Saratoga Springs: Carol Channing, star of stage and TV, arrived in the Spa City Friday afternoon, not by limousine but in a wine-colored minivan.

Accompanied by husband Harry Kullijian, who she first met when the two were junior high school students in the 1930s, Channing made a special visit to Saratoga Springs High School, where she met with the young performers of the school play 'No, No, Nanette.'

Channing recalled her earliest exposure to the theater with fondness.

'I had a 50-cent allowance in those days, and I remember saving up my money so I could buy theater tickets to attend Saturday matinees,' she recalled for the group of about 50 students. Then the 85-year-old Channing demonstrated some vintage fancy footwork for the cast and crew, who sat in a semi-circle around her on the stage, framed by the pink and turquoise backdrop of the 'No, No, Nanette' set.

Asked if she knew how many performances of the Broadway hit 'Hello, Dolly!' she appeared in, Channing reached into the past for a humorous anecdote.

'Yul Brynner was a dear, dear friend of mine, and I remember when I was performing 'Hello, Dolly!' he was performing in 'The King and I.' One day, as he was about to do his 5,000th performance, we met each other in the airport while on tour with our own shows,' she recalled, dragging out her S's in distinctive Channing style.

'Yul said to me: 'Carol, if you ever do your 5,000th performance, don't tell anybody,'Ÿ' she said, imitating Brynner's weary style.

'Now that the poor man is dead, I can tell you I did way more than 5,000 performances,' she laughed.

Channing is in town to launch a national campaign supporting the fine arts and performing arts in schools by establishing the Carol Channing-Harry Kullijian Foundation.

'In the arts, we are re-creating what was already created,' she said. 'Lose your love and your respect for the arts, then it all goes downhill.'

Later in the afternoon, she attended a gathering at The Arts Center on Broadway where Mayor Valerie Keehn read a proclamation and presented Channing with the key to the city as a video screen played some of her memorable moments alongside Carol Burnett and Goldie Hawn and as a member of TV's Hollywood Squares.

Greeting an enthusiastic crowd at The Arts Center, Channing was also presented with a silver medal depicting High Rock Spring and representing the Saratoga Springs city seal by Harvey Fox of N. Fox Jewelers, and she was saluted by Joel Goodman of The Humor Project, who will be presenting the National Humor Treasure Award to Channing later this month.

Goodman chose the occasion to read a letter he received from one of the award's previous recipients, native Saratogian David Hyde Pierce.

'You bring class to an award that previously has only been presented to hooligans,' read the letter, to which Channing responded with a laugh.