HAPPY 89th Birthday, Carol Channing!
I want to take this moment to say THANK YOU for all the joy you have given to me and the world. You have made my journey on this planet a lot nicer by your very being!
Obviously, I'm not the only one who performs as Carol Channing! There is also Alan Palmer!
'Fabulous Divas of Broadway' Starring Alan Palmer Plays Josephine Theatre (Source: BROADWAYWORLD.COM)
The Fabulous Divas of Broadway starring Alan Palmer will play at the Josephine Theatre from February 12-14, 2010.
Friday, February 12 at 8:15pm?(Also on 2/13 at 8:15pm and 2/14 at 2:30pm )
Direct from a hit Off-Broadway run, the acclaimed Fabulous Divas of Broadway is a one-man, show business tale starring Alan Palmer who perfectly impersonates all of the legendary divas from Ethel Merman, Carol Channing, Liza Minnelli, Julie Andrews, Judy Garland and Chita Rivera, to Tony-Award winning stars of today such as Patti LuPone and Kristin Chenowith.
For tickets, call 734-4646.
For more information, visit http://www.josephinetheatre.org.
There is also a show called CHANNELING CAROL!
Opening: This is a cabaret of works inspired by Carol Channing and produced under the umbrella of Queerdo. The event is curated by Jeffry Lusiak, who was the final artistic director for the departed Outward Spiral Theatre Company. Ten artists will be featured, including Lusiak, Megan Mayer, Jaime Carrera, Kristin Van Loon and Rachel Nelson. (7:30 p.m. Fri.-Sat.; Bedlam Theatre, 1501 S. 6th St., Mpls.; $15, 612-341-1038 or www.bedlamtheatre.org.)
For the True magic of Carol Channing, look no further: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1imjF1LxoQ0
A BIT OF TRIVIA
The Superbowl halftime show has become a big deal in recent years, though it had a very inauspicious beginning.
The first few Superbowls featured the standard fare of marching bands.
The first celebrity to entertain at halftime was, oddly enough, Carol Channing in 1970.
For some time, the halftime show was usually an elaborate performance featuring marching bands and unctuous groups like ‘Up With People’.
Occasionally they’d bring in a real celebrity like the iconic Ella Fitzgerald in 1972 (Carol Channing also performed with her making her one of a few multiple time performers). 1993 saw a big Michael Jackson performance, and that really began the trend of featuring A list entertainers that exists to this day.
It also started the current practice of featuring a concert type of performance as opposed to a more traditional ‘halftime show’ with marching bands, dancers, etc.
Since then the Superbowl has presented major acts like U2, Aerosmith, Prince, The Rolling Stones and Bruce Springsteen.
It also introduced the term ‘wardrobe malfunction’ to the American lexicon thanks to the infamous 2004 antics of Justin Timberlake and Janet Jackson.
TAKE CAROL CHANNING HOME WITH YOU!
Carol Channing and Pearl Bailey - On Broadway [DVD]
$16 new, $16 used from 23 sellers
3 stars
All Music Guide rating
On Broadway was an ABC television special first broadcast in 1969 starring Carol Channing and Pearl Bailey, who were at the pinnacle of their fame as singers and performers. The special showcases duets between the two women with friendly banter tying them together. Like most TV productions of the time, the camera work is simple, but fine. Most will want to see this DVD for the music and the interaction between two of the most talented female Broadway entertainers. Judging On Broadway on those grounds gets mixed reviews.
Interestingly, many of the songs sung here were first written for men, putting On Broadway in an important feminist, historical context. Carol Channing sings "If I Were a Rich Man" and Pearl Bailey sings a medley as the Music Man. The duets of "A Little Girl From Little Rock" from Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and "Won't You Come Home" are quite solid, as is Bailey's "If They Could See Me Now" from Sweet Charity.
The material never really transcends the concept. Channing first starred in Hello Dolly in 1964 and Bailey took over the title role a few years later.
The comedy is a bit stale and it isn't clear how much the two women want to perform with each other. Being that they are professionals, however, the show is entertaining. Channing's impersonations (especially of Marlene Dietrich) should be popular, and Pearl Bailey is a sadly forgotten diva.
Of course, the show's finale is a strong "Hello Dolly." Enjoyable, especially because this special was lost for 30 years.
