July 8th / 10th, 2011
"Shirley Jones To Visit the Triad Fully Clothed"
Back in 2009, I moderated a Mother's Day Salute to TV Moms for the
Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. It was a great event except that Shirley
Jones (on whom I have a huge crush) couldn't attend because she had a
concert to give that night. I continued to stay in touch with Shirley and her
husband Marty Ingels, and later that year when my wife Pam and I returned to
L.A. we stopped by Casa Ingels for a visit. Shirley couldn't have been
nicer and Marty, (a comedy icon, promoter, and film producer) couldn't have been
funnier. On the ride back to our hotel, Pam asked me what I thought of
the full-length painting of David Cassidy in Shirley's den. "What
painting?" I replied in a daze. Pam said, "Well did you see her Oscar?" "No, I
said". "It was on the piano" Pam said. "What piano?", I said. "Didn't you
see anything?" Pam asked in an exasperated tone. "Yeah, I saw Shirley
Jones", I said.
The fact is I was mesmerized by Shirley, and what healthy American male
wouldn't be? This is the woman who two years ago at age 75 posed for Playboy.
To my dismay, the photos were never published.
SJ: It was Marty's idea. He told Hugh Hefner that just because people
age, doesn't mean they don't have an audience out there. I thought it was a
great idea, but I told them up front that I wouldn't take all my clothes off.
I said, "I'll show a little bosom and a little hip". Well, I was there for
two days doing photography. Playboy had the best photographers, the best
sets, they had me lying in bed with my legs crossed and in low cut attire.
The photos were beautiful, but when Hef saw them, he said, "there's not
enough body showing". I said, "That's all you're going to get".
Too bad, because I would have bought several copies. Fortunately, though,
folks in the Triad will get to see Shirley in the flesh (fully clothed)
later this month at the Western Film Fair in Winston-Salem. The actress best
known for her four years on The Partridge Family, her Oscar for Elmer
Gantry, and her show stopping performances in a number of musicals, actually
made several Westerns. In addition to Oklahoma, Jones starred with Jimmy
Stewart in John Ford's dark classic Two Rode Together, and again with
Stewart in The Cheyenne Social Club. Mostly though, Shirley has been cast as
the girl next door. I asked if her beauty had ever impeded her career.
SJ: I wouldn't call it beauty. My looks are just all-American girl, which
is not very exciting for a lot of directors. Had Elmer Gantry not come
along, I wouldn't have had a career because I was always type cast. I love to
play against type, and I think I do a good job.
Speaking of beauty, Shirley is concerned about the plastic surgery that
young girls are having these days.
SJ: It's preposterous. It's horrible. I've never had anything done, and I
never would. I don't believe in it. If you age, then you age.
But Shirley never seems to age. Still, I wondered why at age 77 and
financially secure, she continues to perform, and attend events like the upcoming
Western Film Fair.
SJ: I still want to get out there and be part of everything. I've been
doing autograph signings for a long time, and I find it fun, the fact that
people are still interested in what I do and who I am.
The 34th annual Western Film Fair will be held at the Clarion Sundance
Plaza Hotel in Winston-Salem from Wednesday July 21 through Saturday July 23.
Joining Shirley will be Dan Haggerty (Grizzly Adams), Connie Stevens
(Hawaiian Eye, Maverick), Julie Adams (Bend of the River, Creature from
the Black Lagoon) and Ed Nelson (Peyton Place, Gunsmoke) who now
resides in the Triad. Daily passes are $20, and a three day pass is $60.
Until then, Shirley and Marty are busy doing some good old fashioned
Western pioneer work themselves. Seven years ago they purchased land in Fawnskin
California just to protect the Big Bear Lake area from commercial
development. In addition to providing a serene setting for the public to enjoy, the
celebrity couple is also dedicating the park to the memory of those who
lost their lives on 9-11. The newly landscaped Fawnskin project will have its
official opening on September 11 of this year.
And so, as the Western Film Fair approaches, it's only fitting that a
natural beauty like Shirley would help preserve the natural beauty of the West.
She's the cowgirl who never appeared in Playboy.
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