Lauren Bacall — Page 6

Perhaps in Applause or Woman of the Year, but in Waiting in the Wings, the rest of the cast (unintentionally) made her look a fool. It was SO uncomfortable to watch.

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I saw "Woman of the Year" on my second trip to New York. Like another poster here, it was my Saturday night show. Because that weekend I had already seen "Pirates of Penzance" and "42nd Street" (both with their original casts), it came off as a disappointment.

She was excellent and the show was a first class professional show, but uninspired. My best memory of the show was Marilyn Cooper in her one scene in the second act. As soon as that little woman opened her mouth and that strange voice came out, it was like someone opened a window in a smoke-filled room.

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Coopie was not only talented, but a wonderful human being. (I did a couple of shows with her in South Florida and for the nine years I later lived in NYC she never failed to stop and chat when we would pass on the Upper West Side.)

She is one of the few performers I have ever seen who really needed no material to be funny. Whether it was her Electra in Lansbury's GYPSY or "What's So Wonderful", the audience was clearly laughing at what she did, not because the writing was clever.

I was so thrilled to see her finally get the recognition of the Tony. (She had been working steadily since she appeared in the original production of GYPSY (i.e., the one with Merman).)