DL LEGEND CAROL CHANNING IS DEAD TO ME

Publish date: 2024-05-15

I’m sorry the parade passed by

by Anonymousreply 2January 15, 2019 12:06 PM

So young. It's always sad to see the young ones called home.

by Anonymousreply 4January 15, 2019 12:13 PM

Sad news. I was afraid she wasn't well -- noticed last year there was no 97th birthday celebration, just a tribute with an impersonator.

by Anonymousreply 6January 15, 2019 12:16 PM

Still performing Hello, Dolly!, apparently.

by Anonymousreply 7January 15, 2019 12:19 PM

I thought she was already dead.

by Anonymousreply 9January 15, 2019 12:25 PM

So she's finally gone. RIP

by Anonymousreply 10January 15, 2019 12:30 PM

Whaddya bet they still wheel her out for another "Dolly" in 2020?

by Anonymousreply 11January 15, 2019 12:30 PM

She had a corny ass but she she couldn't live forever.

by Anonymousreply 13January 15, 2019 12:38 PM

Who else had this as their first exposure to La Channing?

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by Anonymousreply 15January 15, 2019 12:48 PM

My first exposure to Carol was SKIDOO, which I saw on local TV in the 1970s.

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by Anonymousreply 16January 15, 2019 12:50 PM

I'm glad I got to see her on Broadway in Hello, Dolly

by Anonymousreply 17January 15, 2019 12:52 PM

Skidoo reigns supreme as the ultimate Carol Channing experience.

The most glorious mess of a misguided movie ever put to celluloid.

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by Anonymousreply 19January 15, 2019 12:56 PM

Funny, three people have responded "let the light dimming debate begin." Can you imagine Broadway not dimming the lights for her?

by Anonymousreply 20January 15, 2019 12:57 PM

I hope she didn't go to the grave still wondering when she ate corn.

by Anonymousreply 21January 15, 2019 12:58 PM

Raspberries!

She was an outrageous personality at the level we seldom see today.

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by Anonymousreply 22January 15, 2019 12:59 PM

Dead? When did I eat death?

by Anonymousreply 23January 15, 2019 1:03 PM

Aww... All threads should be closed today.

by Anonymousreply 24January 15, 2019 1:04 PM

RIP to a memorable and vivacious lady. Who changed the way I think of corn and Broadway forever.

by Anonymousreply 25January 15, 2019 1:06 PM

Carol would've turned 98 on January 31.

by Anonymousreply 26January 15, 2019 1:06 PM

May her cashket be encrushted with djiamondge!

by Anonymousreply 28January 15, 2019 1:20 PM

At least Helen Lawson is still hanging on. She'll be ninety-seven this year, but is still gearing up for a production of MAME in Branson, MO.

by Anonymousreply 29January 15, 2019 1:27 PM

I think the only reason Helen is still hanging on is because she wants to say she outlived Jenny Stewart....who incidentally will opening BLIND MAN'S FOLLIES on Off-Off-Off Broadway this spring!

by Anonymousreply 30January 15, 2019 1:29 PM

She's inspecting the contents of her stool with St. Peter now. RIP

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by Anonymousreply 31January 15, 2019 1:32 PM

They can't be any worst than Margo Channing was in A Little Night Music last year. She actually fell asleep onstage. I can't believe that show is still touring Maine.

by Anonymousreply 32January 15, 2019 1:33 PM

[quote]noticed last year there was no 97th birthday celebration, just a tribute with an impersonator.

That's what killed her.

by Anonymousreply 33January 15, 2019 1:33 PM

Wave your little hands and whisper so long, dearie

You ain't gonna see me anymore ...

by Anonymousreply 34January 15, 2019 1:35 PM

[quote]noticed last year there was no 97th birthday celebration, just a tribute with an impersonator.

Did anyone notice the difference?

by Anonymousreply 35January 15, 2019 1:35 PM

Five.

Before I opened the thread I had a little guess how many posts in would be Olivia De Havilland’s response.

My god, I’m getting to know this shithole country too well.

by Anonymousreply 38January 15, 2019 1:37 PM

How's Eve Harrington doing?

by Anonymousreply 39January 15, 2019 1:37 PM

It's been over five years since Joan Fontaine's death.

by Anonymousreply 40January 15, 2019 1:38 PM

My God I'm amazed she hung on this long. I remember seeing her during a performance at Epcot in the late 90s and she was so slow and frail back then. Her husband (RIP) was in the audience and was "Weekend at Bernie's"-level alive. He had to be propped up and he would randomly grunt and mutter shit. That said, she was a great talent. DL should be sad...she was an icon.

by Anonymousreply 42January 15, 2019 1:39 PM

Frail in the late 90s? But wasn't she touring Dolly well into 1998?

by Anonymousreply 43January 15, 2019 1:41 PM

Oh, honey, don't think a little setback like death will stop her touring Dolly even now.

by Anonymousreply 44January 15, 2019 1:44 PM

Not up on TMZ yet, or ever I suppose.

by Anonymousreply 45January 15, 2019 1:44 PM

[quote]Five.

[quote]Before I opened the thread I had a little guess how many posts in would be Olivia De Havilland’s response.

Did you guys how many posts before the reference to corn?

by Anonymousreply 46January 15, 2019 1:45 PM

It's so nice to have you back where you belong !!!

by Anonymousreply 47January 15, 2019 1:45 PM

So sad, classy lady up to the end

by Anonymousreply 50January 15, 2019 1:48 PM

You can find some relatively recent interviews with her on YouTube and she didn't look frail at all.

by Anonymousreply 53January 15, 2019 1:53 PM

Does mean her tour is off?

by Anonymousreply 54January 15, 2019 1:55 PM

[Quote] Does mean her tour is off?

Far from it.

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by Anonymousreply 55January 15, 2019 1:58 PM

ME (to colleague at work): Carol Channing died. She was 97 CLUELESS COLLEAGUE: Oh, so sad. She looked great on the Golden Globes last week. So elegant...

by Anonymousreply 56January 15, 2019 1:58 PM

[quote]But wasn't she touring Dolly well into 1998?

I saw her in '95 and there wasn't a hint of a physical limitation. I don't really like the show, but she was so gosh-darned charming in it, it was a very enjoyable evening.

by Anonymousreply 57January 15, 2019 1:59 PM

Dirt? When did I eat dirt?

by Anonymousreply 58January 15, 2019 2:02 PM

Explain the corn reference, please.

by Anonymousreply 59January 15, 2019 2:02 PM

Diii- amonds are a girl's best friend... RIP Carol Channing.

by Anonymousreply 60January 15, 2019 2:05 PM

Is the corn story real or an urban legend?

by Anonymousreply 62January 15, 2019 2:08 PM

" I saw her in '95 and there wasn't a hint of a physical limitation."

Don't be silly. All of her music was transposed down several steps That's just the beginning of it.

But she was a trouper and she gave it her all, each and every time she stepped out on stage.

by Anonymousreply 63January 15, 2019 2:11 PM

Devastated (devastated!). She helped this young gayling become a proud gay swan. MARY! me all you want, but seeing her one-woman show in the mid-1990s made me realize exactly how gay I was. It was freshman year of college and I was a kid from the sticks living in the city, trying to figure out the world. An ad for her show caught my attention and I bought a front-row seat because it was available. I walked in with no real idea of who she was other than that she was famous for Dolly (which I hadn't even seen, yet). I walked away in awe at her comedic brilliance and old-time razzmatazz. A true legend and a true star. She was a delight.

by Anonymousreply 64January 15, 2019 2:13 PM

I thought of DL as soon as I heard this.

by Anonymousreply 65January 15, 2019 2:15 PM

She was very proud of her inclusion on Richard Nixon's list of enemies.

by Anonymousreply 66January 15, 2019 2:17 PM

Her funeral should be held at The World's Only Corn Palace in South Dakota.

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by Anonymousreply 67January 15, 2019 2:25 PM

Where did that corn thing come from?

by Anonymousreply 68January 15, 2019 2:31 PM

R26 I was hoping she would've made it to 100. Now I'm concerned for Betty White. She's only a year younger.

by Anonymousreply 69January 15, 2019 2:31 PM

That's sweet R64.

She always said she wanted to be buried on Geary Street, between the Curran and Geary theatres. I wonder if she will be.

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by Anonymousreply 70January 15, 2019 2:31 PM

R66 why did Nixon consider her en enemy?

by Anonymousreply 71January 15, 2019 2:31 PM

R56 LOL! Who was your colleague thinking of? Did you correct him/her?

by Anonymousreply 72January 15, 2019 2:32 PM

I'll always remember her bleating that Alice will feel much ba-aa-aa-aa-ter and turning into a sheep as one of the Queens in Through the Looking glass/ Jabberwocky.

by Anonymousreply 73January 15, 2019 2:32 PM

Someone Please explain the corn references.

by Anonymousreply 75January 15, 2019 2:42 PM

I worked at a theater where she performed for a week in 1997. Backstage, she was a frail, wobbly bundle of bones, wigs, and sequins, but when she walked on stage she'd immediately bloom into full vigor. From the audience she must have seemed ageless. It was remarkable to watch.

by Anonymousreply 76January 15, 2019 2:43 PM

"Dolly'll never go away..."

She lied.

by Anonymousreply 77January 15, 2019 2:43 PM

[quote] why did Nixon consider her en enemy?

Probably because she was a stanch Democrat who campaigned for LBJ (she sang 'Hello Lyndon' at the 1964 convention, I believe).

But Channing told a very funny story when asked about how she got on the enemies list.

During her nightclub act, she sang "Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend", and, at the end, she'd reach into her little clutch and pull out handful of little fake diamonds and toss them into the audience. As Channing tells it, one night once Pat Nixon was in the audience. Relating the story, Carol then turned to the audience and deadpanned 'I guess she must've caught one of the fake diamonds and had it appraised".

by Anonymousreply 78January 15, 2019 2:44 PM

^ s/b 'staunch', not stanch

by Anonymousreply 79January 15, 2019 2:45 PM

DL's "CORN? When did I eat CORN??" has been stolen by the best, including RuPaul.

by Anonymousreply 80January 15, 2019 2:47 PM

Carol Channing is the stuff of legends. Chorus boys for years have been dining out on stories about her peeing onstage during lifts, forcing them to yell out "Sawdust!" offstage to people hired to throw it down so the show (and dancing) could go on, etc.

