Happy Birthday To RONNIE MILSAP!

ANNIVERSARIES TODAY:

January 16, 1943 - My Sister Eileen, one of Shirley's biggest Broadway hits, closed this day.

January 16, 1948 - The Men We Marry opened on Broadway. It ranks as the shortest show Shirley Booth ever starred in. After only three performances it closed the next day on January 17, 1948. Anything worse than that?

January 16, 1943 - Country music singer Ronnie Milsap was born this day. Happy Birthday, Ronnie!

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Besides his hit "What A Difference You Made In My Life," one of my all-time favorites from Ronnie Milsap's catalog is his superb song Cowboys & Clowns. It first appeared over the opening credits to the Clint Eastwood film Broncho Billy. Credit for the song, released in June 1980, goes to the collaborative efforts of Steve Dorff, Snuff Garrett, Gary Harju, and Larry Herbstritt.

Thank you Ronnie, writers, and everyone responsible for this beautiful & memorable tune!

I recommend Ronnie's inspiring and quite honest story told in Almost Like A Song (by Ronnie Milsap with Tom Carter, Mcgraw-Hill, 1990).

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FEEDBACK is requested from viewers of Antenna TV!

I would like to hear from some of those many viewers who have been viewing Hazel episodes on Antenna TV. Please click on the comments icon at the end of this blog to tell me your city and anything you can share with other readers of this blog dedicated to Shirley Booth.

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ONE MOMENT I CHERISH....
When she started doing Hazel in 1961, Shirley Booth was a wrinkle-free 63 years old. However, the press variously reported her as being in her early 50's. When she accepted her second Emmy she stepped up to the stage minus the Hazel wig and you could see her short white hair. I was fortunate to see that Emmy Show when Shirley received the award at the Research Library at the Museum of Television & Radio in New York City (now known as The Paley Center).

When I look back on the years I spent researching her life, if there's one moment I cherish most is when I saw the Emmy Award Show with Shirley Booth as recipient. This is because I loved seeing reruns of Hazel as a youngster. When that Emmy Award show aired in 1963, I was too young to have remembered it. There was such a wonderful energy in the audience when the celebrated Broadway actress was announced as the winner for Outstanding Continued Lead Performance by an Actress in a Series. Lorne Greene announced the winner: "Miss Shirley Booth."

The theme music to the Hazel show played as she walked from her seat down to the stage and stepped up to give her acceptance speech. It's a remarkable and emotion-filled piece of television history that I wish everyone could see. In my biography of Shirley I provided the beautiful and well-chosen words that Shirley spoke at that ceremony....

If Shirley Booth only starred as the character Hazel and did nothing else, she still would be on top of my list of favorite actresses. Her uncanny ability at being real and natural as that character still makes the show hold up so well nearly fifty years later.

As Hazel co-star Don DeFore once told The Saturday Evening Post: "Shirley has succeeded in television where other stage actors have failed because, no matter how rushed she is, she still manages to bring subtleties into the performance. Half the shows end with Hazel and the Baxter family in the dining room, and the temptation is to play every dining-room scene the same. But Shirley doesn't pigeonhole her facial expressions. She thinks through every scene and makes each one unique."

Shirley Booth deservedly won two Emmy Awards for her acting in Hazel!

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THANKS FOR VISITING!

JOIN ME AGAIN TOMORROW!

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For purchasing any of my books, you can visit Amazon.com
You can also check www.bookfinder.com
which offers the best prices on new & used copies.
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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