SHIRLEY BOOTH

[thatgirl712]

Posted: 4/17/08 at 6:24pm

I was wondering if anyone here has ever seen a performance by Shirley Booth and what you thought of her.

Diane

[PalJoey]

Posted: 4/17/08 at 7:34pm

Other than movies, I saw her on Broadway in 1970 when I was 14 in a musical called Look to the Lillies with Al Freeman Jr, a musical version of the movie Lillies of the Field.

She was magical. The musical wasn't.

Updated On: 4/17/08 at 07:34 PM

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 4/17/08 at 8:13pm

Did she drink?
Loved her in HAZEL.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 4/17/08 at 8:14pm

Do you?

[Ed_Mottershead]

Posted: 4/17/08 at 8:25pm

I never had the good fortune to see Ms. Booth on stage and know her work only from the movies and Hazel. However, I remember that she was big guns during the 1950's, alternating easily between musicals and straight plays. I DID see her on one of the old TV shows (Studio One? Alcoa Playhouse? I can't remember) and she was heartbreaking. It was some kind of corny thing about a lonely woman (whose name way Eunice, I think) who started to subscribe to a bunch of magazines so that she could get some mail every day. She was SO heartbreaking.

[Kristie-K2]

Posted: 4/17/08 at 10:02pm

Wow PJ, you have seen so many Broadway Actors....What a wonderful life......I loved Shirley's work.......My dream was to see another Great Actress, Geraldine Page, but I never got too ..she died almost on stage!!!!

[PalJoey]

Posted: 4/17/08 at 10:40pm

I only saw Geraldine Page live once, in a wonderful production of Blithe Spirit on Broadway in 1987, the year I stopped working in the theater, so all my theatergoing was pretty bittersweet.

She played a wonderfully fluttery Madame Arcati, and I think she won a Tony for it. Richard Chamberlain and Judith Ivey and Blythe Danner were in it.

Updated On: 4/17/08 at 10:40 PM

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 4/17/08 at 10:45pm

"Do I drink?"
Does the Pope wear Prada?
Updated On: 4/17/08 at 10:45 PM

[Hiram]

Posted: 4/17/08 at 11:08pm

How I wish I'd seen the great Miss Booth on stage. Her performance in the film version of COME BACK LITTLE SHEBA is heartbreakingly brilliant.

I had the honor of seeing Geraldine Page twice. In ABSURD PERSON SINGULAR in which she was absolutely hilarious and her sublime portrayal of the Mother Superior in AGNES OF GOD. She didn't win a Tony for BLITHE SPIRIT. Sadly, she never did win one. Updated On: 4/17/08 at 11:08 PM

[kooky]

Posted: 4/17/08 at 11:21pm

She and Robert Ryan are in one of my favorite movies " All About Mrs. Leslie "
Does anyone else know it ?

[PalJoey]

Posted: 4/17/08 at 11:23pm

I guess she was just nominated, but in my memory it happened this way: I saw her in the show, she finally won the Tony and then she died.

My memory does that: changes details to make the story better. Oh well.

I remember that Shirley Booth's big number as the nun in Look to the Lillies was in German: "God Ist Gut"--or at least that's how I remember it: Shirley leading a bunch of nuns singing in German.

[Kristie-K2]

Posted: 4/17/08 at 11:28pm

Well at least Miss Page won the Oscar after 8 nominations and then she died!!!!

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 4/17/08 at 11:29pm

joey, post some pics of the great Ms. Booth.
She deserves some visuals.

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 4/17/08 at 11:33pm

[Kristie-K2]

Posted: 4/17/08 at 11:37pm

What a Brilliant Performance in Sheba...I have never seen a picture of Shirley Booth holding her Oscar...

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 4/17/08 at 11:40pm

More Munky More...

[allofmylife]

Posted: 4/17/08 at 11:53pm

I saw Page in "Agnes of God" and dated the prostrated postulate from the beginning of the film version, so I guess I've been well exposed to the Catholic faith.

As for Shirley Booth, she was one of those great women character actresses whose career just improved with time.

Like Marion Lorne.

Remember her?

Well, actually you do from her later work, but in the 1930's she was a huge star - the Carol Burnett of her time. She appeared in many plays written by her husband, Walter Hackett.

In every play she was basically an adorable ditz who stumbled into one adventure after another.

Still don't remember her?

Updated On: 4/17/08 at 11:53 PM

[allofmylife]

Posted: 4/17/08 at 11:57pm

Here she is in the 30s

[allofmylife]

Posted: 4/17/08 at 11:58pm

Here she was as you remember her.

Yes, it's Aunt Clara from "Bewitched."

She could probably phone that performance in....

Updated On: 4/17/08 at 11:58 PM

[lvpblues]

Posted: 4/17/08 at 11:59pm

How I wish I could have seen Booth live onstage. I enjoy her few film appearances immensely and revel in her cast album performances.

Here's the appearance she and the cast of "Look to the Lilies" made on Ed Sullivan performing "God is Gut/Follow the Lamb"

~Kev
Look to the Lilies on Ed Sullivan

[puppetman2]

Posted: 4/18/08 at 12:29am

I had decided to quit posting on this board due to some unpleasant messages sent to me, but I had to correct the mistake in this thread.

That is not Shirley Booth in BEWITCHED it's Marion Lorne. Booth was never in that tv show.

As to LOOK TO THE LILLIES, I have to disagree, I saw it in previews and it was a lot of fun. I don't know what changes they made before it opened, but what I saw could have had a good run. Ms Booth was WONDERFUL.
Josh Logan was standing at the side of the theater and I got him to autograph the program. He was very nice.
The score was good and I have an LP of it that used to be available on line. It was recorded through the theater sound system so is not great quality.

Updated On: 4/18/08 at 12:29 AM

[jewishboy]

Posted: 4/18/08 at 12:36am

Love her "He Had Refinement" from A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.

[thatgirl712]

Posted: 4/18/08 at 1:52am

Thanks so much for your answers!

Diane

[thatgirl712]

Posted: 4/18/08 at 2:12am

Yes, I've seen About Mrs. Leslie. Wonderful movie with two great actors.

Diane

[thatgirl712]

Posted: 4/18/08 at 2:14am

Geraldine Page was great as well.