The DVD also includes outtakes and bloopers. http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=Carol+Channing&hl=en&oe=utf-8&cid=14531133135174360699&sa=title#p
Carol Channing - For Heaven's Sake
$11 new Intro, He Ain't Never Done Me Nothin' But Good, Joshua Fit' the Battle of Jericho, Leaning on the Everlasting Arms, Roll Jordan Roll, Modesto, You're My Hometown!, Do You Know What it Means to Miss New Orleans?, Razzle-Dazzle, Old Time Religion, God's Peace is Like a Gentle Rose, Medley of Memories: Ezekiel Saw the Wheel/All God's Children Got Shoes, Saint James Infirmary, Shine God's Love to Everyone, Swing Low, Sweet Chariot, One More Valley, I'm Just an Old Chunk of Coal, The Show Must Go On, He's Got the Whole World in His Hands
http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=Carol+Channing&hl=en&cid=2895692106128085619&sa=title#p
Carol Channing graced the Texas Education Theatre Association convention this past January 22nd. She spoke about her life in the theatre. She sang and joked- she even repositioned her chair because the interviewer was upstaging her!
(seen here with Harry Kullijian) Miss Channing will be 89 tomorrow. With her energy she will live to 121 (older than anyone has ever lived!)
This picture is special to me because the man with her is her beloved husband Harry. They met in junior high school; 70 years later they married!
Carol and her husband support arts in the schools. Please help all students by encouraging schools to keep the arts. Remember, Einstein played the violin! (SOURCE: http://fromtexastoparis.blogspot.com/2010/01/carol-channing-at-teta.html)
Carol Elaine Channing (born January 31, 1921) is an American singer and actress. She is the recipient of three Tony Awards (including one for lifetime achievement), a Golden Globe and an Oscar nomination. Channing is best remembered for originating, on Broadway, the musical-comedy roles of bombshell Lorelei Lee in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, and matchmaking widow Dolly Gallagher Levi in Hello, Dolly!
Channing was born in Seattle, Washington, to George and Carol née Glaser, and was their only child. Her father was a journalist whose newspaper career took the family to San Francisco when Channing was only two weeks old. Her father George later became a very successful Christian Scientist Practitioner, Lecturer, Editor and Teacher. She attended Aptos Middle School and Lowell High School in San Francisco. At Lowell, Channing was a member of its famed Lowell Forensic Society, the nation's oldest high school debate team.
According to Channing's memoirs, when she left home to attend Bennington College in Vermont, her mother informed her that her father, a journalist who Carol had believed was born in Rhode Island, had in fact been born in Augusta, Georgia, to a German American father and an African American mother. According to Channing's account, her mother reportedly didn't want [Channing] to be surprised "if she had a black baby".[1][2] Channing kept this a secret to avoid any problems on Broadway and in Hollywood, ultimately revealing it only in her autobiography, Just Lucky I Guess, published in 2002 when she was 81 years old. Channing's autobiography, containing a photograph of her mother, does not have any photos of her father or son.[3] Her book also states that her father's birth certificate was destroyed in a fire. (The November 4 2002 issue of Jet (magazine) reported, based on her autobiography, that Carol Channing's father was African-American.)
Channing was introduced to the stage while doing church work for her mother. In a 2005 interview with the Austin Chronicle, Channing recounted this experience:
"My mother said, 'Carol, would you like to help me distribute Christian Science Monitors backstage at the live theatres in San Francisco?' And I said, 'All right, I'll help you.' I don't know how old I was. I must have been little. We went through the stage door alley [for the Curran Theatre], and I couldn't get the stage door open. My mother came and opened it very well. Anyway, my mother went to put the Monitors where they were supposed to go for the actors and the crew and the musicians, and she left me alone. And I stood there and realized – I'll never forget it because it came over me so strongly – that this is a temple. This is a cathedral. It's a mosque. It's a mother church. This is for people who have gotten a glimpse of creation and all they do is recreate it. I stood there and wanted to kiss the floorboards."[4]
Channing's first job on stage in New York was in Marc Blitzstein's No For an Answer, which was given two special Sunday performances starting January 5, 1941 at the Mecca Temple (later New York's City Center). Channing then moved to Broadway for Let's Face It!, in which she was an understudy for Eve Arden. Decades later, Arden would play "Dolly" in a road company after Channing finally relinquished the role.
Five years later, Channing had a featured role in a revue, Lend an Ear. She was spotted by author Anita Loos and cast in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes as Lorelei Lee, the role that brought her to prominence. (Her signature song from the production was Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend.) Channing's persona was strikingly like that of the character: simultaneously smart yet scattered, naïve yet worldly.
