Picture It…Sophia Petrillo, History, and the Art of Storytelling

The fanciful stories related by Sophia are far more complex than they appear on the surface.

If there’s one thing that you can count on in an episode of The Golden Girls, it’s a story courtesy of Sophia Petrillo, the wise-cracking matriarch. Prefaced with her catchphrase “picture it,” these stories are as much a part of the show’s enduring appeal as cheesecake, ’80s fashion, Dorothy’s zingers, Blanche’s sexcapades, and Rose’s naïveté.

As with Rose’s St. Olaf stories or Blanche’s various anecdotes about her sexual escapades (Blanche: The Miniseries, anyone?), Sophia’s stories are a source of humor and fun. I challenge anyone to hear the story about Golda Meir (whose husband, Oscar Mayer not only perfected the hot dog but also almost married Sophia) and not crack up. They are, quite obviously, rather ridiculous, and while they may not be quite as outlandish as those of Rose and Blanche, they still contain elements of fancy and fantasy.

And, as silly as they might be, they often contain pearls of wisdom that are of great use to her roommates. Take, for example, the episode “Till Death Do We Volley,” in which Dorothy reconnects with her old high school friend Trudy. The two resume their years’-long rivalry, including a very…