Carol Burnett

Carol Burnett - "Laughter & Reflections"

This biography is a series of anecdotes from the 70's variety show host. It began with her fascination with Jimmy Stewart and ends with the death of her daughter. She received her big break to travel to New York on funds provided by a generous benefactor in her California hometown. The benefactor specified that s/he remain nameless and that Carol would help other young stars blossom in the future.

Once in New York, Carol joined an actor's apartment commune for struggling females. She had to share a room with four other women. She applied for a part-time job as a hat-check person at a local tea cafe and funded her rent and clothing with the proceeds. She was persistent in the "cattle call" auditioning process - sing a few bars while the casting director is quick with "Next!" through a megaphone. Her big idea came in having a communal Dress with the other four women. This Dress would be loud in color and forgiving in body types - it would set the wearer apart in the cattle calls.

However, those cattle calls were not her ultimate destiny. An agent gave her the idea to write her own play, using her building's hopeful actresses as the cast and inviting directors and producers as their audience. Her homemade play exhibited the skills and possibilities of the young women and gained them a foothold in the industry's inner workings. She soon married her Cali boyfriend who had followed her with equal dreams- his was to be a NY producer. Carol's big break came in her role for Once Upon A Mattress, a Princess and the Pea reiteration with a twist. It gained her the attention of Lucille Ball, who befriended Carol after the show with a promise to "be there for a guest or reference if ever needed." And Lucille was as good as her word when Carol was in a pinch, taking time away from her one-woman driven "Lucy Show."
Carol wanted to do more with her career, so she hired a writer for a comedy routine. Her breakout hit was singing about her love for a droll politician during the nationwide Elvis fever. The song won her a "Flavor of the Week" media attention and gained her a following to see her show in the theatre.
Unfortunately, she got cocky - she bombed one night to a polite crowd, and fell hard. It taught her to not think too much of herself as a given hit before a show even started.
She broke into TV with "The Gerry Moore Show," in which she learned that the star need not hog the jokes or the spotlight. Mr. Moore knew his limitations and delegated one-liners and roles to others for the good of the show. Carol is still fond of her time there and wishes that the "Gerry Moore Show" could have been preserved on DVD collections - its turn-off was that the episodes were filmed in black and white. It was on this show that she saw Gerry's manner of warming up the audience with an open Q&A, an aspect of her show that made her famous later on in life.

I will update this
Tomorrow is here at twelve
To bed I will fly...