Here's the corn legend, and a pretty good pot roast recipe...

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by Anonymousreply 81January 15, 2019 2:48 PM

And here's an entire DL thread on the subject!

For those of you asking about it, is your Google broken?

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by Anonymousreply 82January 15, 2019 2:49 PM

I always thought she was the one who had Lamb Chop.

by Anonymousreply 83January 15, 2019 2:51 PM

[quote] I worked at a theater where she performed for a week in 1997. Backstage, she was a frail, wobbly bundle of bones, wigs, and sequins, but when she walked on stage she'd immediately bloom into full vigor. From the audience she must have seemed ageless. It was remarkable to watch.

I have heard that about other elderly performers, specifically George Burns, Bob Hope, and Ethel Merman, and saw it happen in person when I saw Carole Cook recently at 54 Below. She entered through the audience, walking very tentatively on the arms of a waiter, and had a little trouble getting on stage. 'Oh dear,' I thought. 'This woman won't last 15 minutes', but as soon as the spotlight hit her, she dropped 30 years, and as she show went on, she got younger and more vibrant.

You're right, it's a remarkable thing.

by Anonymousreply 84January 15, 2019 2:51 PM

"All of her music was transposed down several steps That's just the beginning of it."

The songs were already in the contralto range. Any lower and she'd be singing BORIS GODUNOV.

by Anonymousreply 85January 15, 2019 2:56 PM

[quote] I have heard that about other elderly performers

Dietrich somehow managed it with support garments and a lot of smoke and mirrors.

by Anonymousreply 87January 15, 2019 3:01 PM

R84, so true about Carole! Still working in her 90s.

by Anonymousreply 88January 15, 2019 3:01 PM

Sad when such an iconic celeb dies at such an advanced age and is mostly forgotten at the time of their death.

by Anonymousreply 90January 15, 2019 3:22 PM

[quote]Sad when such an iconic celeb dies at such an advanced age and is mostly forgotten at the time of their death.

Not hardly.

by Anonymousreply 91January 15, 2019 3:23 PM

She outlived Stritch. Was she the last of the major broadway players from after WWII?

She really had a full life.

by Anonymousreply 92January 15, 2019 3:30 PM

R69. I think Queen Elizabeth and Betty White will see 100.

I hated that Channing didn’t quite make it but Joan Fontaine just missed it too.

by Anonymousreply 93January 15, 2019 3:33 PM

What an awesome life she lived. Smart, funny, and talented. I saw her give a one woman show in the village about 15 years ago. Her stories were utterly hilarious. Her adoring husband was in the audience prompting her if she lost her train of thought.

One of a kind!

by Anonymousreply 94January 15, 2019 3:44 PM

She should have gotten a Kennedy Center Honor.

Heck, LL Cool J has one.

by Anonymousreply 95January 15, 2019 3:44 PM

Her fan/publicist B. Harlan Boll announced her death. Here's an article about him that leads with what should be DL's official photo.

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by Anonymousreply 96January 15, 2019 3:45 PM

R72, she was thinking of Carol Burnett....

by Anonymousreply 99January 15, 2019 3:54 PM

When she didn’t make a public appearance at Bette’s “Dolly” I figured she was on her last legs.

She would have been 98 on 1/31. She shared a birthday with great broads Suzanne Pleshette and Tallullah Bankhead....and Justin Timberlake.

by Anonymousreply 100January 15, 2019 3:54 PM

R96 Who's that scary-looking queen in the far left?

by Anonymousreply 102January 15, 2019 3:57 PM

When I was a baby gay my parents took me to see Carol Channing in Hello Dolly. I still remember her performance got this day.

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by Anonymousreply 107January 15, 2019 4:13 PM

^^ performance to this day.^^

by Anonymousreply 108January 15, 2019 4:14 PM

[quote] When she didn’t make a public appearance at Bette’s “Dolly” I figured she was on her last legs.

Yeah and the photo of her visit with Bette seemed a bit forced.

I would guess Jerry Herman isn't long for this world either.

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by Anonymousreply 111January 15, 2019 4:25 PM

Bette looks like Carol's elderly carer in R111

by Anonymousreply 113January 15, 2019 4:29 PM

So how exactly did the whole corn reference get its start?

by Anonymousreply 114January 15, 2019 4:35 PM

Midler is elderly, isn't she? She's 73. She's not even a baby boomer.

by Anonymousreply 115January 15, 2019 4:37 PM

[quote]MARY! me all you want,

MARY! Me a Little

by Anonymousreply 116January 15, 2019 4:37 PM

She was really The Supreme Empress of Camp. Yes Judy was great and Liza was her successor but CC had the camp thing down pat. What a fabulous presence she had. CC was German, black and Jewish before being bi-racial and multi-cultural was all the craze. We will miss you Carol....you were one of a kind.

by Anonymousreply 117January 15, 2019 4:41 PM

Stahs are ageless R115 or we expect them to be, it's something of a surprise to see them looking weary, at least in posed shots.

by Anonymousreply 118January 15, 2019 4:42 PM

Lorelei was absolutely fun.

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by Anonymousreply 119January 15, 2019 4:45 PM

When I was young, I never quite understood why Carol Channing was such a big star. She just seemed so . . . odd to me. Then I saw her in the 10th anniversary production of "Hello, Dolly!" in 1974, with Eddie Bracken as Horace and Lee Roy Reams as Cornelius. Suddenly, it all made sense. She was magical on stage, and connected with her audience in a way I've seldom seem performers do since. By the curtain call, I had tears in my eyes from the sheer joy of her performance.

by Anonymousreply 120January 15, 2019 4:48 PM

Can we leave corn kernels on her grave?

by Anonymousreply 121January 15, 2019 4:51 PM

[quote]So how exactly did the whole corn reference get its start?

The story goes that she she had to poop backstage and forgot to turn off her mike.

by Anonymousreply 122January 15, 2019 4:51 PM

Didn't she have a gay husband?

by Anonymousreply 124January 15, 2019 4:57 PM

Yes R124 for many years. Charles Lowe, he was her manager and they were famously devoted to her image. A showbiz joke used to go 'Charles do you sleep with Carol?' 'Why, would it be good for her career?' they seemed an indestructible pair but Carol sued for divorce in the late 90's saying he'd been abusive, pissed her money away and they hadn't had sex since Eisenhower was president!

by Anonymousreply 125January 15, 2019 5:04 PM

She was an utter sweetheart and I'm sad she's gone, although of course she was a million years old when she died.

by Anonymousreply 127January 15, 2019 5:13 PM

R125 Then she rekindled an old middle school romance and they were married until his death several years ago. I thought that was sweet and fascinating. So much had changed since their youth! They went from being sweethearts in the 1930s, drifted apart for several decades, the reconnected and married in the early 2000s.

by Anonymousreply 129January 15, 2019 5:13 PM

I attended one of the several "final" broadway productions of Hello Dolly starring Carol - this was back in the '90s, I think. It was a Sunday matinee and while she was as marvelous the production was lackluster, the audience was on the edge of their seat every time she teetered downstage onto the narrow catwalk over the orchestra pit to belt out a tune.

The thrill of watching this legend was somewhat offset by the very real fear of her falling and breaking a hip. Thankfully there was a net over the pit to prevent the possibility of her taking the string section with her in a avalanche of old bones, hair and enormous teeth wrapped in a beaded gown and crowned in feathers.

What I remember most was the curtain call with Carol, center stage supported on wobbly heels by a phalanx of muscular gayling dancers, under what must have been 10 follow spots. The audience had dutifully leapt to their feet. Well not leapt exactly, it was more a slow creaking arthritic rise of the blue haired matrons into an rousing ovation for what must have been her millionth performance of Hello Dolly. In this beautiful moment of pure camp I turned to see a young boy, probably 10 or 11, standing on his seat with a look of pure rapture, his face bathed in the dazzling light reflecting off Carol's sparkling gown. A new theatre queen was born.

by Anonymousreply 130January 15, 2019 5:19 PM

Someone in the theatre thread said that Carole couldn’t walk and the last time she was seen in NY she was being linked along with a person on each arm. Looks like she couldn’t stand for a picture with Bette either but she seemed to be in good spirits and mentally aware so that’s good. She had a decent quality of life for a 95+ year old.

by Anonymousreply 131January 15, 2019 5:20 PM

HARMONIA GARDENS : CLOSED

by Anonymousreply 132January 15, 2019 5:26 PM

Here’s my first introduction to Carol Channing, from the Marlo Thomas and Friends’ “Free To Be... You And Me”.

It’s absolutely charming, and one of my favorite tracks on the album.

I still say “Maybe it ‘tis... and maybe it ‘tisn’t”.

RIP

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by Anonymousreply 133January 15, 2019 5:28 PM

I wonder why she got that drastic nose job before "Dolly"--I thought her real nose at r97 was pretty cool.

by Anonymousreply 134January 15, 2019 5:33 PM

She had been wobbly since turning 90 R131 . this is from Gypsy of the Year in 2010 and tho' she can stand any movement is maneuvered by helpers, this must have been her last Dolly performance I imagine, she was a game old bird.

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by Anonymousreply 135January 15, 2019 5:34 PM

The surprising thing from watching those clips of Skidoo was how tall she was. I hadn't realized it -- she was 5'9" or 5'10".

by Anonymousreply 136January 15, 2019 5:46 PM

[quote] this is from Gypsy of the Year in 2010 and tho' she can stand any movement is maneuvered by helpers, this must have been her last Dolly performance I imagine, she was a game old bird.

She did a slight appearance at Jerry Herman's Kennedy Center Honors and a few years ago did something on Fire Island with Tommy Tune and Justin Bond.

by Anonymousreply 137January 15, 2019 5:48 PM

I last saw her at the Renberg.

She was magnificent.

I believe the beaded dress she wore was older than she was.

