Customer Reviews

Just Lucky I Guess: A Memoir of Sorts

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

Is Carol Channing actually 81? Good grief! She's still a lot more lively than almost anybody a quarter her age. No ghost is credited, and it would seem that this book is, in fact, directly from the pen of Ms. Channing. It certainly sounds like her: the book reads like an extended interview, delivered in her inimitable voice (which I kept hearing while reading it). It's lots of fun to read, but probably best enjoyed in short bits, since the high energy level of the writing is almost too much to take after an hour or two! She bounces around madly from topic to topic, but that's part of the charm. A few personal notes: I grew up in a Christian Science family, and we knew the Channings (and I remember as a child visiting the First Reader's house which she describes). Her hilarious account of the foibles of Lady Astor will resonate with any Christian Scientist from that period! When Gentlemen Prefer Blondes appeared on Broadway, I remember a bit of a scandal in C.S. circles over her performance: not because of the naughty escapades of Lorelei Lee, but because she smoked a cigarette on stage! Oh well!

I found this book to be very much like I pictured the woman herself. A little wacky perhaps, but certainly very, very interesting and above all, fun. It has a real stream-of-consciousness feel to it, as if she were speaking to you at a dinner party. She hops around from one time period to the next and gives a lot of interesting tidbits regarding her various friends and co-stars in the industry. As to one reviewer who didn't like the way Carol mentioned her possible African-American ancestry, it struck me that she was just telling the truth and she didn't dwell on it or really make much of an issue of it. If it's true, then it's true, what's wrong with mentioning it? The only thing that seems a little glaring is her silence about her break-up with Charles Lowe. She mentions it rather briefly when she describes Loretta Young sending over a priest to help her through that difficult time, but that is really about it. Perhaps it just got a little too personal for her to talk about with the mass public. I mean, we all have looked at her as this larger than life cartoon, when underneath she IS still a woman. However, this book seems to carry on the "Hirschfeld" caricature image she has been developing for years. I, for one, am very glad that she wrote this book. She obviously still has a lot of spunk and life left in her. I've seen her several times throughout the years, and anyone who has ever heard that music start up and seen Carol come down those stairs in that glittering red dress with the giant feathers would know that they were seeing theater history. I found the book well worth the read!

Carol Channing tells her life story (probably dictated with almost no editing) in her own style - delightfully mixed-up, carefree and uninhibited. Of course she skips around and even SHE forgets exactly what her point was. Is this disappointing? No, she's just being Carol Channing, a true zany. Not Lucille Ball, a very serious and level-headed businesswoman who just played a zany.

The unabashed love she felt for her best pals- Mary Martin and George Burns in particular, is heart-warming reading. Her disdain for certain others never remotely comes across as bitter,
for example in the case of the nameless "Yenta" from one of her
Broadway shows. "Yenta" was a troublesome actress who, Carol later found out, wound up as a dental assistant. "It could have happened to any of us," Carol laments to us with a straight face. As if becoming a dental assistant was like dying in a plane crash! That's Carol... if you stray too far off Broadway you might as well be dead. Her love of life and love of the theater are one and the same, and it pours forth in every page.

You will notice too that there's no photo of her husband/manager of 42 years, Charles Lowe, whom she divorced very publicly in 1997 after informing the world he was gay and in all that time they had intercourse on two occasions. All mention of him is less than she gives to describe the "pear-shaped" ass of agent Sue Mengers. So you know that there are some sad things the happy Carol would just like to blot out, or, at least not burden us with. She'd rather give us peppy and mixed-up Carol showbiz yarns in no particular order.

The most controversial element of her tome is the impossible-to-prove assertment that her father was a light-skinned African-American. Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it, her father's "colored" birth certificate was destroyed. Now I could be wrong, but I think it is merely some of Carol's over-stimulated imagination at play, as when she saw-
I'm not making this up- a rainbow over Mary Martin's pancreas.
And of course, it's a little extra spice for selling books. And speaking of spice, the book is worth purchasing if only for the anecdote about a "Chinaman's mustache." I'm not telling, you'll have to read it.

Those who complain that her book has no order, rhyme or reason just don't know Carol. But "Just Lucky" is a terrific way to get to know this one-of-a-kind theater icon.

This chatty, funny book is just the tonic for those who find little to admire in today's wasteland of celebrities. This lady has been there and done it all, and lived to tell the tale. This book would make a wonderful basis for a one-woman Broadway show, which is HOPEFULLY in the works. The Channing that emerges in this book is a warm, witty celebrant of life who has worked for decades and even managed to find true love, at long last. A book for everyone who loves the theatre.

She continues to amaze!

Bravo, Ms. Channing.

And most importantly, Thank you for getting it all on paper for us all to relish. This is gushy, but there is no other way to describe this book. Beautifully written, cohesive and truly inspiring.

Powerful, in an odd and delightful way.

The theatre biz has changed so much since Time Magazine put her on their cover in 1950 and proclaimed, "Perhaps once in a decade, a nova explodes above the Great White Way with enough brilliance to re-illuminate the whole gaudy legend of show business."

Well, that was FIVE DECADES ago! And indeed no other Lady has had such theatrical staying-power...period!

Put on your Sunday clothes...
...and GET THIS BOOK!

I eagerly awaited the release of this book, purchased my own copy, and sat down to read one of the most delightful memoirs in recent years. I could just hear the marvelously distinctive voice of Miss Channing as I read along and at one point, began to believe that I was part of a personal conversation between old friends.
Miss Channing writes with remarkable candor and insight gleaned from many years of experiencing life. Her remembrances of her great stage triumphs (Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Hello, Dolly!) are mingled with tales of family life with her extraordinary parents and her later friendships and romances.
There is nothing salacious here, just good, fun reading by a totally delightful woman.

Carol Channing's autobiography is a fun read indeed, but is rather choppy. It was previously said that she never really finishes her stories, and that is ture, however, I was never left wanting. Her narrative is very entertaining, and the anecdotes are fun tidbits to tell! There really is one for every occasion!

A must for Channing fans!

I could possibly be Carol Channing's biggest fan under 20, but this book was a major disappointment. When I first saw it, I was thrilled. But as I started reading- I found it as if I was listening to my grandma just throw random stories at me. All her anecdotes are hilarious- but these is no continuity to them! I wish an editor would have told her to organize more instead of just piling random stories on top of each other.

That being said, I love Carol. I hope one day someone writes a definitive biography on her so I can have a full view of her life. This book is not that, though it is mildly entertaining just to read Carol's ramblings and try to imagine her saying these things. If there was an audiobook I would surely buy that just to hear her talk- but in print form this book falls flat.

There are those of my persuasion who feel that it is mighty convenient that Ms Channing has revealed that she has African American heritage. True, she probably wouldn't have had the success that she enjoyed on Broadway. But, glad to know that she is just the same. As for the book, one does get the feeling that it is definitely scatter brained. I like to feel that she wrote the book as she saw fit, and to be honest it could keep you on your toes. Especially if you didn't know who she was talking about or what.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, probably because I have had the pleasure of talking with her recently. What some don't understand, who gave bad reviews, this book is handled as a conversation with the reader. It is what you would have if you sat down with Carol Channing, kicked your shoes off and wanted to hear her talk about the many experiences she has had in her life. It was not put together by some ghost writer who felt you had to have everything in a set sequence, very boring in many autobiographies. There is a lot of information given about other greats on the stage and a lot of technical information about how musicals are put together. Every drama student and teacher should read this as there are gems you will never see in standard textbooks. This is not to say the book is perfect, but once read you will think of Carol Channing as not just an icon of the musical comedy world, but as a personal friend.