Carol Channing, Who Brought Joy to Millions and Made Hello, Dolly! a Broadway Classic, Dies at 97

As a young graduate student at NYU in the mid-sixties, I rarely ventured outside of my academic circle of Washington Square and it’s Greenwich Village neighborhood. On the rare occasion I would travel uptown, it might be to see a Broadway show. And that’s when I first saw Hello, Dolly! starring the incomparable, Carol Channing.

Arriving at the St. James Theatre with no idea of what the cost to attend might be and having little discretionary resources, I plunked down $5 for a standing room ticket. This positioned me behind the last row, center stage with an unobstructed stage view. As the production unfolded, I was completely mesmerized by Jerry Herman’s music and Gower Champion’s choreography placing this adaptation of Thorton Wilder’s The Matchmaker in a class all its own.

It became my favorite musical. I bought the original cast album. In the early eighties I took my oldest daughter to see the show when it came to Washington. And last year I sat next to my two oldest granddaughters to watch the revival of the play on Broadway. Watching them thoroughly enjoying the show was an added treat.

Little did I know as I stood watching Carol Channing in that original production that someday I would meet and talk with this bigger than life Broadway star. But it happened. It was in 1990 as the issue of funding for the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) was itself, front and center stage.

As the Ranking Member on the House Education and Labor Committee’s subcommittee with oversight responsibility of the NEA and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), I was in a position to safeguard the arts or help destroy their federal support and funding. There was no question I would lend my stature in support of the Arts and Humanities.

Without going into great detail, there were shouts of censorship of artists and their works led by Senator Jesse Helms (R-SC). My chairman, Pat Williams (D-MT) and I became a formidable bipartisan force to successfully stop this effort to destroy federal support for the arts. My position on this matter was not particularly popular back home but I believed it to be the right thing to do. It took weeks to accomplish but our successful effort was identified by
Congressional Quarterly as one of the top 5 most important pieces of legislation for that session of congress.

Earlier in my congressional career, I had come to realize the impact the arts had on our culture and creativity. In 1984, Frank Hodsoll then Chairman of the NEA asked me to sponsor a bill creating a National Medal for the Arts. I introduced the bill and enthusiastically ushered it through the House and Senate. President Reagan signed it into law. It is conferred each year by the president on those who have made significant contributions to the Arts.

It was during the period when the arts were under attack that several celebrities came to Capitol Hill to lobby on behalf of maintaining support for the arts. One of them was Carol Channing. I knew she would be meeting with me at a reception to thank me for my work on their behalf. I was prepared, bringing my record album cover for her to sign. The framed picture of us with her holding the album with an inscription hangs in a special place in my home. I see it every day and think how lucky I have been able to say Hello to Dolly! and to have enjoyed her bigger than life contribution to the American theatre.