2006 Events
2006 Events
It's a toss-up as
to which is more of a crack-up...the hypochondriac
Guest Star Patient
they've written for Marty Ingels
in the "Heart of the Matter" episode
of E.R.
or the
stuff going on between takes! - Air Date: November
2nd
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Click
Here
to see the ad that ran in Variety and the Hollywood Reporter
Shirley was nominated for an Emmy
for her performance in "Hidden Places".
The 58th annual Emmy Awards took place on August 27th, 2006.
Unfortunately she did not win, but yes, it was an honor to be
nominated.
For Mother's Day
Shirley was home in Southern
California
at her
beautiful mountain house
in San Bernardino.
Friends Sherry McDanial, Art
Harriman and Richard Moll
gave Shirley and her son Patrick Cassidy a dinner party.
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Shirley with Richard
The party was to celebrate
Mother's Day and also Patrick and Family's
Los Angeles
tour of
"Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat".
Patrick
and his son Cole from the final performance we saw on July 2nd '06
at the historic Pantages Theatre
in Hollywood, California.
Patrick Cassidy and his entire family, beautiful and talented wife Melissa
Hurley Cassidy and their
adorable sons Cole and Jack, wrapped up their Los Angeles run of
"Joseph"
The entire ensemble is fantastic. What a fun and colorful show.
Shirley was part of the Hollywood Bowl Sunrise Service for 2006.
I do not
have photos from this performance, but I do have these from a few years back
when I attended with Shirley and Marty. It was actually Shirley's birthday since
Easter was on March 31st in '01. This year Shirley joined tenor Carl Tanner and
six year old pianist
Marc Yu. They always have a young musical protégé perform
as well as a number of local California choirs.
The young man you see with Shirley in
the photograph above is Austin Hanson.
Ten years old at that time
(2001)
and a prodigy who began learning the violin at
only
four years of age. ABC covered the event again for 2006 but unfortunately
they only ran a
very
brief shot of Shirley on stage.
Too early for Santa Claus? Not really. I
want to report to you that the editing for
"Who Stole Santa's Sack" is underway. Shirley did the voice-over
for the
role of Mrs. Claus. This is an musical animated tale that follows the exciting
journey
of a young orphan girl. Other celebrities contributing to the cast of characters
are
Edward Asner, Andy Griffith, Kathy Bates
Jay Leno and at least a dozen more.
March was full of birthday's. The
first week
Shirley celebrated
her youngest grandson's 1st birthday.
On the 10th (his B-Day is the 9th)
it was a surprise
party for Marty
and then it was Shirley's turn.
She celebrated
on March 31st.
Marty sent a photo-collage to honor her.
Click on the Birthday cat above to view
I have posted a video of Marty from his birthday party.
To view click on his photograph above
On Friday the 10th of March, Shirley pulled off a
fabulous surprise party and roast
for husband Marty Ingels.
His day is actually March 9th and Marty had been so depressed
thinking that
no one had remembered his 70th Birthday.
He was completely surprised by
the roast
that Shirley set up at the Friar's Club in Beverly Hills.
If the photos are not scrolling, please refresh
the page.
The slide show above has all the still photographs I took in the dim light
at the Friar's Club.
What you see is Marty's surprise just after he enters the room with Shirley. She
got him there
on the pretense that they were just dropping by to have a drink with an old
friend.
Marty spent the next hour going around to each table to chat with every
guest.
Then we dined on
a delicious meal of either chicken or salmon before the roast began.
Patrick Cassidy who is touring with "Joseph and The Amazing Technicolor
Dreamcoat"
could not be there, however he wrote a very touching letter
that Shirley read out loud.
Shirley broke down in tears and so did Marty when it came to the part
where Pat said "Happy Birthday & I Love You"
2006 invitation
The 78th Academy Awards presentation was broadcast
on
ABC
March
5th
The Ingels receive their formal invitation each year
& pass it along to me so
that
I may share it with you.
As an Academy Award winning actress for her role in
"Elmer Gantry" (1960)
Shirley always receives an invite.
The show is now held at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood.
The new theatre was
built
a few years back to accommodate the large amount of
people who attend the
exciting annual event.
It's still not large enough for all the requests,
so it
actually comes down to a lottery system each year.
The photo above was taken outside of their
previous home in Beverly Hills in the year 1998.
You may recall that the Academy brought together a large group of previous award
winners for a brief
spot on the live broadcast that year. Shirley was happy to take part in the
celebration. However,
Shirley is not big on going
out to large celebrity events like this. She and Marty usually stay home
to watch it from the comfort of their living room. In fact, in the year 2000, I
asked them for
an
Oscar night photo to post here online. They sent that picture of the two of them
relaxing in the den
Comedy
Central's Jon Stewart
was the host of the
Academy Awards Presentation.
