When Vicki Lawrence was asked to play Thelma Harper, aka “Mama,” she wasn’t sure about the role. She was hesitant to play an older woman as an actress in her 20s.
Now, “Mama” is iconic.
Lawrence will bring her show “Vicki Lawrence & Mama: A Two-Woman Show” to the Fox Tucson Theatre on Saturday, Jan. 11.
Lawrence originated her famous character on “The Carol Burnett Show,” in which she appeared from 1967 to 1978. She won an Emmy in 1976 for her portrayal. The TV show “Mama’s Family” ran from 1983 to 1990 and continues to reach audiences through reruns and streaming services.
The role of Mama was meant for Carol Burnett, but she wanted to play Eunice, Mama’s daughter. Lawrence learned from Burnett how to have fun while acting.
“Showbiz should be what everybody thinks it is, that you get paid for playing dress up and having a good time. She always calls it ‘playing in the sandbox,’” Lawrence said.
“She was always the person that knows everybody’s name on the set. She knows everybody’s dog, everybody’s kids…If somebody else was doing something funny, and if she wasn’t in the scene, she’d be the first person out of her dressing room, standing on the side with the audience and laughing. She was just very giving and nurturing.”
Lawrence is getting a chance to work with Burnett again on the second season of the show “Palm Royale.”
“She and I are closer than we ever were. When I started on her show, I was the kid, and everybody else was married and had children of their own,” Lawrence said.
“They would go out on double dates and on trips together. I was a teenager, so I didn’t feel like I was really part of the group. But now that I’m older, we’ve just become very good friends.”
She said that although she was hesitant to play Mama at first, she embraces her now.
“Honestly, I had been pregnant recently enough and didn’t feel absolutely gorgeous. I thought, ‘I don’t want to dress up as an old lady every week,’ and Carol really talked me into it. She said, ‘Do this as a series, because you are so, so good. It’s going to be a hit, and Mama will take care of you for a long time.’
“She has, and Carol was right. It’s been fun to make a show out of it because people love that character so much…Fans have never seen her in person, so to have her in person on the stage, it seems to be a lot of fun for them,” Lawrence said.
Lawrence said Mama was more of a “mean old lady” on “The Carol Burnett Show.” It took her some time to really find and develop the character. She had help from mentor Harvey Korman.
“He said, ‘She’s a sitcom star now, Vicki. You have to learn to be silly, laugh, do crazy things and not be mean all the time.’ And I said, ‘I don’t know if I can do it because Mama’s hardly smiled.’ He said, ‘I want you to remember the most important thing I taught you, and that is any character that you do well is a part of you. It’s in your gut. If you can do it, Mama can do it.’ He was sort of responsible for turning Mama loose and helping make her become the sitcom star that she did. She did all kinds of crazy stuff, like dirty dancing, running for mayor and tap dancing and singing,” Lawrence said.
Mama’s costume was created by fashion designer Bob Mackie.
“He designed everything for everybody, every costume. He was amazing, and he had a great sense of humor. I didn’t know who Mama was until he dressed me…He made the dresses. He picked the hairstyle, the jewelry. The only thing that I did to contribute at all was to mush the socks down because that reminded me of my grandma,’” Lawrence said.
She said her mother and southern mother-in-law also helped to inspire her character.
Her stage show has changed over the years, to stay current with the times. The show is divided into Lawence appearing as herself and Mama.
“My half of the show is pretty much the stories of my life and the things that people would ask if I did a question and answer as Carol does — how I met her, how I started, how I became a redhead, how I met my husband, how did mama happen, how the hell do I have one hit record, all the stories that people want to know. When I started this show, I told my writing partner I didn’t want this to be retrospective. I would really like to push her into the new century and let her comment on all the craziness that’s going on in the world that she doesn’t understand. And lord knows it keeps getting crazier, so there’s plenty of stuff to talk about,” Lawrence said.
As Mama, she talks about topical subjects that resonate with audiences in different parts of the country.
“God knows she has an opinion on everything. She talks about gay marriage. She talks about toilets that flush three times before you can get your pants up. She talks about how the hell can there be a size zero for women, human cloning…. She’s not too terribly political. I try to walk a nice middle line because I don’t want to upset people,” Lawrence said.
