The Shirley Jones story is the quintessential American Cinderella-Dream revisited so often for so many, real and unreal, it's almost Hollywood legend. But the Shirley Jones story is hardly anything as passive as legend. For it's not only gospel truth as it happened to Shirley Mae Jones of Smithton, Pennsylvania - population 812, but it remains a living part of a woman who continues to work and grow and nuture her unique role as the embodiment of all that is right and wonderful about America, the American Dream and the American Woman.

Indeed, it's difficult to know the Shirley Jones story without believing it a part of some special "plan".. .of someone or something more majestic than all of us. Born on March 31st, Shirley Mae Jones was the only child of Paul and Majorie Jones, who together ran the Jones Brewery, a Pennsylvania landmark that still, after nine generations produces one of the country's fine local traditions, Stoney's Beer.

But the "plan" for Shirley Mae Jones was elsewhere. Her glorious singing gift seemed to emerge out of nowhere, and prompted even her non-theatrical parents to supplement Shirley's South Huntington High School stage appearance with professional voice lessons 30 miles away in Pittsburgh.

An advertisement in Smithton's local paper soliciting applicants for the coveted Miss Pittsburgh Beauty Pageant appeared no more than hours after Shirley Jones' graduation. It was too intriguing to ignore. And, of course, it was-for she would zoom past 43 other anxious entries to be named Pittsburgh's 1952 Crown Princess.

Traveling the state as its Charm Ambassador, Shirley Jones was invited to sing with The Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera Company, where her radiant voice electrified long-time theatre buffs who were somehow convinced that beauty contest winners could do little more than walk and smile. So taken was the town with its captivating "Miss," that the famed Pittsburgh Playhouse would offer Shirley Jones one of its rare tuition scholarships. With open production and daily training, the lovely looking and vibrant sounding Shirley Jones evolved into a budding and sensitive actress.

When the time seemed right for Shirley Jones, she left Pittsburgh for the "big time," New York. If the Shirley Jones story had seemed unusually "smooth" till now, the next chapter, New York (often the "cruel" and "hard" test for young careers) would prove the most astounding of all... for it would mix the cool and practical, almost uncanny level-headedness of a little girl in a big town, with the most phenomenal Broadway fairy tale in recent memory.

Borrowing a mere $160 from her father for her methodical assault on The Big Apple, 17-year old Shirley Mae Jones promised to return home to Smithton when the $160 was gone. But Smithton would never see that return. Incredibly, Americas s top musical show masters would have Paul Levinton Jones' little girl signed and sealed to a personal contract before the end of the month and groom her for her very first audition-all before her $160 was gone. Destiny never worked so hard... or so unmistakably.

Discovering from her roommate that replacement try-outs for the chorus of ''South Pacific" were underway at the St. James Theatre, Shirley Jones decided that one would be as right as any for her first professional audition. She calmly brushed her hair and bussed to the theatre to find over 85 girls scrambling for a place in line. She waited hours- got a number- then waited some more. It was almost 7:00pm- and 51 girls later- when Shirely Mae Jones walked onto that dark and silent stage to sing for those dark and silent seats. It would be the last empty stage Shirley Jones would ever see; for, from those darkened seats, came words she will no doubt remember the rest of her life. It was the voice of none other than Richard Rodgers, in one of his rare visits to a chorus audition, asking if Miss Jones would be "kind enough to wait another 20 minutes, to sing her song for his associate Mr. Oscar Hammerstein," who was now on his way downtown for what was, for him as well, a rare theatre visit. She waited. She sang. And the stage lit up like a magnificent Mardi Gras. For Rodgers and Hammerstein it was well worth their unscheduled trips downtown.

They had found themselves a new American gem. For Shirley Mae Jones, the "struggle" was over. The roller coaster car had creaked and pulled its way to the top of its first peak. Suddenly, it had more than "momentum"... it had a Rodgers and Hammerstein rocket, bolted to its bottom, bursting and crackling their brand-new find who would still be illuminating the theatrical skies two decades later, long after both of Shirley Jones' legendary mentors had passed on.

Her first stage appearance was as one of the nurses in that same Broadway play "South Pacific" of 1952. After "South Pacific," Rodgers and Hammerstein graduated their fresh discovery to a small role in a new musical, "Me & Juliet." Shirley Jones fared so well, she played the lead in the subsequent national tour. It was during the "Me & Juliet" tour that preparation for the movie version of "Oklahoma" began in Hollywood. Competition for the coveted role of "Laurie" was mounting furiously and attracting national attention. The wide-open "Laurie" prize was surely the juiciest since "Gone With The Wind's" "Scarlet O'Hara," and everyone wanted it. Along with the scores of contenders, Rodgers and Hammerstein arranged for young Shirley Jones to interrupt her tour and fly to Hollywood for a screen test. Jones, who always lives in the now, returned to the tour and had long forgotten her test when a call came in backstage to a theatre in Wheeling, West Virginia. It was from Hollywood... a message, scribbled on the back of a coffee wrapper and pinned to the bulletin board for "Shirley Jones, 'Oklahoma's' new Laurie"...and America's new Cinderella Sweetheart.

News of the newcomer's break flashed everywhere; and, of course, the universal press conspicuously gathered to see if indeed Rodgers and Hammerstein's gift to the world would be lasting. Shirley Jones was, is, and will remain so.

