Shirley stars with Glenn Ford in MGM's
"The Sheepman," a spoof of Westerns.
Shirley comes by her talent and un
conventionally naturally. Her father,
now a real-estate dealer in Arlington,
Va., has been a musician and band
leader, and her mother was an
actress, drama teacher, and "individ
ualist" in her own right.
Shirley still recalls with admiration
the time her father objected to the
casual way her mother dressed for
gardening. Shirley's mother reap
peared a short time later and pro
ceeded to hoe the garden while
dressed in high heels, white gloves,
and a fancy party gown.
Shirley's a master of the squelch
herself. There was the time she
attended a formal premiere and
slipped, off her shoes during the show
ing. When the lights went on again,
no shoes! Patrons beside her became
impatient and finally angry , when she
blocked their exit in a frantic search
for the missing footwear.
"AIL right," she told them re
signedly, "it was only a $20 bill any
way. Let's leave it." Anger gone, the
patrons vanished beneath the seats,
hunting treasure. When one came up
with the missing shoes, Shirley claim
ed them and sailed off grandly.
When it's time to be serious, though,
Shirley can tuck away her eccen
tricities and work for what she wants,
whether it's a prize part or a husband.
In the latter case, she spotted pro
ducer Steve Parker during the coffee
break of a Broadway play rehearsal.
"That's the man I'm going to marry,"
she told herself. A year later, she
did. The couple has' a 20-month-old
daughter, Stephanie, who looks so
much like Shirley that Parker boasts
of the "only matched set of girls in
Hollywood."
Shirley's marriage brings to mind
Hal Wallis again, and the day he
offered his congratulations on her
wedding. "Thanks," Shirley said, "but
when will you send me a gift?"
Wallis masked his surprise and
asked what she'd like. "I don't suppose
you'd give us a beach house? No?
Well, how about a sports car?".
, The producer came up with the car,
but only after he had made certain it
was tomato red. At least you can see
Shirley coming now, he rationalized,
even if you aren't always sure what
she's going to do.
with a tumbler of water, awaited
Glenn's next defiant journey. He got
the water square on the head and
what an actor! smiled.
The truck driver didn't smile after
narrowly missing Shirley's red sports
car as she abruptly U-turned on Vine
Street. On the other hand, he didn't
bellow at her either, which proves
a cute grin is better than a good left .
hook any time.
Zaniness sometimes develops in an
actress only after "she's reached
stardom. Not so with Shirley. Mis
chief has always been part of her
makeup, even in those shaky days
when her career was just starting.
Her first featured role on Broad
way, for example, was in Rodgers'
and Hammerstein's "Me and Juliet."
Shortly before opening night,' Richard
Rodgers himself cast a critical eye on
Shirley. "That long red hair is pretty,
Miss," he said. "But when you dance,
it just sweeps out the theater. Cut it!"
Shirley, no girl to do things half
way, showed up before curtain time
with a crewcut coiffure that defied
the fashion of the day. She went on
stage only because there was no re
placement, but when the curtain came
down she'd won not only a personal
triumph she'd paved the way for
the "Italian cut."
A girl with Shirley's impish dis
regard for 'sacred cows needs
luck to survive, and Shirley has
had it. She was an understudy to
Carol Haney in the musical "Pajama
Game," when Hal Wallis flew to New
York to see the show, and, in partic
ular, its dancing star. Miss Haney, how
ever, injured her ankle shortly before
curtain time and Shirley, following a
familiar story line in Hollywood's plot
factory, stepped into the spotlight and
won a fat movie contract. Since then,
she has also been signed by NBC for
television spectaculars.
A devoted mother as well as a sprightly actress, Shirley plays with Stephanie, her pretty 20-month-old daughter.
Family Weekly, May IS, 1958
29