Channing on tour - in support of the arts
Sacramento Bee 4/24/07
The 80-something three-time Tony Award winner, best-known for her starring roles on Broadway in "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" and "Hello, Dolly," will come to California State University, Sacramento, on Thursday for a luncheon and a master class with theater students, followed Friday evening by a benefit performance that's open to the public.
All proceeds from the luncheon and performance, as well as a $10,000 personal contribution from Channing, will go toward establishing the Carol Channing Performing Arts Scholarship at Sacramento State, says Carole Hayashino, vice president of university advancement at CSUS.
"We're very excited to have her on the campus," says Hayashino.
Channing says she feels the same way. In a recent phone interview from her home in Modesto, the bubbly, effusive actress sounded delighted -- in her distinctive and often- imitated bubbly and effusive Carol Channing voice -- to be talking about her forthcoming appearance in Sacramento and her decision to visit each of the 23 campuses in the CSU system.
First of all, she loves to work.
"I don't know any differently," Channing says. "Most actors worry about their next job. I was 65 years in the live theater and very seldom did I stop working. Boy, I was fortunate."
But most importantly, Channing is devoted to the arts and arts education.
Her interest in the arts "started when I was 12 and Harry was 13. We went to museums for free. Now they charge $9 to get in.
"What we're trying to do is get back what we had when we were little," she says. "Every student, from kindergarten straight through to graduating from the university, should have access to arts. They should be able to study the arts and they should have teachers who can teach them about it. Once you're exposed to the arts, all of a sudden the whole world looks like a work of art."
With artistic endeavor comes achievement, and there's nothing as fulfilling as that, Channing believes. She tells a story about her "Hello, Dolly" director, Gower Champion: "When we read the opening-night reviews of 'Hello, Dolly,' Gower turned to me and said, 'Carol, getting this thing right is better than sex, isn't it?' And I said, 'I guess so, Gower. You've tried everybody out. I haven't.' "
In her master classes for theater students, Channing says, "Students ask me marvelous questions," and she does her best to answer them.
"One young man asked me, 'What was Ethel Waters like?' " referring to the pathbreaking African American singer-actress. "And I was there. I tell them exactly how she sang (Channing demonstrates on the phone), how she moved. ... I got to know Ethel Waters, and she became my son's adopted grandmother."
Also, she said, students ask questions such as " 'How do you keep a show fresh?' and I tell them, "That's the thrilling part.' "
As for her Friday evening performance, Channing says, "That's mostly ad lib. Usually, as I'm talking I get carried away and get lost and say, 'Now where was I?' The audience has to keep me on track."
But some things are planned.
"I do a lot of singing," Channing says. Although she says "I'll do anything they holler at me," audiences can expect to hear her signature songs: "Little Girl From Little Rock" and "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend" from "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" and, of course, the title song from "Hello, Dolly."
After she completes her tour of all 23 CSU campuses, Channing plans to return to Sacramento -- but this time to speak to the governor and the Legislature about increasing support for arts education.
When she meets Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, it won't be for the first time.
A longtime friend of the Kennedy clan, Channing says, "I knew him and Maria Shriver before they were married. They were so right together -- they were wonderful. The Kennedys would invite me every other weekend to come to Hyannisport, and he was there courting Maria."
Channing, a longtime San Franciscan, now lives in Modesto with her husband. After she wrote fondly about their youth together in her 2002 autobiography, "Just Lucky I Guess," the two got back in touch and rekindled their romance after 70 years apart.
Modesto, she says, "is home. This is Harry's home. It's wonderful. The house looks just like Harry -- it's terribly strong. No earthquake could knock it over."
Being with Kullijian and touring campuses together is exactly what Channing wants to do with her life.
"It's odd that now, at this time in my life, the end of my life, it's the happiest time in my life," she says. "I believe that what we're doing to bring the arts back to schools is the most important time in my life."