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"MAMA" TO VISIT SENECA NIAGARA CASINO
Niagara Falls, NY, October 2004 - One of the top TV shows of the late 1960s and 70s was "The Carol Burnett Show." One of the stars was "Mama," a 65-year-old cantankerous, outspoken character named Thelma Walker, better known as Vicki Lawrence. Mama, still alive and kicking, will be paying a visit to the Bear's Den Showroom at Seneca Niagara Casino on Friday, November 12 at 9 p.m. for "Vicki Lawrence and Mama: A Two-Woman Show." Tickets are $30 and available at SenecaNiagaraCasino.com, Eight Clans Gift Shop, ticketmaster.com and all Ticketmaster locations, including Kaufmann's stores.
While Lawrence was in high school in her hometown of Inglewood, Calif., the cheerleader, dancer and singer entered the local fire department's "Miss Fireball Contest." After a local newspaper article mentioned her resemblance to Carol Burnett, Lawrence sent her a fan letter and invited her to attend the finals of the competition. Burnett came, sitting hidden in the back, before coming forward to crown the winner, Lawrence.
Shortly afterward in 1967, Lawrence graduated from high school. Burnett asked Lawrence to audition for the part of her little sister on a "little variety television show" being produced. She got the part and began working on the show while attending UCLA to study Theatre Arts. Lawrence has often said that education on The Carol Burnett Show with Burnett, Harvey Korman and Tim Conway was like "attending the Harvard School of Comedy in front of America." She withdrew from UCLA after two years and spent 11 years with Burnett, earning one Emmy Award and five Emmy nominations.
Ironically, while Lawrence originally was hired for the "Carol and Sis" segment, her most popular recurring role was not Burnett's sister, but her mother. Burnett was originally set to play the part but gave it to Lawrence instead. Lawrence describes "Mama," who was introduced during the show's sixth season when she was only 24, as "the lovable matriarch of a dysfunctional southern white-trash family." As she recalls, she was "the only actress in showbiz who goes to makeup to get ugly."
After Burnett voluntarily ended the show's 11-year run, the characters were spun off into a new series, "Mama's Family." In addition to Lawrence, the show starred Ken Berry, Dorothy Lyman, Beverly Archer and Allan Kayser. The last original episode was done in January 1990, completing five years of first-run syndication. The show is still seen daily throughout much of the country.
Lawrence is more than Mama. She's a singer, comic, TV host, business owner, community supporter and philanthropist. She received a Gold record in 1973 for her international hit single, "The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia." While doing the Mama's Family series, she was also the host of the game show "Win, Lose or Draw." She hosted her own TV talk show, "Vicki," which started for 1992 and aired for three years. Lawrence has appeared in numerous theatrical productions including "Carousel," "Send Me No Flowers," "Annie Get Your Gun," "Nunsence 3: The Jamboree" and "No, No, Nanette."
She headed the D.A.R.E. program in Long Beach, Calif., while her children were young; she has been a member of the Board of Trustees for Miller Children's Hospital in Long Beach and hosts the annual "Walk for the Cure" cancer fund-raiser, among other activities. She travels the country speaking to women's organizations about health, being a woman in a man's world and her life and career. In 1995, Simon and Schuster published her autobiography, entitled VICKI! The True Life Adventures of Miss Fireball. Lawrence also premiered Vicki Lawrence Cosmetics in 2001 with assistance from her husband of 20 years, Al Schultz, who was the CBS head of makeup when they married in 1974.
Seneca Niagara Casino is New York State's first full-service casino featuring reel-spinning and video slot machines. Just a few blocks from world-famous Niagara Falls, the Casino is located at 310 Fourth Street. The 112,590 square feet gaming floor houses more than 3,200 slot machines and 97 table games. A separate smoke-free casino, Turtle Island, is also available to patrons along with the Poker Room and the high-stakes Blue Heron Room.
In addition to gaming, Seneca Niagara Casino offers several restaurants including Thunder Falls Buffet, Morrie's Place and The Western Door: A Seneca Steakhouse. The Bear's Den Showroom, a 443-seat showroom-style theater and Club 101, a unique music venue located in the heart of the gaming floor, provide live entertainment. Free parking is available to patrons through complimentary valet services, self-parking areas and a four-story garage with covered walkway. The Casino is owned and operated by The Seneca Nation of Indians.
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