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Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Ticket To "The Carol Burnett Show" in Hollywood


This is a picture of an old ticket to "The Carol Burnett Show", which used to tape before a live audience at CBS Television City, near Hollywood. This was one of my favorite TV shows, and I must have gone to at least 10 tapings of the show, even though I was under-aged (you were supposed to be 14 to get in). Actually, Carol Burnett herself asked me how old I was during a taping, and I couldn't lie- I said, "Eleven" (but I turned 12 years old a week later).


This is actually what happened:

David Ransom: "What specials do you have coming on CBS this year?"

Carol Burnett: "Aren't you cute? You sound just like a plant!"

(Audience roars)

Carol Burnett: "What's your name?"

Me: "David."

Carol Burnett: "David. And who asked you to ask me that? Nobody? You just thought of it yourself?"

Me: "Mmmm, hmmm".

Carol Burnett" "How old are you?"

At this point a lot of things ran through my mind. I would lie and tell anyone there that I was fourteen years old, but I knew beforehand that if and only if Carol Burnett asked me that, I would tell the truth!

Me: "Eleven."


Carol Burnett: "Eleven, well your supposed to be fourteen to get in here but since...."

(Audience Roars)

Carol Burnett: "Don't worry, David. By the time we're finished here tonight you'll be fourteen. It'll all go fast. I am doing a special that will be on this Thanksgiving night, with a lady named Beverly Sills and we did that at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York, but it's not all opera, it's a lot of stuff and I think you'll enjoy it. Ask your parents to let you stay up late, it's on around 10 o'clock. Okay? Thank you, David."

After that exchange, I was kind of mesmerized and couldn't talk to anyone for about 2 minutes.

About a month later, this show was on television nationwide, and my Grandparents in Texas called and my aunt in Cleveland wrote to me to say that they saw me on "The Carol Burnett Show". I had just started 7th grade, and lots of kids (some I knew, most I didn't) asked me if it was me on TV that night. It was exciting, and I developed the Acting bug.