WHY didn't Carol Channing Have A Successful Film Career??

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 7/22/10 at 2:02pm

Star quality

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 7/22/10 at 2:10pm

This movie was way beyond weird for all it's intentions to be "with it" at the time it was released all it amounted too was a mess of WTF proportions. One of the most disturbing scenes was one in which Carol tries to seduce Frankie Avalon....I kid you not.

[morosco]

Posted: 7/22/10 at 2:12pm

Oh great. Now I'll have that song stuck in my head for the rest of the week.

[TheatreFan4]

Posted: 7/22/10 at 2:18pm

I started to get angry so I just clicked the raspberries video on the side.

[Roscoe]

Posted: 7/22/10 at 2:20pm

The garbage can ballet is kind of amazing, as well as Austin Pendleton saying of Jackie Gleason after Gleason's acid trip: "He did it! He transcended his ego!"

But that yellow dress that Channing wears when she tries to seduce Avalon is unforgettable, the way it unzips itself, it has to be seen to be believed.

I do like it when Harry Nilsson sings the end credits, when Otto Preminger's voice tells the audience at the very end: "Wait! Before you Skiddoo, we'd like to introduce our cast and crew!"

Ms. Channing used to claim that she'd never seen it.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 7/22/10 at 2:46pm

If Dollypop were still alive I bet he could have given us the answer to this question.

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 7/22/10 at 2:50pm

Tis a shame. I love to hear about how "That Streisand Woman" ruined Carol's career as opposed to maybe the fact that her screen presence was...well...totally vulgar.

[Kalimba]

Posted: 7/22/10 at 3:19pm

And here all this time I thought it was the corn incident that prevented Carol Channing from having a successful film career.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 7/22/10 at 3:22pm

Unlike Dollypop, she will be missed. RIP, Carol.

[Roscoe]

Posted: 7/22/10 at 3:25pm

I think there's more to it than vulgarity. After all, there are few more vulgar performances than Rosalind Russell's in THE WOMEN or AUNTIE MAME. I think it has to do with Channing's weird inability to tone it down at all.

Of course, Ms. Channing never really appeared in anything even remotely like a good film, so there you have it too. Maybe a film better suited to her particular talents might have helped her career, but I think it was always going to be a limited one as far as film went.

[doodlenyc]

Posted: 7/22/10 at 3:31pm

She was in the finale of "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band"...see stood next to Tina Turner.

Actually, I assumed the answer was because she's a nutjob who can only play herself.

I LOVE "....Millie", but she's my least favorite in it...and she got the oscar nod! Should've been Lillie's

[StageManager2]

Posted: 7/22/10 at 4:36pm

Hear, Hear, doodle! I too agree that Beatrice Lillie deserved the nom over Channing. Mrs. Meers was a far better, more interesting supporting character (and she's the antagonist, to boot) than Muzzy. Channing just got on my nerves each time she was on-screen, and about the umpteenth "RRRRAAAAASSSSPPPBBBEERRRRIIIIEEEESSS!!!" I wanted to shoot her out of the damn cannon myself into oblivion!

[Roscoe]

Posted: 7/22/10 at 4:42pm

Being a nutjob who can only play themselves didn't stop Kevin Spacey or Brad Pitt or Keanu Reeves or Marilyn Monroe from having successful film careers.

Updated On: 7/22/10 at 04:42 PM

[blueroses]

Posted: 7/22/10 at 4:42pm

Like Phyllis Diller, she was one of those crazy old bats that would scare me whenever she showed up on The Love Boat, etc. when I was a kid. I could never stand Carol Channing.

[SueleenGay]

Posted: 7/22/10 at 8:31pm

Did anyone ever see her screen test for Streetcar? It was pretty amazing. Hard to find now, but I remember thinking, "Wow, they gave it to that crazy Brit when they could have cast a real Southern belle? That movie might have worked if Kazan had only cast Channing.

[spiderdj82]

Posted: 7/22/10 at 8:43pm

I think we have discovered where Lady GaGa got her look from