Doris Day: The Perpetual Girl-Next-Door

[ginnyfan]

Doris ALERT! It's Doris Day Day on TCM today, as part of annual Summer Under the Stars programming.

6:00 AM I'll See You in My Dreams (1951)
8:00 AM Romance on the High Seas (1948)
9:45 AM Diamond Demon (1947)
10:00 AM Winning Team, The (1952)
12:00 PM By the Light of the Silvery Moon (1953)
1:49 PM Let'S Sing A Song About The Moonlight (1948)
2:00 PM Tea for Two (1950)
4:00 PM Tunnel of Love, The (1958)
6:00 PM Pillow Talk (1959)
7:50 PM Your Name Here Story, The (1964)
8:00 PM Lover Come Back (1961)
10:00 PM Send Me No Flowers (1964)
12:00 AM Thrill Of It All, The (1963)
2:00 AM Midnight Lace (1960)
3:49 AM I Love My Wife But! (1946)
4:00 AM Julie (1956)
5:48 AM Unexpected Riches (1942)

 

[ClassyCo]

Doris ALERT! It's Doris Day Day on TCM today, as part of annual Summer Under the Stars programming.

6:00 AM I'll See You in My Dreams (1951)
8:00 AM Romance on the High Seas (1948)
9:45 AM Diamond Demon (1947)
10:00 AM Winning Team, The (1952)
12:00 PM By the Light of the Silvery Moon (1953)
1:49 PM Let'S Sing A Song About The Moonlight (1948)
2:00 PM Tea for Two (1950)
4:00 PM Tunnel of Love, The (1958)
6:00 PM Pillow Talk (1959)
7:50 PM Your Name Here Story, The (1964)
8:00 PM Lover Come Back (1961)
10:00 PM Send Me No Flowers (1964)
12:00 AM Thrill Of It All, The (1963)
2:00 AM Midnight Lace (1960)
3:49 AM I Love My Wife But! (1946)
4:00 AM Julie (1956)
5:48 AM Unexpected Riches (1942)

My DVR blew up with Doris Day recordings.

 

[ClassyCo]

My wife and I watched SEND ME NO FLOWERS a couple of weeks back, and I realized just how much I love Doris Day. She is sweet, attractive, and funny. She covers all the bases all rolled up into one neat package. Her and Rock Hudson play well together, even though I think Tony Randall gets wrongly overlooked in the trio of films those three did together.

SEND ME NO FLOWERS is a good movie. I enjoyed it a lot. It played like an extended episode of a television sitcom, but the performances were strong and the plot was well-executed. I wouldn't say it was up to par with PILLOW TALK, but I do like it better than LOVER COME BACK, although my memory on the latter is fuzzy.
​

​

 

[DallasFanForever]

My wife and I watched SEND ME NO FLOWERS a couple of weeks back, and I realized just how much I love Doris Day. She is sweet, attractive, and funny. She covers all the bases all rolled up into one neat package. Her and Rock Hudson play well together, even though I think Tony Randall gets wrongly overlooked in the trio of films those three did together.

SEND ME NO FLOWERS is a good movie. I enjoyed it a lot. It played like an extended episode of a television sitcom, but the performances were strong and the plot was well-executed. I wouldn't say it was up to par with PILLOW TALK, but I do like it better than LOVER COME BACK, although my memory on the latter is fuzzy.
​

View attachment 27219​

Pillow Talk is a classic but I’ve yet to see the other two. Rock and Doris had terrific chemistry together and I agree with you that Tony Randall was quite overlooked.

 

[Crimson]

I'm partial to Doris Day of the mid- to late-50s. She was wholesome in that cheery 50s kind of way, but with a brainy edge. I particularly enjoy TEACHER'S PET, LOVE ME OR LEAVE ME and THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH. I'm less fond of her 60s work. She was still appealing, but I'm less fond of her somewhat tweaked image of that era. Or, to paraphrase Oscar Levant, I liked Doris before she became a virgin.

 

[ClassyCo]

I'm partial to Doris Day of the mid- to late-50s. She was wholesome in that cheery 50s kind of way, but with a brainy edge. I particularly enjoy TEACHER'S PET, LOVE ME OR LEAVE ME and THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH. I'm less fond of her 60s work. She was still appealing, but I'm less fond of her somewhat tweaked image of that era. Or, to paraphrase Oscar Levant, I liked Doris before she became a virgin.

Doris did morph into being "The Perpetual Virgin" or "The World's Oldest Virgin" in the sixties. She made bedroom comedies without any significant bedroom activity. Films like DO NOT DISTURB (1965) and THE GLASS BOTTOM BOAT (1966) proved that her popularity was slipping; the comedy situations that seemed fresh and vital just a few years prior now seem dated and out of touch with the times. She did CAPRICE (1967), which was a poor attempt a spy spoof, and she was doing the weak Western THE BALLAD OF JOSIE (1967) at a time when the sexual revolution was reaching its peak.

She had clearly fallen out of touch with the times. She went from #1 at the box office in 1964 to out of the running altogether by 1968, when she starred in her final two movies: WHERE WERE YOU WHEN THE LIGHTS WENT OUT? and WITH SIX YOU GET EGGROLL. The latter film --- along with YOURS, MINE, AND OURS, starring Lucille Ball and Henry Fonda --- are typically viewed as forerunners or inspirations to THE BRADY BUNCH television series that appeared in the fall of 1968.
​

​

 

[ClassyCo]

It's interesting that director Mike Nichols wanted Doris Day to play Mrs. Robinson in THE GRADUATE in 1967. Day apparently got offended by the offer, and ultimately declined. One biographer theorized that she declined the opportunity because she found the part "vulgar".

