Now, darlings, you know how much I love what I call the "Eunice Sketches" from "The Carol Burnett Show." This excerpt, I am pretty certain is from one of them, though I cannot recall which, nor am I sure I have seen the whole thing. I can tell you, having recently seen "Eunice," the 1982 TV movie, this does not come from that.
I am sure everyone here recognizes Vicki Lawrence as Thelma Harper in her younger years. Vicki does a great job, as usual. But this little girl, playing Eunice as a child, is just brilliant!!!!!!!!! From this, you get how and why Eunice turned into what she did--something comical, but, sadly, not far removed from Tennessee Williams' Lucretia Collins in his "Portrait Of A Madonna" or Benji (though Eunice has functional intelligence) in Faulkner's "The Sound And The Fury." But I am getting far ahead of myself.
This little girl is also brilliantly costumed; one can see from the way she is dressed, how the outfit we all know Eunice to wear evolved from this. The child here actually has some talent; when he holds the note on "drama," one wonders if she, or maybe even Eunice, had some talent. But, while she is exaggeratedly cute, in a bad way, it is clear that what can be gotten away with as a child cannot work as an adult. And this is something Eunice never learned, which is part of the tragic aspect to her character, and which makes this child's portrayal so spot on. A bit of promise, but never a chance--that was Eunice!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
But, I just love her! Hell, I often don't feel too far removed from Eunice and this kid, myself! I may just do this birthday routine, and incorporate it into others I do, with Baby Gojira!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You will have to look it up on YouTube; it is there! And if you know who this child is, let me know, because she is terrific!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I was watching this episode recently, thinking the exact same thing! This girl's performance was spot-on, capturing perfectly all of Carol Burnett's high drama and over-the-top expressions. Her performance was truly remarkable for such a young actress. I have to say, Eunice is my favorite character, aside from Mama herself, so I can truly appreciate the talent exhibited by this brilliant young actress. I did a little digging and found her on IMDB.com as Tanya Fenmore, writer and actress.😉
ReplyDeleteThank you so much. I will look up Tanya.
ReplyDeleteI am with you on Eunice and Mama--love them!
But Tanya is brilliant as the child Eunice. Wonder
if she was ever used again?
It looks like she only did that one episode "Mama's Birthday." I thought I'd seen more of her, but maybe it's just that she was so very memorable.
ReplyDeletehttps://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eunice_Harper_Higgins
Is that full episode of it available anywhere?
ReplyDeleteI have only seen the excerpt on YouTube.
I'm not sure but I caught it a week or two ago on a new network called ME TV (Memorable Entertainment). It airs all these old shows like MASH, CHiPs, and The Carol Burnett Show. I'm not sure whether it's available in your area but I get it with my AT&T Uverse service. It was such a nice surprise to come across it and be able to enjoy it again.☺️
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for the info. I will see if I can get hold of it on my end!
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