Passions
Ep. #147
Thursday 27 January 2000 on Other

Episode summary coming soon.

Alice, at the start of her entertainment career, use to do a lot of backers' auditions, where actors would do portions of shows to try and raise money for the production. It was while doing such an audition that she met composer G. Wood, who convinced her to join him in a nightclub act that they premiered at the Bon Soir club in New York City. (edit) Alice played Mrs. Murdock, the auto mechanics teacher, in the film version of Grease (1978), a role which she found quite ironic since she didn't drive. (edit) Alice listed her year of birth as 1926, but many sources dispute the date, including comedic actress and longtime friend, Kaye Ballard, who claims Ghostley was actually about two years older. (edit) Alice’s last public performance as an actress occurred in 2004 on the PBS program, Great Performances, also on which aired the 1957 televised Rodgers and Hammerstein comedy musical, Cinderella, in which she was cast as Stepsister, Joy. (edit) Alice had a major showcase when she debuted at the fabled Bon Soir, a basement café run by the Mafia in Greenwich Village (New York City, New York)and known for its liberal atmosphere (both black and white were welcomed, and one half of the club featured a gay bar). Ghostley and friend/fellow comedian, Kaye Ballard, performed outlandish depictions including a portrayal of Mona Lisa as an Italian prostitute whose advances Leonardo da Vinci snubs when he only wants to paint her picture. (edit)

Alice: (about being a ham) I have to be. (edit) Alice: When I was five years old, my mother took me to the Legion Hut and stood me on a table. I recited poetry! I sang songs! I tapped danced! I didn’t know it then, but that table was my first stage. There was applause. The second time my mother took me to the Hut, I made her give me a nickel before I stood on the table. I wanted the applause, but even at five, I knew I had earned the applause. (edit) Alice: When I first started out, I had this natural ability to sing. That was another reason why I chose New York, with all the musicals that were happening at the time. But I looked so different from everyone else. I was never what you would call an ingenue. I was having difficulty finding jobs. ‘Get your eyes straightened,’ they would tell me, ‘and maybe we can work with you.' (edit) Alice: I’m really happiest when I’m working. (edit) Alice: (finding it difficult to watch herself on the ABC sitcom, ‘Bewitched’) It’s always hard for me to critique myself. (edit)

Star
Bewitched Esmerelda	Captain Nice Carter's Mother
Channel Umptee-3 voice of Pandora Rickets	Jackie Gleason and His American Scene Magazine Regular (1962-1964)
Mayberry R.F.D. Alice Cooper	Nichols Bertha, Saloon Keeper

Recurring Role
Bewitched Esmerelda	Designing Women Bernice Clifton
Evening Shade Irna Wallingsford	Love, American Style
Passions Matilda Matthews	The Jonathan Winters Show Herself (1968-1969)

Guest Star
All's Fair Living Together Inez	America 2Night Tony Rolletti Herself
B.L. Stryker Night Train Unknown	Bewitched Maid to Order Naomi
Big Eddie Crashing Violet Violet Klabber	Car 54, Where are You? Christmas at the 53rd Bonita Kalsheim