By JoAnn Smith & Sanford Brokaw
A chance fan letter that 17 year old Vicki Lawrence sent to Carol Burnett in 1966 changed her life in ways she never could have imagined. For years, Vicki was told that she looked like a young Carol Burnett. Vicki was set to perform at a talent show for the firemen’s Miss Fireball contest at Hollywood Park. It was a fundraiser for the fire department. At the suggestion of her mother, Vicki wrote Carol a fan letter and invited her to the show. Incredibly, Carol saw the letter and called, saying she wanted to come to the show.
Unbeknownst to Vicki, Carol was looking for an actor to play her younger sister on her new CBS sketch variety show, The Carol Burnett Show. Vicki ended up winning the talent contest and was crowned the firemen’s “Miss Fireball.” Carol decided that Vicki was perfect to play her kid sister and hired her as a series regular for the entire series run from 1967 to 1978.
In March, 1974 two of the writers came up with “The Family” sketch. Carol read the script and told Vicki, “I’m going to play Eunice. Vicki, you will play Mama.” Lawrence was only 24 years old. Fellow writers thought she was all wrong for the role. However, that all changed when legendary costume designer Bob Mackie came up with Mama’s outfit: the wig, the glasses, the flower-print dress, plastic pearls and sensible shoes. With her pursed lips and intense stare, this sassy Southern, take-no-crap-from-anyone senior citizen, “Mama” was brought to life. “This was yet another gift from Carol,” Vicki said of the character swap. Carol’s instincts about Vicki were right once again.
Thelma Harper (Mama) was the central character for the popular long-running skit “The Family.”
“Mama” became so popular, a spin-off sit-com “Mama’s Family,” was created around her. The TV show still can be seen daily in syndication throughout most of the country and is available as a Time-Life DVD collection.
Since then, Vicki and “Mama” have spent a lifetime together. Her stage production “Vicki Lawrence and Mama: A Two Woman Show” has been on the road for years. Vicki shares her life story about everything life throws at her with her relatable characteristic sense of humor, reminding all of us that, “life is much too serious to be taken seriously!”
Lawrence has multiple Emmy Award nominations, winning one in 1976. She is a multiple Golden Globe nominee, all for The Carol Burnett Show. In 1973, Lawrence recorded the hit song “The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia.” It reached Number One on both the United States and Canada top charts. In the past, Lawrence hosted a popular game show, Win, Lose or Draw, her own daytime talk show, Vicki!, and appeared in many theatre productions. She was the only talk show host since Oprah to be nominated for a Daytime Emmy in her freshman year. Through the years Lawrence has made appearances on other television programs, such as Laverne & Shirley, Major Dad, Roseanne, Hannah Montana, and Yes, Dear. Lawrence has also appeared with Burnett, Korman, and Tim Conway in the Burnett show retrospectives. Lawrence most recently co-starred in the popular FOX-TV 2018 comedy series The Cool Kids. Lawrence’s co-stars in The Cool Kids were David Alan Grier, Martin Mull and Leslie Jordan. On stage Vicki has appeared in numerous productions, including Carousel, Send Me No Flowers, No, No, Nanette, Chapter Two, Hello Dolly, I’m Getting My Act Together and Taking It ON The Road, Annie Get Your Gun and live from the Grand Ole Opry, Nunsense 3: The Jamboree which aired on TNN. Vicki is not only a successful actress, she also is involved in many causes close to her. She was the honorary head of the D.A.R.E program, raised money to protect widows and families of slain police officers in Long Beach, CA, supports the Humane Society and works with the American Heart Association as well as WALK FOR THE CURE. Her efforts to protect women’s rights were recognized in 1988 when Vicki was the first woman to be honored as “Person of the Year” by the Coalition of Labor Union Women. Lawrence was diagnosed with chronic idiopathic urticaria (CIU) around 2011. She teamed with the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America and has become the spokesperson for the campaign CIU & You. She appeared on The Doctors in 2015 to relay her story and talk about CIU and promote the CIU & You campaign.
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Ticket requirements for events may vary. Please contact the box office at boxoffice@palmspringsplazatheatre.com for ticketing information about specific events.
