The greatest. I went to a taping of her show in the 70's. They all worked incredibly hard and she is the consumate star. She always wanted her costars to shine. God bless this American icon.
I, too, was fortunate to have toured the studio beforehand & attend one of her tapings...a wide eyed college student who was in awe of all of the surroundings & Miss Carol. The whole experience was an eye opener!🤩
One of my favorite Hollywood anecdotes is, in a sense, a negative print of Carol's hilarious Nora Desmond skits. The silent screen star Constance Talmadge (one of three acting sisters, all successful) was huge in movies, but couldn't survive the transition to sound film. Fortunately, her mother, who had exceptional business sense, had invested her daughters' earnings wisely, so that each of them had an enormous trust fund in her name when their careers were over. (They even weathered the crash of 1929 and the Depression comparatively well). Years after her retirement, Constance was out and about in Los Angeles, when a middle-aged woman recognized her, and came up to ask for an autograph. Constance airily waved her away. "Go away, my dear. I don't need you any more."
Bob Mackie was my idol when I was a teenager! I started making my own clothes at 12, and went to work for a local designer at 19 creating couture "power suits" for the rich ladies in Dallas during the early 80s. Shoulder pads were enormous then! I would have rather been working on costumes for Carol, but it was a fun time all the same. All of our clients wanted to look like Joan Collins!
You really have to watch the movie "Sunset Boulevard" to fully appreciate these CB sketches. They're one of the better connected sketch series they did on this show. It's over the top but it's a caricature that does have connections to that film. Burnett's portrayal of the character is close to the original Gloria Swanson version and she nailed Desmond to a cross! Swanson came to that comedic edge a few times in the movie (and the movie IS funny if you approach it from the right angle!) and if they had used different takes of her scenes she might have descended into parody like Faye Dunaway did as Joan Crawford in "Mommy Dearest"!
I grew up as a young kid watching this show. It wasn't until a couple years ago, by a strange accident that I watched "Sunset Boulevard". Great movie. When I watched it, it all clicked. So now I appreciate this skit even more. Carol and Gloria Swanson....both brilliant!
For some reason, I’m able to enjoy this with only the most minuscule idea of Sunset Boulevard. Maybe it’s just the general caricature of someone who is engulfed in their own “brilliance”.
SICK, in bed and after being told to watch Glenn Close in Sunset Boulevard I landed here and it's such a great foil, I needed levity after that misery!! And my grandma and I used to watch Carole Burnett and this has lifted my mood immeasurably!! Thank you, next up her Scarlet and other ludicrous parodies ❤️❤️❤️
Vicki almost steals the limelight during her short appearance at the end of this perfect skit. Harvey Korman as Max is an inimitable, unforgettable creation. But Carol as Nora Despmond - that's comedic genius! "Talent hits a target no one else can hit; Genius hits a target no one else can see." - Arthur Schopenhauer,19th century German philosopher
Growing up our family never missed the Carol Burnett show. My father always laughed uproariously at Nora Desmond, but I never saw what was funny about her. I had never seen Sunset Boulevard, and didn't realise at the time that Nora Desmond was a spoof of Gloria Swanson's character in that film. Now that I am fifty-four years old, Nora is my favorite of Carol's creations next to Eunice.
We had similar upbringing re Carol Burnett Show. I would see those movie skits on the show and then go rent the movie only to realize why the skit was so funny & great! The Carol Burnett Show taught me about the appreciation for the great classics!!
Eyelooky Me too! So many classic films were introduced to me by Carol's spoofs before I ever saw the originals: Gone with the Wind, Mildred Pierce, Back Street, The Enchanted Cottage, Born to be Bad (the Joan Fontaine version), The Heiress, Torch Song, Rain and many others.
The stifling of their laughter and not breaking character after series of slaps on Harvey Max and Carol as Norma, I'm impressed, I'm sure they laughed hard during rehearsals before they aired....
Anyone who’s ever seen the character of Bebe Glazer on Frazier, would swear actress Harriet Harris must have patterned the character after Carol Burnett’s comedic style.
@Marie Marie First of all, he was dressed in a buckskin jacket and a Robin Hood feathered cap. He was wearing glasses and had light-colored hair, as though he was trying to not be recognized. He was with his daughter and went up to the window and said very loudly. Yes, I'm Larry Hagman, yes, Larry Haaagmaan. My daughter is Heidi, Heidi Hagman, yes, Haaaagmaaan!. Then he went and sat down, picked up a newspaper and started rustling the newspaper very loudly over and over again, while clearing his throat loudly several times. Frankly, I didn't even realize who he was. He was not as famous as he became after "Dallas." "I Dream of Jeanie" had been off the air for several years. I just thought he was some weirdo, what with his behavior and his bizarre outfit. A while after he had gone in to see the dentist, the dentist came into the waiting room and asked us, "Do you know who that was?" We responded, "No." He said, "That was Larry Hagman," (that much I had gathered). We just stared at him blankly. Then he continued, "You know, from "I Dream of Jeanie!"
Funny story, my parents names are David and Cathy, this was filmed around the time they would've been starting to date...and my mom, while otherwise looking nothing like that woman, wore her hair exactly like that.
I'm not familiar with this show, why is it Nora instead of Norma? Is there some joke in there? I mean Max is Max, I can't see why they couldn't use the real name, especially as it is a character and not a real person.
I wish TV land would put back on re runs of her show instead of Andy Grithith and Mash 24/7 tv stations now have no Veriaty....................thats why everybody watches netflix and youtube now. But i do not want to pay for netflix to i buy DVD's
Was thinking the same. One of the funnist moments in tv history. I believe it got the longest sustained laugh ever too if I'm not mistaken. Sometimes I still flash on her appearance in the curtain rod dress and just crack up
There will NEVER be another Carol Burnett. She is iconic and one of the great legends of American television comedy. To this day, I sill watch her show on DVD. Her movie parodies are great. Her co-stars made that show as well. She also created some of the greatest comedy characters of all time: Eunice, Nora Desmond, etc.etc. When she goes, it will be the end of a magical era in comedy and television.
To sevadaj: That line of Harvey's about Valentino reminds me of an equally funny one from "All in the Family". Mike and Archie got into an argument about whether there had ever been a silent-film version of "The Hunchback of Notre Dame". (Ironically, it was Archie, the older of the two, who didn't remember Lon Chaney; he'd only seen the Charles Laughton/Maureen O'Hara version). After a few minutes of back-and-forthing came this exchange: ARCHIE: "Now wait a minute! The hunchback, he went deaf from hearing them church bells ring, right?" MIKE: "That's right." ARCHIE: "Well, there ya have it! How could he hear bells ringing in a silent movie?"
