Fearless Redhead

This Time Together, Laughter and Reflection

by Carol Burnett

Carol Burnett makes me think of my mother. Every Thursday night at 8 PM, we sat down on the couch in the family room and watched the Carol Burnett Show. It was the highlight of our week. Although my mother was a very formal, proper woman, she loved the outrageous comedy of this fearless redhead. I think Burnett gave us all permission to be a little less ladylike, to bellow, to shout, to be heard.

She was a pioneer. As the first woman to have her own variety show, she paved the way for the likes of Tina Fey and Amy Poehler. She had to battle network executives to accomplish this, but she never backed down and was always prepared to put on her own show. In fact, that is how she first got her start in New York. In order to be represented by an agent, you had to be in a show. In order to be in a show, you had to have an agent. The solution? Put on your own show. She and several of her friends put on a variety show for two nights in a theatre they had rented. They invited all of the local agents. Their initiative and chutzpah paid off and they were able to secure representation, thereby launching their careers. Carol's courage and her insistence that gender was of secondary importance opened doors for future generations and broke down barriers in the entertainment field.

Burnett tells her tale with equal doses of humility and self-mockery. Comical and wise, she regales the reader with anecdotes collected during her long career, including conversations with Marlon Brando and practical jokes with Elizabeth Taylor. From the Broadway stages of New York to the soundstages of Hollywood, Ms. Burnett’s account is unfailingly respectful to all who are featured in her memoir. This is not a juicy tell-all, but rather a lovely reminiscence of an era gone by.

My mother would have loved it.