A Lesson from 1968

February 4, 2021

One of the many shows my family has revisited this past year to distract ourselves from the Great Confinement is The Carol Burnett Show, a comedy variety program that ran on prime time TV from 1967 to 1977. At the beginning of each show, Carol would come on stage to take impromptu questions and comments from the studio audience. In the Q & A of the November 18, 1968 show, a girl sitting in the back holds up a gift for Carol, a jar of pear preserves that her grandmother had made.

"Come on up, sweetheart," says Carol. When the girl gets to the stage, Carol asks her name (Felicia Cohen) and then her age. Felicia looks about 7 or 8. But she answers, "Twelve."

"Twelve," repeats Carol, clearly bewildered. "Twelve? Gee, you look..." and then she stops herself. If you watch Carol's face carefully, you can almost see her rewinding back to age 12 and imagining what it would feel like to be spoken to like a little kid instead of like someone about to be a teenager, especially on national TV. In a flash—in fact, mid-sentence—she changes her tone and speaks to Felicia in a way more appropriate to a young woman. It's part of Carol's particular brand of genius that she does this so smoothly that I may be the only viewer who ever noticed. But I bet Felicia did, too.

Carol Burnett knew (and probably still knows, given that she's had 52 more years of experience between then and now) two timeless truths:

1) How you look shouldn't dictate how you are treated.

2) If you find yourself with new facts that show you're making a mistake, you can, and should, stop mid-stream and do it the right way instead. Even if you're in the spotlight. Especially if you're in the spotlight. And especially if your kids are watching. But also even if no one will notice.

There's inspiration everywhere, even half a century in the past.

—Deb