The movies that followed her "Oklahoma" smash came rapid-fire for the nation's new girl-next door: "The Courtship Of Eddie's Father," and "Ticklish Affair," both opposite Glenn Ford; "The Happy Ending" with Jean Simmons and Lloyd Bridges; "Bedtime Story" with David Niven and Marlon Brando; "The Cheyenne Social Club" with James Cagney; "Two Rode Together" with Richard Widmark; Pepe" with Cantinflas; "April Love" with Pat Boone...and, of course, the perennial motion picture classic "Carousel." Shirley Jones' most recent features were "Beyond The Poseidon," Irvin Allen's breathtaking sequel to "The Poseidon Adventure," with Michael Caine, Telly Savalas and Sally Field and "Tank" in which she starred opposite James Garner.

It was now the early 60's. Meredith Wilson's captivating "The Music Man" had electrified Broadway for 4-1/2 years. With one of the biggest budgets in motion picture history, Hollywood prepared to make the movie with Robert Preston. But this time, the herd of female lead "contenders" was less fierce and less hopeful, for everyone knew there was only one real "Marion;" Shirley Jones. The film remains to this day one of Columbia's biggest money-makers and one of Shirley Jones' proudest achievements.

About this point in time, director Richard Brooks and Columbia Pictures set the courageous wheels in motion for the devastating treatment of a subject matter never before dealt with on screen.

Starring Burt Lancaster, it featured a lost and touching prostitute who all but topples the growing empire of an ambitious evangelist-and again, the candidates for the lusty role poured out of the woodwork. But Brooks had another idea. As with the controversial movie itself, Brooks requested producer-consent to break casting tradition and sign America's ultimate girl-next-door, Shirley Jones, for the bawdy role. Word had it Brook's suggestion caused waves. The back rooms bristled with debate. Some pros, many cons. But Brooks won out; he signed his lady. The result? A 1961 "Best Supporting Actress" Academy Award for Shirley Jones' powerful portrayal of "Lulu Baines" in the ageless American classic "Elmer Gantry."

Television gave America "The Partridge Family," the five-year hit on ABC-TV series with Shirley Jones as the matriarchal head of a madcap brood (launching the career of her real-life step-son David Cassidy). But, as if to "remind" American of Mrs. Partridge's limitless capabilities, Shirley Jones' significant TV movie specials came one after another: "The Family Nobody Wanted" for ABC, telling the true story of the Tagers and their unending parental ordeal; "Winner Take All" for NBC, in which Shirley Jones played a woman crippled with gambling fever; "The lives of Jenny Dolan" (NBC) starred Shirley Jones as a crusading reporter and marked the debut of motion picture producer Ross Hunter to television; "Yesterday's Child" (NBC) in which for the first time, Shirley Jones played a villain- the killer of her own daughter; "The Orchard Children" for David Susskind and CBS, dealing with the on-going social dilemma of unjust adoption procedures; "The Children of An Loc" (CBS) unfolding the real-life drama of the woman whose courage and determination effected the strategic Vietnamese "Baby Air Lift"; "Last Cry for Help" for ABC, tackling, at long last, the growing problem of teenage suicide; and, if anyone doubted the appropriateness of her "Elmer Gantry" distinction, Shirley Jones was nominated by Television Academy for her work opposite Lloyd Bridges in "Silent Night, Lonely Night", the poignant Christmas story of two fateful souls now aired every year at holiday time.

Shirley Jones also starred in the PBS production of "And There Were Times Dear" for which she received nationwide accolades.

In 1979, Shirley Jones starred in the weekly television series "Shirley" for NBC and Proctor and Gamble, which returned full-sponsor participation to television for the first time in 14 years.

With Shirley Jones' extensive acting career, one would think the world might have forgotten the golden voice the Las Vegas Sun once described as, "unbearably rich." Not at all. Quadruple-threat Shirley Jones is in constant demand by every TV variety show, having guested with Ed Sullivan, Steve Allen, Bob Hope, Carol Burnett, Dean Martin, Andy Williams, Perry Como, Danny Thomas, Danny Kaye, the Carson, Douglas and Dinah shows plus two guest-star appearances as hostess of NBC's series extravaganzas "The Big Show." Shirley Jones starred at the MGM and the Desert Inn Hotels in Las Vegas; she recently traveled to Russia to host the incredible "Moscow Circus" for two CBS presentations. Shirley Jones has also been seen most recently on ABC-TV's hit series, "Hotel" and Bob Hope's "Ho! Ho! Christmas" special for NBC.

As for the legitimate theatre where she found her first Rodgers and Hammerstein break? Shirley Jones had made unceasing gratitude a professional policy, meticulously reserving each summer for touring America in musical favorites where she invariably breaks attendance records everywhere: Rodgers and Hammerstein's "Sound of Music," Jerome Kern's "Show Boat," Lerner and Loewe's "On A Clear Day You Can See Forever," a Broadway return in the Irish delight "Maggie Flynn" and a national tour of the hit thriller "Wait Until Dark."

On December 1, 1974, Shirley Jones met TV producer Marty Ingels at an art exhibit on the lawn of Michael Landon's house, and married the kinetic actor comedian-turned businessman November 13, 1977, after a frantic outrageous and romantic courtship. The entire story is now told in a new book, Shirley and Marty; An Unlikely Love Story. They live in a warm and sprawling Cape Cod home in Beverly Hills. Shirley Jones' sons, Shaun, Patrick and Ryan- as well as her step-son David- live in the hills of Hollywood and still enjoy widespread success as actors and singers.

And so... the special magic, the special appeal, the special contribution of all-American Shirley Mae Jones of Smithton, Pennsylvania to the inconstant world of show business can well be demonstrated by the perpetual place it appears to have made for her in the two decades after that fateful audition day on New York's West 46th St.

With "talent" the natural explanation, perhaps we are afforded an even deeper insight into the real Shirley Jones if one reads between the lines of a quote offered by her husband at a recent banquet given by the National Leukemia Society which honored Shirley Jones as its National Chairlady:

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