Marge agrees, although she resists Homer's plea to paint Burns as a beautiful man. While Burns is taking a shower at the Simpsons' house, Marge inadvertently sees him naked. Homer finds he has lost 21 pounds from his exercise regimen and now weighs 239 pounds. After Burns disparages Homer's weight and his daughters, Lisa and Maggie, Marge throws Burns out of the house. She is ready to quit until she receives a response from Starr, who, though decades late, praises her portrait of him. Homer encourages Marge to finish the painting. Marge's painting of a naked, frail and weak Burns is unveiled at the opening of the museum wing. She explains that the portrait shows that behind all of Burns's evil, he is a frail and vulnerable human being who is by extension just as beautiful as any other living creature in the world. The crowd and Burns both approve of Marge's portrait. Production Al Jean and Mike Reiss originally pitched the idea of Marge taking an art class and churning out depressing paintings, with the family realizing she was secretly unhappy. James L. Brooks took that pitch and came up with the Burns commission plot as well as the idea she would paint him as frail and naked. The script was written by Brian K. Roberts and directed by Jim Reardon. Prior to writing the episode, Roberts had been an audio and visual editor on the show. Musician Ringo Starr made a guest appearance in the episode as himself. He was the first Beatle to appear on the show; both George Harrison and Paul McCartney would later guest star in the season five episode "Homer's Barbershop Quartet" and the season seven episode "Lisa the Vegetarian" respectively. When the story of Marge's having a crush on Starr was pitched out, Roberts took the opportunity to write Starr into the script because he had always wanted to meet a Beatle. He then sent the script to Starr, who was then in southern France. Starr agreed to do the guest appearance after reading only two lines, and he told Roberts he would be able to do it when he visited Los Angeles a few weeks later. The staff was thrilled, and they immediately decided to expand his role. When Ringo arrived to record and saw the part was longer, he told the staff, “you’ve written me a bloody novel.” The Simpsons creator