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PHOTO: THE COLLECTION OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF AMERICAN HISTORY, SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. 48 FALL 2025 I C O N S By Andrea Napier The Dress That The Dress That Stole the Show Stole the Show "I saw it in a window and just couldn't resist it." —Starlett O'Hara, "Went with the Wind!," The Carol Burnett Show, Ep. 10.8, Nov. 13, 1976 In 1976, during the 10th season of the variety show The Carol Burnett Show, Rick Hawkins and Liz Sage wrote what TV Guide would place #2 of its 50 Funniest TV Moments (1999). The sketch, "Went with the Wind!" was a spoof on some of the most iconic moments in the epic movie, Gone with the Wind. The most remembered part of the sketch happens when "Starlett" O'Hara, after having lost her fortune during the Civil War, needs a new dress to impress "Ratt" Butler upon his return. Having no money, she would need to improvise. Like her namesake of the movie, Starlett would use fabric from the drapes for her dress. The stage direction called for Starlett to grab the curtains off the window, run upstairs, and return down the stairs with the curtains merely draped over her. "Well, that wasn't very funny," recalls Bob Mackie, series Costume Designer, in an interview with Emmy TV Legends. He also thought that making them into a dress, having been done in the movie, would not be funny either. Upon reflection, Mackie called the art director and asked for a brass curtain rod and fabric to match what would be used on the set. The first time Carol Burnett saw the dress was Wednesday before the live show when she came in for a fitting. Seeing the dress on a mannequin with a curtain rod threaded through the shoulders she cried, "This is the most brilliant sight gag ever!" (Archive of American Television) According to Mackie, Carol never tried the dress on before the live show. He and Carol's Costumer, Annette Gagnon, waited off camera at the top of the stairs during the sketch. When Carol reached the small space, they threw it together on the spot! Mackie recalled that when Starlett made her grand entrance—all curtain rod, velvet drapes, and tassel hat—he had "never heard laughter like that in [his] life." (Archive of American Television) In fact, that "brilliant sight gag" received the longest laugh ever recorded in The Carol Burnett Show's 11 seasons. It was so long that most of the almost 30 minutes of laughter had to be edited down for time. In 2009, the iconic Curtain Dress was gifted to the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History by Bob Mackie and Carol Burnett. That same year, Mattel released the "Went with the Wind Carol Burnett Show" doll for one of their special collections. Sadly, Mattel's product #N4986 has since been discontinued, but this writer cannot imagine that Starlett O'Hara's famous dress will ever be forgotten. "Mackie's design represents an iconic reimagining of Scarlett O'Hara's curtain dress, and it exists as a worthy reminder of the designer's unique contribution to a golden era in American comedy." -Brent D. Glass, Museum Director, National Museum of American History