Tiny little lady.

by Anonymousreply 139January 15, 2019 6:00 PM

And we're back with Stockard Channing, daughter of the great Carol Channing who we lost today at the age of 117. Stock Yard, your dear mom was famous for playing Auntie Mame but we all loved her the most when she was pulling on her ear to say hello to her mother at the end of her variety show. Anything to add about that?

by Anonymousreply 140January 15, 2019 6:00 PM

She did an appearance with Justin Vivian Bond at NYC town Hall for her 95th birthday ( I think ) , it was well worn anecdotes and a couple of song snatches, but all very vague and meandering, also she kept referring to the transitioned JV Bond as 'he' which was awkward but not picked up on for obvious senior reasons, tho' I expect a lot of the angry trans hating DLers would have approved. Was good to see her but she was barely there.

by Anonymousreply 141January 15, 2019 6:02 PM

Michael K. at his sadly swirling the drain Dlisted, wrote her obit. The corn story is of course mentioned. It also has the original statement from her publicist/friend

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by Anonymousreply 142January 15, 2019 6:18 PM

No, r143, because r142 was written in complete, grammatical sentences.

by Anonymousreply 144January 15, 2019 6:27 PM

Carol got the Tony, but Barbra got the movie.

Just as well, as the movie ... is trash.

by Anonymousreply 145January 15, 2019 6:46 PM

Did Carol and Barbra get along?

by Anonymousreply 146January 15, 2019 6:48 PM

Not sure how they got along in the decades after the movie. (Anyone?) They certainly feuded at the time. Carol begged for the part but Barbra got it. The studio execs had seen Carol in Thoroughly Modern Millie and didn't think she could pull Dolly off on the big screen. Our girl* was devastated.

*Of course Barbra is "our girl" as well

by Anonymousreply 147January 15, 2019 6:56 PM

[post redacted because linking to dailymail.co.uk clearly indicates that the poster is either a troll or an idiot (probably both, honestly.) Our advice is that you just ignore this poster but whatever you do, don't click on any link to this putrid rag.]

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by Anonymousreply 148January 15, 2019 6:59 PM

I remember her mostly from Thoroughly Modern Millie and talk shows like Merv Griffin.

My older sister tried to convince me Carol Channing was the singing voice in the Ice Bird commercial but I knew she was full of shit.

by Anonymousreply 149January 15, 2019 7:00 PM

R147, But, Carol beat out Barbra for the Tony Award that year.

by Anonymousreply 150January 15, 2019 7:01 PM

Carol always claimed she never saw the film version of Dolly.

by Anonymousreply 151January 15, 2019 7:02 PM

Here's the Ice Bird commercial

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by Anonymousreply 152January 15, 2019 7:02 PM

She was one of those performers who was an eccentric personality and had a real sense of fun about her. Those types are all but gone now, and it's too bad.

by Anonymousreply 153January 15, 2019 7:02 PM

I've never seen the film version either; how do they explain Barbra's young age in the film? Dolly Levi was supposed to be older, no?

by Anonymousreply 154January 15, 2019 7:03 PM

Does anyone remember DL's Cindy Adams used to locate Carol Channing by going to the ladies' room and waiting to hear the sound of niblets bouncing off the porcelain?

Those were good times.

by Anonymousreply 155January 15, 2019 7:05 PM

LBJ helped bring national attention to Hello, Dolly!. He and Lady Bird saw the show on Broadway, had the cast perform at the White House and used the title song for his 1964 campaign. I recall Carol attending Luci Johnson's wedding in an over-the-top neon outfit. LBJ continued to support Dolly when Pearl Bailey assumed the role.

by Anonymousreply 156January 15, 2019 7:10 PM

[post redacted because linking to dailymail.co.uk clearly indicates that the poster is either a troll or an idiot (probably both, honestly.) Our advice is that you just ignore this poster but whatever you do, don't click on any link to this putrid rag.]

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by Anonymousreply 157January 15, 2019 7:18 PM

Larry King. Paging Larry King. Please pick up the white courtesy phone.

by Anonymousreply 158January 15, 2019 7:19 PM

[quote] LBJ helped bring national attention to Hello, Dolly!.

I didn't need help from that vulgar old Texan

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by Anonymousreply 159January 15, 2019 7:20 PM

[quote] Not sure how they got along in the decades after the movie. (Anyone?) They certainly feuded at the time. Carol begged for the part but Barbra got it. The studio execs had seen Carol in Thoroughly Modern Millie and didn't think she could pull Dolly off on the big screen. Our girl* was devastated.

Carol was very angry about the movie. She felt Streisand and Sue Mengers hijacked her baby. I adore both but I'm not sure Carol was being fair, I don't think Carol would have landed the film even if Streisand had passed. Channing wrote about it in her book, claiming that she had never before than talked about it. I'm not sure if that's true either.

She also mentioned that every time she did Love Boat she did a victory dance on the 20th Century Fox Harmonia Gardens set. She also gleefully pointed out what a financial disaster the film was, but again I'm not sure that's fair. By 1969 an old fashioned movie musical like Hello, Dolly was going to a be a tough sell regardless of the star.

I don't think Streisand spoke much about the matter, she didn't really need to. She was a huge star. She did post on Twitter:

Carol was a true life-force…a kind and effervescent woman who never allowed the parade to pass her by! xo B

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by Anonymousreply 160January 15, 2019 7:21 PM

I was always told that Lady Bunny started the corn story in her act or something - but the link saying it started in the 60s would rebuke that. Hmmmm interesting.

by Anonymousreply 161January 15, 2019 7:24 PM

Oh, r132, I read your post and burst into tears.

by Anonymousreply 162January 15, 2019 7:26 PM

R145 I think Barbra won because most people associate the musical with the movie and Dolly with Streisand.

by Anonymousreply 163January 15, 2019 7:31 PM

Wasn’t she part black? Or was that just a rumor.

by Anonymousreply 164January 15, 2019 7:31 PM

No, she really was mixed-race. Her father was a light-skinned black man who could pass for white.

by Anonymousreply 165January 15, 2019 7:33 PM

She doesn't look 1/4 black at all.

by Anonymousreply 166January 15, 2019 7:34 PM

Photo of her and her parents. If her dad is black, then so is Kellyann Conway.

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by Anonymousreply 167January 15, 2019 7:36 PM

Channing told Wendy Williams back in 2010 that she didn’t know if it was true — and that she thinks her mother was playing a joke on her.

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by Anonymousreply 168January 15, 2019 7:39 PM

How’d she ever make it in show business. She seemed like one big lovable joke.

by Anonymousreply 170January 15, 2019 7:57 PM

R168 her Wikipedia lists her father as being half black.

by Anonymousreply 172January 15, 2019 8:00 PM

R12 And Carol herself admitted she thought her mother was joking with her.

by Anonymousreply 173January 15, 2019 8:05 PM

[quote] How’d she ever make it in show business. She seemed like one big lovable joke.

First of all, she had a very powerful voice, which was extremely necessary to becoming a big stage star before Broadway stages were miked. She had an oddball persona so it was hard to fit her into the right roles, and there were really only two she had enormous successes with--Lorelei Lee and Dolly Gallagher Lei--but she perfectly fit both parts in the public's mind.

She also started out playing sexpot roles, which is hard to imagine now particularly given how sexless she seemed in her later years. But Lorelei Lee is of course the sexpot to end all sexpots, and she did a big sexy number in a corset for "The First Traveling Saleslady." (She had signed a contract to do four pictures with RKO, but this--her first film in the contract--completely sank the studio at a crucial period.) Even in the Sixties in films like "Skidoo" and "Thoroughly Modern Millie" she was playing well-sexed characters and showing off her great legs.

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by Anonymousreply 174January 15, 2019 8:13 PM

This is a big voiced sexpot? Channing came to stardom as a comic performer. She was never considered sexy.

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by Anonymousreply 175January 15, 2019 8:20 PM

Sexy and comic are not mutually exclusive.

And have you ever seen the film of "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" or read the novel? Yes, it absolutely is a sexy part.

by Anonymousreply 176January 15, 2019 8:32 PM

Carol Channing, Ethel Merman, Ann Miller and Della Reese on "The Love Boat."

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by Anonymousreply 177January 15, 2019 8:33 PM

[quote][R147], But, Carol beat out Barbra for the Tony Award that year.

Yes, R150, that was me pointing that out at r145.

[quote][R145] I think Barbra won because most people associate the musical with the movie and Dolly with Streisand.

Oh I really can't agree -- to the extent that people know Dolly at all anymore it's at least as much because of Channing as Streisand. When I hear the song in my head, it's Channing's silly, wonderful voice singing it.

by Anonymousreply 178January 15, 2019 8:47 PM

Sexy and comic are not mutually exclusive, but when the performer in question is a beanpole with a mannish singing voice, "sexy" is part of the joke. Watch the clip above, with Channing between two chorus girls. One of the three is not the like the other two, and not just because one is the star of the show.

by Anonymousreply 179January 15, 2019 8:52 PM

My three Millennial coworkers have no idea who she is :-(

by Anonymousreply 180January 15, 2019 8:53 PM

I saw her in a play at the National Theater in Wash DC - late 80's? She was not the Carol Channing we all would recognize. She played this role not in that personality - she was a sophisticated, sarcastic, witty and smart woman. No funny brash voice, make up, etc. And she was really good. Thoroughly enjoyed her and the play. I think it's kind of sad that she didn't get to do that more.

by Anonymousreply 182January 15, 2019 8:55 PM

[quote]Does anyone remember DL's Cindy Adams used to locate Carol Channing by going to the ladies' room and waiting to hear the sound of niblets bouncing off the porcelain?

"Is that my dear Cindy Adams, passing stool as we speak?"

by Anonymousreply 184January 15, 2019 9:11 PM

[quote]When I hear the song in my head, it's Channing's silly, wonderful voice singing it.

