Word: lola
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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Then in 1950, co-starring with Sidney Blackmer, Shirley arrived unheralded on Broadway in Come Back, Little Sheba. One of the last plays of that season, Sheba was written by an unknown playwright, William Inge, and staged by an unknown director, Daniel Mann. As Lola, the slatternly housewife who drives her reformed alcoholic husband back to the bottle, Shirley won her usual raves from the critics: "Splendidly played" . . . "One of the true acting achievements of the season...
...overwhelming . . ." Yet, as a play, Sheba was not a success. It ran only 90 performances, far below par in a year containing such hit, such hits as The Happy Time, Guys and Dolls, Call Me Madam, The Member of the Wedding and The Cocktail Party. But Shirley's Lola had a haunting effect on playgoers that lasted beyond the fall of the final curtain. Shirley captured every acting award in sight (New York Drama Critics' Circle, Antoinette Perry, Newspaper Guild, Donaldson, Barter). In the movie version of Sheba, she broke all precedents by winning the coveted Academy Award...
...skilled performer. But they are likely to remember the character for days or for years to come. Radio listeners who have only known her as Miss Duffy would swear that she is a hilariously funny bit of fuzz-brained fluff. Moviegoers who have seen her only as Lola in Come Back, Little Sheba have difficulty imagining her as anything but an aging frump in a kimono. But lucky theatergoers have been persuaded, at one time or another, that she was an intense, good-looking young schoolteacher, a tippling grass widow, and a well-girdled, wisecracking career girl...
...surprise of the film is the excellence of Burt Lancaster's performance as Lola's husband. Despite greyed temples and bushy eyebrows, he looks too young and fit for the role, but dramatically, he is completely convincing. As the reformed alcoholic trying to reconcile himself to his life with Lola, he has just the right tone of quiet and guarded desperation. And when the guard collapses and his bitterness and frustration explode in a tremendous jag, his performance has a terrifying intensity. To the smaller role of the young boarder who innocently shatters the deceptive calm of the Delaney home...
Usually faithful to the play, the film nevertheless ends on a more hopeful note. When Delancy returns from the alcoholic ward, he finds new curtains in the living room, and a well-groomed Lola eager to show that things have changed. With the option of a happy ending, the audience can contentedly leave Mr. Inge's unpleasant little story behind when the leave the theatre. But anyone who isn't determined to dismiss the disturbing will doubt that chintz and a girdle can conjure happiness out of the hopeless existence of Mr. Inge's characters...