Garry Moore & Carol Burnet

Here in a rehearsal hall, Gary Moore goes over the show with a young Carol just behind him. She joined the show in 1959 and stayed till ’62, but after this video clip, we’ll get into some of the things that lead up to this.

After spending her first year in New York working as a hat-check girl and failing to land acting jobs, Burnett along with other girls living at The Rehearsal Club, a boarding house for women seriously pursuing an acting career, put on The Rehearsal Club Revue on March 3, 1955. They mailed invitations to agents, who showed up along with stars like Celeste Holm and Marlene Dietrich, and this opened doors for several of the girls including Carol who was cast in a minor role on The Paul Winchell and Jerry Mahoney Show in 1955. She played the girlfriend of a ventriloquist’s dummy on the popular children’s program. This role led to her starring role opposite Buddy Hackett in the short-lived sitcom ‘Stanley’ from 1956 to 1957.

After ‘Stanley’, Burnett found herself unemployed for a short time. She eventually bounced back a few months later as a highly popular performer on the New York circuit of cabarets and night clubs, most notably for a hit parody number called “I Made a Fool of Myself Over John Foster Dulles” (Dulles was Secretary of State at the time). In 1957, Burnett performed this number on both ‘The Tonight Show’, hosted by Jack Paar, and ‘The Ed Sullivan Show’. Burnett also worked as a regular on one of television’s earliest game shows, ‘Pantomime Quiz’, during this time. In 1957, just as Burnett was achieving her first small successes, her mother died.

Carol’s first true taste of success came with her appearance on Broadway in the 1959 musical ‘Once Upon a Mattress’, for which she was nominated for a Tony Award. The same year, she became a regular player on The Garry Moore Show, a job that lasted until 1962. She won an Emmy Award that year for her “Outstanding Performance in a Variety or Musical Program or Series” on the show. Burnett portrayed a number of characters, most memorably the put-upon cleaning woman who would later become her signature alter-ego. With her success on the Moore show, Burnett finally rose to headliner status and appeared in the 1962 special ‘Julie and Carol at Carnegie Hall’, co-starring her friend Julie Andrews. The show was produced by Bob Banner, directed by Joe Hamilton, and written by Mike Nichols and Ken Welch. ‘Julie and Carol at Carnegie Hall’ won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Program Achievement in the Field of Music, and Burnett won an Emmy for her performance. Burnett also guest-starred on a number of shows during this time, including The Twilight Zone episode “Cavender is Coming”.

In 1964, Burnett became good friends with Jim Nabors, who was enjoying great success with his series Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.. As a result of their close friendship, Burnett played a recurring role on Nabors’s show as a tough corporal, later gunnery sergeant. Nabors would later be her first guest every season on her variety show.

In 1966, Lucille Ball became a friend and mentor to Burnett. After having guested on Burnett’s highly successful CBS-TV special ‘Carol + 2’ and having the younger performer reciprocate by appearing on The Lucy Show, Ball reportedly offered Burnett her own sitcom called ‘Here’s Agnes’, to be produced by Desilu Productions. Burnett declined the offer, not wanting to commit herself to a weekly series. The two remained close friends until Ball’s death in 1989. Ball sent flowers every year on her birthday. When Burnett awoke on the day of her 56th birthday in 1989, she discovered via the morning news that Ball had died. Later that afternoon, flowers arrived at Burnett’s house with a note reading, “Happy Birthday, Kid. Love, Lucy.

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