SHIRLEY BOOTH

Did she drink?
Loved her in HAZEL.

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.

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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.

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

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

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.

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

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

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?

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

Here she was as you remember her.

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

She could probably phone that performance in....

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

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.

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

Thanks so much for your answers!

Diane

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