Before memes, before viral clips, there was The Carol Burnett Show.
And in 1976, it delivered one of the greatest comedic moments ever to grace American television.
The sketch — “Went with the Wind!” — was a cheeky parody of Gone with the Wind.
Carol Burnett played “Starlet O’Hara,” a Southern belle determined to save her home at any cost.
So what does she do?
She rips down the velvet drapes and turns them into a gown.
But when Carol appeared at the top of the grand staircase, the audience gasped — and then exploded with laughter.
Instead of a normal dress, she wore the actual curtains, tassels and all… with the curtain rod still attached across her shoulders.
Her deadpan delivery sealed the moment in history:
“I saw it in the window, and I just couldn’t resist it.”
Designed by the legendary Bob Mackie, the curtain-rod gown became an instant classic.
Carol later recalled that Mackie revealed it during a fitting only two days before taping:
“I fell on the floor. I said, ‘This is the most brilliant sight gag ever.’”
The full sketch ran nearly twenty minutes, featuring Harvey Korman as Rat Butler, Vicki Lawrence as Sissy, and Tim Conway as Brashley Wilkes.
It spoofed every melodramatic moment of the original film — from Scarlett’s tearful monologue to Rhett’s famous farewell — and it never missed a beat.
Even decades later, that absurd, glorious curtain gown remains a defining symbol of TV comedy.
It’s now housed in the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, standing proudly — curtain rod intact — as proof that sometimes, all it takes to make history is a great joke, a fearless performer, and a really heavy set of drapes.