Doris Day: The Perpetual Girl-Next-Door (1 Viewer)

[Emcee]

To this very day, Doris Day remains the most popular female at the box office. From 1960 to 1964, she was the number one box office draw in America, outranking such luminaries as Elizabeth Taylor and Audrey Hepburn in popularity polls. Films starring her were practically guaranteed to be successes. Pillow Talk (1959) ignited her most successful phase as a star of glossy romantic comedies, usually co-starring handsome men such as Rock Hudson or James Garner. She had began her career as a big band singer, had multiple hit records and singles, and starred in a succession of popular movie musicals, like Calamity Jane (1953). After her film career slowed, she reluctantly moved on towards television, where she starred on The Doris Day Show (1968─73).

Any fans of this one-of-a-kind talent?
​

​

 

[benbess]

Yes, count me as another fan. My favorite of all of her roles is in her rather uncharacteristically dramatic turn in Hitchcock's The Man Who Knew Too Much. But as we know, Warner Archive has been steadily releasing enough Doris Day movies for us each to have our own film festivals of her movies. I've recently been doing this by watching Romance on the High Seas, My Dream is Yours, and Lullaby of Broadway in the space of a couple of weeks. It's amazing how many movies she made!

PS I like the French phrase for promoting VistaVision, which seems to translate to "VistaVision: the real image of life." As we all know, The Man Who Knew Too Much could use a restoration and remaster so that it can live up to that!

 

[DarkVader]

I became a fan of Doris Day as a pre-teen back in the mid-70s when I caught "Love Me or Leave Me" on television. I did not know much about her then, so in those pre-internet days I went to the public library to do some research on her. I borrowed her autobiography, "Doris Day: Her Own Story" and read it cover-to-cover. I then began seeking out her films on television. I became a devoted fan.

My all-time favorite Doris Day film is without-a-doubt "The Pajama Game".

My all-time favorite recording: "Shakin' The Blues Away"

 

[Emcee]

"Love Me or Leave Me"

Love Me or Leave Me was originally offered to Jane Russell, who kept turning the producers down. Russell was holding out for the lead in I'll Cry Tomorrow, but that role went to Susan Hayward. In the meantime, Doris Day was given the Ruth Ettig role, and Russell was left without either film. ​

 

[Matt Hough]

When I was a kid, I saw Calamity Jane on television, and that was it. She was my favorite movie star, and I went to every one of her movies. In all the years since, I've grown to have a deep appreciation for her abilities as a dramatic actress. She combined her dramatic talent and her singing gifts in Love Me or Leave Me, for me the best and most versatile performance she ever gave (singing, dancing, and acting). And I still love every second of Calamity Jane.

 

[Garysb]

Calamity Jane
The Man Who Knew Too Much
Love Me or Leave Me

are the films of Doris Day I enjoy the most.

The "Save The Virginity" films beginning with "Pillow Talk" while very popular and well made have aged poorly and are not as enjoyable to me. Even when she was married with kids in her films of the early 60's still seemed to be dealing with her virginity ie "Send Me No Flowers" where Rock is trying to set her up with Clint Walker. I would say "The Man Who Knew Too Much" was the only one of her films set in the year it was made that has aged well. The characters played by Doris and James Stewart seemed like real people . I have mentioned on other threads, I still think she should have accepted the role of Mrs. Robinson in The Graduate. So against type it could have extended her time in films. "Love Me Or Leave Me" was also against type as she played Ruth Etting a singer willing to use James Cagney's gangster character to get what she wanted.

 

[usrunnr]

I like all of her films, but I'm partial to "Midnight Lace" and "The Man Who Know Too Much" (both of which I wish had a better blu-rays).

 

[JohnMor]

Huge fan. Enormously talented performer.

 

[Emcee]

Ironically enough, despite her success in such "heavier" films as Midnight Lace and The Man Who Knew Too Much, I recall reading somewhere that Doris herself didn't prefer those movies. She was happier in the lighter, more glossy films like Lover Come Back. It's also interesting to note that as the 1960s brought increasingly daring material to the silver screen Day's own films became increasingly sweeter and more sedate, such as With Six You Get Eggroll, which proved to be her final film.
​

​

Actress Betty Grable held a similar preference for her own career. Grable was 20th Century-Fox's biggest box office star of the 1940s, and the studio tried to usher her into a variety of film genres outside of her typical musical comedy fare. I Wake Up Screaming basically laid the foundation for the film noir, and while it enjoyed box office success, Grable didn't like making more dramatic films. The majority of her films stay within the girl-meets-boy formula with glittery song and dance numbers.
​

​

 

[Emcee]

I don't believe I've ever seen this picture of Doris Day before.