Lawrence said the show has always attracted a mix of different generations.
“I think it’s because ‘Mama’s Family’ has a life of its own…It’s really had a long life, and I think people love it. What I hear is they love it because it’s just sort of comfy, and you get to laugh for no good reason at all. And there’s no message…A lot of grandparents are introducing young kids to the old shows because they’re silly, fun, easy and safe,” Lawrence said.
Lawrence has long supported causes such as women’s rights, drug prevention, animal rescue and adoption and cancer research and awareness. In 1988, she was the first woman to be named “Person of the Year” by the Coalition of Labor Union Women.
In her spare time, Lawrence enjoys cooking. Around the holidays, she spends hours gift wrapping. She collects ribbons in preparation for the holidays.
She has made guest appearances in shows such as “Laverne and Shirley,” “Roseanne,” “Major Dad” and “Yes, Dear.”
Lawence also hosted the game show “Win, Lose or Draw” and her own talk show “Vicki.”
Onstage, she has been in shows such as “Carousel,” Annie Get Your Gun,” “Send Me No Flowers,” “I’m Getting My Act Together and Taking It on the Road” and “Hello, Dolly!”
She recently played the role of mother-in-law Ruthie Van Bryan in “Lopez vs Lopez” and juror Leigh in “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story.”
She had the chance to mentor Miley Cyrus while playing grandmother Mamaw Ruthie Stewart in “Hannah Montana.”
One lesson she tried to teach Miley Cyrus was to make props her friend when working with them onset.
Lawrence reached No. 1 in 1973 on the Canadian and U.S. charts with her song “The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia.”
She sings the song in her onstage show.
“A lot of people don’t even know that I had a huge hit record. So, that’s a fun story. And you know, if you have a huge hit record, you probably should sing it,” Lawrence said.
The song was written by Bobby Russell, Lawrence’s first husband, who she was only with for a short time. She was married to her second husband Al Schultz, a makeup artist, for almost 50 years.
Lawrence said the song has a different meaning to her now when she sings it than it did originally.
“It’s a nicer memory now. I was married to the guy that wrote it for like 10 minutes. He wrote it while we were married, but he didn’t like it. I did the demo. His producer liked it, but he couldn’t give it away because everybody said it will offend the South. So, I inherited it by accident. It wasn’t ever meant to be mine. When it became a hit, my then husband for 10 minutes was very upset that everybody was calling to talk to me...So, it was a contributing part of ending that already dysfunctional marriage. So, that was a good thing,” Lawrence said.
Originally from Inglewood, California, Lawrence sang, danced and was a cheerleader. She performed with the Young Americans musical group, which toured with singer Johnny Mathis, sang at the Hollywood Bowl with Henry Mancini and performed at the Oscars.
Lawrence said although she enjoyed singing and dancing, she never thought of it as something she could do as a career.
“I thought being a dental hygienist might be a good job. I thought interpreting at the UN might be a fun job. I also thought being a Rockette could be a fun job. I had fantasies when I was a kid, but it really never occurred to me that I could do it for a living. Carol seems to think that it would have happened one way or another,” Lawrence said.
Lawrence’s career took off after she competed in a local beauty contest for “Miss Fireball” in her hometown. The local newspaper wrote a story about her, and she mailed it to Burnett.
She said it was intimidating at first being so young working with professional actors.
“I only had three lines at the beginning. Harvey used to laugh at me if I messed up a line. But honestly, it’s more nerve-racking when you only have one or two lines than it is when you have a whole script to learn…I remember I used to watch it when it aired on Saturday nights, and I would look at it between my fingers. It was like watching home movies. It was mortifying. It took a long time for me to get comfortable playing in the sandbox,” Lawrence said.
“It took me until Mama came along, which was midway through the Burnett run, to feel like I had really earned the right to do that kind of stuff, that I had earned the privilege to play with the grown-ups in the sandbox.”
Vicki Lawrence & Mama: A Two Woman Show
WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 11
WHERE: Fox Tucson Theatre, 17 W. Congress Street, Tucson
COST: Tickets start at $20
INFO: 520-547-3040, foxtucson.com
