h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

It wasn't until a few weeks ago that I caught a glimpse of Carol Channing's true greatness. It was a video of a scene near the end of "Hello, Dolly." She was mesmerizing. I couldn't take my eyes off her. Okay, I've loved he anyway since the early 1960s, when I picked up a vinyl recording of her revue "Show Girl."
http://www.kritzerland.com/showgirl.htm
(re-issued as a limited-edition CD. All 1,000 copies sold out)

Her baritone voice is surprising, given her kewpie-doll looks. A couple years after "Show girl," she took the stage as Dolly Levi in "Hello Dolly," and three or four years after that she earned an Oscar supporting=-actress nomination for singing "Jazz baby" in "Thoroughly Modern Milly." In fact, that movie is what she's mainly remembered for as a movie actress. She was also in "First traveling saleslady" in 1956, though Ginger Rogers and Barry Nelson topped the bill.
She was a few other movies after "Milly," but let's not talk about them, all right?

Her true home was on the stage, where she was famous for Lorelei Lee in "gentlemen prefer blondes." I prefer her rendition of "Diamonds are a girl's best friend" above all others. She also replaced Rosalind Russell in a touring version of "Wonderful town." I've never heard her version of that role, but she can't have been worse than Rosalind. (If the people running Hollywood aren't crazy, then why did they think Rosalind could top Ethel Merman in "Gypsy"?

Carol devoted herself to stage work for decades after that.
I think she was wise to do that. She was wholeheartedly in love with the role of Dolly. Love should lead the way in what all of us do.

I didn't realize she had done that many other things.

I remember her mostly from the shows such as The Tonight Show and the Carol Burnett Show.

I will remember her as an incandescent personality who radiated warmth. This helped elevate her rather modest talents into something truly memorable.