SHIRLEY BOOTH- Page 2

[WhizzerMarvin]

Posted: 4/18/08 at 2:24am

I also love He Had Refinement. I've listened to it so many times, and yet it nevers fails to make me laugh. Her delivery keeps me so engaged in the moment that the punchline of each verse sneeks up on me. She also sounds glorious singing In the Good Old Summertime on the By the Beautiful Sea recording. Too bad she didn't do more musicals.

[allofmylife]

Posted: 4/18/08 at 12:42pm

I received this personal message from puppetman2. I wanted to reply to him, but he does not accept replies. I'll have to step out into the open. Hope he doesn't take offense.

"Pictures from puppetman2
on 4/18/08 @ 11:26:07 AM

Both of the pictures you posted on the Shirley Booth thread are of Marion Lorne. You can even read her name in the autograph on the black and white one. "

So here goes:

Thanks for the message and your obvious care about the accuracy of this board.

Actually, if you had read the post BEFORE the pictures, you would have seen that I identified the photos as those of Marion Lorne. I was trying to make a point about some actresses having bigger careers later in life.

Some of the members on this thread have figured out how to post text, then photos, then text again, all in the same post.

Clearly I am a Luddite. I posted the comment, then the photos in three seperate posts.

Sorry if it confused you.

Oh, and don't leave because some obviously twerpy kid posted some snarky comments to you. This is a site about Broadway theater. Consider us members about as polite as a possee of cab drivers.

But with better taste and, hopefully wittier repartee.

[Chrysanthemum62001]

Posted: 4/18/08 at 2:04pm

Sadly, I never saw her live. But I too admire and adore her "He Had Refinement". That is one of the funniest songs I have ever heard.

[allofmylife]

Posted: 4/19/08 at 2:23am

I LOVE IT when we wander away from Wicked and the Jersey Boys to discuss some of the greats of the past.

[thatgirl712]

Posted: 4/19/08 at 4:46am

I'd like to learn more about Tallulah Bankhead.

Diane

[Gypsy9]

Posted: 4/19/08 at 8:02am

In the 1950's I saw Shirley Booth in Philadelphia in a play called MISS ISOBEL prior to its coming to NYC. It was tailor-made to suit Miss Booth's maternal instincts. I don't think it was well received on Broadway. Booth was excellent, as usual.

I remember Marion Lorne in an early TV sitcom called MR. PEEPERS, starring Wally Cox and Tony Randall. It was broadcast live, as was all of TV in the 1950's. Marion Lorne was hilarious as one of the teachers. I also remember seeing her in the Alfred Hitchcock thriller STRANGERS ON A TRAIN, playing the scatterbrained mother of the killer played by Robert Walker. Farley Granger was the lead actor in this superb Hitchcock film which is never shown on TCM for some reason.

I saw Tallulah Bankhead in the Tennesee Williams flop THE MILK TRAIN DOESN'T STOP HERE ANYMORE. Just seeing her on stage made the evening worthwhile, just playing herself, as usual.

[best12bars]

Posted: 4/19/08 at 9:20am

allofmylife---Marion Lorne was fantastic as the killer's mother in Hitch's "Strangers On a Train."

Did you know Marion won a posthumous Emmy Award for playing Aunt Clara in "Bewitched?" That role was her swan song. She passed away just days before winning Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series.

As for Shirley Booth, I love her as Dolly Levi in the film version of "The Matchmaker." And I just recently saw her in her Oscar-winner "Come Back, Little Sheba." Such a terrific performance, and a well-deserved win!

One of my mom's first professional gigs as an actress was at this theatre in Colorado. She was the ingenue, right out of school. It was a small theatre up in the mountains, and the actors would often come out after a show and mingle with the audience at their tables in the bar. After one show, my mom went up to this lady who was smiling from ear to ear and sat down with her. My mom said, "Aren't you a friend of my mother's? You look so familiar!"

The lady smiled even bigger and said to my mom, "No, dear, I'm Shirley Booth."

