I Am Reminded Of Shirley Booth's WIN!

ANNIVERSARIES TODAY:

Actor Tony Randall was born on this day in 1920 (he died May 17, 2004). One of my favorite moments is when we had the pleasure of meeting Tony back in 1994. The advertised event was a Church benefit where he did a reading from "A Christmas Carol." Tony was quite pleasant to meet - and I am happy that we got a beautiful photo taken with him. Interestingly, my wife was unaware that we would be meeting him at this event, since I saved it as a birthday surprise. Yes, that was the year she'll always remember - when Tony Randall wished her a "Happy Birthday!"

February 26, 1948 - Shirley is heard on CBS radio in Hallmark Reader’s Digest. The episode was called "The Woman Detective and the Stolen Jewels."

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With Oscar's be awarded tonight, I am reminded again of Shirley Booth's win...

Shirley Booth's greatest honor was when she received the Best Actress Academy Award on March 19, 1953. Interestingly, she received that honor for her first film, Come Back, Little Sheba. It was the 25th year that Oscars were being handed out. Shirley received the award after leaving one of her performances of the Broadway show, The Time of the Cuckoo. She hurried over to New York's International Theatre a short distance away, along with other New York actors competing for an Academy Award, Jose Ferrer and Thelma Ritter.

With 34 million television viewers watching, it was Ronald Colman who would announce in Hollywood the nominees for Best Actress. They were: Joan Crawford for Sudden Fear, Bette Davis for The Star, Julie Harris for The Member of the Wedding, Susan Hayward for With a Song in My Heart, and Shirley Booth for Come Back, Little Sheba. The Hollywood audience at the RKO Pantages Theater watched on a big screen TV as winner Shirley Booth tripped on her long gown going up the steps to the stage at the International Theater in New York. She quickly and gracefully picked herself up, smiled, and received the award from Fredric March with a kiss.

Shirley was 52 years old, but the press had reported her (as usual) as 7 to 10 years younger in the coverage of this ceremony. The Daily News headline boldly stated: "Gary Cooper, Shirley Booth Win Top Academy Awards." The article misstating her age observed: "Miss Booth, 45-year old New Yorker, danced onstage in New York's International Theatre to accept her prize for her poignant playing of the housewife in Come Back, Little Sheba. She slipped on the stairs but regained her poise and humbly remarked, 'I never could have done it alone.' "

I was fortunate to be able to view a videotape of the entire Academy Awards ceremony at The Paley Center in New York.

Shirley treasured her Oscar dearly. You just have to observe the amount of clippings and photos that she kept regarding it in her scrapbooks.

The Oscar that Shirley Booth won now resides at the Cape Playhouse located in Dennis, Massachusetts. It is a replacement Oscar since the original one was stolen from Shirley's West 57th Street apartment many years back. Although I have seen it stated that the Oscar resides at the Playhouse because Shirley lived in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and she appeared many times at the Cape Playhouse, that is not the reason why the award is there. But it was Shirley's late sister Jean Ford Coe who decided that the Award should go to the Playhouse after Shirley died.

During last year's airing by TCM of Come Back, Little Sheba, host Robert Osborne incorrectly told viewers that the award was willed to the Playhouse by Shirley. Among the many visitors to this blog as a result of that broadcast, Shirley's niece Leslie contacted me to explain what had actually transpired when Shirley died in 1992 (see my blog posts last week).

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Why was Shirley reluctant to win the Oscar? What did Joan Crawford and Bette Davis say in their letters to Shirley since they both were competing with Shirley that year in the same category? Why didn't Shirley celebrate that night after the Awards ceremony? These are some of the many things about this event that I discovered in researching her life, and I have included everything I could find in my biography, Love is the Reason for it All: The Shirley Booth Story (BearManor Media, 2008). I even included her entire acceptance speech.

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Speaking of Joan Crawford, I just viewed again (for probably the fiftieth time over my life) one of her best films, Mildred Pierce. Crawford received the Best Actress Oscar for this one. The whole production is a standout one, from the James M. Cain novel, the perfect casting of Ann Blyth, Zachary Scott, Jack Carson, Eve Arden, and others; a superb Max Steiner score, solid direction by Michael Curtiz, and all of the other great Warner Brothers production values...it is one of the few films that can be seen repeatedly and still be so fascinating and memorable! This film masterpiece also serves as a good warning to over-indulgent parents that try to satisfy all of their children's material desires.

Just love so many scenes... one that is played well is when Mildred (Crawford) tears up the ill-gotten $10,000 check from her daughter Veda (Blyth). The latter was nominated for Best Supporting Actress - but she should have won!

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THANKS FOR VISITING!

JOIN ME AGAIN TOMORROW!

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For Bill, His Pinup Girl: The Shirley Booth & Bill Baker Story
by Jim Manago
Foreword by Leslie Sodaro
Published December 1, 2010
Further details at: http://shirleybooth.blogspot.com

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Now available on Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0076ZCBM2

Love is the Reason for it All: The Shirley Booth Story
by Jim Manago
Radio Research by Donna Manago
Foreword by Ted Key
BearManor Media, May 2008
http://bearmanormedia.bizland.com