BITTERSWEET BACKSTAGE FLAVOR AT 38TH EMMYS

Glitz and good humor notwithstanding, the mood was bittersweet backstage at the 38th annual Emmy Awards on Sunday evening.

That mood among winners at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium was set by:

--Two best actresses, Sharon Gless of “Cagney & Lacey,” and “The Golden Girls’ ” Betty White, who won over nominated co-workers on their own series.

--By the writers of “An Early Frost,” who earned their award for a drama about victims of the fatal disease AIDS.

--By Lawrence Schiller, who only 48 hours earlier settled a lawsuit with NBC and was thereby enabled to collect the statuette for best miniseries as producer of “Peter the Great.”

--And by Red Skelton, winner of the Governors Award, who observed that, though the networks decided his brand of humor didn’t play to the prized 18-and-older consumer, he now performs 35 college dates a year.

White, who edged out fellow “Golden Girls” Rue McClanahan and Beatrice Arthur to be named best actress in a comedy series, denied any competition behind the scenes.

“It would have been sad if one of us had been left out of the nominations,” White said. “The wonderful part is that all four of us were nominated.” Arthur was considered the likely winner among the three stars of that series, which also won as best comedy series. “Golden Girls” co-star Estelle Getty, who plays Arthur’s mother, was nominated for best supporting actress in a comedy series.

Ron Cowen, co-writer of “An Early Frost,” asked if his win was bittersweet, said: “Very much so.

“It’s very hard standing here winning an Emmy when only a week ago a friend of ours died of AIDS in New York.”

Cowen and co-writer Daniel Lipman also noted the difficulty they had in bringing the made-for-TV movie to the air. In all, they wrote 14 drafts. Though a sequel is not in the works, Lipman said that “Nothing would please us more than to write ‘An Early Frost: The Cure.’ ”

Schiller, making a brief appearance backstage, seemed upbeat about his and NBC’s resolution of their legal dispute. A few months ago, Schiller accused NBC of conspiring to remove him as producer and director of “Peter the Great.” On Sunday, he said: “Each morning brings new meaning. I’ve learned a lot. I’m very proud of what I brought to the film.”

Skelton denied being at all bitter about his forced disappearance from the home screen. “It doesn’t bother me because I was doing something else,” he said. “Television isn’t the only business.”

Gless seemed more relieved than pained about winning over Tyne Daly, her on-screen partner in crime fighting, as best actress in a dramatic series. With good reason: Daly copped the award three years in a row.

Clearly choked up on the podium, Gless was equally affected by the experience backstage. “I never felt I had to get even” with Daly, she said.

The series’ executive producer, Barney Rosenzweig, appearing backstage with his statuette for best dramatic series in hand, said that when he left the set Friday he told Daly: “Good luck . . . but not too much!”

Rosenzweig commended Gless and Daly as “the two best actresses in the business.” In fact, Rosenzweig said, the show was dominating the awards for the second year in a row largely because of “the magic of when an actress and role merge”--that sentiment applying to Gless and Daly.

Gless was one of the first arrivals at the Emmys--as if the early bird hoping to catch the worm--but that wasn’t the case at all, she revealed backstage. “I thought that it would take longer to get here,” she said.

As for how long she expected to continue as policewoman Christine Cagney, Gless suggested that in two or three years she might be older than her character should be.

Rosenzweig acknowledged at least one irony to his second-in-a-row win for best drama series: The producer who helped him get there last year, Terry Louise Fisher, is now a producer with the show that is expected to be an Emmy contender next year--”L.A. Law.”

“I’m panic-stricken,” Rosenzweig said, appearing to be only half-joking.

Other winners were clearly pleased--though nonplussed.

“It was like somebody smacked me over the head,” said Michael J. Fox, who nabbed his first Emmy as best actor in a comedy series. Though now a movie star, Fox said he would remain with “Family Ties” “as long as (executive producer) Gary David Goldberg wants to make it and . . . people want to watch it.” John Lithgow, winner in a new category--outstanding guest performer in a drama series--observed that his award-winning role in an episode of “Amazing Stories” marked his third Steven Spielberg-produced project. Asked if he is now officially in Spielberg’s stable of actors, Lithgow, who spent the summer acting in the Spielberg-produced film “Harry and the Hendersons,” said: “Well, for a while I felt like I was in a stable on Stage 12 at Universal.” The actor was working with animals, he said, and the interior began to smell.

John Karlen, whose win as best supporting drama actor was one of the first to foreshadow the “Cagney & Lacey” mini-sweep in the drama series categories, professed surprise. The TV husband of Daly said: “You just don’t get that luck two years in a row.”

William Daniels for a second year in a row said he was caught off guard by his win as best supporting dramatic actor. This year, his excuse was that he was too busy rooting for his real-life wife, Bonnie Bartlett, who plays the wife of his character, Dr. Mark Craig, on “St. Elsewhere.” Bartlett took the stage prior to Daniels to grab her statuette as best supporting actress.

“That’s where my mind was,” he said. Daniels allowed as to how, in contrast to his demanding character, he is “not terribly competitive.”

Referring to the writers’ ongoing attempts to inject blue humor into the show, Daniels said, “They’re continually surprising the censors, trying to outmaneuver them, and I say, ‘Bravo!’ ”

Rhea Perlman, who denied being bored with her third win as best supporting comedy actress in as many years, joked that she had been the first choice for Cybill Shepherd’s role in “Moonlighting.” “I did everything I could,” said the diminutive Perlman.

Some of the most bittersweet Emmy scenes undoubtedly were played out in private. “Moonlighting,” which headed the nominations list with 16 potential Emmys, came up with only one craft award, for editing. Shepherd and co-star Bruce Willis, who were all the rage backstage last year as mere presenters, this year never made it that far. Shepherd may or not have been prepared for the moment: She traded in last year’s orange Reebok sneakers for high heels that matched her fire-engine-red strapless gown.

But then, the “Moonlighting” crew may not have expected much. Only Thursday, the series’ executive producer, Glenn Caron, said, “I don’t think it’s our year.”