Channing came to national prominence as the star of Jerry Herman's Hello, Dolly! She never missed a performance during her run, attributing her good health to her Christian Science faith. Her performance won her the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical, in a year when her chief competition was Barbra Streisand for Funny Girl. She was deeply disappointed when Streisand, who many believed to be far too young for the role, signed on to play the role of Dolly Levi in the film, which also starred Walter Matthau and Michael Crawford.
She reprised the role of Lorelei Lee in the musical Lorelei. She also appeared in two New York revivals of Hello, Dolly!, and toured with it extensively throughout the United States. She also appeared in a number of movies, including the cult film Skidoo and Thoroughly Modern Millie, opposite Julie Andrews and Mary Tyler Moore. For Millie she received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, and was awarded a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture.
In 1966 she won the Sarah Siddons Award for her work in Chicago theatre. During her film career she also made some guest appearances on television sitcoms and talk shows. Channing also did a fair amount of voice over work in cartoons, most notably as Grandmama Addams in an animated version of The Addams Family which ran from 1992 to 1995.
Channing was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Tony Award in 1995[5], and an honorary doctorate in Fine Arts by California State University, Stanislaus in 2004.[6] That same year, she received the Oscar Hammerstein Award for Lifetime Achievement in Musical Theatre.[7] She and husband Harry are active in promoting arts education in California schools. The couple resides in the Central Valley, California city of Modesto.
She has been married four times. Her first husband, Theodore Naidish, was a writer. Her second, Alexander Carson, played center for the Ottawa Rough Riders Canadian football team. They had one son, Channing, who took his stepfather's surname and is now a Pulitzer-prize-nominated cartoonist publishing under the name Chan Lowe.[8] In 1956 she married her manager and publicist, Charles Lowe. They remained married for 42 years, but she abruptly filed for divorce in 1998. He died before the divorce was finalized. After Lowe's death and until shortly before her fourth marriage, the actress's companion was Roger Denny, an interior decorator.[9]
On May 10, 2003, she married Harry Kullijian, her fourth husband and junior high school sweetheart, who reunited with her after she mentioned him fondly in her memoir. The two performed at their old junior high school, which had become Aptos Middle School, in a benefit for the school. At Lowell High School, they renamed the school's auditorium "The Carol Channing Theatre" in her honor. The City of San Francisco, California proclaimed February 25, 2002 to be Carol Channing Day, for her advocacy of gay rights and her appearance as the celebrity host of the Gay Pride Day festivities in Hollywood. She shared the stage with Richard Skipper, a Carol Channing tribute artist.
Channing and her husband currently reside in Modesto, CA.
Theatre credits
* No For an Answer (January 5 and January 11, 1941)
* Let's Face It! (October 29, 1941 - March 20, 1943) (understudy for Eve Arden)
* Proof Through the Night (December 25, 1942 - January 2, 1943)
* Lend an Ear (December 16, 1948 - January 21, 1950)
* Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (December 8, 1949 - September 15, 1951)
* Wonderful Town (February 25, 1953 - July 3, 1954) (replacement for Rosalind Russell)
* The Vamp (November 10 - December 31, 1955) (Best Actress in a Musical nominee)
* Show Girl (January 12 - April 8, 1961) (Best Actress in a Musical nominee)
* Hello, Dolly! (January 16, 1964 - December 27, 1970) (left show in 1967)
* Four on a Garden (January 30 - March 20, 1971)
* Lorelei (January 27 - November 3, 1974) (Best Actress in a Musical nominee)
* Julie's Friends at the Palace (May 19, 1974) (benefit performance)
* Hello, Dolly! (March 15 - July 19, 1978) (revival)
* Legends! (January 7, 1986 - January 18, 1987) (national tour)
* Hello, Dolly! (October 19, 1995 - January 28, 1996) (revival; farewell tour)
Filmography
The handprints of Carol Channing in front of The Great Movie Ride at Walt Disney World's Disney's Hollywood Studios theme park.
* Paid in Full (1950)
* The First Traveling Saleslady (1956)
* All About People (1967) (short subject) (narrator)
* Thoroughly Modern Millie (1967)
* Skidoo (1968)
* Shinbone Alley (1971) (voice)
* Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1978) (Cameo)
* Alice in Wonderland (1985)
* Happily Ever After (1993) (voice)
* Thumbelina (1994) (voice)
* The Magic School Bus (TV series)(1994 - Episode "In the Haunted House") (voice)
* Space Ghost Coast to Coast: 'Girlie Show' (1995)
* Homo Heights (1998)
* The Brave Little Toaster Goes to Mars (1998) (voice) (direct-to-video)
* Broadway: The Golden Age, by the Legends Who Were There (2003) (documentary)
* Family Guy: 'Patriot Games' (2006)
References in modern culture
Various Mystery Science Theater 3000 cast members have impersonated Channing - Usually Crow T. Robot.
