"About Mrs. Leslie" Review

 

by Daniel White

Actress Shirley Booth's birthday (August 30,1898 - October 16, 1992) was last month. Primarily a stage performer, remembered chiefly for her five-year stint on TV as Hazel, I didn't have much to choose from as far as film work. She only made four motion pictures (five, if you count her cameo as herself in 1953's Main Street To Broadway).

About Mrs. Leslie (1954) was Booth's follow up role to her Oscar-winning turn as Lola Delaney in Come Back Little Sheba (she also won the Tony ). It's not a very good flick but Booth is terrific and saves this sticky little sudser from being a complete dud. Robert Ryan as her married lover aids the star considerably in putting it over.

In a role that Susan Hayward must have turned down, Booth is Vivien Keeler, a saloon singer who specializes in risque songs. One evening at the Manhattan nightclub she's warbling in, she meets George Leslie, a handsome, mysterious stranger. They form an immediate attraction and on an impulse he invites her to vacation with him in California. What unfolds is one of those implausible Hollywood plot devices in which the two love-birds spend only six weeks of the year together in idyllic, idiotic bliss. When clueless Vivie discovers her Mr. Leslie is a married, DC bigwig (through watching a newsreel, no less) she has a melt down. It's Tinseltown at its most ludicrous but it doesn't really matter. What DOES matter is that we get to bask in the glory of Miss Shirley Booth.

Twenty years too old for the role and more than a few pounds too heavy, Booth transcends those supposed deficits and brings the character to life. It's truly amazing that in a town obsessed with age and beauty, somebody (producer Hal Wallis?) allowed a character actress like Booth to tackle a leading lady role, especially one as the other woman. Too bad the material isn't on par with our incredibly gifted star.

Most of this turgid tale is told in flashback. The present day "Mrs. Leslie" runs a boarding house in Beverly Hills - which is probably the most unrealistic aspect of this soap opera. Imagine the powers that be allowing such a place to exist in a tony neighborhood like that! There, she acts the part of the judicious den mother, solving the problems of her unhappy boarders. Boring, I much prefer Shirley sizzling it up as a chanteuse singing frisky ditties like "Kiss The Boys Goodbye".

An uncredited Ellen Corby has an amusing bit as Shirley's next door neighbor who needs her to look after her daughter, a teenaged Lolita. But most of the supporting cast fails to register. It's refreshing to see Robert Ryan playing a sympathetic part for a change. Often cast as an unbalanced psychopath, he's winning as Shirley's kind and appreciative sugar daddy. And give the dude props for liking his ladies pushing fifty. That's equally refreshing.

But most of this is Shirley's show, and while it's not a great flick (not even a good one), it offers us a chance to watch the wonderful Shirley Booth strut her stuff. And for that we should be eternally grateful. Directed by Daniel Mann and released by Paramount, About Mrs. Leslie is available on YouTube.