R178 Oh, because YOU hear it that way, then it must be so for everyone. *eyeroll*

I'm no Streisand fan, but she is still a bigger name than Channing. Thus, her portrayal of Dolly and film are better known to the public. Well, those that enjoy movie musicals. 8 Years ago, I had a colleague who had 5-year-old triplets (2 boys, 1 girl). At the time, they were obsessed with the film versions of ANNIE, THE SOUND OF MUSIC, and HELLO, DOLLY! Those are the movies the mother enjoyed as a kid and introduced them to her kids. I gather that many young kids are watching HELLO, DOLLY! Not the majority, of course, but plenty of fledgling musical theater geeks.

by Anonymousreply 185January 15, 2019 9:45 PM

[quote] My three Millennial coworkers have no idea who she is :-(

Of course they don't. It's not young, culturally astute and full of cum.

by Anonymousreply 186January 15, 2019 9:51 PM

Anyone who watches Drag Race knows Carol Channing. She's been done at least twice on the Snatch Game.

by Anonymousreply 187January 15, 2019 9:54 PM

My Millennial coworkers are all straight men.

by Anonymousreply 188January 15, 2019 9:56 PM

Ryan Stiles also used to do here on "Who's Line Is It Anyway?"

by Anonymousreply 189January 15, 2019 9:58 PM

Yeah, let's just see how well known Barbra Streisand is to twenty year olds when she's 97.

by Anonymousreply 191January 15, 2019 10:02 PM

Millennial straight men not into theater probably have no idea of any man or woman on stage before last year. You know, o anyone not seen on television last month. So R.I.P. Miss Channing. The DL fairies screeching about Channing and corn are tiresome. Especially now. She was an excellent musical talent, created two iconic roles and gave theater fans many evenings of great pleasure.

by Anonymousreply 192January 15, 2019 10:05 PM

Was Channing Tatum named after her:

by Anonymousreply 193January 15, 2019 10:19 PM

R88, Carole is still sharp as a tack.

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by Anonymousreply 194January 15, 2019 10:20 PM

RIP, lovely lady. A very interesting interview, and a great performer.

by Anonymousreply 195January 15, 2019 10:21 PM

In the early 90's, Carol was in San Francisco with "Hello, Dolly!" She teamed up with a local news crew to go to see the house she grew up in. They started at her hotel with Carol running her mouth, then rode in a limo with Carol running her mouth, then stood in front of the house with Carol running her mouth.

It seems no one contacted the owner about this silly press event. Carol knocked and knocked on the door and no one answered. So Carol barged through the gate to go knock on the back door. As they all trouped into the yard, they encountered a middle-aged woman in a bathing suit, stretched out and catching a bit of sun. (Sometimes there is sun in San Francisco. Sometimes.) The woman shrieked, saw the cameras, and tried to cover herself. Carol barged up to her and instead of introducing herself, said, "Do you know who I am?"

And the startled woman blurted out, "Yes. Carol Burnett!"

Carol talked right over that, but I don't even remember what followed. It wasn't going to better than that,

by Anonymousreply 196January 15, 2019 10:29 PM

I would die to see that, r196!

by Anonymousreply 197January 15, 2019 10:32 PM

The Broadway League has announced that marquee lights of Broadway theaters will be dimmed in remembrance of Tony-winning actress Carol Channing, who passed away on January 15 at age 97. The lights of every Broadway theater will dim simultaneously at exactly 7:45pm on January 16, the date which marks the anniversary of the original Hello, Dolly! opening.

by Anonymousreply 199January 15, 2019 10:47 PM

Honestly, I thought she had died years ago and someone bumped an old post for the hell of it.

by Anonymousreply 202January 15, 2019 11:56 PM

R202 did you come here to rebuke whoever it was you thought had bumped an old thread?

by Anonymousreply 203January 16, 2019 12:09 AM

She sang some song her father taught her as a child and turns out the song is a negro spiritual. Ok not sure if that started the rumor that she was mixed race or if it just added fuel to it.

by Anonymousreply 205January 16, 2019 12:15 AM

I not only knew Carol but actually worked for her and Charles at one point. Yes, I have cocktail chatter for days if not months, but one can I say for a fact. Carol, when asked what she thought about the movie version of Dolly always had the same comeback- "Well, I've never seen it…"That shut up anyone who asked. I do know as a absolute fact, that not only did she see the film, owned a reel to reel copy of it (!!!!) but one night I made her tell me the real story. Basically, she was crushed by not being offered the film and held her Tony Award close a comfort. I had a ball with her and knowing she is really gone is surreal…RIP Carol, you'll never go away in our hearts.

by Anonymousreply 206January 16, 2019 12:22 AM

No R203. I came home, put on the tv and I saw it on the news.

You can take the stick out of your ass now.

by Anonymousreply 207January 16, 2019 12:29 AM

Carole Lombard Wore Khakis.

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by Anonymousreply 208January 16, 2019 12:36 AM

[quote]Basically, she was crushed by not being offered the film and held her Tony Award close a comfort.

R206 I bet it satisfied her to no end that she had beaten Barbra herself for that Tony.

by Anonymousreply 209January 16, 2019 12:43 AM

Are little girls called Carol(e) anymore, it’s a pretty name.

Channing was the true definition of a “personality”. Not the most talented but she was so darn likeable and unique she radiated light out over the audience. You left the performance with a warm feeling all over and for my money there’s no stage performer who can do that today. They’re technically perfect bowls of oatmeal. Fairwell ‘ol girl.

by Anonymousreply 210January 16, 2019 12:48 AM

FUN FACT: Carole Lombard's stage name originally didn't have the 'E.' It was a typo in the credits of one of her early films. She liked it so much, she decided to continue spelling her name like that.

by Anonymousreply 211January 16, 2019 12:54 AM

Carol’s son. Has he released a statement? Were they close?

Chan Lowe

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by Anonymousreply 213January 16, 2019 1:23 AM

God I was convinced she was going to live to see 100.

Rest in Peace Carol you were a true one off and a genuine star who sparkled.

by Anonymousreply 214January 16, 2019 1:25 AM

[quote]Carol’s son. Has he released a statement?

Has Susan Dey released a statement?

by Anonymousreply 215January 16, 2019 1:26 AM

[quote]I not only knew Carol but actually worked for her and Charles at one point. Yes, I have cocktail chatter for days if not months, but one can I say for a fact. Carol, when asked what she thought about the movie version of Dolly always had the same comeback- "Well, I've never seen it…"That shut up anyone who asked. I do know as a absolute fact, that not only did she see the film, owned a reel to reel copy of it (!!!!) but one night I made her tell me the real story.

r206 -- spill! Would love to hear some random CC stories.

Was she generous? Did you ever see her without makeup and wig? What was Charles like? Did she ever shit-talk anyone?

by Anonymousreply 216January 16, 2019 1:30 AM

It seems Carol stopped wearing wigs in her last decade and I, for one, was shocked to see that she had a perfectly nice full head of hair. The wigs seemd to be thrown out when she divorced her creepy husband Lowe and reconnected with her high school sweetheart.

My impression is that her last years were very happy.

by Anonymousreply 217January 16, 2019 1:40 AM

[quote]not sure if that started the rumor that she was mixed race or if it just added fuel to it.

When she was sixteen and was leaving for college, her mother told her that her father’s mother had been black.

by Anonymousreply 218January 16, 2019 1:45 AM

[quote]Has Susan Dey released a statement?

Susan’s too busy working on a statement she’ll release when Shirley Jones kicks. She likes being prepared.

by Anonymousreply 219January 16, 2019 1:51 AM

Carol and her middle school sweetheart then...

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by Anonymousreply 220January 16, 2019 1:59 AM

And at their wedding in 2003, seventy years later!

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by Anonymousreply 221January 16, 2019 2:00 AM

How wonderful, r221!

Thanks for posting the photos.

by Anonymousreply 222January 16, 2019 2:01 AM

Wasn't hubby #2 somehow connected to the Mervyn's department store chain?

by Anonymousreply 223January 16, 2019 2:02 AM

He was a handsome young man and she was infatuated with him in that picture. How lovely. I read their story in a book called “My Boyfriend’s Back”, it’s so nice they got some time together.

by Anonymousreply 224January 16, 2019 2:04 AM

I also thought she would make it to 100.

by Anonymousreply 227January 16, 2019 2:33 AM

Betty White turns 97 this week.

by Anonymousreply 228January 16, 2019 2:34 AM

She was one of the few Broadway stars who managed to become household names, even in households that would never go to see a Broadway musical. She was the first individual(not marching band) to perform at the Super Bowl halftime show. Also, surprisingly to me, she recorded two Country albums in the 1970's, that aren't horrible. She was a national treasure. I do wish that we would revere and treat our older stars with greater reverence like in the UK.

by Anonymousreply 230January 16, 2019 2:38 AM

I never understood the appeal of this woman. She always seemed unreal to me, more like a Muppet character than a human being.

by Anonymousreply 233January 16, 2019 2:43 AM

Carol does the Charleston at 18:30, but you MUST catch Miss Maureen Stapleton's jitterbug at 15:25!

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by Anonymousreply 234January 16, 2019 2:55 AM

[quote] Yes, I have cocktail chatter for days if not months,

Any time you want to dish, R206, we're here to listen

by Anonymousreply 235January 16, 2019 3:28 AM

As a kid I knew her mainly as a guest star on the Muppet Show (and who really is better to hang out with the Muppets) and then later on the Love Boat as Julie's aunt. I then saw a show of hers broadcast on PBS. That is when I saw how good she could be. Objectively not the greatest voice etc., but she had something that just drew you to her and her performance. She had an intangible star quality that must have been great to see live. Streisand was obviously very talented, but I can see how she lost the Tony to Carol. I bet Carol was a show-stopper every night in her initial run of Dolly.

by Anonymousreply 236January 16, 2019 3:49 AM

Muzzy in the Age of Aquarius

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by Anonymousreply 238January 16, 2019 4:08 AM

The Ultimate One-Hit Wonder.

by Anonymousreply 239January 16, 2019 4:13 AM

"Millennial straight men not into theater probably have no idea of any man or woman on stage before last year."

No straight man under 55 knows who Carol Channing is, unless they are pop culture buffs

by Anonymousreply 240January 16, 2019 4:20 AM

When I was a kid in the 80s Carol Channing was on tv fairly often.

by Anonymousreply 242January 16, 2019 4:23 AM

"She was one of those performers who was an eccentric personality and had a real sense of fun about her. "

Very true. And that's why she's remembered today. That's why she was 'fun' in Dolly.

What she didn't have, or have enough of, was real talent. The talent that makes and out and out star. No one could say she was multi-talented, a triple threat. She was loveable, kooky, daffy, etc., but that clownish grin can only take one so far.

by Anonymousreply 243January 16, 2019 4:30 AM

R240, no gay man under 55 knows who Channing is either.

by Anonymousreply 244January 16, 2019 4:31 AM

She released two albums in recent years, one devoted to spirituals, the other to patriotic tunes. You'd think they would be terrible or pure camp, but in fact the material was very well chosen and performed, and in the case of the former, quite moving.

by Anonymousreply 245January 16, 2019 4:37 AM

Gol-LY gee, JESUS!

