“All-Star
Party for Carol Burnett”
December
12, 1982 on CBS
Directed
by Dick McDonogh
Produced
and Written by Paul Keyes
Music
by Nelson Riddle
THE PARTY-GOERS
Carol
Burnett
(Honoree) got
her first big break on “The Paul Winchell Show” in 1955. A years
later she was a regular on “The Garry Moore Show.” In 1959 she
made her Broadway debut in Once
Upon a Mattress,
which she also appeared in on television three times. From 1960 to
1965 she did a number of TV specials, and often appeared with Julie
Andrews. Her second Broadway musical was Fade
Out – Fade In which
ran for more than 270 performances. From 1967 to 1978 she hosted her
own highly successful variety show, “The Carol Burnett Show.”
Lucille Ball made several appearances on “The Carol Burnett Show.”
Burnett guest starred in four episodes of “The Lucy Show” and
three episodes of “Here’s Lucy,” subsequently playing a
character named Carol Krausmeyer. After Lucille Ball’s passing,
Burnett was hailed as the natural heir to Lucy’s title of ‘The
Queen of TV Comedy.’
Lucille
Ball
was
born on August 6, 1911 in Jamestown, New York. She began her screen
career in 1933 and was known in Hollywood as ‘Queen of the B’s’
due to her many appearances in ‘B’ movies. With Richard Denning,
she starred in a radio program titled “My Favorite Husband” which
eventually led to the creation of “I Love Lucy,” a television
situation comedy in which she co-starred with her real-life husband,
Latin bandleader Desi Arnaz. The program was phenomenally successful,
allowing the couple to purchase what was once RKO Studios, re-naming
it Desilu. When the show ended in 1960 (in an hour-long format known
as “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour”) so did Lucy and Desi’s
marriage. In 1962, hoping to keep Desilu financially solvent, Lucy
returned to the sitcom format with “The Lucy Show,” which lasted
six seasons. She followed that with a similar sitcom “Here’s
Lucy” co-starring with her real-life children, Lucie and Desi Jr.,
as well as Gale Gordon, who had joined the cast of “The Lucy Show”
during season two. Before her death in 1989, Lucy made one more
attempt at a sitcom with “Life With Lucy,” also with Gordon,
which was not a success and was canceled after just 13 episodes.
Monty
Hall
– Chairman of Variety Clubs International
Carol
Burnett’s Family
(center table)
- Joe
Hamilton – Carol’s Husband - Erin
Hamilton – Carol and Joe’s daughter (age 14) - Jody
Hamilton – Carol and Joe’s daughter (age 15) - Carrie
Hamilton – Carol and Joe’s daughter (age 19)
Credited
Entertainers & Speakers
(with
credits shared with Carol Burnett)
- Tim
Conway
– “The Carol Burnett Show” (1967-78) - *Sammy
Davis Jr.
– “The Carol Burnett Show” (1975 & 1976), “Sammy & Co.”
(1976) - Bette
Davis - Glenda
Jackson
– HealtH
(1980) - *Steve
Lawrence – “The
Garry Moore Show” (1959-63), “The
Carol Burnett Show” (1967-78) - Vicki
Lawrence –
“The Carol Burnett Show” (1967-78) - *Jim
Nabors –
“The
Carol Burnett Show” (1967-76), “Gomer Pyle: USMC” (1967 &
1969), “The Jim Nabors Hour” (1969 & 1970), “The Jim Nabors
Show” (1978) - Jack
Paar
– “The Jack Paar Tonight Show” (1957-58) - Burt
Reynolds
– “The Carol Burnett Show” (1972), “Evening Shade” (1993) - Nelson
Riddle
and his orchestra - Tom
Selleck –
“Magnum P.I.” (1984 & 1988) - Beverly
Sills
– “Sills & Burnett at the Met” (1976) - James
Stewart
– “The Joey Bishop Show” (1969), “A Special Evening with Carol
Burnett” (1978)
Uncredited Attendees (with credits shared with Carol Burnett)
- Steve
Allen - Loni
Anderson - Fred
Astaire - Ned
Beatty - Sammy
Cahn - *Ellen
Corby - Altovise
Davis – Wife of Sammy Davis Jr. - Dom
DeLuis - Angie
Dickinson - Mike
Douglas - Morgan
Fairchild - Zsa
Zsa Gabor - Harold
Gould - Florence
Henderson - Ted
Lange - Michele
Lee - *Dick
Martin - *Jayne
Meadows - Rita
Moreno - Lynn
Redgrave - Jean
Stapleton - Loretta
Switt - *Danny
Thomas - Daniel
J. Travanti - Abe
Vigoda - Betty
White
*
Appeared with Lucille Ball on one of her television series’
Two
years later, “All-Star
Party for Lucille Ball” also
featured Monty Hall, Sammy Davis Jr., Burt Reynolds, James Stewart,
and Vicki Lawrence.
