Elaine Stritch takes a dig at Carol Channing...

[ljay889]

Posted: 7/29/10 at 11:00pm

I don't want to sing 'Hello, Dolly!' for 15 years, 30 years, 40 years," she groaned. "The whole reason I stayed away from that, which probably earned me less money, is that I want to do something different every year. Keep fooling 'em, keep surprising 'em, that's the fun of this business for me."

At least it comes off that way. God I love this woman.

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-ca-peters-stritch-20100801,0,2705489.story
Updated On: 7/29/10 at 11:00 PM

[adamgreer]

Posted: 7/29/10 at 11:12pm

She makes it sound like she was offered the role and turned it down!

She's a pistol...I love her!

[uncageg]

Posted: 7/29/10 at 11:26pm

Se kind of does, but I think she is saying she avoided that kind of role or just didn't go around singing "Ladies Who Lunch" as much as Carol did "Hello Dolly".

I just find it hard to believe Bernadette is 62!

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 7/30/10 at 12:20am

I don't think it was an evil swipe at Channing, she was making a point and using an example. She has sung BROADWAY BABY a skillion times.
Love her for her talent, she has a sh*tload of that, not for being a bitch (on wheels).

[moljul]

Posted: 7/30/10 at 1:09am

Here's a question:

Who has actually had the longer career? I know Bernadette's first professional experience (TV, not theater) was when she was 3 1/2 so her career has spanned 58-59 years.

How long has Elaine been working? Even though she has 23 years on Bernadette, I bet their career lengths are about the same.

[JOak]

Posted: 7/30/10 at 1:28am

She's been working since 1944 (66 years).
Updated On: 7/30/10 at 01:28 AM

[adamgreer]

Posted: 7/30/10 at 1:29am

Peters did not work consistently from the time she was 3 1/2 until now. To say that she's worked as long as Stritch is incorrect.

I doubt even Peters herself would say that she's had as long a career as Stritch.

[ljay889]

Posted: 7/30/10 at 1:32am

I think Stritch considers Twelfth Night her first professional job at about age 16. So that was like 69 years ago.

[muscle23ftl]

Posted: 7/30/10 at 2:02am

Stritch is 84, so she is 22 years older than Bernadette and Catherine Zeta is 22 years younger than Bernadette.

Updated On: 7/30/10 at 02:02 AM

[After Eight]

Posted: 7/30/10 at 7:25am

Actually, Carol Channing did not just sing "Hello, Dolly!" for 15, 30, or 40 years after "Dolly" opened. She did other work, like "Four on a Garden," "Lorelei," "The Bed Before Yesterday," "Sugar Babies" tour, "Jerry's Girls," "Legends," concert performances.

[madbrian]

Posted: 7/30/10 at 7:47am

I read the article, and I don't see that remark as a dig at Channing at all.

Updated On: 7/30/10 at 07:47 AM

[Gypsy9]

Posted: 7/30/10 at 8:10am

I don't know about TWELFTH NIGHT. As far as musicals go: Elaine Stritch was in a highly regarded revue called ANGEL IN THE WINGS in 1947; she was the standby for Ethel Merman in CALL ME MADAM in 1950 and then went on tour with it; she was in the 1952 successful revival of PAL JOEY, singing "Zip"; she was in the 1954 revival of ON YOUR TOES, where she scored with "The Heart is Quicker Than the Eye"; she starred in the 1958 musical GOLDILOCKS where she was able to play her feisty, sardonic side to the utmost; and she starred in Noel Coward's lackluster SAIL AWAY in 1961. COMPANY loomed on the distant horizon and the rest is history. Elaine Stritch is truly a Broadway Legend, on the musical stage for the past 63 years, with a straight play here and there!

Updated On: 7/30/10 at 08:10 AM

[Smaxie]

Posted: 7/30/10 at 8:26am

Regarding the 1954 On Your Toes, didn't she stop the show with (the interpolated) "You Took Advantage of Me"?

[bryan2]

Posted: 7/30/10 at 8:29am

I dont think of it a a swipe ...just a comment on what she
wanted her career to be...And Bernadette looks about 40 up close...damn good italian genes!! and she kept out of the sun that helped

[madbrian]

Posted: 7/30/10 at 8:50am

'Regarding the 1954 On Your Toes, didn't she stop the show with (the interpolated) "You Took Advantage of Me"?'

There had been a video from the 50s of Stritch performing that number on the Ed Sullivan Show, but I can't find it anymore. It was brilliant.

[backwoodsbarbie]

Posted: 7/30/10 at 9:24am

Anything Stritch says...I just eat it up. She is such a firecracker!

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 7/30/10 at 9:30am

To say that this is a dig is to infer that Stritch is passive-aggressive. No. That's for today's stars.

Stritch comes from an era when a bitch had a problem with a bitch she got her bitch on and bitched about it up front.

[backwoodsbarbie]

Posted: 7/30/10 at 9:33am

^I'd tend to agree with that Borstalboy. After all, since when has Stritch ever had a problem saying how she really feels? Just recently, in those Peters/Stritch interviews leading up to their debut in ALMN, she flat out said that she hasn't approved of some of Bernadette's career choices and she was sitting right there next to her. Whether you love her or not, you have to admit that the woman has balls.

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 7/30/10 at 9:39am

In one of my favorite Stritch interviews, she was going on about genuine talent and how much she loved Meryl Streep. The interviewer asked her, "Are you going to see her MOTHER COURAGE?", to which Stritchie groaned, "I don't wanna see anyone's MOTHER COURAGE."

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 7/30/10 at 2:28pm

This definitely wasn't a "dig" at Carol Channing. All I got out of that statement, at least for me, is that she didn't want to feel stagnated in her career and wanted more variety as opposed to doing the same part/song over and over. It wasn't right for HER. Sure she uses "Hello, Dolly!" to get her point across, but in no way is it meant as a "dig" at Channing. There is no hidden agenda.

If Stritch were taking a "dig" at Channing she would have come out and said it, plain and simple - no. holds. barred. She definitely isn't one to mince words or "pvssy foot" around.

This is a classic example of taking someone's statements out of context and misconstruing them.
Updated On: 7/30/10 at 02:28 PM

[madbrian]

Posted: 7/30/10 at 2:37pm

I also remember reading/hearing/seeing somewhere that when she was developing At Liberty, she was adamant about NOT ending with Ladies Who Lunch. She wanted that song partrayed as a part of her career.