The Golden Girls (TV Series)

Fiddler on the Ropes (1989)

Estelle Getty: Sophia Petrillo

Photos 

Quotes 

• Sophia Petrillo : Go do some road work, Pepe.

  Pepe : Que?

  Sophia Petrillo : Immigration, Pepe! Immigration!

• Sophia Petrillo : Let me tell you a story, Dorothy. Picture it: Sicily, 1920. Two young girls pack their bags and leave their tiny village to seek fame and fortune and a meal cooked without oregano. Their journey takes them to a seaside town where a ship prepares to depart for the New World. They're just...

  Dorothy Petrillo-Zbornak : The New World?

  Sophia Petrillo : Hey, anybody can say Baltimore. There's an art to telling these stories.

  Dorothy Petrillo-Zbornak : Sorry.

  Sophia Petrillo : Where was I?

  Dorothy Petrillo-Zbornak : Departing for the New World.

  Sophia Petrillo : Oh, right. Anyway, the price of steerage turns out to be 900,000 lire. Or approximately a buck and a quarter. Which is exactly the amount of each girl's life savings.

  Dorothy Petrillo-Zbornak : Exactly?

  Sophia Petrillo : That's why this is a story instead of an immigration report. May I continue? One girl chooses to spend her money and take a chance on adventure. The other plays it cautiously and books only a ferry to Sardinia, saving the rest of her money for a rainy day.

  Dorothy Petrillo-Zbornak : Lemme guess, Ma. You were the one who chose adventure.

  Sophia Petrillo : You also would've said Baltimore instead of the New World. You're no good at this, Dorothy. I'm the girl who played it safe. Maybe if I'd made the other choice, I'd have been prime minister of Israel instead of my good friend Golda Meir.

  Dorothy Petrillo-Zbornak : Ma, you never met Golda Meir!

  Sophia Petrillo : Please! I almost married her husband, the man who perfected the hot dog.

  Sophia Petrillo , Dorothy Petrillo-Zbornak : Oscar Meyer.