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Post by Rick Henry on Mar 29, 2007 9:28:59 GMT -5
 Here's a topic with a bit of a lighter tone to it...
Of the many skits/musical performances in the Carpenters' TV Specials what are some of your favorites?
I'll come back with a few of mine. |
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Post by beaner on Mar 29, 2007 10:24:03 GMT -5
Good one, Rick! It's hard for me to remember just what each tv show, etc. had on but a few of the skits I liked were the one that road.ode has on there and that's the little diddy in which they do "Close To You" in a bit of vaudeville or slapstick version.
Next, on the tv special with Charlie Callas. He used to crack me up when I was a kid listening to stuff. Plus the one with Suzanne Somers and the Close Encounters thing.
Probably one of my favorites would be when Karen plays the drums in a solo part and Strike up the Band, etc. Fantastic!
Aside from the Carpenters, their opening act at one time (Skiles and Henderson) I used to enjoy quite a lot.
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Post by wisejester7 on Mar 29, 2007 18:08:36 GMT -5
I'm trying to remember their skits ...
Of course there were all those small skits from Make Your Own Kind Of Music and their Christmas specials (with people like Harvey Korman, Jimmy and Kristy McNichol, Gene Kelly, John Davidson, etc).
Did they do any skits on Perry Como, Carol Burnett, Dorothy Hamill, etc?
If I can just recall the past ... hmm. I remember Karen and Richard singing jokes.
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Post by Rick Henry on Mar 29, 2007 22:48:33 GMT -5
I'm with you Beaner... I love their Spike Jones treatment of the song "Close To You" as they performed on their first special. Karen and John Denver both played kazoos. Richard sang lead vocal, Victor Borge provided oddball sound effects and the entire Carpenters band (tony Peluso, Doug Strawn, etc) were all part of the performance. What a great great tune.
I would be very happy if Richard were to decide to release an entire album of Spike Jones type sounding songs for his next solo album. I would buy that in an instant and I would truly enjoy something so fun as that.
Another fun performance was "Goofus" from the "Space Encounters" special. Karen was dressed up somewhat like a raggedy ann doll - her sense of humor was in good shape here.
Another I really enjoyed was watching Karen speak on the Merv Griffin Show in 1981. Karen and Richard were guests on the show with Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta. Travolta seemed to be quite amused with Karen - as she was quite an animated speaker. She uses her hands a lot as she speaks and makes many facial expressions. The part I enjoyed the most is when she was talking about a boat trip to Catalina with her husband Tom Burris and ONJ and her husband. She was very humorous in this clip. |
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sunnybunny
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Post by sunnybunny on Mar 29, 2007 22:52:42 GMT -5
Matt was Olivia's boyfriend at the time.I read about that show,Olivia got seasick and the hotel they stayed at had nothing but cockroaches in it.Overall they had a great time.
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Post by Rick Henry on Mar 29, 2007 22:55:18 GMT -5
Matt was Olivia's boyfriend at the time.I read about that show,Olivia got seasick and the hotel they stayed at had nothing but cockroaches in it.Overall they had a great time. Yes, thank you Sunnybunny... Karen was completely humorous as she shared this story about the seasickness and the cockroaches in the hotel. |
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sunnybunny
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Post by sunnybunny on Mar 29, 2007 23:03:26 GMT -5
I've never seen the show but I've read about it.About 14 years later Olivia would divorced Matt.They got married in 1984.He was 30-something and she was 40-something when they divorced.He said she wasn't fun anymore.Really he had been seeing this 20-something for some years and she lived with them.3 years later...Matt married that girl and it was made public after 2 years that Olivia was seeing Patrick McDermott.7 years later...Matt no longer in news,Patrick goes missing,sadly.
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Post by smoothie2 on Mar 29, 2007 23:42:56 GMT -5
:(WELCOME sunnybunny!!!what a cute name!
glad u found us here...
I've seen clips of various shows through the road.ode site..
;DI don't know if the one I'm thinking of is from one of their specials, but Karen sings "Close to You" wearing an all pink
pantsuit and she's sitting in a big letter U
Most of the set is pink and the letters are yellow. R. and K. are
very young.
There's also the skit from one of their specials w/John Denver,
and Karen is dressed in long white fluffy gown and John's in
a tux and they sing and dance as if they are Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers...they sing "we're gonna cut away to a commercial
right now" and John is just smiling ear to ear, and then he
pumps Karen's arm up and down and she acts funny jerking her head up and down.
One of my all-time absolute favorites is the Christmas specials
they had and she's dressed in Victorian style with a purple
gown i think and I think she sings "Merry Christmas Darling".
I probably will add more later...
