As many of you are aware, the long-running variety series
The Carol Burnett Show (1967-1978) originally ran for one hour and nearly always ended with a musical revue of some kind. Later, the shows were chopped down to a half-hour and sent into syndication (usually without the revue and also minus a sketch or two) as
Carol Burnett & Friends. This is the way a lot of us experienced the show, especially if you were, like me, born in 1967 when you couldn't see the early years of it at all! While it was certainly lots of fun to see so many classic sketches in perpetual reruns, we were actually being cheated of about 50% of each program as it originally aired! More recently, the full, one-hour broadcasts have begun to see the light of day again (often on PBS), allowing us to rediscover some of the delights (along with some of the horrors - often musically!) of those shows. Today, I'm going to briefly share a previously unseen delight!
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Harvey Korman plays the host of a show parodying the longtime favorite This is Your Life.
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He announces the subject of this latest installment and, though I cannot be certain, I think it's the very first appearance of this recurring character. Other, later sketches involving this person became far better known and, unlike this one, appear on YouTube.
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The character is Stella Toddler, presented here as a legendary acting teacher, now in her dotage. (Though she bears no physical resemblance at all, it's possible that the name of the character stems from famed acting coach Stella Adler.)
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Adler (as played by Burnett, of course) is mystified as to why she's even there and, as was often the case in later skits, just wants to go home.
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First, she has to greet the famous guests who've come to pay tribute to their former teacher. There's Vicki Lawrence in a parody of Zsa Zsa Gabor.
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She was called something else, which my pea brain can't recall (I fashioned these pics many month ago.) I think it was something like "GaGa Lamour." But the real treat comes with the next guest...
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We find that Toddler also was once the coach of a young actor who went on to play Tarzan!
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He whips across the stage, swinging from a vine, and sends Toddler scrambling for her life over the back end of the sofa!
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The actor, of course, is portrayed by resident hunk Lyle Waggoner.
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As he retrieves the stunned old lady from behind the sofa, we're treated to a fair amount of skin for the time.
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Burnett's physicality in this sketch, along with her facial expressions, garnered what I felt was one of the longer sustained laughs from the audience. It seems unreal that this sketch is one that was left out of the repackaged programs!
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"I just wanna go home..."
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Waggoner is hardly finished demonstrating his gratitude to her, however.
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| Stella Toddler is heels over head when it comes to the guy (whether she wants to be or not!) |
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There would be several other installments with Stella Toddler, including a game show appearance, a building dedication and a run-in with Tim Conway's famous old man character.
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But this one became an instant favorite for obvious reasons...! (We've brought other examples of unexpected skin on this show to you before.)
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Keep on swingin', till next time!
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Wow, I adored him as a child and he still sends me! Lyle baby, greases up and swinging! I got the really dishy (he mentions Raquel, R.I.P., was dubbed by Tina Cole) "The Art Of Bob Mackie" for xmas this past year and he devotes several chapters on the Burnett show. He says the rights to the songs were very expensive so that's why he thinks it was syndicated without music. Sounds plausible to me. This looks hilarious so did remind me of my Grandmother a bit. So many skits I haven't seen until now, like the Valley Of The Dolls one. This was better wakeup than coffee today
ReplyDeleteWhat a coincidence, was just talking to a friend about Lyle - and what prompted that conversation was a video YouTube suggested for me (uh, no idea why...) of actor Paul Telfer’s appearances on, I think, Days of Our Lives. I honestly thought I was watching a soap parody like Burnett used to do, with Lyle strutting around bare chested. Telfer may be the reincarnation of Clint Walker.
ReplyDeleteLyle’s most attractive quality was his sense of humor about himself. It’s a shame they found less and less for him to do over the years.
I so miss all the music that used to be on TV. There was a variety show just about every night, the revue shows like Hollywood Palace and Ed Sullivan, the teen shows like Bandstand, Soul Train, and Shindig, AND all those specials with just about every great performer of the time. The mid 60s to the mid 70s really were a golden age of musical entertainment on TV, we just didn’t realize it at the time.
Lyle wasn't quite up to the comedic skill level of the other members of Carol's troupe (but then who was?) but he was always willing to play the objectified himbo so bless his hunky heart.
ReplyDeleteA small unrelated sidenote:
I keep peeking in with a watchful eye for a Disastrous Demise for Poseidon goddess, Linda Rogo herself-Stella Stevens, and am a wee bit shocked to have not seen anything yet.
I wasn't expecting anything for Raquel Welch, though I am positively bereft! at her passing. Such a shock, she was always so vibrant, took great care of herself and seemed to absolutely glow with good health. However if she hadn't made the wrongheaded decision years ago to turn down Faye's role in The Towering Inferno (as magnificent and perfect Faye is in the movie I can see Raquel making Susan work for her) she's be one of the disaster club as well.
While I was heartbroken at Stella's passing as well it was less of a shock since I had read a few years ago of her Alzheimer's diagnosis.
