Jean Carroll, 98, Is Dead; Blended Wit and Beauty
Matthew Kruk
Jean Carroll, 98, Is Dead; Blended Wit and Beauty By MARGALIT FOX
Jean Carroll, a comedian of the 1940s and '50s whose ready wit,
impeccable timing and unorthodox blend of glamour and humor made her one
of the first female stars of mainstream stand-up comedy, died at a
hospital in White Plains on Jan. 1. She was 98 and lived in Hartsdale,
N.Y.
The death was confirmed by her daughter, Helen Tunick.
Though no longer a household name, Ms. Carroll was at midcentury a
regular headliner in the country's best-known theaters and nightclubs.
She appeared often on "The Ed Sullivan Show" and had her own short-lived
sitcom, "The Jean Carroll Show," also called "Take It From Me,"
broadcast on ABC in the 1953-54 season.
A monologist who wrote nearly all her own material, Ms. Carroll found
her humor in the stuff of everyday experience: clothing, shopping,
social life and family.
"The thing that attracted me to my husband was his pride," one of her
best-known bits went. "I'll never forget the first time I saw him,
standing up on a hill, his hair blowing in the breeze - and he too proud
to run and get it."
Ms. Carroll, who began her career as a vaudeville dancer in the 1920s,
is widely credited with having blazed the trail for legions of female
stand-up comics who came after her, including Phyllis Diller, Joan
Rivers and Lily Tomlin.
In Ms. Carroll's day, the world of stand-up comedy was thought to be no
fit place for a woman. There were female entertainers before her, of
course, but few specialized in the solo nightclub acts for which Ms.
Carroll became famous. Minnie Pearl, for instance, inhabited a carefully
cultivated stage persona. (Ms. Carroll, by contrast, was unabashedly
herself.) Fanny Brice appeared mostly in burlesque houses and on radio.
Sophie Tucker, though she spiced her acts with risqu� humor, was best
known as a singer.
Perhaps only Moms Mabley, who began performing solo comedy routines in
the 1910s, can be considered Ms. Carroll's true predecessor. But because
of her race, Ms. Mabley was confined for much of her career to the
network of black vaudeville houses familiarly known as the chitlin
circuit, playing to wider audiences only late in life.
Genteel by today's standards, Ms. Carroll's humor was radical in its
day - radical, that is, in the hands of a lone woman with a microphone
in front of her and an audience at her command. For a female comic to
wield that sort of power was unheard of then, especially in the
smoke-filled universe of nightclubs.
When Ms. Carroll came to prominence, no woman was expected to sustain a
comedy act by herself; traditionally (think of George Burns and Gracie
Allen), a woman had a straight man beside her as a counterweight. Nor
was she supposed to be hugely attractive: The combination of feminine
wit and beauty seemed too potent a cocktail to foist on the American
public. Many 20th-century female comics, like Ms. Diller, Lucille Ball
and Totie Fields, cultivated public personas that were variously
frazzled, madcap or disarmingly dowdy. What was more, they often used
their looks as the butt of self-deprecating jokes.
Ms. Carroll did none of these things. Extremely attractive, she appeared
alone onstage in a shimmering evening dress, dripping diamonds and mink.
That in itself was subversive, as were her monologues about being driven
crazy by spouse and children, a time-honored staple of male comics. As
appropriated by Ms. Carroll, however, the subject discombobulated some
audience members.
"I used to do that routine about my daughter being a hippie with the
dirty sneakers and dirty blue jeans, but why a beard?" Ms. Carroll said
in an interview in "Funny Women: American Comediennes, 1860-1985"
(McFarland, 1987), by Mary Unterbrink. "And you know, people would
actually come to me and say, 'Does your daughter really have a beard?' I'd
say, 'No, I made her shave it, but I let her keep the mustache.' "
Ms. Carroll was born Celine Zeigman in Paris on Jan. 6, 1911, and came
to the United States with her family at 18 months. Reared in the Bronx,
she began her career in her early teens after a talent agent spotted her
dancing in an amateur show. Soon after, she joined the vaudeville
circuit as part of a two-boy, two-girl dance act. A natural verbal
clown, she later joined the act of the comedian Marty May.
In the early 1930s, Ms. Carroll met Buddy Howe, an acrobatic dancer.
