"I continue to work because I enjoy it, and it's healing," said Channing in her raspy, famous voice, by telephone from her Rancho Mirage, Calif., home last week.

"I think every human being enjoys a little give and take, and when people come to see (me), I send a little back and they give me a lot. It's something my father once told me: You send it out, it comes back to you."

Channing, who last performed here in "Hello, Dolly!" — her signature role — in August 1983, at Blaisdell Concert Hall, will star in a one-woman show, "The First Eighty Years Are the Hardest."

"I still get stage fright," she said. "I worry that the audience might not understand, not respond. I was worried when I did 'Hello, Dolly!' in Honolulu; the audience was rather quiet, didn't laugh much; but at the end, we got a standing ovation, so I forgave the crowd."

She'll be working aboard the Crystal Harmony cruise on the way to the Islands. "We're coming here early, Harry and me, to have a vacation, which will be a belated honeymoon. We never had a honeymoon," she said. "I went to take Harry to the Pali side."

Harry is businessman Harry Kullijian, 84, who was Channing's sweetheart during junior high. "We went together during the 7th, 8th and 9th grade," she remembered. They were married in May, 2003, after a 70-year separation.

"He was married for 60 years; I was in a miserable 42-year marriage, so we have had a lot to catch up with," said Channing of her fourth husband.

"I can't retire; I'd much prefer to die on stage," says the almost 84-year-old Carol Channing, who will perform here Jan. 28-29. Giulio Marcocchi

Channing recalls that Kullijian was the leader of the school band.

"He could always tell the band to diminish the seventh chord, or something that would improve the sound," she said. "So now, he handles my orchestra, lighting, and sound."

Why did Channing label her show "The First Eighty Years Are the Hardest"?

"In all the years I did 'Hello, Dolly!' I've completed more than 5,000 performances, and I've never missed a performance," she said. "Yul Brynner did 5,000 shows, too, for 'The King and I,' and he never wanted people to know that. Well, he's gone now, so I can tell you. And you do this because you love it."

She has no fitness regimen — just a positive outlook on life and a relentless work ethic.

Her Dolly Levi persona — the sing-song voice, saucer eyes, platinum wig and painted red lips — tilt toward the eccentric, but she keeps it going, and it's sometimes hard to determine if it's Dolly or Channing you're addressing. All this makes Channing one of the most recognizable personalities in show biz.

The most compelling result of her connection with Dolly, she said, is that "I found the spine to the show myself, and that is, Dolly had to rejoin the human race.

"Until she made up her mind to rejoin the human race, and welcome Horace Vandergelder into her life, she couldn't be happy."

In many respects, Channing said her personal life has been all about rushing to a Broadway show, from hotel to dressing room to stage then off again, back to the room, and repeating that frantic process.

"In retrospect, I think I rejoined the human race when I met my Harry, too," she said. "We live in a gated community now, near Palm Springs, and I've inherited family — cousins, sister-in-law, brother-in-law. It took 70 years to join the race."

Still, she said she could never contemplate retiring from show business. "Never, never, never," said Channing.

"I'm prepared to go the distance, like my friend David Burns did; he was the original Horace Vandergelder in 'Dolly!' and a favorite on Broadway. He was playing in a show with Mildred Natwick ("70 Girls 70") and collapsed with a heart attack (and died in a hospital the next day, in March, 1971). He keeled over, but got a laugh, heard the laughter of the audience. It's the only way to go, with your boots on, and Harry agrees with me. I can't retire; I'd much prefer to die on stage."

Channing turns 84 Jan. 31. Her pals are planning a lavish birthday gala at the Beverly Hills Hotel upon her return to California.

"It's going to be only my 'third' birthday party," she said. "My family didn't believe in birthdays — my father was a Christian Scientist — and the last party I had was a few years back, when I was visiting the White House on my birthday, and President Clinton and others joined in to sing me happy birthday. I thought then that it would be hard to top this second birthday party — and now I'm told that my friends like Bea Arthur, Red Buttons, Jack Carter, Carol Cook, Norm Crosby, Charles Nelson Reilly, Lily Tomlin, and Angela Lansbury will roast and toast me. Sounds like fun."