Summary
THIS TIME TOGETHER is 100 percent Carol Burnett -- funny, irreverent, and irresistible.
Carol Burnett is one of the most beloved and revered actresses and performers in America. The Carol Burnett Show was seen each week by millions of adoring fans and won twenty-five Emmys in its remarkable eleven-year run. Now, in This Time Together , Carol really lets her hair down and tells one funny or touching or memorable story after another -- reading it feels like sitting down with an old friend who has wonderful tales to tell.
In engaging anecdotes, Carol discusses her remarkable friendships with stars such at Jimmy Stewart, Lucille Ball, Cary Grant, and Julie Andrews; the background behind famous scenes, like the moment she swept down the stairs in her curtain-rod dress in the legendary "Went With the Wind" skit; and things that would happen only to Carol -- the prank with Julie Andrews that went wrong in front of the First Lady; the famous Tarzan Yell that saved her during a mugging; and the time she faked a wooden leg to get served in a famous ice cream emporium. This poignant look back allows us to cry with the actress during her sorrows, rejoice in her successes, and finally, always, to laugh.
From the Hardcover edition.
Author Notes
Actress and comedienne Carol Burnett was born on April 26th, 1933, in San Antonio, Texas. Her parents divorced in the late '30's and she moved to Hollywood, California, with her grandmother. She graduated from Hollywood High School in 1951 and won a scholarship to UCLA. She had intended to study journalism, but changed her focus to theatre arts and English, in the hopes of becoming a playwright. She was required to take an acting class in order to enter the playwright program, and experienced an immediate and lasting connection with the audience during her first performance. She left UCLA during her Junior Year to pursue a career in musical comedy in New York.
She is probably best known for The Carol Burnett Show, which aired from 1967 to 1978. At the end of each show, she would tug on her ear as a special message to her grandmother.
She has received many awards and accolades for her work on television, stage, and screen, including numerous Emmy Awards, Golden Globe Awards, a Peabody Award, the Kennedy Center Honors for 2003 and the 2013 Mark Twain Prize for American Humor.
She is the author of several books, including One More Time: A Memoir, This Time Together: Laughter, Reflection and Carrie and Me: A Mother-Daughter Love Story, and In Such Good Company: Eleven Years of Laughter, Mayhem, and Fun in the Sandbox, which became a New York Times bestseller in 2016 .
(Bowker Author Biography)
Booklist Review
In her second book, comedy legend Burnett looks back fondly on her long and successful career in short, easily digestible chapters that part the curtain on her private life. Told in a chatty, intimate way, the stories encompass the star's childhood; early days as an actress doing bit parts in New York City, appearing on game shows and various variety shows; her 11 years hosting The Carol Burnett Show; and life after the show ended its run. Readers will enjoy the comical reminiscences included, such as how she once used her famous Tarzan yell to disarm a mugger, funny interactions with fans who recognize her on the street, and the origin of famous scenes from the show, such as Scarlett O'Hara in a curtain-rod dress. Burnett doesn't shy away from sad subjects and occasionally touches on personal losses. She also dishes about her famous costars and friends, including Jimmy Stewart, Lucille Ball, Cary Grant, Julie Andrews, and, of course, Carol Burnett Show regulars Harvey Korman, Tim Conway, Vicki Lawrence, and Lyle Waggoner. Fans of both the show and the actress will enjoy this mostly lighthearted though sometimes poignant look back at Burnett's career.--Hughes, Kathleen Copyright 2010 Booklist
Library Journal Review
After detailing her difficult early childhood in the best-selling One More Time, legendary performer Burnett now writes of her amazing journey from being fired from a movie theater usher job to her Broadway success and her amazing TV career on shows such as The Carol Burnett Show and specials with Julie Andrews. Burnett relates behind-the-scenes stories from her show, like Bob Mackie coming up with the concept of her parodic "Went with the Wind" dress, which is now in the Smithsonian. Burnett's easygoing writing style makes the reader feel like a special friend, as she shares stories about Andrews, Jimmy Stewart, Lucille Ball, and Marlon Brando. Burnett ends the book with the tragic death of her beloved daughter Carrie Hamilton in 2002. Verdict Burnett's very funny second memoir is sure to appeal to a variety of readers, including fans of celebrity memoirs, biographies, and classic TV shows.-Sally Bryant, Pepperdine Univ. Lib., Malibu, CA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Excerpts
During the past few years, I've zigzagged across the country appearing in various theaters performing Laughter and Reflection: A Conversation with Carol, Where the Audience Asks the Questions. It's just the audience and me. The evening lasts ninety minutes, beginning with seven minutes of old Q & A clips from our TV variety show to give the audience an idea of what the evening is going to be like. Then I come out onstage and ask for the lights to be bumped up, so I can see everyone. Lights up. Me: Tonight is all about any questions you might have for me . . . about our show, the people I've worked with, moments that stand out in your memory that you're curious about--anything at all. So just raise your hands, and here we go! It's always a little scary, because I'm working without a safety net. There are no "plants" in the audience, because if the event feels pre-planned, it takes the fun out of it. The audience can tell it's off the cuff, and through the years people have been pretty enthusiastic--and aren't at all shy about raising their hands. When I call on someone I never know what the question will be. I have to say, it keeps the ol' gray matter ticking and the blood pumping. However, through the