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The Dolly Controversy: Still Goin' Strong |
Editorial/December 2005 |
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When
Barbra
Streisand
got
the
part
of
Dolly
in
the
movie,
critics
from
Broadway
to
Hollywood
questioned
the
studio's
choice.
But
the
biggest
critic
was
Broadway's
original
Dolly
herself.
Despite
her
warm
overtures
toward
Barbra
when
the
casting
decision
was
announced,
Carol
Channing
has
somehow
managed
to
keep
this
rather
stale
debate
going
for
nearly
forty
years.
Here's
how
the
news
broke
in
1967:
New
York
Daily
News
-
May
7,
1967
Getting
a
New
Dolly
for
the
Movie
Hollywood,
May
7
(Special)
-
Barbra
Streisand,
the
24-year-old
singer
who
says
she's
the
highest
paid
performer
in
the
world,
will
play
the
feature
role
of
Dolly
Levi
in
the
movie
version
of
"Hello,
Dolly!"
it
was
announced
today.
Miss
Streisand
received
a
batch
of
yellow
roses,
after
the
announcement,
from
Carol
Channing,
47,
who
played
the
leading
role
in
the
Broadway
production.
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So Long Dearie: Barbra
Gets "Dolly"
December 1, 2005
 This
month
marks
the
36th
anniversary
of
Hello,
Dolly!
- that
is,
the
Barbra
Streisand
movie
version.
Amazingly,
controversy
still
hovers
around
the
casting
of
Barbra
as
Dolly,
the
most
coveted
movie
role
at the
time.
Some
critics
thought
Barbra
was
too
young.
Others
just
didn't
think
Barbra,
who
had
yet to
actually
appear
in a
movie,
deserved
the
part.
But
the
largest
contingent
of
skeptics
criticized
the
film
simply
because
Carol
Channing
wasn't
cast.
Channing,
who
originated
Dolly
on the
stage
and
won a
Tony
award
as
Best
Actress
in a
Musical (over
Barbra's
Funny
Girl
in
1964),
has
managed
to
keep
the
debate
alive
for
decades.
Sour
grapes?
Perhaps.
At a
2002
New
York
Times
sponsored
appearance
to
promote
her
memoirs,
Just
Lucky
I
Guess,
Channing
railed
on
Barbra's
performance
in the
film,
saying,
"A
barrel
of
laughs
she
ain't."
Channing
went
on to
say,
"Thornton
Wilder
thought
he
wrote
a
comedy.
There
isn't
a
laugh
[in
the
film].
But
it's
beautiful
singing!"
Despite
her
very
impressive
stage
credentials
(and
even
though
she
received
an
Oscar
nomination
for
Thoroughly
Modern
Millie
in
1967),
Hollywood
must
have
felt
that
Channing's
persona
was
just
too
quirky
to
carry
a
leading
lady
role
on the
silver
screen.
With
an
enormous
shooting
budget
hanging
in the
balance,
Channing
was
probably
considered
too
much
of a
risk
to be
cast
in
this
movie
musical
extravaganza.
Carol
Channing
might
very
well have
been
able
to
pull
it
off as
a
screen Dolly.
But
however
she
and
other
skeptics
spin
it,
the
fact
remains:
Barbra
got
the
part,
did a
damn
good
job
and
the
film
won
three
Oscars.
It's
time
to say
"So
Long,
Dearie"
to
this
decades
old
controversy.
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