OMG! Stella Toddler! I used to love this "befuddled old lady" character that Carol Burnett did, even though I haven't seen her in decades. Didn't Burnett do a thing where Stella would keep probing under her lower lip with her tongue, like she had an ill-fitting lower dental plate?
ReplyDeleteAnd, of course, we can *never* have too many views of Lyle Waggoner bringing the beefcake! Surprisingly, the show was always upfront about that-- remember, Lyle was originally presented as just "the announcer" for the show, not an onscreen cast member.
In an early episode (maybe the first), Carol was doing the opening "Q&A" segment with the audience and mentioned that she had personally picked the show's announcer and brought Lyle out on stage. She then proceeded to ogle him while women in the audience reacted audibly; after a long moment of this, Lyle asked if there was something he could do for Carol, and she said something like, "Huh? No, that was it." and sent him backstage.
Pretty soon, they started working Lyle into the sketches, and I think by the second season he was appearing fairly regularly in character roles, rather than just functioning as a sight-gag "back at you" sex object for women.
Given how he was first presented to the public, it's not surprising he was the centerfold in the first full-circulation issue of PLAYGIRL!
(Still, I always wonder how Lyle's career would've gone if he'd been cast in BATMAN instead of Adam West, and how that show would've been received.)
Thanks for yet another of these gems, Poseidon! This blog is one of the best things on the web! Love to all and be safe and well, everyone!
Stella Toddler was a hoot to watch. LOVED her on the game show, "Up Your Income" with the ShaNa NaNa Noonie Sisters!! Or where she got to put her hand prints at Grauman's Chinese Theatre and Harvey (as the host), forgot about her, as a photographer was taking multiple pictures of him and Stella was crying out for help and when he got back to her, all you saw was air bubbles coming up from the cement. Speaking of the spoof of "This Is Your Life", the one where Carol portrayed Wee Bonnie Barker, a really heavy set woman who was surprised at the gym and one of the guests was her twin sister played by Vicki. The twin sister was the mother of 13 kids and lived on a pig farm in Australia with the last of name of Frump, Carol was happy about this until Vicki came out svelte and sexy. Standing next to each other, Harvey (who was the host), mentioned that it was difficult to tell them apart as they were identical twins. LOL.
ReplyDeleteI forgot to add, there was a website, that I cannot find, where you put your name in and it gave you a name if you were a whore. Mine came out Zsa Zsa La Whore. I LOVED my slutty name!! LOL.
ReplyDeleteGingerguy, it does seem like so many music rights are cost prohibitive and prevent a lot of old shows from being seen again. I was glad to get to see a fair number of full-length "TCBS" but then there are a few things that have left scars. LOLOL Just as a bit of preparation, the "VOD" parody was a let-down for me because it's ONLY the three gals on the bed taking turns talking. No reenactments of any of the movies' key scenes. (But can you parody what already seems much like a parody?! Ha ha!)
ReplyDeleteDan, oh my, my, my... I looked him up! Such a relief to see a great hairy chest again (and no tattoos mucking up the works.) I didn't find him handsome at all, but what a bod! I was reared in the era of Donny & Marie, The Captain & Tennille, Tony Orlando & Dawn and so forth. Then you had musical specials from people like Lynda Carter, Cheryl Ladd and others. Sure there was a LOT of tackiness, but they were fun and memorable, too! I miss that type of thing so much. But we're all too self-aware now to enjoy such simple types of presentations (remember when Nick Lachey and Jessica Simpson attempted a knowingly corny resuscitation of the format?!) It's all AGT, AI and The Voice if you want performed music - or The Masked Singer... :::sigh:::
joel65913, I can understand your surprise (and I'm sure you're not alone) that I haven't come up with a Disastrous Demise on Stella. I think I'm still sort of reeling from it and Raquel and others myself. I have done big posts on both ladies before so that's part of why I didn't do more also. I should have considered, though, that my loyal visitors have come to expect something to mark such sad occasions...! I actually had intended to shed a light on some comparatively minor Disaster Movie Club members who passed in 2022 like Conrad Janis, Larry Storch and Rosey Grier, but failed there, too! And there was Yvette as well. It's hard to see more of my favorite stars pass on.
hsc, my mother and I used to LOVE watching poor Stella do her thing. It was at once cruel and yet undeniably hysterical thanks to rubber-faqced Burnett's mugging - and yes, she would portray a loose denture thing! I was really disappointed a while back when reading one of Carol's books and she felt the need (in our now allegedly enlightened era) to express regret at objectifying Lyle and being the drooling female, etc... I always felt it was all in fun and I still drool over him now! LOL Thanks much for your kind words about the site!
Skippy, the show was just special. SO MANY hilarious sketches and moments over the years.... I LOVE your naughty name! So funny. Now I wanna know what mine would be....!!!!! (Probably Raquel Belch. ha ha!)