Carol
Channing Special (1966) by
Billy Ingram
with video contributions
from Dan Wingate, Jeff Vilencia
and Wesley Hyatt
In
the early days of television, a show couldn't get on the air if
there was no sponsor signed on. The advertiser (alone or in partnership
with the network) paid the cost of production in exchange for
commercials and product plugs throughout the program.
Advertisers
were also anxious to bankroll high profile network specials with
big name stars. A unique example of this would be The Carol
Channing Special from 1966.
This
musical hour was sponsored by General Foods and the commercials
featured Carol dropping in on the CBS sitcoms that GF was sponsoring
that year. Cast members, in their familiar settings, were called
into service to sing the praises for GF's fine products.
Surprisingly,
every one of these shows is still popular today in reruns!
Well,
Andy sure is glad to see Carol drop by. He's apparently hanging
around the office kind of late at night...
Uh,
by the way Andy, where's your girlfriend Helen Crump?!? You think
she'd mind that a Broadway star dressed like a ski bunny Jezebel
is dropping in on her small town man for a late-night drink? And
Helen was worried about the Fun
Girls...
'Course
it's all innocent 'cause
Andy just loves talkin' 'bout Sanka Coffee, a fine product of
General Foods. (Say, wasn't he the General that burned all the
crops during the war between the states? Or was that General Mills?)
Andy
then happily tells us he even used a hidden camera to record the
reactions of some Yankees from up north enjoyin' Sanka Coffee.
Who knew Mayberry was so high-tech? Or that they cared what Yankees
thought about anything...
Next,
birdlike Carol Channing is flitting off to see former Mayberry
resident Gomer Pyle as he enters his third year as a private in
the Marine Corps.
As
usual, he's doing KP duty - but it's no bother to feed the troops
at all thanks to new Post Corn Flakes & Strawberries cereal.
Despite
the oversized dark glasses, Gomer seems to recognize the New York
actress right away, calling her 'Miss Carol' - wasn't that Gomer's
nickname for Carol Burnett also? What'd he call EVERYONE Miss
Carol?!?
Corn
Flakes & Strawberries cereal was a fine product, but after
you poured on the milk, you had a very small window of enjoyment
between the time the freeze-dried strawberries softened up and
the corn flakes got soggy.
It's
morning in Hooterville and Oliver and Lisa hear a knock at the
door - guess who it is?
It's
Carol and she's just in time for breakfast with a glass of Awake
Orange Drink powder product stuff.
Oliver
wants only fresh squeezed orange juice, but it turns out he can't
tell the difference anyway, so what the hell?
In fact, no one can tell which glass has the fresh squeezed juice
or which has the powdered drink. Must be some farm...
Then
it's back in time and half way around the world as the spasmatic
Miss Channing pops in on Colonel Hogan and his zany gang of Nazi
prison camp survivors.
When
Carol arrives, Corporal LeBeau has just served up a gourmet meal
with some JELLO for desert - topped with Dream Whip, the rich
topping that has more than just the flavor of whipped cream. Exactly
WHAT more, they never say - but I've had it and it's very tasty.
When
Col. Klink and Sgt. Shultz join their American prisoners for dessert,
fun is had by all. Of course, Col. Klink wasn't too thrilled about
his spiked helmet being used as the Jello mold...
A
sign that times have changed: I bet you'll never again see a JELLO
commercial set in a Nazi prison camp or with Nazi memorabilia
featured prominently in the product shot.
Hogan's Heroes on DVD!
"Loved
those commercials with Carol Channing and the rest of the General
Foods family (I told my friends to check out the HOGAN'S HEROES
spot). But the Gomer Pyle one is something I would have loved to
see being filmed.
"I
read something about how at that time Carol also made a sitcom
pilot for GF which included a spot for Corn Flakes & Strawberries,
done by her and her on-screen son (played by Jimmy Garrett, after
Lucille Ball dumped him into military school and forgot he and
his sister even existed). Anyhow, the point is that Carol is allergic
to strawberries, and the story described how for take after take,
she would spoon some cereal into her mouth...then when the director
yelled "CUT", spit it out before she could have a reaction."
- Paul Duca
Dear Billy,
A
friend sent me the address to your webpage about "when stars did
the commercials." There is a note by Mr. Paul Duca tagged at the
end of the article. There are a couple of errors in Mr. Duca's
note I thought I could set straight for you.
"
First, while Carol Channing did do a pilot for General Foods ("The
Carol Channing Show"), she did not have a son in the pilot and
in fact played a single woman. I did a very cute scene where Miss
Channing, who was broke and hungry, tried to steal an unnamed
boy's candy while sitting on a park bench.
"The
most interesting thing about the pilot was that it was produced
and directed by Desi Arnaz on the same stage that was being used
for "The Lucy Show" while it was on hiatus. Secondly, I am not
aware of any cereal commercials being shot during the pilot. Usually
commercials were not made by sitcom stars until the pilot sold.
But, if a commercial was shot, I did not appear in it. Mr. Duca
also might find it interesting that I did a few more episodes
of "The Lucy Show" after I was "dumped" into military school.
"Hope
this helps."
Best,
Jimmy Garrett
( aka Jerry Carmichael of "The Lucy Show")