Book 1, 2012

"This Time Together: Laughter and Reflection," Carol Burnett 4 out of 5 stars.

From amazon.com:
"THIS TIME TOGETHER is 100 percent Carol Burnett – funny, irreverent, and irresistible.

Carol Burnett is one of the most beloved and revered actresses and performers in America. The Carol Burnett Show was seen each week by millions of adoring fans and won twenty-five Emmys in its remarkable eleven-year run. Now, in This Time Together, Carol really lets her hair down and tells one funny or touching or memorable story after another – reading it feels like sitting down with an old friend who has wonderful tales to tell.

In engaging anecdotes, Carol discusses her remarkable friendships with stars such at Jimmy Stewart, Lucille Ball, Cary Grant, and Julie Andrews; the background behind famous scenes, like the moment she swept down the stairs in her curtain-rod dress in the legendary “Went With the Wind” skit; and things that would happen only to Carol – the prank with Julie Andrews that went wrong in front of the First Lady; the famous Tarzan Yell that saved her during a mugging; and the time she faked a wooden leg to get served in a famous ice cream emporium. This poignant look back allows us to cry with the actress during her sorrows, rejoice in her successes, and finally, always, to laugh."
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I've loved Carol Burnett since I was a wee sprite watching her weekly variety show on TV virtually every week. I read her first book (One More Time) a year or so ago and when I found out she'd released another book I was hooked.

The book consists of short anectdotes told in mostly consecutive life order about her experiences mostly in, but also outside of showbiz. For me it was a fast read--the style was easy to fit into bite-sized chunks when I didn't have a lot of time to devote to sitting down to read. Highly entertaining, at times poignant, a book I highly recommend to all Burnett fans.

LJ writer's block: Hello world!

What is your earliest memory?

My earliest memories are of Richard Nixon. Evidently, according to my sainted Mother, I had a huge-ass toddler crush on him and would make everybody in the house come sit in front of the TV and watch him whenever he was on TV, which, as you recall, was quite a lot with the Watergate hearings and all...Must've driven my poor parents nuts! :)

I also vaguely remember some coverage of the Vietnam war, though only in bits and pieces from the CBS evening news (yes, we were mostly an Uncle Walter Cronkite household from my recollection.) I remember usually being shooed away from the TV set when that sort of thing came on, though.

Lots of TV memories, LOL. I remember lots of old black and white shows, when some shows still announced they were in glorious technicolor (though those were probably re-runs, too, as color TV was pretty standard on the networks by the time I was old enough to know what was going on.

I was a TV brat, I was. ;)

Also, I remember being very short and my line of vision being mostly knees and thighs and looking up a lot. And since I was really twee as a young thing I was picked up and carried around a lot. Must've been easier than squatting down to talk to me or something--I don't rightly know. ;)