Jon was a guest on "Larry King Live" the Monday evening
before.
He
mentioned Shirley when Larry asked
if he was at all nervous about
how well he would do hosting such a major
television event.
Click
HERE to view the clip.
Click on the little photo of Shirley wearing one of her costumes.
It's a link to more news about a day on location back in March of 2005.
Plus, there's a video clip of Shirley talking about all the fun she had making this
film.
There was some controversy over
her role and those
R-rated lines that she speaks in the movie.
Our email ran about half and half. Some of you were not too happy,
while the other half said things like "You go girl" and "It's only a character".
Shirley told me that on the day they wrapped the film, the producers
sent her a huge beautiful bouquet of flowers and a note that read
"Thanks for letting us ruin your good reputation".
Shirley just gave her usual carefree laugh. She had a great time working with
Shirley Knight, Doris Roberts, and all her cute young male co-stars!
Update on Emails: By far, the majority of our email notes were
positive
and state that Shirley is the best part of the movie. This is not Shirley's first
career shocker. Her lines
in "Elmer Gantry" which won her
the Academy Award
were certainly as provocative for the time. The bottom line is she's having fun
playing a
diverse set of characters from her work on Sesame Street, to Grace
in "Grandma's Boy"
and goofy Aunt Batty in "Hidden Places".
We were honored to attend a special screening of
"Grandma's Boy".
No photographs were allowed during the
viewing or inside of the William Fox Theatre
that seats 53 people. This is a "Happy Madison" production from
Adam Sandler.
It's distributed by 20th Century Fox.
The release date to theaters was January
6th, 06
I was allowed to take some shots around the
historic lot that has been home to so many
classic movies and television programs since the 20's. It's been almost thirty years since
I set foot inside the vast city that is 20th Century Fox. I auditioned for
"The Love Boat"
and a
program you may recall
called "Family".
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Two photos I took back in March'05 on a location.
Shirley in makeup. Dancing with a co-star from Grandma's Boy.
We really enjoyed the movie. It 's about a 35 year old man
named Alex (Allen Covert)
who is the oldest video game tester. He is designing a game that he hopes will
make millions.
The plot revolves around the fact that Alex and his roommate Josh are kicked out
of their apartment.
Josh spent their rent money elsewhere. Alex moves in with his Grandma played by
Doris Robert.
She has two roommates already. Bea (Shirley Knight) who is not quite all there,
and Grace
(Shirley Jones) who is for lack of a better word, a nymphomaniac. You won't want to
take young kids
to this one. Shirley's character Grace is rated "R". She had a
fabulous time making this movie
and I personally think it's just fine. But, this one generated a lot
of mail for her site!
Most of it was positive.
"Hidden Places" aired on
January 28th, 2006 at 9pm on the
Hallmark Channel.
From the field surrounding the Wyatt Ranch location.
I took this photo on May 2nd, 2005. The house
built in 1897
is used in the filming of Shirley's
Hallmark movie titled:
"Hidden Places"
This is a period piece adapted by script writer Robert Tate Miller
from Lynn N. Austin's
inspirational book about a widow who
dreams of keeping her home after her husband dies and the
mysterious stranger who arrives to bring the family hope.
The story set in 1934, takes place during the depression era.
Movie News
On location for the filming of
"Hidden Places"
Hair and Makeup
An hour and a half north/west
of Hollywood, Calif. is a very popular place to film.
It's a largely unpopulated area that can easily resemble the countryside
in the early part
of the twentieth century.
The horses in the small corral are very friendly. I think they are in the movie.
Inside the old barn is a nice cool place to hold the
required schooling for the many
young child actors who are also in this production.
On the day I visited the
location they were filming
the funeral scenes.
(not for Shirley's character Aunt Batty).
Off camera 
The lunch area was pleasant. This was another low key, friendly set. They
invited me to join.
One thing I've notices about show biz, they always feed everyone very well and
there's quite a variety.
The made-for-TV Movie
has Shirley playing a character
named Aunt Batty. She's a slightly eccentric woman with an
interesting
past that is quite integral to the entire story.
Shirley says she's rather bossy too. Telling everyone what to do.
For those who would rather see Shirley in the more matronly roles,
you will be pleased. There's not much glamour for this part. Shirley wears
very
little makeup and drab costumes for this rather somber yet hopeful period piece.
This is a complete opposite of her comic character "Grace" in Nana's Boy.
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Here is the famous
Piru Manson. It's privately owned and rented out to
production companies all year long. It's not far from the location where
"Hidden Places" was shot. This house was used in Shirley's
movie "Ping"
and you have seen it in many well known TV shows. It was used for the filming
of an X-Files episode just before Shirley's movie was shot
there on location in 1999.
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