years there have been questions that were asked over and over, which gives me a breather by allowing me to count on being able to tell some set stories. If these questions weren't asked (for instance, if the audience was sitting on its hands), often I could bring up the subject myself and tell the story anyway. (Whew!) What follows are some of these stories that I've shared over the years in response to various questions. Some have to do with our gang on the variety show, embarrassing moments, famous people, not-so-famous people, family, and so on. Since I'm not planning on doing too many more of these story evenings in the future, I figured I'd write up my favorite stories for my grandkids and anybody else who might enjoy them--who might have some fun and laughs and maybe some nostalgic moments as well. Many years ago, in 1986, I wrote a memoir called One More Time , which was couched as a letter to my three daughters, telling them all about my growing up in a dysfunctional yet loving family. That book didn't take my life beyond age twenty-six. This time I'm emphasizing episodes and anecdotes that have brought me to the present time, although I've also included a few stories from childhood that bear repeating. Originally I began writing this book as a simple series of anecdotes, but as I got into it I found that I went into more detail than I usually do onstage. I also found myself writing about things that I haven't talked about onstage but which resonate with me. Some of them are even serious. These thoughts and feelings just kind of poured out onto the page. They might not be as amusing as some of my other remembrances, but they're memories I'd like to share. So what follows is a kind of memoir peppered with anecdotes here and there. I hope you enjoy it. *** Rumplemayer's and the Mean Hostess During the summer of 1959 Once upon a Mattress was enjoying a healthy run, and a few of us in the cast decided to splurge one Saturday night after the show and treat ourselves to a sundae at the most expensive ice cream parlor in New York City: Rumplemayer's, in the St. Moritz Hotel on Central Park South. Even though Mattress had been running for a few months and I had done some television, I was far from being recognizable in public. Nonetheless, I was flush with the excitement of being in a hit stage show and raking in $80 a week to boot. I could afford a Rumplemayer's treat. Rumplemayer's was a pretty posh ice cream parlor. You could spot familiar faces there anytime after the bows had been taken and the lights had dimmed on Broadway for the night. Some folks went to nightclubs or bars, but those who had a sweet tooth and who also wanted to be seen went to Rumplemayer's. I remember having peeked in a few months earlier and spotting Marlene Dietrich in a gorgeous gray pantsuit at the counter, elegantly digging a long-handled spoon into a whipped cream goodie. On this night four of us pushed our way through the re olving door and stood casing the scene as we waited for the hostess. It was crowded, but there were a couple of empty tables in the back. The hostess, in a blue dress with a white collar and cuffs and sporting a very tight bun in her hair, approached us with menus. She took a closer look, and smoke began to come out of her ears. "EXCUSE ME! But just what do you think you're doing?" She was looking straight at me. "Pardon me?" "I SAID, what do you think you're doing?" Before I could speak, she went off on a major tear. "Young woman, don't you realize that we don't allow ladies in RUMPLEMAYER'S wearing SLACKS? SL-ACKS"--she made it two syllables and pronounced them like a dirty word--"are FOR-BID-DEN!" She was actually screaming at me. Her pipes could've given Ethel Merman a run for her money. I wondered if maybe her bun was too tight. Suddenly I noticed that the place had become strangely quiet: fewer clinking spoons, less slurping through straws. More than a few customers were watching us, evidently waiting to see if the hostess was going to shoot me. I was feeling like an axe murderer and at the same time awfully humiliated. I was dressed in a nice pair of black slacks, not jeans, but apparently that was still enough of a social gaffe for her to send me up the river and put me in solitary. My friends and I were frozen in place, but this lady wouldn't quit. I looked for the swastika on her sleeve as she continued her harangue. "DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME? FOR-BID-DEN!" I was about to slink out backward when the image of Marlene Dietrich came to me out of nowhere. She had been in SL-ACKS and nobody had yelled at her. And all this hostess needed to do with us was to nicely explain the rules. It could have gone thusly: Hostess: (quietly) I'm awfully sorry, miss, but Rumplemayer's has a dress code, and ladies are not seated if they're wearing slacks. I do hope you and your friends will come back and see us soon. Here's a mint. Me: (quietly) Oh, of course. I'm sorry, I didn't know. We'll definitely come back another time, and thank you so much for the mint. (We exit with dignity.) End of Scene. Simple. No problem. But noooo. Astonishingly, she was still at it, not only for our benefit now, but clearly for that of the entire restaurant: "I DON'T KNOW WHERE YOU KIDS GET OFF THINKING YOU CAN BREAK THE RULES WHENEVER YOU WANT!" You could've heard a pin drop. At this point, the image of Dietrich in pants was looming full screen in my mind's eye. I opened my mouth to speak. "Please forgive me," I said sweetly (but projecting so that every customer could hear), "but I have a wooden leg, and I'm too embarrassed to wear a skirt." Dead silence. I felt the entire restaurant getting ready to line the hostess up in front of a firing squad. She felt it, too. She led us to a back table. I dragged my wooden leg all the way across the room without bending my knee and ate my hot fudge sundae while sitting stiff-legged the whole time. The revenge tasted sweeter than the sundae. From the Hardcover edition. Excerpted from This Time Together: Laughter and Reflection by Carol Burnett All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.
