This Time Together: Laughter and Reflection
Carol Burnett
(2011)
From Booklist
In her second book, comedy legend Burnett looks back fondly on her long and successful career in short, easily digestible chapters that part the curtain on her private life. Told in a chatty, intimate way, the stories encompass the star’s childhood; early days as an actress doing bit parts in New York City, appearing on game shows and various variety shows; her 11 years hosting The Carol Burnett Show; and life after the show ended its run. Readers will enjoy the comical reminiscences included, such as how she once used her famous Tarzan yell to disarm a mugger, funny interactions with fans who recognize her on the street, and the origin of famous scenes from the show, such as Scarlett O’Hara in a curtain-rod dress. Burnett doesn’t shy away from sad subjects and occasionally touches on personal losses. She also dishes about her famous costars and friends, including Jimmy Stewart, Lucille Ball, Cary Grant, Julie Andrews, and, of course, Carol Burnett Show regulars Harvey Korman, Tim Conway, Vicki Lawrence, and Lyle Waggoner. Fans of both the show and the actress will enjoy this mostly lighthearted though sometimes poignant look back at Burnett’s career. --Kathleen Hughes
This review is from: This Time Together: Laughter and Reflection (Kindle Edition)
About a week ago, I read an article in the New York Times about a new book coming out this week penned by the incomparable Carol Burnett. Needless to say, being quite intrigued (having read One More Time at least twice), I decided to take the plunge on this one blind (which I do not recommend you do unless you're a fan like me). Am I ever glad I did!
Carol Burnett is 100% class. Most people, when given the opportunity to write an anecdotal book like this, would have a mean word to say about someone. However, in this case, Carol Burnett does not seem to have a mean word to say about anyone in this book. We can all learn from her example.
Carol Burnett has the kind of class that eclipses 99.9% of Hollywood these days. In the era of 24-hour news, TMZ, and negativity of all sorts, Carol Burnett is the breath of fresh air that we desperately needed, at a time that we needed it the most.
Some of the stories in here are very sad, especially the times that Carol talks about the events leading up to the premiere of Hollywood Arms a few years back.
However, most of the stories (a lot of which I've never heard or seen before) have the signature razor-sharp wit that Carol and company were (and are) well-known for. Two particular items of note are the stories she shares about Lucille Ball (which were laugh-out-loud funny) and the story about how she snagged Harvey Korman to be on The Carol Burnett Show.
In summary, if you want negativity, meanness, and other such things that are oh so common these days, this book isn't going to satisfy that in the least. However, if you want something that is all too rare these days, such as class, sweetness, humor when it's necessary, and something 100% genuine, then this book is for you.
Carol Burnett
(2011)
From Booklist
In her second book, comedy legend Burnett looks back fondly on her long and successful career in short, easily digestible chapters that part the curtain on her private life. Told in a chatty, intimate way, the stories encompass the star’s childhood; early days as an actress doing bit parts in New York City, appearing on game shows and various variety shows; her 11 years hosting The Carol Burnett Show; and life after the show ended its run. Readers will enjoy the comical reminiscences included, such as how she once used her famous Tarzan yell to disarm a mugger, funny interactions with fans who recognize her on the street, and the origin of famous scenes from the show, such as Scarlett O’Hara in a curtain-rod dress. Burnett doesn’t shy away from sad subjects and occasionally touches on personal losses. She also dishes about her famous costars and friends, including Jimmy Stewart, Lucille Ball, Cary Grant, Julie Andrews, and, of course, Carol Burnett Show regulars Harvey Korman, Tim Conway, Vicki Lawrence, and Lyle Waggoner. Fans of both the show and the actress will enjoy this mostly lighthearted though sometimes poignant look back at Burnett’s career. --Kathleen Hughes
This review is from: This Time Together: Laughter and Reflection (Kindle Edition)
About a week ago, I read an article in the New York Times about a new book coming out this week penned by the incomparable Carol Burnett. Needless to say, being quite intrigued (having read One More Time at least twice), I decided to take the plunge on this one blind (which I do not recommend you do unless you're a fan like me). Am I ever glad I did!
Carol Burnett is 100% class. Most people, when given the opportunity to write an anecdotal book like this, would have a mean word to say about someone. However, in this case, Carol Burnett does not seem to have a mean word to say about anyone in this book. We can all learn from her example.
Carol Burnett has the kind of class that eclipses 99.9% of Hollywood these days. In the era of 24-hour news, TMZ, and negativity of all sorts, Carol Burnett is the breath of fresh air that we desperately needed, at a time that we needed it the most.
Some of the stories in here are very sad, especially the times that Carol talks about the events leading up to the premiere of Hollywood Arms a few years back.
However, most of the stories (a lot of which I've never heard or seen before) have the signature razor-sharp wit that Carol and company were (and are) well-known for. Two particular items of note are the stories she shares about Lucille Ball (which were laugh-out-loud funny) and the story about how she snagged Harvey Korman to be on The Carol Burnett Show.
