Goodbye Dolly

[JohnD]

Sad news indeed, Carol Channing has passed away at 97. OH, and she was only Dolly 4500 times, not her target of 5000 times. Her first big break was in 1949 in Gentlemen Prefer Blonds. What an amazing career.

 

[TimMc]

From an article elsewhere on the Interwebs:

“I’ll never forget it, because it came over me so strongly,” Channing recalled the feeling of stepping into a theater for the first time. “This is a temple. This is a cathedral. It’s a mosque ... 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.” - Carol Channing.

 

[derekleffew]

I thought that I'd told my Carol Channing story on here before, but I can't find it.*

1990-something, doing a one-off of "Carol in Concert," or whatever it was called. In the afternoon during set-up, the touring PM tells us, "Carol likes to look at the lighting for one scene," involving a trifold dressing screen. Carol comes out, stands on her mark, looks up toward the catwalk, points, and says, "That one has a shutter in." I nearly fell off my seat at the board. A true "Star" who knows 1) what a shutter is, and 2) that one is in too far.
Luckily, there were already two focusers in the catwalk, who remedied the situation right quick. FEL 360Q-6x22, in case anyone is interested.



*I did find this lovely anecdote.

Pure Class. Awkward in that I was very young and sure the "problem" was all my fault.

Hello Dolly, 1965, I was house FS OP. There was a circle runway around the orchestra pit. I was supposed to do a dead dark pickup of Carol Channing for her soliloquy to her late hubby. The first three nights, perfect. Night 4, I opened up on a blank runway spot. After a couple of awkward moments, she walked into the spot and went on as if the "walk in" was the plan. Here's the real class. After the show, instead of cursing the stupid spot op, she made a point of announcing in front of the SM and the IA crew head, "Guys, I'm really sorry! I totally missed my spot for Horaces's soliloquy. Please let the spot man know it wasn't his fault!" To say I have loved her ever since would be an understatement.