TTM Tuesday! The Golden Girls! I Look Back At Getting The Cast! Betty White! Bea Arthur! Rue McClanahan! Autographs! And More!

Ace your usual TTM specialist is on sabbatical for a little while, so I figured I would do a fun TTM Tuesday flashback. Now, I’m not a huge TTM’er is that a word? TTM’er? Anyway, I limit my TTM’s to when I know someone signs legit and also to people who I know I can’t get anywhere else.

This is especially true with older icons. A lot of times older stars will sign for fans via the mail and this is what I found to be a great way to express my fandom and get some rare signatures.

This is true with one of my favorite shows The Golden Girls. Who can forget the iconic theme song? Thank you for being a friend…

Betty White is the only member of the cast still with us, but back when I decided to embark on my little autograph adventure the three main stars were still in sound health.

The first person I wrote to was Betty White. I was pretty much a novice and haven’t done this is a while. I have a script for the Golden Girls that I sent out and silly me I didn’t take off the cover, I sent the whole thing! DOH!

I sent it to Betty White and asked her to write “something fun on it.” Within two weeks Betty White sent it back and wrote, “To Mike, this reminds me of something that happened in St. Olaf!”

The script was titled “Love For Sale.”

Then I quickly sent off the script to Bea Arthur. After about a month and a half I got back an envelope with a pre printed photo in it. Uh oh…

So, I figured well… Maybe I’ll give it some more time. another month passed and still nothing, so I sent a letter to Ms. Arthur with a SASE and inquired about the script. I said, I understand if she can’t sign it, but if she would mind sending it back as it was already signed by Betty White, I would really appreciate it.

Two weeks later, low and behold… I got a package in the mail! It was the script signed by Bea Arthur!

She also sent another 8×10 that she signed.

(I had an old old signed photo from Bea Arthur from back when I was a kid so now I had three!).

Bea Arthur’s assistant also sent a letter explaining that Bea misplaced the script and didn’t know who it belonged to. She put it aside and was hoping I would write so she could send it back!

How nice… Seriously.

So, now I was hesitant to send it off to Rue McClanahan… I heard that she was the most difficult to get through the mail but at this point I felt like the script needed to be signed.

But without great risk, you can never have great reward.

I sent to her fanmail address and waited. I was a little nervous as time passed. It took a couple months or more. All I know is… It felt like forever. Doing a cast piece via mail is rough….

Then….

I got a package in the mail! Not only had Rue McClanahan signed the script she wrote a fun note, inscribing it… “To Mike, is this a script about me?”

Remember the script was titled, “Love For Sale.” Loved it!

To say I was excited is an understatement. About a month after I got the script back Rue McClanahan had her stroke, and we sadly lost Bea Arthur and then of course Rue McClanahan later on.

This is one of my favorite pieces! From one of the best shows ever.
I have to tell you, something like this would never have been possible in person and it’s one of the reasons why I love the fact that people still sign TTM. It shows a true love for their fans.

Until next time kids…