I'm down on bended knee, JESUS!

JESUS, don't ever go awAAAAAY again!

by Anonymousreply 246January 16, 2019 4:46 AM

It must be asked, did her pussy stink?

by Anonymousreply 247January 16, 2019 4:48 AM

Thanks for the laugh R245!

by Anonymousreply 249January 16, 2019 4:51 AM

Liza’s still here; looked it up

by Anonymousreply 250January 16, 2019 5:09 AM

Of course she was talented, idiot. You don’t fill theaters for decades and send ‘em home in a warm glow without it.

by Anonymousreply 251January 16, 2019 5:51 AM

[quote]r15 Who else had this as their first exposure to La Channing?

Dear Goddess in Heaven....if there was a PRAY THE GAY IN movement, that would be the prime treatment tool.

[italic]1,000% results!

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by Anonymousreply 252January 16, 2019 6:07 AM

This is Peak Eldergay right here.

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by Anonymousreply 253January 16, 2019 6:12 AM

I know who she was, obviously, but I have no idea what I've seen her in. Never on stage. I guess "Love Boat" or some old talk shows in the 70s and 80s growing up. Maybe "The Muppet Show". And I remember one of my sisters doing an impersonation of her singing "Diamnonds".... but that's the thing: she was larger than life. And anyone paying attention knew who she was, you didn't have to see her in anything. She was just there...everywhere.

It saddens me, not that I knew her or her work well, but just to see another cultural icon of my youth pass on.

by Anonymousreply 254January 16, 2019 7:38 AM

People like R240 AND R244, with your "nobody knows who she was", what do you want an older woman to do to remain culturally relevant? Let's begin in 1995 when Channing was 74...from her mid-70s to her early 90s she was working:

--appeared with LL Cool J on the Tonys, appeared solo in several major awards shows and documentaries --released a memoir --recorded and released two albums (three, if you count the 90s Dolly re-record from the tour) --was the subject of a major documentary (LARGER THAN LIFE) --did appearances on RuPaul's Drag Race, The View (multiple), Wendy Williams, Kathy Griffin, Conan, Rosie, Letterman and Martha Stewart's TV shows --returned to Broadway in Dolly and did a national tour, including huge TV ops like the Macy's parade --lots of live appearances: Gypsy of the Year, Town Hall, benefits and concerts performing arts centers all over the USA --started a Foundation supporting arts in the schools --and was certainly a YouTube sensation with excerpts from the above as well as classics such as "Liza vs. Carol", "Jam Tomorrow", (1M+ views) ,"Raspberries", "Hello, Bank Robber"

I know, Mary! But from age 74 to age 92, near-constant major work: on Broadway, in concert, on television, and recordings/albums. Not bad for a septuagenarian-octogenarian-nonagenarian!

by Anonymousreply 255January 16, 2019 7:47 AM

[quote]r255 ...with your "nobody knows who she was", what do you want an older woman to do to remain culturally relevant?

Surely there was a part on a soap for her, as Crazy Aunt Martha or something?

True Story - in the 90s I was discussing what movie to rent with a friend, and she mentioned the searing drama about a missing child [italic]Without a Trace,[/italic] starring Kate Nelligan as a mom named Susan and Stockard Channing as her neighbor.

For some reason I thought she said CAROL Channing, and halfway thru I was like, "Where's Carol Channing?" We laughed and laughed about the idea of her playing the pop-eyed, concerned frau friend for YEARS, quoting lines with [italic]that slurry accent[/italic] of hers.

"Shushan. WHERE'SH ALEXSH???"

by Anonymousreply 256January 16, 2019 9:15 AM

I remember when she was on the What's My Line panel and everytime she got a no, she'd play the race card.

"Really John? No?, I suppose Dorothy would've got a no too eh?"

by Anonymousreply 257January 16, 2019 9:28 AM

"did appearances on RuPaul's Drag Race"

I think it was just the one.

The other one was Pandora Boxx.

by Anonymousreply 258January 16, 2019 10:29 AM

I was in the audience for a taping of the Flip Wilson Show when Carol Channing was a guest star. I wish I had a good story to tell about it, but the song she sang was not very memorable. But it was in her inimitable style and I was up close. The audience sort of surrounded the stage. Flip did Geraldine in one segment.

by Anonymousreply 259January 16, 2019 10:56 AM

The Pixar movie WALLE immortalized Hello Dolly. Funny thing is they showed no clips of Barbra who is clearly the best thing about it. The movie has its flaws and Streisand is too young but no one will sing the soundtrack better and it is entertaining. Far from being called trash.

I read that Throughly Modern Millie was a screen test for Hello Dolly. She got an Oscar nomination. Wasn’t that good enough ?

RIP Carol. You were one a kind.

by Anonymousreply 260January 16, 2019 11:34 AM

I knew the Lowes growing up. (Even stars have neighbors) Later I ran into Carol and she was using her cupie doll voice. It was fun to say, " Mrs. Lowe, I know your real voice." She was nice, but she had the distance that I think stars need to survive. I would love to hear what her son had to say.

R217, I think the reason for the wigs was that she was actually brunette.

by Anonymousreply 261January 16, 2019 11:55 AM

[quote]The Pixar movie WALLE immortalized Hello Dolly.

The Pixar movie WALLE immortalized the movie Hello, Dolly.

Fixed that for you, R260.

by Anonymousreply 262January 16, 2019 12:12 PM

As an old codger who still reads the paper in paper form, I was pleasantly surprised to see Channing's obituary on the front page of the NY Times "The Singular 'Dolly' Whose Smile Lit Broadway"

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by Anonymousreply 263January 16, 2019 12:50 PM

Streisand sounded excellent singing in Hello Dolly, and she looked great. While she was too young for the part, in costume she looked older. The problem was her Dolly was for the most part unlikable, which considering the character would be easy to do. She also seemed to want to infuse a bit of Mae West into the role for some reason.

by Anonymousreply 264January 16, 2019 12:56 PM

Thank you, paper of record, for recognizing Channing as THE SINGULAR DOLLY.

by Anonymousreply 265January 16, 2019 12:59 PM

I was surprised to learn she is part black.

by Anonymousreply 266January 16, 2019 1:00 PM

[quote]While she was too young for the part, in costume she looked older.

Yes. 27 instead of 26.

I liked the Mae West routine. As wrong as she is for the part, she's still giving an assured comic performance, and of course, knocking the songs right out of the ballpark.

by Anonymousreply 267January 16, 2019 1:11 PM

About the wigs... She wore them consistently going back to the 1950's. Carol was an entertainer, not a reporter, so absolutely nothing she said should be regarded as fact, but first and foremost a good story.

"Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" required her to be platinum blonde. For the Broadway run, a particular hairdresser in NYC maintained the blonde for her and things went well. When the show went on tour, Carol no longer had access to her NYC hairdresser. Before the opening of the show in Chicago, she went to a hairdresser to do the roots. As Carol told it, the chemicals used by the Chicago hair dresser were not the chemicals used by the NYC hair dresser and her hair was burned and began breaking off and falling out. She had use wigs to cover the mess created by the bleaching.

Whether the Chicago hair dresser had failed her, or her hair had just been bleached as much as it could handle, will probably never be known. But Carol was established as a blonde and a comic, and she did continue to tour. Wigs were the obvious answer to maintaining her signature hair while travelling extensively.

After she was no longer touring year in and year out, she ditched the wigs. Ann Miller did the same thing. When she no longer needed dance proof hair, she ditched the wigs, too.

by Anonymousreply 268January 16, 2019 1:17 PM

Is it because of Streisand that Dolly is now thought of (and usually cast) as a Jew?

by Anonymousreply 269January 16, 2019 1:20 PM

No, R269. No one thinks that at all, except for stupid people who ignore that fact that her maiden name is Dolly Gallagher.

Now, I'm not saying an actress should slather on an Irish brogue the way that Tovah Feldshuh did when she played Dolly. But Gallagher is a pretty good clue about Dolly's ethnicity. At least her father's, anyway.

by Anonymousreply 270January 16, 2019 1:26 PM

Why did Tovah use an Irish brogue? Isn't Dolly Irish-American?

by Anonymousreply 271January 16, 2019 1:30 PM

Unless Dolly was raised in Ireland she wouldn’t have a brogue. The American born Irish in NY do not speak with Irish accents. It was a very weird choice on Tovah’s part.

by Anonymousreply 272January 16, 2019 1:32 PM

R206 here…..So..the first time I met Carol was early morning at her suite at NYC's Regency Hotel where she lived while in the city.Charles let me in and told me that Carol was just waking up and please take a seat. I stated to walk around the living room when I heard her familiar rasp, turned around and there she was- wearing one of her husbands white dress shirts and nothing else. Nothing. No make up, no wig, nothing. She was completely unrecognizable. Handing me a hand written note of what she wanted me to help her with today- go to Macy*s and buy her a convection oven, go to Bloomingdales for a tube of Eliz. Arden Red lipstick, wash out her panties (!!!!!) in the sink, etc…she disappeared into the bedroom to literally "become" Carol Channing. This amazing transformation would take 3 plus hours- more on that later…anyway, as I was making myself busy Charles yells out at me from the bedroom "PAD AND PENCIL!" which I scrambled to find as he came into the living room dictating HIS orders for the day. He had just got out of the shower and was toweling himself off. Totally nude. Nude…. this is all happening in the first 15 minutes of my employ mind you…The days only got weirder and more hilarious. That time I made a gin martini for Ann Landers rather than vodka?????Hell hath NO fury like an alki with the wrong drink….

by Anonymousreply 273January 16, 2019 1:36 PM

R270, I have written this before, but the only reason for Gallagher was antisemitism prior to WWII. The producers of The Merchant of Yonkers insisted on the line because they were afraid that audiences would think the character too Jewish. Remember, many Americans, particularly NYers thought that Jews were trying to push us into a war. The line stuck in The Matchmaker and has been used ever since. However, the character was intended to be Jewish and it shows in the rhythms of her dialogue

This is straight from Thorton Wilder.

by Anonymousreply 274January 16, 2019 1:37 PM

Was the convection oven avocado green or harvest gold?

by Anonymousreply 275January 16, 2019 1:51 PM

Plus matchmaking was more of a Jewish thing, I don’t think the Irish went in for that sort of brokerage.

