SPEAKER_02: Hi, it's Jenny. We're currently gearing up for season 3 of Encyclopedia Wamanica. In the meantime, we're mixing things up, bringing back some of our favorite episodes in many week-long-ish themes. Our current theme is storytellers. Stay tuned for a brand new season coming in September. Thanks for listening!
SPEAKER_03: Hello there! This is Sarah Nimitz, and today I'm excited to introduce this fabulous episode of Encyclopedia Wamanica featuring Carol Burnett. Intelligent, classy, down-to-earth, make you spit out your drink funny, and mentor are all words that come to mind when I think of Carol. I had the honor of playing her as a child in her Broadway show, Hollywood Arms. That's right, not only has she starred on Broadway, she is a playwright. For weeks on end, she and I worked together in Chicago and New York, and to this day I'm not sure if I'm more impressed by her immense body of work or by her warmth and graciousness. Carol taught me endless lessons and never failed to elevate a situation by simply being present. Yes, she is a mega star and a powerful businesswoman, but above that, she's just a really great human who rose to her fame through hard work and her own special spark. Now here's host Jenni Kaplan to tell you all about Carol Burnett!
SPEAKER_05: How did you start your Carol Burnett show? How did I start my Carol Burnett show? I just
SPEAKER_04: asked to be on the air and CBS was so nice they said okay. Are you going to be on next season? Uh, yes, unless, um, yes, unless you know something I don't.
SPEAKER_02: Hello! From Wonder Media Network, I'm Jenni Kaplan, and this is Encyclopedia Womanica. Today's leading lady is an American actress, comedian, writer, singer, and all-around national treasure. She's best known for her iconic eponymous television variety show. It was the first of its kind to be hosted by a woman. She has achieved great success on stage and in film in both dramatic and comedic roles. We're talking about the one and only Carol Burnett. Carol was born on April 26, 1933 in San Antonio, Texas to Ina and Joseph Burnett. At the time, Ina worked in publicity for film studios while Joseph managed a local movie theater. Both struggled with serious alcohol addiction. When Carol was very young, she lived with her maternal grandmother, May, who was a much more stable presence. By the late 1930s, the Burnett's marriage had fallen apart and the two divorced. Now free from constraints, Ina took the opportunity to move to Hollywood. May and little Carol soon followed, living in a single room in a boarding house close to Ina's residence. While at the boarding house in Hollywood, Carol found that she could easily entertain the other boarders with little jokes and comedic routines. When she was nine, she taught herself the Tarzan yell, which was an early favorite among her neighbors and later a favorite among her millions of fans. Carol also spent much of her childhood surrounded by music as her grandmother was a trained pianist and her mother played the ukulele. As a reprieve from life at the boarding house, Carol and her grandmother took constant trips to the movie theater. Carol credits the many hours spent at the theater for instilling in her a great love of film and an interest in the industry. When Carol graduated from Hollywood High School in 1951, she received an envelope from an anonymous sender containing exactly enough money to pay for a year of college at UCLA. She started that year thinking she would study journalism, but soon switched to theater arts and English. Carol wanted to become a playwright, but found that in order to get into the playwriting program, she had to take an acting class. According to Carol, she wasn't thrilled about it, but that mandatory class would change her life. She later said, they laughed and it felt great. All of a sudden, after so much coldness and emptiness in my life, I knew the sensation of all that warmth wrapping around me. I had always been a quiet, shy, sad sort of girl. And then everything changed for me. You spend the rest of your life hoping you'll hear a laugh that great again. Carol continued performing in university productions where she received notice and acclaim for her comedic acting chops. During her junior year at UCLA, Carol and some other student actors were invited to perform at a professor's holiday party. The performance was apparently so good that afterwards a man and woman attending the party approached Carol to congratulate her on her performance. They asked what her plans were going forward, to which