Thirtysomething (TV Series)

Be a Good Girl (1989)

Sylvia Sidney: Rose Waldman

Quotes 

• Rose Waldman : What if a bus hits you? You want strangers to see you dead in that?

  Customer in the dressing room : Oh, I hadn't thought of that!

  Rose Waldman : Try the blue.

• Elaine Steadman : Cookie, the honey cake looks wonderful.

  Aunt Cookie : Oh, I don't know... I'm a little worried about that honey cake. I'm going to go take a look at it.

  Aunt Muriel : I'll go with her.

  Aunt Cookie : [heading off to the kitchen with Aunt Muriel]  If there's anything I hate it's a dry honey cake.

  Rose Waldman : [rolling her eyes and whispering to Melissa]  Her honey cake showed up on my last angiogram.

• Elaine Steadman : [adjusting the thermostat]  Dinner's ready.

  Rose Waldman : [cranky, to Elaine]  What are you doing?

  Elaine Steadman : Mother, this house is like a freezer.

  Rose Waldman : It's an oven. Turn it down.

  Elaine Steadman : Mother, people are sitting in their coats.

  Rose Waldman : [turning to Melissa]  You said it was hot.

  Melissa Steadman : Me? No, I didn't! I -!

  Rose Waldman : [to Elaine]  See?

  Elaine Steadman : [having had enough]  Please.

• Rose Waldman : Where's Murray? I want my highball.

  Elaine Steadman : You're not going to have a highball. We're just going to go in and eat, Mother!

  Rose Waldman : I always have a highball before I eat!

  Elaine Steadman : But it's not good for you. You know what the doctor said.

  Rose Waldman : Elaine, you stop trying to tell me what's good for me!

  Elaine Steadman : Please! Why would I poss -?

  Murray Steadman : [stepping in with genuine affection]  Look at the three of you. I want a picture.

  Melissa Steadman : Oh! What a good idea. I'll take it.

  Rose Waldman : Why?

  Melissa Steadman : Why? Why? Nana, it's what I do.

  Rose Waldman : [sarcastically]  It's what she does.

  Melissa Steadman : Yeah.

  Rose Waldman : When am I going to see one of your pictures in Life magazine?

  Melissa Steadman : When Ed Sullivan goes back on the air.

  Elaine Steadman : Darling, I have got a pot roast that's turning to leather.

  Melissa Steadman : Mom...

  Rose Waldman : [to Elaine]  How would you know?

  Elaine Steadman : Oh, Mother, please! This is too much.

  Melissa Steadman : Would you shut up and pose? Come on. Go over by the chair.

  Elaine Steadman : [indignant]  'Shut up and pose'? Really! This is unbelievable. All right, I'm sorry!

  Melissa Steadman : Daddy? You be me.

  Murray Steadman : I'll need an earring.

• Melissa Steadman : C'mon. C'mon. Put on your slippers.

  Rose Waldman : Why should I put on my slippers? Is Paul Newman coming over?

  Melissa Steadman : Oh, yeah. He's gonna bring you his salad dressing.

  Elaine Steadman : [coming in with a bowl of soup]  Here's your soup, Mother. It's your recipe.

  Rose Waldman : Okay, thank you.

  Rose Waldman : [sniffing at the soup and looking up doubtfully]  Are you sure this is my recipe?

  Elaine Steadman : [patient]  Yes.

  Rose Waldman : [handing the bowl of soup to Melissa but taking one cracker]  Oh, I'll have a cracker.

  [Elaine bends down to gather up some magazines] 

  Rose Waldman : [impatient]  Elaine, please! Stop bouncing around! You're like a Mexican jumping bean. Relax. Have a cracker!

• Rose Waldman : [wistfully, as Melissa tucks her in]  Oh. Jack was something. He was a king. Fanny Brice was in love with him, and he sold Al Joelson the summer home. And then, suddenly everything was gone. Everything. Jack never said a word. He just sat in a chair. And then - I went and made a business. I was pregnant with your mother. She was born three days after we opened. And I was back at work at the store the next day.