She probably would not have married a Jew around the turn of the century — people tended to keep to their own kind. And Jews would be particularly unlikely to marry Christians because of religious differences.

However if she was Irish around 1900 she may have come from Ireland as a child, and even if she were born here she might have still spoken with a brogue because there wasn’t the same sort of mixing and broadcast media that later existed to teach young people the generic “tv anchorman” accent.

by Anonymousreply 276January 16, 2019 1:53 PM

the connection oven was lime and aubergine

by Anonymousreply 277January 16, 2019 1:54 PM

Whatever, R274. The fact remains that the woman's name is Gallagher and any actress playing the part has to contend with it. As does any audience member.

Maybe her father was Irish and her mother was Jewish. And her father abandoned the family. And mother and daughter struggled on the Lower East Side. Maybe all of that. But it's a lot to play and for an audience to take in while watching a comedy. Carol Channing, Ginger Rogers, Martha Raye, Pearl Bailey, Phyllis Diller, Ethel Merman? Mary Martin? Ruth Gordon was baptized an Episcopalian. Shirley Booth?

The role is not closely associated with Jewish women. It's just not. Streisand and Midler.

by Anonymousreply 278January 16, 2019 1:54 PM

Ann Landers was an alkie?

by Anonymousreply 279January 16, 2019 2:02 PM

R272 Anne Bancroft also used an Irish accent when portraying 'Annie Sullivan' in THE MIRACLE WORKER... and pretty much anyone else who has played the part since. But fact is, Sullivan was born and raised in Massachusetts. At a young age (before she was 10), her mother died and father deserted the family, so she and her brother Jimmy became wards of the state. They were not raised by family. Her having an Irish brogue makes no sense.

by Anonymousreply 280January 16, 2019 2:05 PM

No if she was born here or came before puberty she would not have a brogue. Most Irish people don’t have a brogue anyway. The Dublin accent is as far from a brogue as you can get, the Cork accent would have to be subtitled for Americans and the midlands flat accent is similar to general American. Gallagher is a Donegal/northeast name so Dolly’s parents would have spoken Gaeilge in their home growing up. I was raised in an Irish ghetto and only those fresh off the boat had an accent. Everyone else had a New Yawk accent. Little kids developed the NY accent very fast when they arrived. And yes Ireland had matchmakers, still does in rural areas but it’s almost finished as a custom. There are matchmaking festivals like Lisdoonvarna that still place.

All that said Wilder’s explanation makes perfect sense. Dolly doesn’t have the essence of an Irish woman. She’s a very Jewish character no matter who is playing her.

by Anonymousreply 282January 16, 2019 2:11 PM

[quote] Liza’s still here; looked it up

Damn, I would have put money on Carol outliving and outlisping Lizsha.

by Anonymousreply 283January 16, 2019 2:11 PM

Seriously r281? An alcoholic.

by Anonymousreply 284January 16, 2019 2:14 PM

[quote]I was raised in an Irish ghetto and only those fresh off the boat had an accent. Everyone else had a New Yawk accent. Little kids developed the NY accent very fast when they arrived.

Italian not Irish, but Sophia Petrillo from The Golden Girls came to America as a young woman and didn't have a trace of an Italian accent.

by Anonymousreply 285January 16, 2019 2:16 PM

R284 never heard that term before. 'Alkie' made me think of 'Alka-Seltzer."

by Anonymousreply 286January 16, 2019 2:18 PM

Someone starts telling stories about working for Carol Channing and her husband and drops a tidbit about Ann Landers’ alcoholic fury, and everyone responds by arguing about a fictional characters ethnicity!

More real life stories from the personal assistant please! Who else did they hang out with? How long did you work for them?

by Anonymousreply 287January 16, 2019 2:20 PM

Back R287….I worked on and off for her for about 10 years, in NYC and on the road circa 1986-1996. One story I will never get over and repeat was this…I had done her ironing, her street clothes for the week, and after all was done in the suite went back to my apartment in Hells Kitchen. Around 10 pm that night I got a call from her asking if I could come right away to the hotel, no explanation given and I didn't ask, just hauled myself into a cab to the Regency. When I got to the room she was standing in the living room staring at me with a look of utter disappointment. I asked what was going on and she pointed to the ironing board I had accidentally left set up in the foyer. She pointed at it, not saying a word. I apologized for leaving it out, out it away in the hall closet and asked "Is that all?"…all she did was nod her head yes and said "See you in the morning"…Yes, I shlepped uptown to put her ironing board away. At 10 at night…..She never said another word about it…..I cooked for both her and Charles, kept her on schedule, did various chores. She was an delight most of the time, but very specific about her food…that a whole other thread…..

by Anonymousreply 288January 16, 2019 3:33 PM

Both Merman and Mary Martin were offered Dolly and turned it down before Channing got the role.

Back them Channing was seldom the first choice for any be role.

She proved everyone wrong.

by Anonymousreply 289January 16, 2019 4:16 PM

I could never be an assistant to a star or 'important' person, especially if they treated me like crap.

by Anonymousreply 291January 16, 2019 5:53 PM

[quote]In this beautiful moment of pure camp I turned to see a young boy, probably 10 or 11, standing on his seat with a look of pure rapture, his face bathed in the dazzling light reflecting off Carol's sparkling gown.

R131 did it look something like this?

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by Anonymousreply 292January 16, 2019 6:06 PM

R288, you cooked for them?

I seem to remember she was on a very strict regimen. Got any stories on that? Thanks

by Anonymousreply 293January 16, 2019 6:10 PM

A little of her went a long way. None of the people I work with who are younger than 40 knew who she was. Then again, a 34 year old who watches current movies and Netflix all the time had never heard of Mommy Dearest or Joan Crawford.

I saw the doc on her and she mentioned she shouldn't have had a child. Broadway being all consuming and all or some such shit. I don't think she has a good relationship with her son. I think there is some darkness behind all her sweet frothyness.

by Anonymousreply 294January 16, 2019 6:29 PM

R292 is that Prince William's son?

by Anonymousreply 295January 16, 2019 6:32 PM

[quote] she pointed to the ironing board I had accidentally left set up in the foyer.

Why would you do such a thing?!

by Anonymousreply 296January 16, 2019 6:32 PM

[quote] Has Bette chimed in?

From the Los Angeles Times

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by Anonymousreply 297January 16, 2019 6:42 PM

We had a hilarious thread long ago with Carol Channing singing an ode to gay porn to the tune of "That's Entertainment."

by Anonymousreply 298January 16, 2019 7:19 PM

[quote]No if she was born here or came before puberty she would not have a brogue.

Depends on when she came. If in the late 19th century, yes she certainly would.

[quote]Most Irish people don’t have a brogue anyway.

"Don't" has nothing to do with this conversation about a character from 120 years ago.

by Anonymousreply 299January 16, 2019 7:25 PM

[quote]Italian not Irish, but Sophia Petrillo from The Golden Girls came to America as a young woman and didn't have a trace of an Italian accent.

For fucks sake, that character was fictional and played by a senile actress.

IIRC she came to America as a teenager? She sure as fuck would have had an Italian accent, all her life, were she a real person. Which SHE IS NOT.

by Anonymousreply 300January 16, 2019 7:29 PM

NEITHER IS DOLLY GALLAGHER LEVI

by Anonymousreply 301January 16, 2019 9:52 PM

She provided her own voice!

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by Anonymousreply 302January 17, 2019 1:17 AM

[quote]r275 That time I made a gin martini for Ann Landers rather than vodka?????Hell hath NO fury like an alki with the wrong drink….

You should have singsonged, [italic]"Ya don't get'cha vodka cuz ya didn't drink ya gin-gin..."

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by Anonymousreply 303January 17, 2019 1:23 AM

Why do you suppose Thorton Wilder named the character Dolly Gallagher LEVI if there was fear of ant-Semitism? He didn't have to use a name like Levi at all. It seems like very muddled thinking no matter what Thorton said.

by Anonymousreply 304January 17, 2019 1:30 AM

[quote]She was an delight most of the time, but very specific about her food…that a whole other thread…..

In James Kirkwood's book, he said she only ate bluefish from Tupperware. That was her diet.

More stories, CC PA!

by Anonymousreply 305January 17, 2019 1:36 AM

I'm not mad at you, assistant, I'm mad at the ironing board...!

by Anonymousreply 306January 17, 2019 1:48 AM

Awfully grand acting for a women who pretty much played one character all her life. I would have told her to shove the iron and board up her scrawny ass.

by Anonymousreply 307January 17, 2019 1:51 AM

Can we get rid of straight chicks like r307?

by Anonymousreply 308January 17, 2019 1:58 AM

I am guy, but "chicks"? I say get rid of everyone over 80- but then things would be rather quiet.

by Anonymousreply 309January 17, 2019 2:00 AM

Which one of you bitches will be the first to put a can of corn on her grave?

by Anonymousreply 310January 17, 2019 2:24 AM

Corpse? When did I turn corpse?

by Anonymousreply 311January 17, 2019 2:39 AM

I still can't imagine Betty Lynn as Dolly.

by Anonymousreply 312January 17, 2019 2:41 AM

[quote] She was very proud of her inclusion on Richard Nixon's list of enemies.

Oh good, so left of center at the very least. Carol was really quite beautiful in her prime, and funny too.

by Anonymousreply 313January 17, 2019 2:43 AM

[quote]The Pixar movie WALL-E immortalized the movie Hello, Dolly.

Fixed that for you, R262.

by Anonymousreply 314January 17, 2019 3:02 AM

Nobody wants to know what was on her iPod?

by Anonymousreply 316January 17, 2019 3:53 AM

[quote]r313 Carol was really quite beautiful in her prime

Really?

I think she looks disturbingly like Tori Spelling.

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by Anonymousreply 317January 17, 2019 4:00 AM

With that mouth, she probably gave a hell of a blow job.

by Anonymousreply 318January 17, 2019 4:50 AM

R317 I've always found Tori Spelling attractive, batshit crazy, but attractive.

by Anonymousreply 319January 17, 2019 4:54 AM

She was an absolute doll....

