Stars pay tribute to the ageless Carol Channing

Covering last night’s Cabaret at the Castle event starring Carol Channing was the first time I’ve worked a red carpet and not been representing the LA Daily News. Laid off as you know. So when I greeted the sensational JoAnne Worley, who was a regular reader my old newspaper column, I had to explain to her why I was now representing Greg In Hollywood.

Said the Laugh In star: “What? I got subscriptions for people to that newspaper just so they could read you! I love you, I love seeing you hear tonight. (The new blog) I know is a great success already. No problemo. Good for you!”

At this point, I handed Miss Worley a $20 bill and thanked her for reading the script I had written for her with so much conviction. Ha! No, she meant it and had made that clear even when I was in my old job. I appreciate her support and her enormous talent.

It was fun to chat about her olkd friend Carol Channing.

“I was Carol’s stand-by when Hello Dolly first opened. Do you know the difference between a stand-by and an understudy? $100 a week. (laughs). Carol was so phenomenal and if people wanted to see Hello Dolly, they wanted to see Carol Channing! She told me she’d never be out and she wasn’t. I was doing Second City in New York at the same time so I was getting two paychecks. Two!”

But she never got to go on for Channing, but once. I pointed out that at least Lanie Kazan had famously gone on for Barbra Streisand just one time during the Broadway run of Funny Girl (it made Lanie a star because she called every newspaper and magazine in town to alert them!).

“Never, no, no. I never went on,” JoAnne said. “That sickly Barbra Streisand. (laughs).”

But Miss Worley did go on to perform Dolly “many, many times” in various productions of the show and will again in June in Massachusetts.

Of course, I love when Miss Worley does her famous operatic trill (she greeted me by saying ‘Greg Hernaaaaaaaaaaaandez!’) from her Laugh In days and wondered if she ever gets tired of doing it for big fans like me: “I love to do it because sometimes it feels good,” she said. “The only time I don’t is when it’s inconvenient if you’re in a ladies room or if you’re trying on clothes iun a department store. There are times when it’s not appropriate.”

Then we talked about, what else? Eyelashes!

“I have Carol Channing’s eyelashes on tonight because I came here without my eyelashes and I was sayiong, ‘What can I do?’ I asked, ‘Does Carol have extra eyelashes?’ They said yes, they brought me eyelashes and GLUE! One time I actually put her eyelashes on her. We were doing a show together and she fell and broke her arm and it’s hard to put on eyelashes with one hand. Now these are her on me!”

Next on the red carpet was that lovely lady herself, Florence Henderson! Big air kisses for my favorite TV mom who, incredibly, turned 75 a few weeks ago but looks and seems at least two decades younger.”You’re the best guy,” she said as she greeted me (I love this gig!). We chatted about her terrific one-woman show at the Catalina Jazz Club last month then I reminded her that the next week, I spotted some scandalous pictures of her on the Internet in which she grabbed a studly guy’s private parts during the Broadway Backwards benefit in New York.

She laughed and explained: “Oh my God. That was the most fun. There was so much that went in to the creating of that number. Nobody expects me to be (so naughty) and that’s what makes it so funny. It was really hysterical with the guy. I said to him: “Well, the choreographer said I’m supposed to grab you, is that okay?” And he said: ‘Uh huh.'”

You always want to know what Florence Henderson is doing next because she is always going strong and full of surprises. She’s going to be doing her one-woman show in  San Francisco soon but what I’m really excited about is that the woman so famous as Mrs. Brady might be working soon with the woman so famous as Mrs. Partridge!

“There is a project that might come about with Shirley Jones that we’re talking about and it’s very exciting,” she said. “I’ll let you know.”

Of her longtime friend Carol Channing, Miss Henderson said: “She inspires me on so many levels. I think she knows a secret that we don’t know. She’s amazing, has such strength mentally and physically and emotionally. She just plows ahead and she’s not afraid of change and she just keeps going. And her husband, Harry, it’s a good thing she has him otherwise I’d give her a run for her money! (laughs).

Next up:  Donna Mills, the beautiful star of Knots Landing and countless movies for television. We had met a few weeks back at Florence Henderson’s show at the Catalina Jazz Club and had fun trying to name all of her on-screen husbands when she was playing the delicious role of Abby Fairgate Cunningham Ewing Sumner on my favorite nighttime soap of all time. But since then, I watched a DVD of Nip/Tuck and got to see Donna’s guest spot as a bi-poilar plastic surgery addict who, when she went off of her meds, had the surgeons give her feline features.

“It was five hours of make-up but it really was a lot of fun,” she said.I also wanted to know what Donna thought of Miss Channing who she had last seen perform about five years ago: She’s amazing, enthralling on the stage. She grabs you from the minute she walks out. They ask, ‘How does she do it at 88?’ She’s always been very health-minded. She takes how her own food with her wherever she goes, she’s very particular about what she eats. And it seems to have worked for her.”

And finally, there was just one more icon to chat with before the show began: Lily Tomlin.

Of Miss Channing, Lily had some nice things to say: “She’s one of the funniest women that’s ever walked. I’ve known Carol for many years. The first time I laid eyes on her was in  Detroit when I was about 17 and I went to see her one-woman show. I went in the alley to the backstage door and she came out, there were a lot of young people hanging around adoring her and she was so generous. She did bits for us and she carried on. She had a great, big black trapeze dress on and a mop of blonde hair and red lips and I think she had red jewelry on and a great, big red purse. And she was just always so original and eccentric in her style. Special. Special. And funny. I’ve worked with her and seen her all these years. I was with her on Laugh-In, I’ve done lots of benefits with her. She’s ready at the call.”