Show Girl

[@cnik7802]

So this was a pay-per-view broadcast from 1961, and I had to laugh when Carol Channing is joking at the end of the show: "Just imagine all of our children will be growing up and when they’re old, old people, why, they’ll be going to the Museum of Modern Art for a private…what do you call it?...closed-circuit on this, and they’ll be saying, 'Oh, the poor people…weren’t they funny in those days? Look how much we’ve learned since then.'" They couldn't have imagined KZbin in 1961. But after watching this, as someone born after 1961 and who is "old" now, all I have to say is that Carol Channing was indeed funny in those days...and immensely talented and charming and a joy to watch.

[@vickiscaglione7116]

And that my friends is what you call an entertainer of the very very highest order

[@ah7910]

The cup of tea chorus line skit had me falling off my chair, she really was a comedic genius. Thank you for posting this treasure!

[@markbraunstein58]

Thanks so much for preserving and sharing this treasure.

[@BTURNER1961]

Not sure that a Channing or a Merman would have gotten parts on Broadway now. When directors think of talent. they think more prosaically now. They want a voice when it says 'voice', or grace and athleticism when it says 'dance'. Those attributes are all over New York in performing arts studios and schools. But ther are star qualities that are impossible to quantify and label and nobody is really looks for them or sees them as box office. I don't think it all coincidental that ticket prices soar, seats go unfilled, and each season there is only one real 'hit' musical. Carol Channing was not a singer or dancer. She was a comedic genius who knew that a word need not come exactly when its note was played, that an audience can afford to wait for a punchline. She was a force of nature, and audiences could not take their eyes off of her. Show less

[@DrewWasMe]

You said it perfectly!

[@AlexWaylan]

Brian Turner I know you’re right, but why do you think that is? What happened?

[@therealmerryjest]

Bea Arthur would also not have gotten parts on Broadway, either. It's a sad, sad state.

[@keikekaze]

@@AlexWaylan What happened? In the heyday of Merman and (a little later) Channing, from about 90 to 60 years ago, a musical would be a big hit if it ran a year, and you could keep the same irreplaceable star throughout the run. Now, if a big Broadway musical just wants to break even, it had better run two years, and the big behemoth musicals of today are *expected* to run five years, if not 10 or 15. That means you're going to go through a lot of replacements, and you can't replace unique and irreplaceable stars. So the producers of the big shows now, the ones that are expected to run for a decade or so, see to it that parts are tailored for the talents of people who are reasonably interchangeable and readily replaceable.

[@AlexWaylan]

​@@keikekaze That's very interesting, I think you could be right. It seems to me like a question of commoditization, turning Broadway into an experience that you can purchase over and over again, like a coca-cola, always knowing what you will get. It's become a product of our economic systems, people invest in a show like they invest in stocks. They expect to see a return on an investment, not on an artistic risk. This has become true across the arts, so much homogeneity. At the same time, if you had an Ethel Merman today young people would not enjoy her, regardless of whether she could get a part! They're not accustomed to a voice with character.

[@Ursaminor31]

She was so strange yet quite fabulous, original and funny. Her Marlene is everything.

[@JoeLibby]

Wow! This is a fascinating! Carol and Jules are in top form; how wonderful that this vintage Broadway performance was preserved thanks to Paramount and Telemeter.

[@HBADGERBRAD]

I’ve heard of Show Girl and now thanks to you I’ve seen it and loved every second of it!

[@arthurboehm]

What a true star can do with the most minimal material.

[@OswegoAntiques]

THANK YOU for posting this. So many good old memories brought to the front. She was a one of a kind, Thank you again.

[@tilozuma]

Una joya. Carol, dulce, mágica, increible, inolvidable, única. Gracias por este verdadero hallazgo.

[@kallen868]

Amazing theater history! TY.

[@jlasf]

This is really a one-woman show with fillers. The second act has bits that she used at other times - Cecelia Sisson and Marlene Dietrich. Carol was one of a kind. I worked with her on a project and she was the same person when you met her. Larger than life and couldn't be sweeter. What a remarkable talent - and person.

[@isabelleon3360]

Wonderful!!! Thank you for posing this💖

[@vickiscaglione7116]

Amazing lady, so talented..... Cant sing can't dance and still a STAR of the very highest order.

[@ah7910]

Idiot comment. Did we watch the same show? Her musicality is ingenious, her low notes are delicious and she dances up a storm during the Darn Fine Funeral skit… you clearly watched the first 30 seconds and headed to the comments section to make yourself feel more important.

[@jasonws1972]

Nice to see Faye Emerson doing the intro!

[@TommyFoundation]

well Hello Aunt Carol; when she came to visit, I would goad her into doing some of her routines when we'd go out and eat, the restaurant would go quiet

[@thomasbinninger1355]

1961 was a good year.

[@bearjanman]

WOW!

[@lizinwisconsin6728]

I don't understand this show.

[@jgregveneklasen2657]

It's filled with parodies and historical references of people and places from the 1920s to 1961, so yeah, unless you've studied those periods and really, really know the music of the time, you won't get it.

[@ah7910]

Hello Liz, What is it you didn’t understand? It’s in English and you’re typing in English. You may have learning disabilities perhaps. The other guy replying to you suggested you may not have understood the “historical references” and I couldn’t disagree more, There are Show Girls still in employment today, Las Vegas is still an entertainment city… so I’m guessing the opening number didn’t confuse you. If you’re normal human being… you’ll type a reference into a search engine if you don’t understand a reference. Normal people want to broaden their horizons, but you just type “i don’t understand this show”. I play computer games, I watch modern movies, I love everything from Breaking Bad to Walking Dead, and yet I also love Musical Theatre and black and white movies and our rich musical history. Nobody spoon fed me! I was just interested.