• Rose Waldman : Melissa...

  [Rose looks at her granddaughter for a long time, clearly wanting to say something to her, but thinks better of it in the end] 

  Rose Waldman : Happy Birthday, darling!

  Melissa Steadman : Happy Birthday, Nana.

  Rose Waldman : Do you know how much I love you?

  Melissa Steadman : I know how much, Nana.

• Rose Waldman : [clinking her glass with a knife and standing up at the head of the table]  Can I have anybody's attention? Well, uh, tonight we have three birthday girls. One of them is eighty. But I'm not going to tell who. But I am going to tell a story about business. A manufacturer falls in love with a fabric, and buys five thousand yards. But he can only sell half of it. Well, I save his life. I take the other half. Now he's got something. People need to have something in their hands. Tonight, my hands are full. So is my heart. Tonight...

  Rose Waldman : [laughing and tossing down her notes]  I'm eighty years old tonight! And as i look back on my life, I... I know my hands are too full. And I want to count my blessings. My biggest blessings are right here: my daughter, Elaine. Her husband, Murray. And my darling granddaughter, Melissa... to whom I am going to leave the business. After I have trainer her properly.

  [Everyone present is shocked into a stunned silence, including Ellyn and Michael] 

  Rose Waldman : [to Melissa]  And I trust and hope you will carry my name into the future.

  [Aunt Muriel enters with a cake and everyone starts to sing 'Happy Birthday' as Melissa just sits there, in unhappy shock] 

• Melissa Steadman : Nana, really. I'd really rather talk here.

  Rose Waldman : Okay. Go on, go on. Talk, talk.

  Melissa Steadman : Nana, what you want me to do. What you've offered me. It's incredible! The store. It's your life. I'll always be grateful that you wanted me to take it, that you saw me that way.

  Rose Waldman : Melissa. I see you in this business with me. Till I die, and then it's yours. I was rich a long time ago. I could have stopped, but I didn't. I had to get this ready to give to someone.

  Melissa Steadman : But you've given me so much already. How can I ever thank you?

  Rose Waldman : I don't want you to thank me. I want to help you.

  Melissa Steadman : I don't need you to help me.

  Rose Waldman : Yes, you do. I know what's good for you.

  Melissa Steadman : Nana, the store, it's... I wouldn't be happy. It's not my life.

  Rose Waldman : [laughing sarcastically]  Your life? What's your life? You snap a few pictures, you live like a bum, you dress like a freak. Do you have a meaningful relationship? A husband? A family? Oh. You want to be free. Independent. Great! But you don't fool me, Melissa. You never have. I wouldn't be who I am if I didn't know what is best for the people I love!

  Melissa Steadman : You don't know what's best for me.

  Rose Waldman : Yes I do.

  Melissa Steadman : [having had enough]  You didn't do this for me, Rose. You did it for you. You don't know me. You've never known me. You never have. You can have this. All of it! I love you, Nana. But you can't have me!

  Rose Waldman : [stopping Melissa on her way out]  Okay. Tomorrow I change my Will. And you'll have nothing. But you'll be happy, and I want you to be happy. I'll be dead, and you'll have nothing! Do you hear me, Melissa? Melissa! Melissa! Melissa...!

• Mrs. Hyman : The usual thing, Rose.

  Rose Waldman : What?

  Mrs. Hyman : I can't decide. I'll be back with a friend.

  Rose Waldman : Wait, wait, wait, wait. Melissa! I got an idea.

  Melissa Steadman : [coming into dressing area]  Yeah.

  Rose Waldman : This is my granddaughter, Melissa. This is Mrs. Hyman.

  Melissa Steadman : Hi.

  Mrs. Hyman : You're missing an earring, dear.

  Melissa Steadman : [clearly tired of explaining it]  I'm looking for it.

  Rose Waldman : [knowingly]  What are you going to do with all the earrings you've lost?

  Melissa Steadman : [sharing the joke]  Make a bracelet.