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by Anonymousreply 322January 17, 2019 5:08 AM

Weirdo Johnny Depp said he wanted to play Carol in a movie. Claims he used to dress up as her as a kid. He's also claimed all his movie characters are drag queens, so maybe it would've worked, before he lost it,

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by Anonymousreply 323January 17, 2019 5:08 AM

Channing went to the same San Francisco high school as Pauline Kael. They were both in the debating club and went up against each other at least once. Kael said she won.

by Anonymousreply 325January 17, 2019 5:15 AM

Sounds almost like the way Joan Crawford treated Christina R288.

by Anonymousreply 326January 17, 2019 5:51 AM

"Her having an Irish brogue makes no sense."

It does, but you need to know the backstory.

Having played Gittel Mosca in TWO FOR THE SEESAW and essaying a Noo Yawk accent for two years, Bancroft could not shake the inflection when she went into rehearsal for THE MIRACLE WORKER. Arthur Penn cleverly and helpfully suggested she do a brogue and, well, the rest is history.

by Anonymousreply 327January 17, 2019 6:09 AM

[quote] The problem was her Dolly was for the most part unlikable, which considering the character would be easy to do.

Well, the thing about a truly great Dolly, in either The Matchmaker or Hello, Dolly!, is that you never know whether you want to smack her or hug her. Usually at the same time.

[quote]She also seemed to want to infuse a bit of Mae West into the role for some reason.

David Merrick offered the role to West on Broadway as one of Channing's replacements. Negotiations ended after she demanded to rewrite Dolly's lines for herself and Merrick wouldn't consider it.

The first production I saw of Dolly was a bus and truck tour in the late 1960s starring starring Yvonne De Carlo and she was WONDERFUL. She played the part with an Irish accent (I'm not sure what constitutes a brogue) and it worked just fine.

As for an Irish person not marrying a Jewish person, that was one of the great theatrical tropes (memes) of the first half of the twentieth century. Abie's Irish Rose was the longest running Broadway show for nearly two decades. filmed twice, and it was a comedy about an Irish girl in love with a Jewish boy. I always thought Wilder's reference to an Irish woman marrying a Jewish man was a sly reference to that despite the alternative story told above. Wilder said he was thinking of the theater of his childhood when he wrote The Matchmaker (note the major plot similarities to A Trip to Chinatown which aren't in the official source materials).

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by Anonymousreply 328January 17, 2019 6:09 AM

^ The original draft of West Side Story was titled East Side Story and it was about a Catholic girl in love with a Jewish boy on the Lower East Side. One reason that concept was abandoned and the story turned into rival gangs on the Upper West Side was that Laurents, Bernstein, Sondheim and Prince were worried it would make people think of Abie's Irish Rose.

by Anonymousreply 329January 17, 2019 6:15 AM

[quote]r325 Channing went to the same San Francisco high school as Pauline Kael. They were both in the debating club and went up against each other at least once. Kael said she won.

[quote]r326 Sounds almost like the way Joan Crawford treated Christina

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by Anonymousreply 330January 17, 2019 6:30 AM

[quote]She was an delight most of the time, but very specific about her food…that a whole other thread…..

I want to hear more about Carol's dietary habits.

Is it true that when she was doing Dolly in the mid-90s that she stopped in where the chorus girls were changing and asked if she could have a tampon?

When asked if she still was having her "monthly visitor," Carol replied, "Oh heavens no! I'm just having a little trouble with diahrrea."

by Anonymousreply 331January 17, 2019 11:59 AM

Me too as I presume that she never ate corn

by Anonymousreply 332January 17, 2019 12:04 PM

Through her life she had severe food allergies which she managed by monitoring her diet. She was upfront about it. If she was invited to a dinner party, she told the host in advance that she was bringing her own food.

Food allergies are not entirely constant and not entirely predictable. The things to which one is allergic can change over one's lifetime and so may have Carol's efforts to manage her allergies. But that was an issue for her.

by Anonymousreply 333January 17, 2019 1:18 PM

I was surprised to learn she had African American ancestry.

But I think you can see a bit more of that in photos when she was younger. Not so much as she aged.

by Anonymousreply 335January 17, 2019 3:16 PM

I once heard Carol refused to put away ironing boards.

by Anonymousreply 336January 17, 2019 3:17 PM

R335 I thought she said that was a joke on her mother's part?

by Anonymousreply 337January 17, 2019 4:07 PM

All this scat talk is making me hot. What I really want to know is if she had a glass coffee table. Did she?

by Anonymousreply 339January 17, 2019 5:43 PM

One can't help but wonder if the "food allergies" were a part of Charles Lowe's micromanagement of her, as these items about her unusual habits did not surface until after she'd achieved and maintained stardom. James Kirkwood talks about it in Diary of a Mad Playwright, though he doesn't mention tap water as the source of the allergies. It was mentioned in several postmortems that she claimed she had an allergy to "something in tap water" so all her food had to be prepared with bottled water.

The food allergies apparently went away after Lowe died. The clips of her on daytime news being asked how many times she had sex with Charles (when she went public with those accusations during their divorce) have disappeared. It was just so odd to hear CC talking about intercourse and penetration and all that, and to see the anchors/hosts talk question her about it and try to pin her down.

One thing the obits did finally answer is that what ultimately happened with Charles is that their divorce didn't go through because it didn't have to, he died while they were in the midst of getting divorced.

R288 can you tell us more about the food? The way she hints around it in Just Lucky I Guess made it sound like she might have had some sort of eating disorder, but that would have come to light by now if it were true.

R206 R268 R273 tell us more. And R268 is absolutely right, very little that Carol said in an interview can really be taken as gospel truth (including the stuff about her ethnicity, which she stated as more or less fact in her book but then walked back from a bit in later interviews) she was a storyteller.

Where is the audiobook of Just Lucky I Guess? It was definitely recorded but never commercially released;since the book had a major publisher, one would guess that's who owns the recordings now. There was a brief, private release of it through Harry & Carol's Arts Foundation website. There is an excerpt from it on one of the Hello, Dolly OBC reissues as well.

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by Anonymousreply 340January 17, 2019 7:05 PM

What brand of tampon did she use in her ass?

Was it a one time thing or did she use them regularly whenever she had diarrhea?

If nobody had a tampon, what did she use instead?

Dying to know.

by Anonymousreply 341January 17, 2019 7:29 PM

I'm sssssssstill dead bitchessssss!

by Anonymousreply 343January 17, 2019 10:53 PM

[quote]Very little that Carol said in an interview can really be taken as gospel truth (including the stuff about her ethnicity, which she stated as more or less fact in her book but then walked back from a bit in later interviews) she was a storyteller.

At least she was up front about it. When the book came out, she joked to someone at a signing, "It's the most disorganized book ever written—don't buy it."

by Anonymousreply 344January 17, 2019 10:59 PM

R130, the reason for the net over the orchestra pit was to protect the musicians when the dancers jump over it during the "Hello, Dolly!" number.

by Anonymousreply 345January 17, 2019 10:59 PM

What were Carol's best songs?

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by Anonymousreply 346January 18, 2019 1:56 AM

Button up your overcoat. Always cheers me up.

by Anonymousreply 347January 18, 2019 1:58 AM

It won the Razzie for Worst Song, but I have a soft spot for it.

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by Anonymousreply 349January 18, 2019 2:41 AM

So did they dim the lights on Broadway or not?

by Anonymousreply 351January 18, 2019 3:08 AM

Eldergay here. Here's a story I heard several times from then eldergays in the early 1970s when I arrived in Manhattan as a young twink:

In the later 1940s, but before Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Carol was walking down 8th Ave. in the West 40s. Two beat cops saw her and were convinced she was a drag queen. (Until the 1970s it was illegal to appear in public dressed in the clothes of the opposite sex except on Halloween.) After questioning her, and hearing her voice, they took her in to the station. She wasn't released until she had been strip searched by a matron, who confirmed she was female.

I can't find a thing on google to confirm the story but it was a well known one 40 years ago.

by Anonymousreply 353January 18, 2019 5:02 AM

^ Sorry, I should have mentioned that drag was also allowed onstage during a performance, more than partly because of turn of the last century "female illusionist" Julian Eltinge, who was the Queen of Broadway in more ways than one.

by Anonymousreply 354January 18, 2019 5:18 AM

r353 I can believe it. Carol Channing was 5'9" and in the 1940s that was tall for a woman.

by Anonymousreply 355January 18, 2019 5:22 AM

That's still relatively tall for a woman. At least an actress. They're all about 5' 6" or so...

by Anonymousreply 356January 18, 2019 5:25 AM

[quote]Julian Eltinge, who was the Queen of Broadway in more ways than one.

How do you mean?

by Anonymousreply 358January 18, 2019 6:00 AM

The google is your friend

by Anonymousreply 359January 18, 2019 6:11 AM

[quote[The musical is still being staged across the U.S., and its touring cast, including new star Betty Buckley, said Tuesday’s performance in San Diego would be dedicated to Channing.

Wonder if Betty showed up for that one?

by Anonymousreply 360January 18, 2019 7:11 AM

Betty Buckley as Dolly is sacrilege.

More stories from the PA, please!

by Anonymousreply 361January 18, 2019 7:18 AM

R335 Yeah, her dad was black.

by Anonymousreply 362January 18, 2019 7:57 AM

r338 Carol Channing was[italic] behind the plot to assassinate Robert Kennedy ? ? ?

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by Anonymousreply 363January 18, 2019 8:08 AM

[quote]Sorry, I should have mentioned that drag was also allowed onstage during a performance, more than partly because of turn of the last century "female illusionist" Julian Eltinge, who was the Queen of Broadway in more ways than one.

Even on stage, the performer had to wear at least three articles of men's clothing.

by Anonymousreply 364January 18, 2019 11:42 AM

I have a copy of Just Luky I Guess but never got around to reading it.

Looks like I may have to start...

by Anonymousreply 365January 18, 2019 1:22 PM

They updated one of the video billboards on I-94 around Ann Arbor with a huge picture of Carol and "Goodbye, Dolly." So sweet but kind of weird. Must have been a super fan who paid the cash for that.

by Anonymousreply 366January 18, 2019 1:29 PM

Something like that appeared in Albany, NY, too.

by Anonymousreply 367January 18, 2019 1:48 PM

I heard a Carol story this week. A good friend of my BFF was a VP of Dick Clark Productions. Back in the early 90s, Dick couldn't make a charity lunch and asked VP if he wanted to go in his place- he was sitting next to Carol.

