Carol Channing, Jerry Herman--So Long Dearie, 1977 TV

[@joecascone2189]

How wonderful to have this! The original Dolly in all her glory! R.I.P. Carol and Jerry and Dinah!

[@mga2899]

Channing is Broadway, Bab's is Hollywood. Apples and oranges.

[@wotan10950]

Completely different than Streisand's version, but both very valid and exciting.

[@Ronizetti]

Delightful! ~ Thank you! Two of Bway's brightest lights

[@singasong718]

Of course Streisand was half Channing's age when she made the movie, but Streisand's version is on fire.

[@Arkelk2010]

Streisand was too young. Dolly is a widow who has lived a few years after her husband's passing.

[@joshdrayton1230]

@@Arkelk2010 Yes, Dolly was a widow, a matchmaker (which generally indicates older too), well respected and well-connected (ditto) and she has to have been "away" long enough for her return to be an event. So Streisand was indisputably too young. That said, she has a charismatic screen presence that Channing could never have equalled, and she sang the hell out of the score in a way that puts Channing's vocals from the cast album completely in the shade. Channing's So Long Dearie is a quaint vaudeville routine. Streisand's is a vocal and comedic tour de force.

[@haintedhouse2990]

@@Arkelk2010 who cares if Streisand was too young - she kicked butt on this tune - can't imagine sitting through 2 hours of Channing's croaks.

[@christophepena2212]

​@@Arkelk2010too young....Who cares when you have a star of that caliber on screen...and her vocal interprétation is unmatched...two hours of Carol channing on screen....good lord!

[@mariemarchesani1595]

I met Jerry Herman when he was doing "Jerry's Girls at the Rainbow Room. Good show and he was wonderful to talk to.Great memories!

[@dianaaljadeff2983]

Rip Jerry Herman and Carol Channing both gone in 2019

[@rickram1961]

RIP Miss Channing!

[@jonmaas]

delightful, Alan, even if the sound is out of sync!

[@Chocokaylarobin]

YES CAROL

[@wengfong6742]

We are so lucky that it is Streisand’s performance that is captured on film.

[@marcackerman492]

Streisand knocked it out of the ball park.

[@wseabuck]

Babs, like almost any song she chooses, now owns this...poor Carol...this sounds vaudevillian in comparison.

[@treesny]

Well, "vaudevillian" is exactly the right approach to this song and Hello, Dolly! Thornton Wilder wrote his play The Marchmaker (which is the basis for Hello, Dolly) as a fond tribute to the stage comedies he saw as a child, and Jerry Herman's score (with a little help from Bob Merrill) is a tribute to vaudeville and all sorts of early 20th century performing styles. Very frustrating that people use the film as a basis for comparison, especially as Streisand, mesmerizing as she is, is about 30 years too young to play Dolly. And of course Wilder's subtly subversive name for the character he invented -- Dolly GALLAGHER Levi, i.e. an Irish woman who married a Jewish man -- no longer applies.

[@jaydubbs6123]

I never understood how Carol Channing became famous, she has a nauseating singing voice. THANK GOD Barbra Streisand did the movie version, nobody can top Barbra! :)

[@RafaaGMadonnaLover]

You clearly don't understand anything about musical theatre.

[@Paddy818]

Channing, like all the greats are sometimes not loved by everyone. Look around KZbin and it’s apparent why she was loved! Watch “Calypso Pete” from the Dina Shore Show. One of a kind, consummate professional loved by all who worked with her. A complex, highly intelligent person.

[@thewizfan7627]

YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT YOUR TALKING ABOUT ! It’s sad 😂

[@joshdrayton1230]

Channing was an engaging stage personality, but far too eccentric to work on film - and, as this clip amply demonstrates, even rather too big and bizarre for television. On stage her daffiness was endearing. On TV she always looks rather unhinged.

[@treesny]

Find "archy and mehitabel / a back-alley opera" posted here on KZbin, with Carol Channing and David Wayne. It might change your mind about Channing's vocal chops when she was younger... and it's a great part for her!