Contacting Carol Channing for an autograph...

[Phantom487]

Posted: 1/24/12 at 6:16pm

I have an OBC Playbill of "Hello Dolly" that I would LOVE to get signed by Carol Channing. I read on here once before (I searched, but couldn't find it) that if you send your item with a self-addressed stamped mailer, and a donation to her & her late husbands chairty, she is good about signing and returning things. Has anyone done thing? Anyone know the address?

[staunchcharacter]

Posted: 1/24/12 at 6:27pm

I don't remember the address, but I think I sent it to her agents residence in California? (that's not reliable) But yes, she is lovely about returning items.

[Dollypop]

Posted: 1/24/12 at 7:33pm

Right now isn't a good time to do this. Carol's deeply distraught over Harry's passing. Contact me in a few weeks and I'll do what I can to help you.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 1/24/12 at 7:36pm

I heard that Dolly actually signs as her on occasion.

[Dollypop]

Posted: 1/24/12 at 7:38pm

Not true, Roxy. I sign for Brad Pitt when people on the street mistake me for him.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 1/24/12 at 8:44pm

Brad Pitt's grandfather I can understand.

[Dollypop]

Posted: 1/25/12 at 5:05pm

Roxy, that "grandfather" comment would be funny if it wasn't coming from someone whose cave drawings were recently unearthed in New Mexico.

[DAME]

Posted: 1/25/12 at 5:51pm

Now you two..

[Dollypop]

Posted: 1/25/12 at 7:17pm

In that photo I'm the one with the hair.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 1/25/12 at 7:48pm

The "hair" is a rug. White hair is really becoming on you Dolly.

[Gaveston2]

Posted: 1/25/12 at 7:52pm

Dollypop, all kidding aside, I gather that the death of Miss Channing's husband is also a personal loss for you. I am very sorry.

I trust Miss Channing knows that her thousands of ardent fans are very much thinking of her these days. I saw her last public appearance with her husband and even though she wasn't well, the waves of affection that rolled forth from the audience were really quite amazing!

[Dollypop]

Posted: 1/25/12 at 8:06pm

I was very upset by the news of Harry's death. I was just getting to know him and I was finding that he was truly a very dear man. It was very obvious that he and Carol were very much in love and it was touching to see them showing affection in public.

Harry had enlisted my services for a telethon that he and Carol were preparing to preserve arts education in public schools. I was supposed to have "a major role" in the NY part of the telethon. I doubt very much that this will take place now that Harry's gone.

My greatest concern at this point is for Carol's well-being. She'll turn 91 next week and was depending on Harry more and more. I don't know what the outcome will be.

[DAME]

Posted: 1/25/12 at 8:12pm

Hey Dollypop,
What is her relationship these days with her son? Is he someone she can count on now?

[Dollypop]

Posted: 1/25/12 at 8:34pm

I met her son many years ago. She hadn't mentioned anything about him in recent years. I don't know what to say about the current state of their relationship.

[Gaveston2]

Posted: 1/25/12 at 10:39pm

Dollypop, Harry was on stage with Channing almost every minute of the show I saw. They were so sweet together, the affection they shared was obvious and enchanting.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 1/26/12 at 12:35am

Whatever happened to her first husband, the one she was married to for 40 years?

Didn't she divorce him after he had a stroke at 86?

And then he died...or something like that. No?

[DAME]

Posted: 1/26/12 at 12:50pm

I found it interesting that in the documentary there is no mention of her son. When I saw the film this past summer at the Directors Guild the director and a few of the Dolly chorus boys were in attendance. When asked during the q & a why there was no mention of the son in the movie the director took a long pause. She then proceeded to look to the other panel members for help and they were all looking in different directions. Then she said that the film was not finished yet and they were still toying with what would be included or not. Then someone else in the audience raised their hand and made a comment that not including the sons relationship in the film was a major flaw.. and the director just didn't know how to answer. She just did not know how. I almost felt like everyone knew something I didn't. Maybe some kind of Mommie Dearest scenario?

[Gaveston2]

Posted: 1/26/12 at 2:26pm

Per the LA TIMES obit, Channing and her husband (Charles Lowe) were estranged at the time of his death in 1999. That she walked out on him four days after his stroke was a claim Lowe made during the course of heated divorce litigation.

And for what it's worth, Channing went to stay with her son (from a previous marriage) when she separated from Lowe. But that was 10 years ago. I have no idea what their relationship is now.

http://articles.latimes.com/1999/sep/05/local/me-7137

I'll only add that during a brief period when I worked on a play with them in the 1970s, Loew generally talked to Channing as if she were Lorelei Lee (but without the street smarts). I'd have left him, too, and I wouldn't have waited 25 years.

No doubt what I observed was only part of the story.

[Dollypop]

Posted: 1/26/12 at 4:53pm

Joey, Carol's son is from her first marriage, when she was very young. Charles Lowe adopted him: giving him the name Channing Loew. Channing is a political cartoonist from the DC area.

For the record, Carol Channing has been married three times.

Updated On: 1/26/12 at 04:53 PM

[DAME]

Posted: 1/26/12 at 6:02pm

This is him.
http://editorialcartoonists.com/cartoonist/profile.cfm/LoweC/

[husk_charmer]

Posted: 1/27/12 at 12:14pm

If you haven't read "Diary of a Mad Playwright" it gives an outsiders look at the relationship with Charles Lowe. Given that he's almost a non-entity in her autobiography, I can only assume that it was not the happiest of relationships.

[Gaveston2]

Posted: 1/27/12 at 2:15pm

I was only a production assistant on a terrible play Channing did in the same theater where she later first appeared in LEGENDS. In my presence, Lowe spoke to her as one might speak to a 10-year-old with ADHD.

As I implied above, I'm sure Mr. Lowe had his side of the story, too. But nothing I saw Channing do or fail to do justified that treatment. Nobody who carries a 3-hour musical comedy is stupid or lacking in attention.

[Wildcard]

Posted: 1/27/12 at 4:48pm

When I saw the film, the director was in attendance. She said that the reason Carol's son was not featured in the film was that he felt that he was more of a behind-the-scenes person and wanted to leave the limelight to his mother.

[DAME]

Posted: 1/27/12 at 5:26pm

Well.. that is a bull **** answer.

[Phantom487]

Posted: 3/31/15 at 7:08am

Bump... I still would love to send my OBC "Dolly" Playbill to be signed. Anyone know where I might send it??