We catch up with the Emmy, Grammy and Tony winner on the eve of her appearance at the TCM Classic Film Festival

Comedy legend Carol Burnett is joining the lineup for this year’s TCM Classic Film Festival, coming to Hollywood from April 30 through May 3. The theme of this year’s festival is “The World Comes to Hollywood,” and fans from all corners of the globe indeed converge on the famous Boulevard to catch a glimpse of their favorite stars hosting discussions, chatting poolside and being awarded hand and footprints (Glenn Close on May 1) at Grauman’s Chinese Theater.

This year, attendees can hear from iconic actresses like Jane Fonda and Faye Dunaway, directors including Joe Dante and Mario Van Peebles, historians, critics and friends and family of actors no longer with us.

Always pushing the comedy envelope, Carol Burnett will be talking about a movie that she not only does not appear in, but one that came out when she was just a teenager. In the 1930s, 40s and 50s, Burnett and her grandmother shared a studio apartment a block north of the Warner Bros. theater on Hollywood Boulevard, where she took a summer job in 1951. We talked to the Emmy, Grammy and Tony-winning actress about growing up in Hollywood and why she chose to introduce Alfred Hitchcock’s Strangers on a Train at the Egyptian Theater on May 1.

Strangers on a Train (1951)Credit: Photo courtesy TCM

CHRIS NICHOLS: What was it like growing up in Hollywood?
  
CAROL BURNETT: “We moved out from San Antonio when I was 7 years old. My grandmother had a Murphy bed in the living room and I slept on the couch until I was 21. We lived a block north of the Warner Brothers theater on Wilcox and Yucca. When I was a kid I loved the movies, that was our escape.”

Warner Bros. Theater on Hollywood Boulevard in 1946Credit: Security Pacific National Bank Collection/Los Angeles Public Library

CN: How did you pick your movies?  

CB: “I loved the Pantages where they showed a lot of Columbia movies including Rita Hayworth. The Paramount (now El Capitan) had Bing Crosby and Bob Hope, the Chinese had Betty Grable movies and Warner Bros. was all Joan Crawford. The Egyptian was a lot of MGM stuff, and my grandmother loved musicals and comedies. The Warners, Grauman’s Chinese and Egyptian were first run so they were like 20 cents more. We were on welfare and would go to the second run theaters. Before I was 12, I could get in for eleven cents.”

Scroll to continue reading

The lobby of the Warner Bros. Hollywood TheaterCredit: Security Pacific National Bank Photo Collection/Los Angeles Public Library

CN: Did you work at a movie theater?  

CB: “I was a student at UCLA, maybe 17 or 18. We were on a summer break so I applied for a job as an usher for the summer so I could make a little money. They called them usherettes in those days, and we had to wear these insane uniforms with harem pants and kind of a uniform top with epaulettes on each shoulder and a fez on our heads. The manager, I think he was kind of certifiable, would give us signals as to where we should go, either behind the candy counter or in the box office or just ushering.”

CN: Is that where you saw Strangers on a Train?

CB: “This was back in the covered wagon days, and if you came in late, you would sit and watch the newsreels and the cartoons and then the movie would start over again. People would often buy a ticket in the middle and then stay over and watch the beginning and sort of piece it together. When Strangers on a Train was playing, I was stationed in front of the aisle 2 door, and this couple came in late and I’m standing in front of the door saying ‘It’s the last five minutes. It would ruin the whole movie for you if you went in right now. Go get some popcorn, go to the bathroom…it’s Hitchcock!’”

Farley Granger and Robert Walker in Strangers on a Train (1951)Credit: Photo courtesy TCM

CN: Did you let them in?
CB: “They were adamant, and (manager) Mr. Batten heard the commotion. He let them in and ran his finger across his neck like he was cutting my head off! He ripped off my epaulettes and said, ‘You’re fired!’ so I was out the .65 cents an hour. A friend of mine told Hitchcock that story and now in my home I have the original poster signed ‘To Carol, thank you, Alfred.’”

CN: Did you ever go back?
CB: “When they asked where I wanted my star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame I said in front of that theater. A few years ago my husband went to them and asked if we could have the door to aisle 2. It’s in our home right now leading to our office.”

Carol Burnett at the Beverly Hills Hotel in 1962Credit: John Verzi Collection/Los Angeles Public Library

CN: I was watching your Twilight Zone episode where you took a fall like a real slapstick comedian. Where did you learn that?

CB: “I taught myself. I just learned that you don’t stiffen up when you’re gonna fall down. I never broke anything. I remember when I first got on The Gary Moore Show we did a sketch where I had to jump out of a window. I said ‘sure’ because I wanted the job. I landed on a mattress and stupidly said ‘thanks.’ I just thought I was gonna go splat. Jerry Lewis asked me ‘are you sure you know what you’re doing?’ because he took all those pratfalls.”

CN: You were so athletic!
CB: “I used to fly kites and roller skate up the sidewalks. We would climb the Hollywood Sign with the neighborhood kids. The boards were rickety, and you’d get splinters but at the top you could lean over and just look at Hollywood. I feel like I’ve lived a charmed life with so many wonderful coincidences that have happened. It’s like It’s a Wonderful Life with Clarence on my shoulder.”

Carol Burnett and Burt Reynolds in 1972Credit: Photo by Mary Frampton/Los Angeles Times Photographic Collection/University of California, Los Angeles. Library. Department of Special Collections

CN: Is this your first time at the TCM Festival?
CB: “This is the first time I’ve done the festival but two years ago we did wraparounds with (TCM host) Dave Karger. We used to do movie takeoffs on my show so when they showed Mildred Pierce we’d show our takeoff Mildred Fierce. We did Top Hat where Ken Berry was Fred Astaire, I was Ginger Rogers and Roddy McDowall was Edward Everett Horton. Fred Astaire complimented Ken and said he had him down perfectly. I love TCM and Tivo it constantly. I think I’m one of the few people that can remember the original movies. We’re doing something in front of an audience (on May 1). I’m going to sound like an old fogey but I think actors like Bette Davis and Joan Crawford had more of a vibe to them and you don’t have that many today. I think George Clooney is great but still…there’s a difference.”

Carol Burnett Square is unveiled in Hollywood in 2013Credit: Photo by Angela George/Wikipedia

CN: Are you going to watch Strangers on a Train again?
CB: “I’ll probably be in and out. I’m not gonna stay to see it because I’ve already seen it 57 times when I ushered for it!”

Carol Burnett on the cover of Los Angeles magazine in 1976Credit: Los Angeles magazine archives

Carol Burnett at the TCM Classic Film Festival

So Glad We Have This Time Together: A Conversation with Carol Burnett
Friday, May 1 at 1 p.m.
Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel

Strangers on a Train (1951)
Friday, May 1 at 3pm
Egyptian Theatre