They had a great conversation, and Mom said that's what was so great about Shirley. She just had this familiarity about her that made you want to go right up and sit with her and talk.

Posted: 4/19/08 at 10:44am

As a kid I loved "Hazel." There was just something lovable about that woman. I remember when I was older, maybe in college, when I stumbled across Shirley Booth in Come Back Little Sheba on the late night movie. What a revelation! What an actress!

[allofmylife]

Posted: 4/19/08 at 10:53am

I have some fabulous photos of Marion Lorne somewhere in the storage locker. After I finish the killer "On Your Toes" thread, I'll dig it out.

Her husband, Walter Hackett, was very successful in London, where she starred in all his shows in the 20s and 30s. She was beloved in London. An actual institution in the West End.

http://www.harpiesbizarre.com/vintage_Lorne.htm

[thatgirl712]

Posted: 4/19/08 at 5:04pm

I also first became aware of Shirley in Hazel. Loved Hazel.

Diane

[thatgirl712]

Posted: 4/19/08 at 5:06pm

Marion Lorne was also a frequent guest on the Garry Moore variety show.

Diane

[sally1112]

Posted: 4/19/08 at 10:57pm

I grew up watching both of them in reruns too.

[sondheimboy2]

Posted: 4/20/08 at 12:26am

It's been ages since I've seen an episode of "Hazel". Even as a child I remember thinking that if she were my maid, I would have fired her.

And I remember a Mad magazine parody about what if the great dramatists had written for television and if Eugene O'Neill had written for "Hazel" in the manner of "Great God Brown", with everyone holding up masks and saying their lines and then what they're really thinking. I remember Hazel talking to the little boy and thinking "I'm old enough to be his grandmother and he's calling me by my first name..."

I loved her in the movie version of "The Matchmaker". She really had a magic. I cherish my recording of "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn". I just wish that I had the sheet music to "He Had Refinement" (hint, hint)

[Gypsy9]

Posted: 4/20/08 at 8:27am

I love the score to A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN. I dont have the sheet music to "He Had Refinement" but I do have the original sheet music to the beautiful ballad "I'll Buy You A Star" sung in the show by the doomed male lead, Johnny Johnston.

[Hiram]

Posted: 4/20/08 at 10:24am

Best12bars, I loved the story about your Mom meeting Shirley Booth. Thank you for sharing it with us.

[allofmylife]

Posted: 4/20/08 at 12:30pm

"Saturday Night" is one of the best songs to describe my life. I can't tell you the number of times over the years I've had to part with my beloved collectibles in order to stay in my chosen business and then bought them back later.

"But when the clock strikes my Cinderella must go back to Papa."

[thatgirl712]

Posted: 4/24/08 at 1:09pm

I really enjoyed about reading your mother's connection to Shirley Booth. Shirley was a very sweet down-to-earth lady.

[stagescreen]

Posted: 4/24/08 at 1:28pm

Did anyone catch (or TiVo) "The Matchmaker" on TCM today? I caught the last twenty minutes of it (thankfully I had the whole thing recording the movie) and it was so precious. Paul Ford was a bit over the top as Vandergelder, and seeing Tony Perkins and Robert Morse (and a very brunette Shirley Maclaine) just made my day.

As Booth was reciting the "rejoining the human race" monologue, I kept waiting for her to burst out in "Before the Parade Passes By" afterwards...she's always been one of my favorite actresses, and I adore all the cast recordings she made ('Juno' and 'Brooklyn' being my most treasured.)

[Tom148502]

Posted: 4/30/08 at 1:55pm

I only saw Shirley Booth on stage in A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN, BY THE BEAUTIFUL SEA, THE DESK SET and LOOK TO THE LILIES.She was, of course, wonderful and was never referred to as a diva any more than Merman, Martin and Verdon were.

[soubrette]

Posted: 4/30/08 at 2:06pm

I agree--So great to read a thread about someone other than Idina Menzel or Stephanie J. Block. Jeez!!!

There is at long last, a wonderful book out about Booth's life and career. Check it out on Amazon.

Shirley Booth was indeed, one of a kind!