Variety,
the Children’s Charity
is an organization founded in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1927, when
a group of eleven men involved in show business set up a social club
which they named the Variety Club. On Christmas Eve 1928, a baby was
left on the steps of the Sheridan Square Film Theatre. When efforts
to trace the mother failed, the Variety Club named the child
Catherine Variety Sheridan, after the club and the theatre on whose
steps she was found, and undertook to fund the child’s living
expenses and education. Later the club decided to raise funds for
other disadvantaged children. The discovery of the baby inspired the
film Variety
Girl (1947).
In 1986, Ball served as Hostess for the “All-Star Party for Clint
Eastwood.”
THE ALL-STAR PARTY
Previous
“All-Star Party” honoree 1981 Burt Reynolds introduces the show.
After the first commercial break, Lucille Ball is introduced.
She kisses Carol and walks to the stairs to speak. While she does,
Carol bows to her as ‘the Queen of Comedy.’
Lucy
says they are there to honor three women:
- Carol Burnett, the singer
- Carol Burnett, the legitimate actress, and
- Carol Burnett, the comedienne
Lucy:
“Good
for you, kid. You’ve done it all, and you’ve done it well.”
Carol Burnett would often remark how Lucy affectionately called her ‘kid’. Lucy
reads a letter from the White House signed by Ronald Reagan. Reagan
would be the guest of honor in 1983. He would also send notes of
congratulations and regrets in 1984 (for Lucille Ball) and 1986 (for
Clint Eastwood). The latter two notes were read by Cary Grant.
Lucy
introduces Sammy Davis Jr. Sammy wanted to sing, but defers to Steve
Lawrence, who sings Cole Porter’s “You’re The Top” with special
lyrics for the occasion by Sammy Cahn.
Jim
Nabors wheels on a large projection TV and Tom Selleck (in a Hawaiian
shirt, naturally) appears on it to pay tribute to Burnett. His
seductive tone causes Carol to cuddle up to the TV set.
Nabors
brings on Bette Davis if, for no other reason, to introduce Jimmy
Stewart. Davis and Stewart had just done a picture together, the TV
film Right of Way, released in 1983. It was Stewart’s penultimate
screen acting role. Surprisingly, Davis says that Stewart will sing!
Jimmy
Stewart, not known as a singer, croons Cole Porter’s “Easy to
Love,” the evening’s second song from the 1934 stage musical
Anything
Goes.
The song was also included in the 1936 film Born
To Dance
starring Stewart and Eleanor Powell (whose voice was dubbed).
Stewart manages to get through the first chorus (although sadly out
of key). For the second chorus he asks that the lights be dimmed so
it is just him singing to Burnett. It is a truly intimate and lovely
moment considering that the only time the two ever saw each other was
on award, talk, or tribute shows. Burnett and Stewart never appeared
together in a dramatic context.
After
a break, Tim Conway does an elaborate comedy bit with a bank of
telephones designed for viewers to call in to pay tribute to Carol.
Despite the large number of phones (and corresponding lights) – no
one calls. Conway reads Carol a telegram from Garry Moore.
Jack
Paar talks about their early days on “The Tonight Show” and
recalls Burnett singing “I Was A Fool For John Foster Dulles” by
Kenny Welsh in August 1958. Paar introduces Vicki Lawrence to
re-create the song.
John Foster Dulles served as United States Secretary of State under President Dwight D. Eisenhower from 1953 to 1959. He was a significant figure in the early Cold War era, advocating an aggressive stance against communism throughout the world.
Glenda
Jackson steps out to unveil a photograph of the UCLA Medical Center
where a wing will be renamed the Carol Burnett Wing for Handicapped
Children.
Carol
expresses her thanks to everyone. She tells how she and her
grandmother used to go to the movies to see many of the folks in the
room: Jimmy Stewart, Lucille Ball, Fred Astaire, and Bette Davis.
Carol
is coaxed into singing her theme song “I’m So Glad We Had This Time
Together.” Another voice joins in from behind her – it is her
old friend opera singer Beverly Sills. The song continues, with
special lyrics for the occasion (likely written by Sammy Cahn).
This
Date in Lucy History –
December 12
“Ricky’s
European Booking” (ILL S5;E10) – December 12, 1955
“Lucy
and the Efficiency Expert”
(TLS S5;E13) – December 12, 1966
Papermoon Loves Lucy 
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