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Post by Rick Henry on Mar 30, 2007 10:33:13 GMT -5
Hey Kathy here's a picture from the part of the first TV special you mentioned with Karen and John Denver...
I also enjoyed this short little segment of the special... For you Sunnybunny...
Here's a shot of Karen with Olivia newton-John in the background from the Hollywood Nights special in 1980... |
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Post by beaner on Mar 30, 2007 12:43:51 GMT -5
Hey Rick, I remember the Merv Griffin show really well because I would always go over to my neighbor's house and watch all their specials cause we didn't have color TV and they did. Remember, too, when Karen was speaking about their trip to Catalina and she referred to this place they stayed in and called it "Hotel Dumpwater". Merv got a kick about that and laughed and also Richard saying "Boom Boom Canon"...this guy they knew.
Great stuff! I really wish Richard would release all those specials and tv shows. We fans would just melt at the chance to see these. My gosh, they are practically out there anyway with YouTube now. He might just as well give in.
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Post by Rick Henry on Mar 30, 2007 15:26:04 GMT -5
Hey Rick, I remember the Merv Griffin show really well because I would always go over to my neighbor's house and watch all their specials cause we didn't have color TV and they did. Remember, too, when Karen was speaking about their trip to Catalina and she referred to this place they stayed in and called it "Hotel Dumpwater". Merv got a kick about that and laughed and also Richard saying "Boom Boom Canon"...this guy they knew. Great stuff! I really wish Richard would release all those specials and tv shows. We fans would just melt at the chance to see these. My gosh, they are practically out there anyway with YouTube now. He might just as well give in. Yes, Mary Ann... you're right Karen ever so humorously referred to the place as "Hotel Dumpwater" - she was just so completely animated as she spoke. Her speaking voice is just as intriguing as her singing voice. She was truly a gifted conversationalist. The tones in her speaking voice are rich and smooth with hints of excitement in each word she speaks.
I also remember the Boom Boom Cannon story. Richard said the name - but of course Karen so gingerly took over the story as she explained how Cannon asked Karen and Richard when they met. This was during a radio interview. Karen said they looked at each other (they being Karen and Richard) and then she answered "Oh, in college". Again as she relayed this story on the Merv Griffin Show she just made me bust up - it was the way she said it along with her facial and hand gestures. She was just too funny - just in being her normal animated self. |
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Post by wisejester7 on Mar 30, 2007 18:12:24 GMT -5
Hey Rick, I remember the Merv Griffin show really well because I would always go over to my neighbor's house and watch all their specials cause we didn't have color TV and they did. Remember, too, when Karen was speaking about their trip to Catalina and she referred to this place they stayed in and called it "Hotel Dumpwater". Merv got a kick about that and laughed and also Richard saying "Boom Boom Canon"...this guy they knew. Great stuff! I really wish Richard would release all those specials and tv shows. We fans would just melt at the chance to see these. My gosh, they are practically out there anyway with YouTube now. He might just as well give in. Yes, Mary Ann... you're right Karen ever so humorously referred to the place as "Hotel Dumpwater" - she was just so completely animated as she spoke. Her speaking voice is just as intriguing as her singing voice. She was truly a gifted conversationalist. The tones in her speaking voice are rich and smooth with hints of excitement in each word she speaks.
I also remember the Boom Boom Cannon story. Richard said the name - but of course Karen so gingerly took over the story as she explained how Cannon asked Karen and Richard when they met. This was during a radio interview. Karen said they looked at each other (they being Karen and Richard) and then she answered "Oh, in college". Again as she relayed this story on the Merv Griffin Show she just made me bust up - it was the way she said it along with her facial and hand gestures. She was just too funny - just in being her normal animated self. Ah, what memories, what memories! Thanks for the pictures, too. ;-) |
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Post by smoothie2 on Mar 30, 2007 22:52:21 GMT -5
::)THANKS RICK FOR BOTH THESE PICS. I ALSO JUST REALIZED THE LITTLE "KAREN CUBE BOXES" ON EACH TOPIC FOR THE FORUM...THAT THEY ROTATE! REMINDS ME OF A "RUBICK'S CUBE" FROM THE '80'S! REALLY KOOOOOL! |
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sunnybunny
CERTIFIED GOLD MEMBER
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Post by sunnybunny on Mar 30, 2007 23:20:39 GMT -5
I have the Hollywood Nights special somewhere on some dvds that I have that have interviews or music videos from all points of Olivia's career.