Carol replied that she wanted to move to New York City to work in musical comedy, but couldn't afford it. On the spot, the couple offered to give Carol and her boyfriend $1,000 each interest free to make the move. The only conditions were as follows. The loans had to be repaid within five years. Nobody could ever know who provided the loans. And if Carol became successful, she would agree to help future aspiring artists to achieve their goals. Carol agreed to the terms and was soon on her way to New York. At first, she had a tough time landing roles. But after a performance in the rehearsal clubs 1955 review, which was attended by agents and stars like Marlene Dietrich, Carol started getting jobs. At first, she was mostly getting small parts on the Winchell Mahoney show, where her brand of comedy was well received, but not necessarily highly memorable. A year later, Carol landed her first sitcom role on the short lived show Stanley, playing opposite Buddy Hackett. In 1956, Carol got more national exposure when she appeared with Gary Moore on the CBS morning show. Three years later in 1959, Moore decided to add Carol to the cast of the wildly popular Gary Moore show, where her brash, almost slapstick esque comedy started to gain a following. That same year, Carol starred in the Broadway musical once upon a mattress for which she received brilliant reviews and a Tony nomination. After winning an Emmy in 1961 for her work on the Gary Moore
SPEAKER_02: show, Carol started looking to put together a show of her own. In 1967, she launched another variety show on CBS called the Carol Burnett show. It was an immediate massive hit. Though American audiences started to grow weary of TV variety shows during the 1960s, the Carol Burnett show was the exception to the rule. It ran from 1967 to 1978 and garnered 23 Emmy awards. The Carol Burnett show featured everything from musical numbers and comedy sketches to guest stars and a regular opening segment during which Carol would do a hilarious Q&A session with the audience. The show was jam packed with talented comedic actors, including Harvey Korman, Vicki Lawrence, Lyle Wagoner and Tim Conway. One of the show's most famous original sketches, The Family, was spun off into its own television show, the beloved sitcom Mama's Family starring Vicki Lawrence. The Carol Burnett show's popularity endured. A 2001 retrospective about the show drew in a whopping 30 million viewers. Carol was a household name. Carol also pursued a career on the silver screen and was in a number of movies in the 1960s and 70s like Who's Been Sleeping in My Bed, The Four Seasons and of course the movie musical classic Annie in which Carol gave a tour to force performance as the drunken orphanage proprietess, Miss Hannigan. In more recent years,
SPEAKER_02: Carol has returned to the small screen working on numerous TV shows including Magnum P.I., Desperate Housewives, Mad About You and Glee. She continues to perform on Broadway from time to time, including a starring role in the 1995 to 1996 production of Moon Over Buffalo, through which she was nominated for a second Tony Award. In 2013, Carol received the Kennedy Center's highly esteemed Mark Twain Prize for American humor. All month, we're talking about leading ladies. For more on why we're doing what we're doing, check out our Encyclopedia Womanica newsletter, Womanica Weekly. You can follow us on Facebook and Instagram at Encyclopedia Womanica and you can find me on Twitter at Jenny M. Kaplan. Special thanks to Liz Kaplan, my favorite sister and co-creator. As always, we'll be taking a break for the weekend. Talk to you on Monday. It's semi-annual sale season at CheapCaribbean.com, which means you can unlock more savings on your
SPEAKER_01: next all-inclusive beach vacay. If you want to visit the beach in the fall, winter or spring, it's never too early or late to start planning, which is why we're offering up to $150 off your booking of four nights or more. Just use code SAVINGBIG150 at checkout to unlock your exclusive offer at CheapCaribbean.com. Semi-annual sale ends October 3rd. See you at the beach.
SPEAKER_07: Do you hear it? The clock is ticking. It's time for the new season of 60 minutes. The CBS News
SPEAKER_00: Sunday Night Tradition is back for its 56th season with all new big name interviews, hard-hitting investigations and epic adventures. No place, no one, no story is off limits. And you'll always learn something new. It's time for 60 minutes. New episode airs Sunday, September 24th on CBS and streaming on Paramount+.
