here's a link

Here is a link that might be useful: link

The age of the branch will effect the reaction you get. Older branches have peeling bark & are hardened. Cut older branches as close to the base as possible, as this encourages the plant to send up new branches from the base. If you cut an older branch, lets say 36 in. from the ground, most likely it won't sprout at the cut & you'll have a bare stick. Rarely, you might get shoots at the cut, but they are multiple & close together, sometimes looking awkward.
Soft wood, non-peeling branches when cut will sprout 3 or more new branches near the cut, so cut where you want to increase fullness. Most new sprouts grow perpendicular to the cut branch, not very graceful, so it can look like a bad haircut until it grows out.
My advise - cut alittle, stand back & look, then cut alittle more.
My Beauty Bush was kept at 12 ft high, was old & leggy, lots of wonderful peeling bark, & had a fountain shape with a path under its arching branches. In flower, the tips of the branches would hang almost to the ground so it was like walking thru a tunnel. I usually pruned out new leafy growth at the base to keep the view of the lower peeling branches visable; pruned out 1 or 2 very old canes each year at the base to encourage new strong vertical tall canes; and cut back a couple too-tall branches to 8 feet high to keep the height at 12 ft, and to encourge the sprouting of new stems in thinning areas up in the canopy.
Hope this helps...

If anyone in North Central Illinois - Chicago suburbs - is interested, Platt Hill Nursery has Kolkwitzia (Beauty Bush). I was surprised as this is a very rare shrub to find in this area, because some consider this bush not hardy for here.

artdeco, many thanks for your observations. My shrub's branches were largely low-growing and horizontal. Its overall shape had been adversely affected by a volunteer wild cherry that was kind of sitting on it and blocking the sun. I got the cherry out last year and waited to see how kolkwitzia would look this year, but it was clear that it might take several years for the kolkwitzia to launch new branches into the space where the cherry had been.

After I read your post a couple of times and saypoint's link, I went out with the pruners and started looking at the branches. Sure enough, they'd been pruned years before and side branches were coming out at some very strange angles.

I hope that what I did will turn out to be an improvement. This is a nice shrub with a long bloom season and I'd like to keep it and have it look its best.

This is one of the shrubs I miss the most from my old yard. It's very rare in the Chicago area, but mine was sheltered w/ eastern exposure, part-shade, & it did wonderful. Eventually you'll get new branches from the base & it'll do what it really wants to do - grow up & arching.

Thanks folks, this question helped me ID a bush I bought and lost the tag on! I kept trying to call it a Beautyberry bush, but it didn't match anything on Beautyberry's. Just the name stuck in my mind. I was half right, Beauty Bush is the more common name!

It has been a nice bush, blooms very prettily every year. I did the prune-after-bloom thing, got all the horizontal branches mentioned. I think I will leave bush alone for a couple years, get some more height on it, then snip a little here and there.

This bush appears very tough, I don't shelter it at all, right on the windy side of the house, out here in the country. Up here in MI we get pretty cold, terrific winter winds, lots of frozen ground, snow can be deep or none at all. I do pile dry, shredded leaves around the base for winter. It does well, nice leaves, good color. No dieback that I have noticed.
Seems to me this bush is about 4 years old, was a markdown in the fall sales. I don't know if they are rare or hard to find in my area. I just don't think they are extremely popular. Everyone one wants the NAMES, when planting, Hydrangea, Forsythia, that they recognize.

I find the flowers VERY pretty, attractive dark pink outside of bloom with light pink inside. Both colors fade to light pink/white as flowers age. There are sure lots of flowers this year, blooming right now.
It is kind of seasonal, doesn't do much else like fall color. I will check for the peely bark. Mine may just be immature branches, not have any yet. Thanks for the information from everyone.