“Carol Channing” and son “Carl Channing” on Joe Franklin

“Carol” and her rather similar son “Carl” chat with the actual NYC talk-show host Joe Franklin. Too, too sick! Also sent by Miss Understood.

Carol Channing & Pee-Wee Herman: Award Show Chit-Chat

This total crack-up was sent to us by Miss Understood!

Carol Channing Receives Lifetime Achievement Award

The kudos keep coming in for living legend Carol Channing, pictured above with two humorously named men, hubby Harry Kullijian and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. This time, the award is not for her singing or acting but for her current work raising money for arts in the public schools. Hooray for art! Hooray for its champion, Carol Channing!

Carol Channing: “Tommy Tune’s My ‘Son’!”

Above: Carol Channing, Tommy Tune, and others on “The Dean Martin Show”

The Carol Channing news beat has been quiet for a couple weeks, and my heart stopped when someone who didn’t know the difference between Cyd Charisse and Carol told me she had died. But it’s not true—she’s still glowin’, she’s still crowin’, she’s still goin’ strong. And last week she made a special Tony night appearance with leggy Broadway stalwart Tommy Tune. The Los Angeles Daily News was on the scene:

“Did you know that I gave my son – well, he’s known as my son – I gave my spiritual son one of his Tony Awards?” Carol, 87, told me as she held on to Tommy’s arm.

He’s got nine of them, she pointed out.

Gee, where do you put nine Tonys?

“I just moved and I have a mantel in the new place and they link up just exactly right. It just fills it,” Tommy said. “I can’t win any more, otherwise I’d have to move! But I could move.”

Radio Star Says: “McCain Sounds Like Channing!”

The famous “Washington Post” newspaper spoke with celebrity impersonator Tim Russell from that droll “Prairie Home Companion” radio show. You know what he said? He said that his John McCain impersonation is so spot-on because it’s partly based on Carol Channing!

How does he get that voice so right? “It’s a little bit of Ronald Reagan,” Russell told us on the phone from Minnesota, “a little bit of Carol Channing, and Liberace.”

Carol Channing?! “It’s the ’s’ [sounds] — there’s a little sibilance involved. It’s the nasality that comes from Liberace. From Reagan, it’s just that breathy tone.”

Plus, there’s McCain’s trademark verbal tic. “I saw him doing a town hall meeting and I was struck by the number of times he said, ‘my friend.’ I thought, ‘Holy cow, there’s a hook.’ We always have our ears open to that kind of thing.”

That doesn’t mean you should vote for him, though.

Carol Channing Goes to Bakersfield

Broadway superstar Carol Channing’s string of benefit performances for arts programs in public schools continues its barrage of good with an upcoming performance in glamour-starved Bakersfield, CA. Like usual, the local paper interviewed the ebullient performer:

When I ran for vice president in junior high, I said, “Harry, I need a campaign song.”

(Carol calls out to Harry)

Harry, what was our theme song?

(The couple sing over the phone)

“We want Carol! We want Carol! When I’m VP, we’ll all leave school at 12 o’clock! When I am vice president! We want Carol!”

We had many choruses. We had a campaign slogan: “If Carol’s your vice, it’s a virtue!”

Believe it!

From Canada: Carol Channing Fan Art!

A class project from the sharp & talented Kaleb.

More Accolades for Carol Channing

Carol Channing’s recent stop in Portsmouth, NH, caused a flurry of press coverage. Governor John Lynch declared Carol Channing Day, Mayor Thomas Ferrini (above) sang along with Carol in his office, and her show was a smashing success as usual. And happy Carol loved Portsmouth right back:

Glancing out the window of Ferrini’s office, she said her first time in the city had given her an epiphany.

“This is the cleanest city in the whole world,” she said. “Oh, Portsmouth’s beautiful!”

May every day be Carol Channing day!

Glamorous Carol Channing Is Honored

Carol Channing gave away that dress at last—the one was stolen from her a few months ago—and the Smithsonian honored her and other great ladies of show business in a gala North Hollywood event. Though her shimmering gown is now in the museum’s collection, Carol was nevertheless glammed to the hilt, even wearing a $40 million diamond on her neck. Those are U.S. dollars, but still!:

These great gals helped create the entertainment business. They were pioneer women in TV, stage and films. Others just follow in their footsteps.

They are the legendary ladies who have become showbiz icons– Carol Channing, Florence Henderson, Julie Newmar, Esther Williams, Tippi Hedren, June Lockhart and Rose Marie. These seven stars were recently honored by the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, which will showcase mementos from their enduring careers in permanent exhibits….

“Tonight is a tremendous night for all of us, because now we are all historic monuments,” Carol Channing gushed with youthful enthusiasm, noting that she was just turning 87. When the VIP audience at the El Portal Theater in North Hollywood broke into applause, she coyly added, “Oh, is that an achievement?” Yes, indeed. Especially when you remain the consummate entertainer, and quick with the ad-libs, like the rest of her gal-pals….

Julie Newmar, 74, gave up her Catwoman costume, from the campy Batman series. She could still fit into the outfit and make guys go wild– if she wanted to. But Newmar said it was time to let it go, and just enjoy having men and young boys “stop me on the street and say ‘Do you know that you were my first turn-on?’” [Gross!]…

Channing, the Broadway legend who starred in Hello, Dolly, and got an Oscar nominee [sic!] for Thoroughly Modern Millie, donated the “diamond dress” designed by Bob Mackie for her stage role as Lorelei in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. In keeping with her “Diamonds are a girl’s best friend” persona, Carol wore a $40 million Arch Duke Joseph diamond necklace to the dazzling Smithsonian event.

An inspiration to everyone for generations, Carol still performs in theaters around the country, doing her one-woman show. “And I visit schools to talk about keeping the creative arts programs alive. I raise money for them so that kids can enjoy the theater and grow up full of wonder about the world.” She and her husband have formed the Carol Channing/Harry Kulijian Endowment for the Arts Foundation which creates scholarships for students.

It was a wonderful to see all those talented and generous women on stage talking about their lives and their treasured mementos that will be preserved in the permanent entertainment collections of the National Museum of American History.

Hooray for Carol—her sparkle now belongs to history!

Q&A—with Carol Channing!

Carol does some new material for Seacoast Entertainment…and some old!:

SMG: Did you know Governor Lynch is declaring April 3 Carol Channing Day in New Hampshire?

CC: That’s the second Carol Channing Day! I never had two Carol Channing Days so close together. I enjoy that very much. Governor Lynch is wonderful. He knows how important the arts are in public school. People think reading, writing, and arithmetic and just a business course is all their son needs. This is absorbing my entire brain right now. It’s really absorbing all of me….

SMG: I can imagine that you’ve met with some important people in your time. I have read that you met with Queen Elizabeth.

CC: Oh, many times. She came to this country and asked for me to sit on her left, and her sister was on her right. She laughed her head off up in the royal box. And the queen mum! I was throwing out diamonds during when I sang “Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend,” and the Queen Mum leaned so far forward to catch them that I thought it was going to be a catastrophic death. I said I’d better go over and give her a diamond, this is terrible! They have their own little box with their own silver tea set and their own bathroom, and I guess they could live there. They all wanted diamonds. The queen mum was the greediest! I gave her several diamonds because she was leaning out so far. She wanted diamonds for everyone in her palace, so I gave her plenty. She was wonderful though, I thought she was great. She had no ego. None. When she came to the country again, she asked for me, and I thought “oh, I can’t believe it.”