Of course he wanted to go, so he finds his seat and Carol says Who are you? He intoduces himself and says I'm here for Dick. Carol replied, Aren't we all!

by Anonymousreply 368January 18, 2019 2:48 PM

In honor of Carol, let's all keep our ironing boards by our front doors all weekend.

by Anonymousreply 370January 18, 2019 4:30 PM

Can't we just whip up a batch of corn chowder instead?

by Anonymousreply 371January 18, 2019 4:56 PM

R362 didn't she take back that claim? Or am I thinking of someone else?

by Anonymousreply 372January 18, 2019 5:23 PM

I had read that she had sexual relations with a young Bruce Willis. Is there any foundation for this claim?

by Anonymousreply 373January 18, 2019 5:28 PM

Please, Bruce was a young bartender fucking hotties. I doubt he was interested in a dried up snatch.

by Anonymousreply 374January 18, 2019 5:49 PM

Let's donate things to the Carol Channing Museum.

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by Anonymousreply 378January 18, 2019 10:22 PM

People remember her for being loopy and fun, but in her day she was also hot, and her day was a long one.

by Anonymousreply 379January 18, 2019 10:25 PM

r376 There's something vaguely Tonya Harding-ish about her younger face (??)

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by Anonymousreply 382January 19, 2019 12:52 AM

But you'd have to walk around with your arms at your side all the time!

by Anonymousreply 386January 19, 2019 3:15 AM

Did they play this at her funeral service?

I guess Stritchy stole her costume idea . . .

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by Anonymousreply 388January 19, 2019 3:37 AM

If I had to endure that stupidly stale show, Pearl Baily's the one I'd have liked to see.

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by Anonymousreply 390January 19, 2019 3:42 AM

I think it's reasonable to believe that a young and ambitious Bruce Willis might have sex with a living legend, even if she was past her prime…

by Anonymousreply 391January 19, 2019 7:25 AM

Past her prime, before Bruce was born.

by Anonymousreply 392January 19, 2019 7:31 AM

Sunday Morning appreciation

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by Anonymousreply 393January 20, 2019 5:24 PM

There are thousands of amazing and pretty singers that attempt get on broadway. People critique her talent but she has the it factor and is a true performer. I do wonder how much she would have succeeded now but I suppose it's pointless to compare different time periods.

by Anonymousreply 394January 20, 2019 5:33 PM

r394 a good number of big stars from other eras would never make it today. Bette Davis, for example, probably couldn't get arrested in Hollywood if she were a young actress now.

by Anonymousreply 395January 20, 2019 5:35 PM

Carol Channing would be equally successful if she started today. She was extremely talented and genuinely original. She capitalized on those things by paying attention to business and working like a ditch digger. With all that, if she started today she couldn't miss.

by Anonymousreply 397January 20, 2019 5:58 PM

Wouldn't it be more culturally [italic]relevant[/italic] (and perhaps, artistically demanding) for Faye Dunaway to play Channing on Broadway, rather than the upcoming plans she has to do Katharine Hepburn?

THINK about it...

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by Anonymousreply 398January 20, 2019 6:10 PM

I saw Lorelei at the Palace. At the intermission I thought it was the most inane wasteful musical I had ever seen. I stayed for the second act and was completely won over. Musical comedy silly nonsense that I really miss. You left feeling really happy.

by Anonymousreply 399January 20, 2019 6:26 PM

Cartoon character and known for a corn dump? Prune in a bad wig.

by Anonymousreply 400January 20, 2019 8:33 PM

Brain full of spiders, heart an empty hole.

by Anonymousreply 401January 20, 2019 8:40 PM

Enjoyed it as well, r399. The framing device worked and the sets and costumes were nice and splashy.

by Anonymousreply 402January 20, 2019 8:47 PM

I'm a little worried about Betty. There was a lot of fanfare and taped interviews and appearances for her birthday last year. This year barely a blip...

by Anonymousreply 404January 21, 2019 5:28 AM

Didn’t she make a big appearance on an award show ?

by Anonymousreply 405January 21, 2019 9:24 AM

There comes a point where the most visible of them goes into seclusion. I remember when it happened to Bacall. Suddenly no more interviews even though you know they haven't died.

by Anonymousreply 406January 22, 2019 3:20 AM

Liza's like that now, r406.

Offhand, the only big star I can think of who was still out there in public until the bitter end was Bette Davis. She appeared at that film festival in Spain just days before she died.

by Anonymousreply 407January 22, 2019 3:49 AM

They're still airing an annoying ad on the SiriusXM Broadway channel for Julie James's show -- and it features Carol Channing (among others.) Inappropriate!

by Anonymousreply 408January 22, 2019 5:00 AM

Davis was one who should have gone into seclusion. She was a walking cadaver. I couldn't look at her when she made her talk show appearances.

by Anonymousreply 409January 22, 2019 11:09 PM

[quote]I couldn't look at her when she made her talk show appearances.

How come?

by Anonymousreply 410January 22, 2019 11:20 PM

R409 probably never visited his grandmothers.

by Anonymousreply 411January 22, 2019 11:22 PM

[quote]r406 There comes a point where the most visible of them goes into seclusion. I remember when it happened to Bacall. Suddenly no more interviews even though you know they haven't died.

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by Anonymousreply 412January 22, 2019 11:32 PM

My grandmother didn't go on David Letterman. Davis was very obviously incapacitated by her terrible stroke, horribly shriveled and a barely ambulatory shadow of the woman she had once been.

by Anonymousreply 413January 22, 2019 11:33 PM

She was still hilarious, though. And very sharp.

by Anonymousreply 414January 22, 2019 11:45 PM

[quote]The line stuck in The Matchmaker

Why would it "stick" in The Matchmaker? Thorton Wilder wrote both plays. If he didn't want it there, he certainly didn't need to use it.

by Anonymousreply 415January 23, 2019 12:05 AM

[quote]Offhand, the only big star I can think of who was still out there in public until the bitter end was Bette Davis.

Beatrice Lillie was appearing into her 80s, even though dementia kept taking its toll. (Ask Julie Andrews about the frustrations of working with Bea on "Thoroughly Modern Millie.")

It all came to an end when she showed up at a Lincoln Center tribute, came out onstage to wild applause, and promptly released one of her breasts from her dress, delighted by the embarrassed laughs she got. That was it. She lived for another ten years, but was never seen in public again.

by Anonymousreply 416January 23, 2019 12:10 AM

R416 was she ostracized for that?

by Anonymousreply 417January 23, 2019 12:33 AM

Liza does Facebook videos (sometimes singing) and pics with Michael Feinstein that he posts on his page all the time, she's fine.

by Anonymousreply 418January 23, 2019 12:36 AM

Channing did a video thanking fans for the cards and gifts for her 95th birthday and one can tell though for the most part coherent she's suffering from early signs of dementia.

I saw her at a benefit performance of the film of Thoroughly Modern Millie at the Astor Plaza. Joel Siegel introduced the film and for some completely idiotic reason which no one knew proceeded to trash the movie. Ok he didn't like it. But then don't introduce it to a theater packed with adoring fans. Channing then got up to speak and in the most eloquent classiest way possible proceeded to demolish him. I was completely wowed by how she had him completely reduced to stuttering with seemingly no effort.

by Anonymousreply 419January 23, 2019 1:27 AM

"Just suck my big black dick Mr. Siegel!" never sounded classier R419.

by Anonymousreply 420January 23, 2019 5:08 AM

He folded like an ironing board.

by Anonymousreply 421January 23, 2019 6:43 AM

[quote]was she ostracized for that?

I don't think ostracized is the right word. I just think it became apparent to everyone, and especially to her "handler," John Huck, that she had passed the point of being able to act rationally in highly public situations.

by Anonymousreply 423January 23, 2019 10:30 AM

Big Deal, R416, Joyce DeWitt does the same exact thing every Tuesday in the frozen foods section at the Vons on Sunset...

by Anonymousreply 424January 23, 2019 10:34 AM

[quote]It all came to an end when she showed up at a Lincoln Center tribute, came out onstage to wild applause, and promptly released one of her breasts from her dress, delighted by the embarrassed laughs she got.

We need more celebs doing antics like these. Makes for some helluva fun stories.

by Anonymousreply 425January 23, 2019 12:29 PM

Lillie who was very close to Gertie in their early years was definitely going to be a character in Star! She herself was a Cochran star in the West End and Broadway in the 20s and 30s.

When she and her agent met with Robert Wise he was astonished to learn that if she were to be a character she was to play herself. This was after Millie so not would she have been even older but even more forgetful. Hardly what he was looking for as a young comic star taking the theatrical world by storm. The character was completely eliminated. What would they have done if Noel insisted on the same thing? So we got the far more handsome surprisingly straight(in real life) Daniel Massey.

by Anonymousreply 426January 23, 2019 3:16 PM

R419, I was there, too, for that screening. Carol waited her turn, took the microphone, and then dismantled Joel Siegel, point by point. To enthusiastic applause. 'Here's your ass, buddy. Hit the road.'

by Anonymousreply 427January 24, 2019 4:17 AM

When you get older you need to stop judging people on their looks. Yes Bette looked very frail but mostly she was still Bette Davis. I think her problem is she had to work. A doctor had told her to stop and she was aghast. She had no business going to Spain...

I remember James Gandofini died on a trip to Spain or Italy. Of course he was a lot younger than Bette but very overweight. Long walks in the heat probably killed him.

by Anonymousreply 428January 24, 2019 6:04 AM

I don't remember Here's your ass buddy. Hit the road. Except in attitude. I remember her being quite civil and even giving him a polite but cold hand shake at the end. Still she had the guy looking like a fool in front of 1,500 people which was hilarious.

by Anonymousreply 429January 24, 2019 10:41 PM

Remember r428, she did it the hard way.

by Anonymousreply 431January 27, 2019 3:47 PM

[quote]A doctor had told her to stop and she was aghast. She had no business going to Spain...

Davis knew she was terminal and was going to die very soon, so why not go to that film festival in Spain for one last hurrah?

by Anonymousreply 433January 27, 2019 5:08 PM

On youtube there is a skit from perhaps a Cochran review with Lupino Lane and Bea as Napoleon and Josephine which I find hilarious though from the comments underneath most people don't.

by Anonymousreply 434January 27, 2019 5:35 PM

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