In summary, if you want negativity, meanness, and other such things that are oh so common these days, this book isn't going to satisfy that in the least. However, if you want something that is all too rare these days, such as class, sweetness, humor when it's necessary, and something 100% genuine, then this book is for you.
One More Time: A Memoir by Carol Burnett (2003)
Review "Behind every great comedian lies a story . . . as rich in pathos as it is in humor." --USA Today
“This feels like Edward Albee territory. . . . Surviving and struggling are what this book is about, and what gives it life. . . . Often moving and always honest.” --The Washington Post
“A first-rate job of storytelling . . . [Burnett has] the skill of a novelist.” --Chicago Tribune
“This isn’t a celebrity bio whose author has found a new milieu in which to perform a star turn. The spirit of its ending is very much like the ending of one of Burnett’s variety TV shows, when she comes out to say good night, and you momentarily sense that you’re not just looking at an entertainer—you’re looking into the face of a human being.” --Los Angeles Times Book Review Product Description Carol Burnett spent most of her childhood in a Depression-scarred Hollywood neighborhood, where she lived in a single-room apartment with her endearingly batty grandmother, Nanny, a hypochondriacal Christian Scientist with a buried past. The child of two alcoholic parents, Burnett presents a sometimes hilarious, sometimes heartbreaking coming-of-age: from her sadly hopeful mother, who was hooked on Tinseltown fantasy, to the first signs of her own comic gift; from happy weekends spent with her father, to their last tragic meeting in a public sanatorium.
Featuring a new Afterword by the author, about teaming up with her daughter to bring this story to Broadway, One More Time is an intimate, touching, and astonishing narrative of a financially desperate but emotionally rich childhood on the wrong side of Hollywood’s tracks.
This review is from: One More Time : A Memoir By Carol Burnett (Hardcover) One of the best celebrity memoirs ever. If anyone ever deserved the success in life that Carol Burnett received, it is she. This little girl, raised in poverty, in a one room apartment, literally steps away from the then- at- its- peak Hollywood Boulevard, a muckle mouthed little dreamer, tended by her cuckoo "Nanny", both parents tragic alcoholics, both of whom did not have a happy ending...This is a fabulous, humble, true success story, about one of the most talented, respected, classy ladies in the history of show-biz. Her telling of her ambition to achieve her dream, in the face of what would have been overwhelming odds to most, is not only incredibly touching, but a lesson in perseverance, and believing in yourself. I tend to write about movies, books, etc.., that are not necessarily "current", and I guess that's because the quality of the originals can't be duplicated, and Carol Burnett is truly one of the "originals." She had and has "the goods." A must read (and read again) about one terrific lady.
Review "Behind every great comedian lies a story . . . as rich in pathos as it is in humor." --USA Today
“This feels like Edward Albee territory. . . . Surviving and struggling are what this book is about, and what gives it life. . . . Often moving and always honest.” --The Washington Post
“A first-rate job of storytelling . . . [Burnett has] the skill of a novelist.” --Chicago Tribune
“This isn’t a celebrity bio whose author has found a new milieu in which to perform a star turn. The spirit of its ending is very much like the ending of one of Burnett’s variety TV shows, when she comes out to say good night, and you momentarily sense that you’re not just looking at an entertainer—you’re looking into the face of a human being.” --Los Angeles Times Book Review Product Description Carol Burnett spent most of her childhood in a Depression-scarred Hollywood neighborhood, where she lived in a single-room apartment with her endearingly batty grandmother, Nanny, a hypochondriacal Christian Scientist with a buried past. The child of two alcoholic parents, Burnett presents a sometimes hilarious, sometimes heartbreaking coming-of-age: from her sadly hopeful mother, who was hooked on Tinseltown fantasy, to the first signs of her own comic gift; from happy weekends spent with her father, to their last tragic meeting in a public sanatorium.
Featuring a new Afterword by the author, about teaming up with her daughter to bring this story to Broadway, One More Time is an intimate, touching, and astonishing narrative of a financially desperate but emotionally rich childhood on the wrong side of Hollywood’s tracks.
This review is from: One More Time : A Memoir By Carol Burnett (Hardcover) One of the best celebrity memoirs ever. If anyone ever deserved the success in life that Carol Burnett received, it is she. This little girl, raised in poverty, in a one room apartment, literally steps away from the then- at- its- peak Hollywood Boulevard, a muckle mouthed little dreamer, tended by her cuckoo "Nanny", both parents tragic alcoholics, both of whom did not have a happy ending...This is a fabulous, humble, true success story, about one of the most talented, respected, classy ladies in the history of show-biz. Her telling of her ambition to achieve her dream, in the face of what would have been overwhelming odds to most, is not only incredibly touching, but a lesson in perseverance, and believing in yourself. I tend to write about movies, books, etc.., that are not necessarily "current", and I guess that's because the quality of the originals can't be duplicated, and Carol Burnett is truly one of the "originals." She had and has "the goods." A must read (and read again) about one terrific lady.
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