Shirley Booth's Good Friend Was Born On This DAY!

ANNIVERSARY TODAY:

Shirley Booth's good friend Charles Nelson Reilly was born on this day in 1931 (died May 25, 2007). Reilly regularly appeared as the character Claymore Gregg in the TV show The Ghost & Mrs. Muir. Check out the episode of this show with Shirley Booth as guest star, originally broadcast November 6, 1969. The links are further down on the side panel of this blog.

In my biography Charles Nelson Reilly had this to say....

Reilly: "Around 1967 or 1968 we did The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (the series) together. And she guested, played a medium. Well, my mother was around, and it was her birthday, and the cast and the crew threw a party for her, which Shirley so graciously attended. My mother looked very much like Shirley, it was uncanny. There the resemblance stopped! After meeting my mother, Shirley came over to me and said, ‘Your mother is the worst woman I’ve ever met in my life!’ (I had to agree. Mother was horrid, a nightmare, just a nasty creature.) So, what could I say to Shirley but, ‘Yes, she is, but what a great part she’d be for you!’ And Shirley goes, ‘You know, you’re right!’"

*****

Today I offer you some published fan letters.....

Shirley Booth shared these letters to a columnist from Japanese admirers. The spelling and grammar is preserved here as originally written...

"As I am very poor, I have very much trouble. Would you lend me 10,000 dollars. Because, for the object of to become a cultured and educated man who is guarded by you and I will become an ideal director of a leading firm and wear handsome clothes. I will make frantic efforts and if I should fail in payment back of it for five years at the longest, I would have to give up my living in your presence."

A second fan writes:

"Dear Miss Shirley Booth, I am very glad to receive your snapshot. How kind and beautiful your eyes are; and how wonderful and freshful your full-length figure is. And moreover, all of you are like to my mother." (here are several paragraphs about the mother, who is sadly dead.) The letter continues, " I would like very much to associate with you as my mother, sister or lover. Please become my guardian. I shall esteem you as my mother and make whole sacrifices to you upon my honour."

A third fan writes:

He saw Miss Booth in Come Back, Little Sheba and has become an earnest "fun" of hers. He wishes she would visit Japan, which has a milder climate than New York and has cherry blossoms. Then he tells her:

"Recently Marilin Monroe and her husband visited and they were very popular. Now her walking is in fashion. Her plump hips swing by the triple time and they look as if they were playing a melody. Her walking which shew a tender feeling toward the opposite sex was in fashion in Ginza suddenly. I think willows in Ginza were put out of countenance by the walking. The tendency is spreading here and there like an influenza. But it is not so graceful. Dancers and waitresses may do so, but women of upper class wear kimono and swing their hips. I think the latter is very bad. I think Monroe doesn't swing her hips at home. Please visit Japan one time."

Unfortunately, I don't believe Shirley Booth ever got to Japan....

*****

THANKS FOR VISITING!

JOIN ME AGAIN TOMORROW!

*****
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.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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

*****

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