Carol Channing Celebrates Valentine's Day

Carol was recently married to her Junior High school sweetheart, businessman Harry Kullijian, after a 70-year seperation. Their reunion and marriage has swept the nation through the media, from print to Larry King Live. A whirlwind romance that took three quarters of a century has taken the two star crossed lovers around the world while touring with her one woman show "The First Eighty Years are the Hardest." Carol's 84th birthday was celebrated on January 31st by the Theater Guild at the Beverly Hills Hotel with a list in attendance that included Tyne Daly, Debbie Reynolds, Lily Tomlin, Norm Crosby, Red Buttons, Rose Marie, Nannette Fabray, Carl Reiner, JoAnne Worley, Margaret O'Brien, Rhonda Flemming, Connie Stevens and more.

Carol and Harry concluded the evening with an impromptu song and dance to Tea for Two and Harry presented Carol with an early Valentines gift—"The Heart" by accomplished sculptor Norman Rips.

Photo by Bill Dow

About the Artist—An Optician and inventor for over fifty years, Norman Rips was intrigued by glass and its properties. Now eighty-three, he never considered retirement an option. He was having too much fun using his skills to create a new kind of sculpture utilizing the technological advances that he himself had been instrumental in developing. Now, as a highly sought after artist with commissioned works world wide by corporate, individual and celebrated clientele, Norman Rips will be opening a new gallery to the public in Culver City featuring many of his exquisite glass sculptures, designed using his own patented technology.