One wonders how THE GRADUATE might've played with Doris as Mrs. Robinson, and where her playing the role might've taken her career. Day's career was in a continuing decline in the late 1960s. Instead of doing THE GRADUATE, she ended up starring in CAPRICE and THE BALLD OF JOSIE that year, two poorly received box office flops. She made her final movie appearance the following year in 1968.
​

​

 

[Crimson]

I've read that Doris resented, or at least felt boxed-in, by her sunny image. Unlike Julie Andrews though, Doris never really made much of an effort to break it. The idea of her as Mrs. Robinson is intriguing but it's probably for the best that it didn't happen. Playing against type can be effective (Donna Reed in FROM HERE TO ETERNITY) but I think Doris' wholesome image was too set-in-stone by the late 60s for her to be able to break from it.

 

[darkshadows38]

i'd say the man who knew to much (1956) and Please don't eat the Daises (1960) are my favorites of hers

 

[ClassyCo]

My wife and I watched MIDNIGHT LACE the other night. I'm most familiar with Doris Day's musicals and rom-coms, so I must say that I was indeed curious to see how she handled a more serious picture.

In this Hitchcockian-style thriller, she plays an American woman who has recently married a wealthy British businessman. Within the first five minutes of the film, she's being terrorized in the park close to her house, hearing a scratchy voice threatening to kill her. It didn't take me very long to figure out who the culprit was, but it was a thrilling ride nonetheless.

Any fans of this film?​

 

[ginnyfan]

I love it. Nice change in the middle of her rom/com domination era. Love the London setting, the cast and Doris having scream/attacks every 15 minutes. It's good watch for this Halloween month!

 

[ClassyCo]

I love it. Nice change in the middle of her rom/com domination era. Love the London setting, the cast and Doris having scream/attacks every 15 minutes. It's good watch for this Halloween month!

We really enjoyed it. It was a very good watch.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

She's a little too shrill for my tastes in MIDNIGHT LACE. She really is Krystle Carrington's aunt.

 

[Seaviewer]

I saw this not too long ago - unless my memory is playing tricks again.
I've always thought she was underrated as a dramatic actress. Even many of her musicals are dramas. Love Me Or Leave Me as an example.

 

[ClassyCo]

I saw this not too long ago - unless my memory is playing tricks again.
I've always thought she was underrated as a dramatic actress. Even many of her musicals are dramas. Love Me Or Leave Me as an example.

Day was underrated and underused as a dramatic actress. Even in my own mind, I always group her into musical and rom-com genres. I rarely think of her more serious pictures, such as MIDNIGHT LACE or even something like LOVE ME OR LEAVE ME (a role that Jane Russell desperately wanted for herself). And that's really a shame too. Doris does very well in the dramas she did, and apparently Hitchcock complimented her performance when they filmed THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH together.

Day's cheery sweetness just overtakes her more dramatic turns in films. That was her genuine personality, and it exudes through all of her interviews and personal appearances. So, in my mind at least, it's easier to think about Doris as the star of such romps as MOVE OVER, DARLING rather than something more artistically challenging. She seems more at ease in the lighter films, and I seem to remember reading or hearing Doris say in an interview that she preferred making the lighter musicals and comedies.
​

​

 

[Crimson]

I haven't seen MIDNIGHT LACE in ages, but sheesh this trailer makes it look like a SNL parody.

Doris gave some very good dramatic performances in the 50s, but in this one she looks like Doris Day playing comedy pretending to do drama.

LOVE ME OR LEAVE ME (a role that Jane Russell desperately wanted for herself)

According to Jane's autobiography at least, it was I'LL CRY TOMORROW that she wanted. She was offered LOVE ME OR LEAVE ME, delayed in signing on hoping to get the other role, and lost out on both.

 

[ClassyCo]

I haven't seen MIDNIGHT LACE in ages, but sheesh this trailer makes it look like a SNL parody.

Doris gave some very good dramatic performances in the 50s, but in this one she looks like Doris Day playing comedy pretending to do drama.

I know MIDNIGHT LACE might not be to everyone's tastes, but I thought it was a good movie. And I'd say Doris did well with what she was given. Of course, I had the plot picked out long before the end, but it was a fun ride from point A to point B.​

According to Jane's autobiography at least, it was I'LL CRY TOMORROW that she wanted. She was offered LOVE ME OR LEAVE ME, delayed in signing on hoping to get the other role, and lost out on both.

My knowledge on Jane Russell is spotty, but I thought it was LOVE ME OR LEAVE ME that she really wanted. I guess I could've just checked the thread we've got going on her because I know you and I've discussed it over there.

Poor Jane, though. By 1955, she really deserved a good dramatic vehicle, and her decision to hold out for the one she really wanted caused her to miss out on a part she could've excelled in. LOVE ME OR LEAVE was the less demanding of the two films out of I'LL CRY TOMORROW, but it would've been a refreshing change-of-pace for Russell, who was due for a role that would stretch her artistically.
​

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

Doris Day is supposedly 100 years old today (although I still say she's 98).

 

[Jock Ewing Fan]

Doris Day is supposedly 100 years old today (although I still say she's 98).

Such a great actress and icon, with class

 

[Luke_Krebbs_Ewing]

She was great in Calamity Jane.

Some great songs in that film and Doris is a lovely singer.