CAROL BURNETT SHOW, THE {ETHEL MERMAN, TIM CONWAY} (TV)
Summary
One in this series of comedy/variety programs starring Carol Burnett. This program features special guests Tim Conway and Ethel Merman.
The episode begins as Burnett takes the stage and chats with the audience, explaining why her signature "ear tug" is a signal of love to her grandmother. She then ponders a guest appearance on "Mission: Impossible." Conway then joins Burnett and jokes about his thinning hair, greeting wife Mary Anne Dalton and early co-star Ernie Anderson in the audience and revealing that he is set to star in a half-hour CBS comedy in 1970 ("The Tim Conway Show," which lasted only 13 episodes). Finally, Merman joins Burnett and Conway and briefly comments on her love of her iconic role in "Gypsy" and names Jack Klugman as her favorite leading man.
In the first sketch, Conway portrays a nervous young dentist treating his first-ever patient, played by Korman, who is suffering from a serious toothache. The dentist, bewildered by all the "pully things and pinchy things," ends up accidentally numbing his own hand with Novocain and clumsily manhandling his patient, sending both Korman and eventually even Conway into fits of laughter.
Merman sings "Elusive Butterfly," and in the following sketch, Burnett portrays scheming Broadway understudy Wilma who, on the closing night of "Fanny Get Your Gun," is dying to take over the lead role just once. She tries desperately to incapacitate the show's leading lady, famed performer Lillian Larsen (Merman). Her many bumbling attempts to harm the singer fail, but Larsen graciously offers Wilma the chance to step into the leading role anyway. However, Wilma finds herself locked in her own trunk by another ambitious chorus girl (Lawrence).
Lawrence performs an elaborate dance created by choreographer Ernest Flatt, after which is the skit "The Killing of Sister, George, and Everyone Else," in which two meek cousins arrive at their late Uncle Arthur's creepy old manor to hear the reading of his will and learn that whomever survives 24 hours in the house will inherit everything. Their relatives are gradually bumped off one by one, leaving only the elderly lawyer, Smathers, as the obvious culprit.
Finally, Merman and Burnett perform a medley of showtunes, including "There's Just No Tune As Exciting as a Show Tune," "Get Me to the Church On Time," "Doin' What Comes Natur'lly," "June is Bustin' Out All Over," "The Sound of Music," "Hello, Dolly!", "Everything's Coming Up Roses," "I Feel A Song," and more.
Burnett then closes the show by singing her signature good-night song and adding Merman and Conway's autographs to her guest book. Commercials deleted.
Details
- NETWORK: CBS
- DATE: March 3, 1969 10:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:51:26
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: B:58992
- GENRE: Comedy/Variety
- SUBJECT HEADING: Comedy/Variety; Music
- SERIES RUN: CBS - TV series, 1967-1978
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Joe Hamilton … Producer
- Robert Wright … Associate Producer
- Dave Powers … Director
- Stan Burns … Writer
- Mike Marmer … Writer
- Arnie Rosen … Writer
- Hal Goldman … Writer
- Al Gordon … Writer
- Don Hinkley … Writer
- Kenny Solms … Writer
- Gail Parent … Writer
- Buz Kohan … Writer
- Bill Angelos … Writer
- Ernest Flatt … Choreographer
- Harry Zimmerman … Conductor
- Carol Burnett … Host, Performer
- Ethel Merman … Guest, Performer
- Tim Conway … Guest, Performer
- Vicki Lawrence … Cast
- Harvey Korman … Cast
- Lyle Waggoner … Cast
- Ernie Anderson
- Mary Anne Dalton
- Jack Klugman