Joining forces as Carroll and Howe, they toured the country with a dance
act punctuated by humorous patter written by Ms. Carroll. The couple
married in 1936 and spent the next three years touring Britain. After
the United States entered World War II and Mr. Howe was drafted, Ms.
Carroll continued as a solo comic, to wide acclaim. On his discharge
from the Army, Mr. Howe was prudent enough to realize that the act was
better without him and became a talent agent instead.
From 1945 to 1959, Ms. Carroll was also a scriptwriter for the CBS radio
serial "Our Gal Sunday." She released an album, "Girl in a Hot Steam
Bath," on the Columbia label in 1960.
Mr. Howe, who became chairman of the Creative Management Agency, died in
1981. Ms. Carroll, who was known in private life as Celine Howe, is
survived by Ms. Tunick of Carmel, N.Y., and two granddaughters, Susan
Hamilton of Briarcliff Manor, N.Y., and Andrea Ramos of Carmel.
Ms. Carroll's comic gifts were perhaps nowhere more evident than they
were one night in May 1948 at the old Madison Square Garden, when she
performed at a benefit for the United Jewish Appeal. Israel had been
declared a state that month, and after hearing impassioned speeches and
the playing of "Hatikvah," most of the audience was in tears. Then came
Ms. Carroll's turn.
It was a delicate spot for a comic to be in, as Mr. Howe recounted in
interviews afterward. Unfazed, Ms. Carroll leaned into the microphone.
"I've always been proud of the Jews, but never so proud as tonight," she
said. "Because tonight I wish I had my old nose back."
Copyright 2010 The New York Times Company
Matthew Kruk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbqHdwbxpWs
La N
Sigh .... When and why did variety shows die.
I don't remember Ms Carroll, but she was very good.
- nilita
La N
btw, that site linked to a Totie Fields (loved her!) classic performance on
Sulllivan:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msU-BM5UaK0&feature=related
- nilita
Matthew Kruk
news:ZkW%m.58325$Db2.55798@edtnps83...
Good point. Variety shows exposed you to a spectrum of talent in
various fields. Nowadays everything seems so fragmented and
compartmentalized.
Matthew Kruk
I watched that one too - great lady.
La N
Mwaaaahhh ... I miss the Carol Burnett Show and the Dean Martin Roasts ...
- nilita
Matthew Kruk
Damn lady, you got me running off to youtube for a couple of hours ...
:-)
BobF
[Default] On Sun, 03 Jan 2010 06:11:59 GMT, "La N"
<nilita20...@yahoo.com> magnanimously proffered:
I think you and I could watch television together for eternity. Those
were two of my favourite shows and every once in a while I'll watch
snippets from the Carol Burnett Show on Youtube and laugh myself sore.
--
"BTW, there are many lurkers who will agree with me."
- From "The Sayings of Roy"
Matthew Kruk
news:7qar5r...@mid.individual.net...
Great stuff Bob, great stuff ...
La N
Ya think? Those were the shows that our parents insisted that we could stay
up late watching. Those and The Smothers Brothers. I've seen every episode
of every one of those shows when they were telecast and later on Youtube.
Oh, and Red Skelton and Bonanza.
TV sucks now ... well, except for the shows in which some friends have gigs,
but I digress ....
- nilita
Matthew Kruk
Yep, bring out some more lemons for TV executive to pucker their lips on
...
Ah, Red Skeleton, Jackie Gleason, Hollywood Palace ...
La N
I've come to accept that the "younger" generation have their own tastes, and
that's okay. "Our" day is done. Cooked. We're all getting older ...;p
- nilita
busgal
Now this is a great writeup.
I liked she included Minnie Pearl who was one of the most educated
stars of that era of Country Music/Grand Old Opry folks.
Jane Margaret Laight
> >news:AKW%m.58335$Db2.50225@edtnps83...
> >> BobF wrote:
> >>> [Default] On Sun, 03 Jan 2010 06:11:59 GMT, "La N"
>
> >>>> Matthew Kruk wrote:
> >>>>> "La N" <nilita2004NOS...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
>
> - Show quoted text -
no sweetie--we're just getting better--remember that...
and I miss the variety shows too! Where will it all end?
and Bob, thanks again for this obit. Obviously a gracious and graceful
lady.
JML
coming up for air