Carol, Cecilia, Bea, and Bikes

 Couldn't resist a couple more pics of Carol Channing.

Above as Lorelei Lee (with Robert Fitch and John Mineo)

in the sequel to Gentlemen Prefer Blondes,

Lorelei.

It opened in 1974, 25 years after "Blondes",

and had the music of that Styne/Comden/Green machine.

The plot was essentially a re-hash/flashback of the original story.

Despite less than stellar reviews,

Carol got a Tony nomination for her work.

(Haven't been able to find this on CD,

so I may need to scoop up the vinyl version and "convert" it.)

 Carol replaced Roz Russell in Wonderful Town

in 1953.

Above, Carol as Ruth Sherwood leading the "Conga" number!

 With co-star David Burns in Hello, Dolly!

This is of course the scene at the Harmonia Gardens,

in which Carol hilariously consumed potato puffs with wild abandon.

There were actually made of Kleenex, powdered with Sanka.

Carol could fit 22 OR MORE in her mouth at a time

(later to be spat out in a napkin).

As the story was told in her NYTimes obit,

Carol's understudy could manage only 3.

 Carol's get up for "The Cecilia Sisson Story",

which was part of her revue, Show Girl (1961).

CC made discreet costume changes behind a standing screen

for each of her numbers,

regaling her audiences with song intros while she disrobed.

Jules Munshin added the testosterone and

Charles Gaynor, the sketches and music.

 What a consortium of Tony Talent!

Posed with their 1964 awards

are Alec Guinness (for Dylan), Sandy Dennis (for Any Wednesday)

Carol (for Hello, Dolly!) and Bert Lahr (for Foxy).

 Also on the "bill of fare" this Sunday:

High Spirits,

the musicalized version of Blithe Spirit.

Noel Coward's play (and film) set to music by Hugh Martin

and Timothy Gray.

It starred Beatrice Lillie as Madame Arcarti

and Tammy Grimes (with double eyebrows, it seems)

as Elvira.

 Noel had High Spirit hopes for the show...

he wanted Bob Fosse to direct, and Gwen Verdon, Celeste Holm,

and Kay Thompson in the cast.

What he got was Bea (his great favorite), Tammy,

Edward Woodward (below with Tammy), and he directed it himself.

A young Christopher Walken (then billed as Ronnie Walken)

cavorted in the chorus.

 Love this shot of Noel and Tammy. 

 The Madame Arcarti role was expanded

to become the lead,

hence Bea's name on the top of this LP cover, below.

And she got to sing "The Bicycle Song"!

1964 was the year of Hello, Dolly! and Funny Girl

and She Loves Me,

so HS acquired no Tony Awards,

but ran on Broadway for almost a year.