Movie Musings: Disney and More

Carol Burnett: Glad We Had This Time

Lucille Ball is arguably, the first woman in the history of show business who made it possible for women to be funny. Her portrayal of Lucy Ricardo in I Love Lucy (1951-1957) is a staple in reruns. And today there are many women who are exceptionally talented comedians, i.e.: Kristen Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, Kate McKinnon, Ellen DeGeneres, Amy Schumer, Tina Fey, and many others. Another woman who really “paved the way,” for women to be funny was Lucy’s protege, Carol Burnett. The Carol Burnett Show (1967-1978) was the first variety show to have a female host. Carol Burnett’s then-husband, Joe Hamilton, was a producer on the show, similar to how Lucille Ball’s then-husband, Desi Arnaz, was the executive producer of “I Love Lucy.” “Carol Burnett,” which also starred, Harvey Korman, Tim Conway, Vickie Lawrence, and Lyle Waggoner, made millions of people laugh, both in the studio audiences and “throughout TV Land.” Beyond all the laughs, however, Carol Burnett’s real life, was anything, but humorous.

Carol Burnett was born in San Antonio Texas on April 26th, 1933. She relocated to Hollywood, CA as a young child with her sister, Chris, where they were raised by their grandmother “Nannie,” due to their parents struggle with alcohol and ultimate divorce. As a young child, Carol Burnett became a huge fan of movies from the Golden Age of Hollywood and instantly developed the desire to break into show business. After graduating Hollywood High School, she went to study journalism at UCLA, but spent her spare time performing in plays at the University. After doing a special performance at a University party, a man and his wife approached Carol and complemented her on her performance, and asking if she had any future plans. She replied that she would like to someday go to New York to perform on Broadway. The man then asked her why she wasn’t already there and she replied that she simply did not have the money. To her great surprise, the man took out his wallet and gave her a check for $1,000 to go to New York and try her luck. He gave it to her on three conditions: she would pay it back to him in five years, no interest, she would also help others get started as well if she found success, and that she would also never reveal her benefactor’s name. Astonished, she was on her way. 

  After relocating to New York with her college sweetheart, Don Saroyan, whom she would later marry, Carol Burnett immediately began auditioning for Broadway musicals. She auditioned for the female lead role in a show called Babes in Arms, a Rodgers and Hart musical that opened on Broadway in 1937, was adapted for film in 1939, and was to be revived in the mid-1950’s. The producers were planning on having it open in Florida and ultimately bring it to Broadway. Carol Burnett made it all the way through the audition process and the producers of the show, and even Richard Rodgers himself, were pleased with her, and the director wanted to give her the role, but sadly the producers decided they wanted a name for the show rather than a newcomer. However, after receiving rejection via a phone call, Carol’s telephone rang again just a few minutes later, in which she received an invitation to audition for an off-Broadway production of a show called Once Upon a Mattress, a musical-comedy based on Hans Christian Andersen’s The Princess and the Pea. She auditioned, and was cast in the leading role of Princess Winifred the Woebegone, which earned her a Tony Award Nomination for Best Actress in a Musical. (Meanwhile, the revival of Babes in Arms, closed in Florida, before having even made it to Broadway.)   

Around the time of being cast in “Mattress,” Carol Burnett also earned a regular spot on The Garry Moore Show (1958-1967), a program that had begun as a radio program in 1950, but transitioned to television in 1958 and was produced by CBS. The show featured comedy skits, monologues, singing, and Q&A sessions with the audience, all of which Carol later brought to her own show. It was because of Garry Moore that Carol Burnett not only learned, understood, loved television. It was also on “Garry Moore,” that Carol Burnett invented her famous “ear tug,” which she did on both “Garry Moore,” and later her own show. After an unfortunate divorce from Saroyan, Carol Burnett met her second husband, Joe Hamilton, who was a producer on “Garry Moore,” and later on her own show. He was also the composer/lyricist of the song “I’m So Glad We Had This Time Together.” 

CBS was initially reluctant to give Carol Burnett her own show, despite how talented she was as a performer. They simply told her that comedy variety is a “man’s game.” Carol Burnett was determined to do her own thing with CBS as she was under contract with the network, and she and her husband both continued to persist. Even after CBS gave in, neither CBS nor Carol and her “rep players” were entirely confident that they would last even one season. Surprisingly they lasted for 11 hysterical years! The show won eight Golden Globes, five of which were for Carol Burnett herself, and 25 Primetime Emmys. The show premiered on September 11th, 1967 and closed on March 29th, 1978. Besides applying what she had learned on “Garry Moore,” to her own show, i.e.: Q&A sessions and musical numbers, what made “Carol Burnett,” unique from “Garry Moore,” was that she also invented the idea of movie parodies on her show. One of the most popular parodies was that of “Went With the Wind,” a parody of Gone With the Wind (1939) in which she plays Starlett O’Hara who walks out on stage wearing a ridiculously large dress made of curtains, but the curtains are still attached to a curtain rod. Carol Burnett also became known for her “Tarzan yell,” which she did numerous times on her show.    

Two years following the closing of her show, Carol Burnett made a special guest star appearance as herself on The Muppet Show in 1980. She unfortunately endured her second divorce from Joe Hamilton in 1984, but remained close with him afterwards. In 1987, she hosted the “Great Moments in Disney Animation,” special on The Wonderful World of Disney (1954-present), which back then was called the Disney Sunday Movie from 1987-1990. Carol Burnett also hosted the Walt Disney World 4th of July Spectacular in 1988 and Walt Disney World’s 20th Anniversary Celebration in 1991. In 2001, besides the tragedy of 9/11, Carol Burnett’s oldest daughter, Carrie Hamilton was also diagnosed with lung cancer that summer and she died in January the following year at the age of 38. More positively, however, Carol Burnett married for the third time to Brian Miller, the principal drummer and contractor for the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra on November 24th, 2001, and she and Miller have been happily married for 17 years. In 2005, Carol Burnett collaborated with ABC as both an executive producer and star of the made-for-television movie-musical Once Upon a Mattress, though in the film she portrayed Queen Aggravain, who is Princess Winifred’s main antagonist, while Winifred herself was played by Tracey Ullman. Carol Burnett also voiced Haru in the Disney/Studio Ghibli film, The Secret World of Arietty (2012).

Carol Burnett is one of the funniest ladies ever. For almost seventy years, she has made the whole world laugh, from performing on Broadway, to her incredibly hilarious variety show, to some performances in film, to even writing some memoirs: This Time Together in 2010 and In Such Good Company: Eleven Years of Laughter, Mayhem, and Fun in the Sandbox. She truly has created a unique legacy of humor that will never be forgotten.