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Post by enigma on Apr 1, 2007 12:41:25 GMT -5
Again there are so many but I will give a few of my favs The American College Show performance of Dancing in the Street Pure gold a young Karen great voice great drumming great performance. Also the Nurse Karen routines on Makem myour own music show were cute and funny I enjoyed those and I also recall a Richard in a superman costume that was funny as well. Nice little entertaining snippets between songs. The London Bridgen special with Tom Jones where The Carpenters perform For All We Know was also quite enjopyable Karen was beautiful as ever and the sunny outdoor setting was a nice change from the usual studio or concert settings. First TV special The joke part where Karen tells the jokes and Ricahrd plays the straight guy Karen was so cute and funny with the faces and the whole bit I really got a kick out of that. Karen and John Denvers duet was also great. The drum solo was really good I got tired just watching Karen run to the various drums and she never missed a beat...Wow! Space Encounters The guy (I forget his name) who was helping K&R with the comedy throughout the show was funny and memorable also the Karen John Davidson duet was great. MMM The Ella Karen duet was great This Masquarade never sounded better to me. I also really love the Bacharach Medley Karen was in top form and really classy and sophisticated the way she treated the Medly. Merv Griffin was mixed emotions for me while Karen was funny during the show her condition and the fact it was the last time I saw Karen alive on TV makes it sad for me.   |
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Post by Rick Henry on Apr 1, 2007 21:55:30 GMT -5
Again there are so many but I will give a few of my favs The American College Show performance of Dancing in the Street Pure gold a young Karen great voice great drumming great performance. Also the Nurse Karen routines on Makem myour own music show were cute and funny I enjoyed those and I also recall a Richard in a superman costume that was funny as well. Nice little entertaining snippets between songs. The London Bridgen special with Tom Jones where The Carpenters perform For All We Know was also quite enjopyable Karen was beautiful as ever and the sunny outdoor setting was a nice change from the usual studio or concert settings. First TV special The joke part where Karen tells the jokes and Ricahrd plays the straight guy Karen was so cute and funny with the faces and the whole bit I really got a kick out of that. Karen and John Denvers duet was also great. The drum solo was really good I got tired just watching Karen run to the various drums and she never missed a beat...Wow! Space Encounters The guy (I forget his name) who was helping K&R with the comedy throughout the show was funny and memorable also the Karen John Davidson duet was great. MMM The Ella Karen duet was great This Masquarade never sounded better to me. I also really love the Bacharach Medley Karen was in top form and really classy and sophisticated the way she treated the Medly. Merv Griffin was mixed emotions for me while Karen was funny during the show her condition and the fact it was the last time I saw Karen alive on TV makes it sad for me. Oh yes, Enigma... you've definitely chosen some great ones here.
I also love the All american college performances - Karen was truly outstanding. She was singing and playing those drums at the same - Karen alone was enough to win that competition for them. Right from the start it was Karen who was the goldmine - it was so evident.
I would love to see the "Nurse Karen" routines - I either don't remember them or just didn't catch the "Make Your Own Kind Of Music" show enough to see Karen doing this. I bet it's a hoot. I really wish this series would be released on DVD - I'm certain it would sell at least 15-20 thousand copies - I would buy one immediately. |
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Post by smoothie2 on Apr 9, 2007 23:30:14 GMT -5
 A few yrs. ago, I saw some of the old Ed Sullivan shows...and the C's were featured in one clip, perhaps the first time they were on his show...anyway, Rick has used a photo for the background here before where a very young Karen is at the drums and her hair is long and behind her ears and she's in an all-white suit, singing Dancing in the Street. Well, when I saw that clip, I remembered seeing that way back then. Afterward I think R. and K. rushed up to Sullivan for half a second, as he had bragged on them, and they quickly thanked him. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I recall the I think it was "This is Your Life" where I recall Richard showed the interviewer their studio,
Richard was wearing a white sweater with big stripes.
At that time, R. and K. had really "made it" in the music world.
Richard really was smiling from ear to ear very proudly.
~~~~~~~~~
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Post by Rick Henry on Apr 10, 2007 10:46:48 GMT -5
   Hi Kathy...
I think you have your TV appearances a bit confused...
The show in which Karen is wearing white with the white hair band is actually from the 1968 appearances on The All American College Show. On the Ed Sullivan Show (1970) Karen was wearing a long sleeved yellow blouse with a dark colored vest. The 1971 "This Is Your Life" show had Richard wearing a dark colored sports jacket and with a light colored dress shirt and an orange/yellow tie.
The show where Richard is wearing the striped sweater (and is showing their home studio) is Jerry Dunphy Visits which was shown in late 1971. I don't have any pictures of that show yet.
Here are some pictures from each show. All American College Show (1968) Ed Sullivan Show (1970) This Is Your Life (1971) |
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