Florence Henderson dazzles in trip down memory lane before star-studded audience...[Updated]

One of my BFF's who is in town for a few weeks seemed a little dubious when I told him I was taking him to see Florence Henderson perform live in Hollywood on Friday night at the Catalina Bar & Grill.

I'd interviewed her for a preview piece and been invited and dammit, he was going with me. And boy, were we glad we did. It was a pretty magical night.

Even before Florence walked out to do her first number, you looked around the room and there were famous faces left and right. I almost fell out of my chair when I realized that sitting about five feet away from me was the great Mitzi Gaynor, star of the feature film version of "South Pacific" and other musicals and all those great TV specials from the 60s and 70s.

What a talent.

Mitzi and I had done a phone interview last fall but this was our first face-to-face meeting. She greeted me with a hug and kiss and we interacted throughout the night. At one point during the show, Miss Gaynor reached across the aisle and grabbed my hand after one particularly stunning number. We chatted after the show too and all I have to say is she lived up to everything I ever thought she'd be - and more. And she looks GREAT!

Two tables away was the still so handsome Robert Wagner who, when Florence saw him in the audience during the show, swooned. He's pushing 80 years old and is just so elegant and so loyal to his showbiz friends. Anyone who has read his terrific book - published last year - knows how much R.J. Wagner values friendship.

And then there was Donna Mills, still gorgeous as ever, who met Florence when they did a TV movie a few years ago and they have remained pals. I was introduced to Donna after the show and we gabbed about "Knots Landing," the show on which she played the scheming Abby Ewing for nine of the show's 14 seasons. She was kind of like the female JR Ewing. I said: "I even remember your full name: Abby Ewing Sumner." She corrected me: "Abby Cunningham Ewing Sumner and... I always forget the last husband's name!"

So we both flunked!

Bruce Vilanch, looking slimmer than he has in ages, was sitting front and center and why not? He wrote Florence's opening number and if you read the blog yesterday, you know that he also write the "Brady Bunch Variety Hour" in the mid-70s.

Okay, on to the show: Miss Henderson, the Broadway star-turned "Today Show" girl-turned television mom-turned commercial pitchwoman (Wesson Oil) and talk show host ("Country Kitchen," "Later Today," "The Florence Henderson Show), has had a very full life as a working woman and mother of four. She took us down memory lane in the nicely-paced and very entertaining "All the Lives of Me" which continues its three night run at the Catalina tonight and ends Sunday.

"I'm here to tell you Hollywood, I'm very much alive," she says during the opening number. "I'm not talking about Shirley MacLaine kind of lives...At my age (she turns 75 next months!) who needs anymore BS?"

EARLY LIFE AND CAREER

Florence sings such songs as "I am Your Child," "You are My Sunshine" and "My Old Kentucky Home" and tells the crowd about how her mother was a Mama Rose type stage mother and made her sing for people - then pass the hat around. So Henderson left the stage, still singing, and passed around a hat. It was quickly filled with cash. It was a great gag made all the sweeter when she told us the money - along with a check from her - would be donated to Project Angel Food when the weekend is over.

Florence let the audience know that at her age (she turns 75 on Feb. 14!) that she is the youngest of 10 children and that her father was already 70 when she was born ("and that was before viagra!").
Still in her teens, she was sponsored into the American Academy of Dramatic Arts (I assume it's the "Fame" school) and caught a big break just a year in when she auditioned for Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein and they cast her in the lead role in the national tour of "Oklahoma" and a screen test for the movie version.

Here's what happened: "As you know, I did not get the in the movie...the little bitch Shirley Jones did..."

Ha! I say we do a Celebrity Death Match: Mrs. Brady vs. Mrs. Partridge!

THE BRADY YEARS
Florence has had such a long and full career, she has never resented the success of "The Brady Bunch" even though more people would watch a single episode than any of her Broadway shows which included "Fanny" and "The Girl Who Game Together."

"The little series has never been off the air, you can't kill it with a stick!" she said of the 1969-74 sitcom which was revived as a variety show in 1976 then again as a spinoff sitcom ("The Brady Brides") in 1981 then as a highly-rated TV movie in 1989 followed by a one-hour drama series "The Bradys." There have also been cast reunioon shows ("Growing Up Brady"), books and a few highly successful feature films and stage shows with other actors in the Brady roles.

Florence launched into the singing of the show's theme song and asked the audience to join in: "Here's the story..."
During a Q&A portion of the show, a naughty audience member asked Florence: "Did Sam the butcher only deliver meat to Alice (the housekeeper played by Ann B. Davis) or did Mrs. Brady get some too?"

On a more serious note, Florence talked about her co-star and close friend, the late Robert Reed who played the dad to her mom: "We all knew Bob was gay from the very beginning and it just didn't matter to any of us. ...I always had so much compassion for Bob. He was gay and here he was the father of America...it broke our hearts when he died. He died much too young."

She dedicates the song "One" from "A Chorus Line" to Reed in the show.
I loved what Florence said toward the end of the show about her age: "I don't ever talk about age. I never do because I think it's dangerous. I always say, 'If you didn't know how old you were, how old would you be?" I'm going to be 75 and you know what? I am very excited about the future."

She outa be. What a great lady and terrific performer. We greeted her after she show and it was hugs and kisses and a great energy around Florence and all the people who love her.