NY actress Priscilla Shanks outed as Palin voice coach

[Auggie27]

Posted: 10/25/08 at 10:42am

Anyone else know this NY actress, or at least of her? A fixture in commercials, a coolly elegant, almost quasi-Hitchcockian blonde who appears on stage now and then, and in many commercials? Well, the Times Sunday magazine article on McCain outs her as the Higgins behind the Palin convention performance. Anyone else surprised to hear this? She could just be for hire, but the article outs her as seated in the bar, wearing a McCain/Palin button "....acutely disconneted from the jubilation swelling around her..." Hmmmm.

Updated On: 10/25/08 at 10:42 AM

[bwayfan9]

Posted: 10/25/08 at 10:48am

Interesting story, well I guess Palin is so stupid she is using struggling new york actresses that no one knows or cares about so she can get her spootlight.

[SporkGoddess]

Posted: 10/25/08 at 11:22am

So what? Even if she is a Republican, is she not allowed to have different political views?

[Auggie27]

Posted: 10/25/08 at 12:38pm

Of course she's "allowed." The point of this thread is the secrecy about this in NY theatrical circles, not her party affiliation. Who cares if she's a Republican? But the article seemed to suggest that she didn't want this known any more than Palin did. It just seems an interesting "reveal" the same week as the wardrobe price tag -- and especially interesting to NY theater folk, manyh of whom know Shanks (and yeah, as an Upper West Sider, who is, shall we say, not usually linked with this side of the aisle...)

[adamgreer]

Posted: 10/25/08 at 12:44pm

Well, look at the vitriol pointed towards Republicans just on this board. If this board represents a microcosm of the theater community, don't you think she'd want it to be kept quiet, too?

[siny]

Posted: 10/25/08 at 2:30pm

Well, if she is Palin's voice coach, she did a lousy job. Palin's voice is like nails on chalkboard.

[Auggie27]

Posted: 10/26/08 at 12:08pm

Today it was revealed that the fee was paid for out of "consulting." She has every right to hire a speech coach, that is not a criticism. She has every right to have it paid for.

What's intriguing is the use of a Manhattan elitist acting teacher, an Upper West Side sophisticate, to help tamp down the hockey mom speech in the hocky mom. Why turn a hockey mom into a slick Upper West Sider? In 150,000 worth of duds? Let her speak Alaskan in her own clothes if that's who she is?

[Little-Lotte]

Posted: 10/26/08 at 2:55pm

I'm just shocked that she decided to use someone who wasn't a "real American" to help her out. I guess us fake Americans are good for something then.