Carol in a Lather at Smithsonian

--The Smithsonian Institution’s History of American Entertainment collection has a new costume: a plaid wool skirt, yellow checkered apron, flower print blouse, red bandanna, ragged brown sweater, mopcap, white gloves, sweat socks and high-top Army boots. Another clue: After the press conference at the Smithsonian announcing the donation, the donor let go with a shattering “Tarzan” yell. “I feel very proud,” said Carol Burnett. “This is a 10, a definite 10. . . . I wish some of my folks were here, especially my grandmother who raised me. This would be a kick for her.” The charwoman character was created for Burnett’s 1963 television special “Carol & Company,” and later became a signature figure on her comedy-variety TV series, which ran from 1967 to 1978. The cleaning woman costume joins such artifacts as Kermit the Frog, the living room chairs from “All in the Family” and Irving Berlin’s piano.

--Nobel Prize-winning author and dramatist Samuel Beckett is breaking a 7-year literary silence with the publication in Paris of “L’Image,” a 1,200-word single sentence, actually written some 30 years ago. Although he gained fame for his play “Waiting for Godot,” Beckett’s production has been spare, reflecting his stated view that “I have to speak while having nothing to say.” Beckett, 82, an Irishman who has resided in France since 1928, is reported to be in excellent health and lives with his wife, Suzanne, whom he married in 1961. He lives as a recluse but has been seen shopping. His writing style ignores punctuation and depicts an empty and meaningless world. “L’Image,” first published in a British journal in 1959 but apparently untraceable, is reported to be unusually optimistic but starts and finishes with one of Beckett’s most-used symbols: mud.

--Elsewhere on the literary front, Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev won a Swiss prize for his book “Perestroika: New Thinking for Our Country and the World.” The $14,300 prize from a foundation sponsored by Basel book dealer Willy Jaeggi will be given to the Soviet Embassy in Switzerland for use in cultural exchange programs, Jaeggi said. Giving the Soviet leader a cash award would be “presumptuous,” according to a statement from the foundation.

--Peachland, N.C., this weekend may look as if the whole South has been tipped in its direction. A mountain of castoff clothing is sitting in a pasture and will be offered free to anyone who pays $5 to park. Lee Wright, who owns the farm where the clothes are piled, has refused to say where they came from. But Anson County Sheriff Tommy Allen said the garments originated from a second-hand clothing exporter in New York City. County officials are considering the operation to be a flea market, and Sheriff Allen is expecting the worst. “We have been besieged with calls from all over the state wanting to know how people can get to the free clothing,” he said.