as a star and a friend anyway, but now a character I’d come to know so well was saying what I needed to hear. I broke down, of course. I
had to stop working. And then I pulled myself together — and from that point, right in the middle of my partner’s battle, I no longer thought I
was a bad person. The show changed me in that moment of desperation. And my God, did the world ever need that to be said!
.. ”
- from the book "Golden Girls Forever" by Jim Colluci