Ryan Stiles often impersonated her on the American version of the improv comedy show Whose Line is it Anyway?, as did guest star Robin Williams in a single episode.
The red satin, sequin-bedecked costume, designed by Freddy Wittop, that Channing wore during Hello, Dolly! was donated to the Smithsonian by Channing and theatrical producer Manny Kladitis, following the thirtieth anniversary tour of the show. It is currently on display at the National Museum of American History.[10]
In the American sitcom Family Guy, Channing voices herself in a gag in which she defeated Mike Tyson at a celebrity boxing match, causing Brian to lose a $50 bet.
An outspoken liberal, Channing's name was included in Republican President Richard Nixon's now-famous "enemies list", and she has said that was the highest honor in her career.
During the movie Beverly Hills Ninja, Chris Farley's character Haru is impersonating a boisterous counterfeiting ink specialist to infiltrate the warehouse of his enemy. He reaches forward (blindfolded) and begins feeling the driver's face while saying, "Who's drivin' this buggy anywho... Carol Channing?!" (SOURCE: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carol_Channing)
Support THE ARTS! LIVE THEATRE! Go see a show this week! Send me your reviews and suggestions and I will put them in my next blog coming out next Friday! Here's to an ARTS-filled week! Don't forget to contribute to the DR. CAROL CHANNING & HARRY KULLIJIAN FOUNDATION FOR THE ARTS: http://www.carolchanning.org/Foundation.htm
With grateful XOXOXs for your support!
Richard Skipper
Follow me on Twitter @RichardSkipperHERE IS WHAT AUDIENCES ARE SAYING ABOUT MY WORK:
I LOVE Wednesday nights at the Iguana. It's always such a diverse lineup of talent that there's always something for everyone -- no matter what your musical tastes might be. Richard and Dana are not only talented and funny and great hosts....they are also just downright wonderful people. Amazing! Thank you.
Cindy Marchionda
Dear Richard
What a wonderful experience last night ... most enjoyable ... all such wonderfully talented performers and you and Dana was amazing and so dynamic and funny ...
I'm looking forward to next week and I'm getting all my friends there.
Thanks for the opportunity.
All the best
Anton Van Der Merwe, http://www.antonvandermerwe.com
Richard,
Sandee and I had a great time. The talent was terrific. Michelle Collier and Barbara Porteus were wonderful. David Vernon's performance was very emotional and just wonderful. My favorites continue to impress in Rob Langandar, Jenna Esposito and Diane and Frank Marino.. Enid's take on disco music was quite hilarious. You and Dana do a great job. Thank you for making us feel so welcome. We will be back real soon.
All our best to you and Dana.
Michael Janin
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: NYC Now a night out in NY to see a show at a VERY AFFORDABLE price! Dana Lorge and I have put our OWN spin on the variety show format and are now hosting every Wednesday night in NYC at The Iguana VIP Lounge (http://www.iguananyc.com) in the heart of NYC (240 West 54th Street 8-11PM/with an intermission).
Cover: $12 - no food or drink minimums – but remember – the food is great!
This is a nice night
out with the family! A "throw back" to the variety shows we grew up with.
For more info, please call 845-365-0720 or visit _www.RichardSkipper.com_
RESERVATIONS A MUST!!!!!!!!
212-765-5454. No one admitted before
7:30.
Feb 3 : Michael Austin, Christopher Gerrard, Lucia Mozzola
, Jane Schechter, George Stella, Jane StuartFebruary 10th: MY BIRTHDAY SHOW! Glen Charlow, Jenna Esposito, Helene Feldman (who shares a birthday with Richard), Jeanne MacDonald, Stearns Matthews, Jim Speake, Maureen Taylor ...
...and a few other surprises as well!
February 17th : James Alexander, Sally Swallow
March 3rd: Danielle Grabianowski
March 10th: David Alpher & Jenny Litt, Louise Quick (pictured)
, Nicholas Tamagna, Pam Tate, Maureen TaylorMarch 17th: Bending Threads and Cindy Marchionda returns!
March 24th, Jackie Draper
and Julie Reyburn returns!March 31st: Frank Basile returns
April 7th: Sina Lewis and RJ Shaw
April 28th: Kecia Craig and Frank Stern!
Keep checking http://www.richardskipper.com/schedule.html for upcoming entertainers and shows!
TILL NEXT TIME...
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