 

[Matt Hough]

I remember reading an interview in which Doris said that after filming a very dramatic and emotional take trapped in a tiny elevator in Midnight Lace, she was so overwrought that shooting was called off for the rest of the day. This is one reason she preferred the lighter fare. She got deeply within the emotions of the character and found it hard to shake off her feelings when shooting stopped.

 

[octobercountry]

Another big fan here. I'm pleased so many of her films have made it to blu-ray. Plus, the majority of her pictures are in regular rotation over on TCM; there only seem to be a couple that don't show up on that channel.

 

[RMajidi]

To this very day, Doris Day remains the most popular female at the box office. From 1960 to 1964, she was the number one box office draw in America, outranking such luminaries as Elizabeth Taylor and Audrey Hepburn in popularity polls. Films starring her were practically guaranteed to be successes. Pillow Talk (1959) ignited her most successful phase as a star of glossy romantic comedies, usually co-starring handsome men such as Rock Hudson or James Garner. She had began her career as a big band singer, had multiple hit records and singles, and starred in a succession of popular movie musicals, like Calamity Jane (1953). After her film career slowed, she reluctantly moved on towards television, where she starred on The Doris Day Show (1968─73).

Any fans of this one-of-a-kind talent?
​

View attachment 128347 ​

Thank you for creating this tribute thread to the Incandescent Nightingale.

She could act convincingly in all shades of character. She could dance. Her outer beauty was clearly lit from an even brighter inner source… and to say she could sing is criminally redundant.

An enduring gift and treasure. So grateful that WAC have been consistently restoring and releasing her films. Long may it continue.

 

[PMF]

The Number #1 male collaborator of Doris Day’s entire career has got to be George Feltenstein. Just off the top of my head, I’m thinking that there’s at least 8 Doris Day films now currently available through Warner Archive Collection. Sometimes it’s hard to know which of the two are more stunning, Doris Day or the BD transfers of Mr. Feltenstein.

“Love Me or Leave Me” is where WAC got me started. I went into it for James Cagney, but concluded my viewing seeking out more of Miss Day.

 

[Joel Arndt]

When I was a kid, I saw Calamity Jane on television, and that was it. She was my favorite movie star, and I went to every one of her movies. In all the years since, I've grown to have a deep appreciation for her abilities as a dramatic actress. She combined her dramatic talent and her singing gifts in Love Me or Leave Me, for me the best and most versatile performance she ever gave (singing, dancing, and acting). And I still love every second of Calamity Jane.

Yes, I've loved Doris Day my entire life. My first recollection of her as a child was through a 78 rpm record in the 1960s. My Grandma and Aunt still had a 78 rpm record player at their house and one of my favorite songs to play was The Deadwood Stage (Whip-Crack-Away) from Calamity Jane. So much energy. Of course, this was the B-side to Secret Love. I'm guessing the record was my Mom's since this was my parent's "love song" and they got married the following year in 1954. Those 78s broke so easily.

 

[octobercountry]

It's quite impossible for me to pick a favourite Doris Day film; I enjoy so many of them, in different ways. I would have to say, though, that I suppose I prefer her earlier musical films just a tad over the later comedies, though I like both. The only one of her "sex comedies" (for lack of a better term) that I didn't care for was "Tunnel of Love." That one just seemed kind of seedy and unpleasant; the "comedy" didn't work at all for me.

 

[octobercountry]

I was introduced to Doris as a pre-teen, through my mother's record collection. She had several of the early 1950s ten-inch LPs, as well as the album: "Wonderful Day" (description of this album included below). And that did it for me---I knew Doris as a singer long before I ever saw any of her pictures, and have been a fan ever since.

"This is a rare US-only LP which was conceived as part of [believe it or not] a promotional campaign for Imperial margarine. Coinciding with the release of the second Hudson/Day picture Lover Come Back, it cleverly builds a collection around the title song and ‘Should I Surrender?’, both of which were singles from the movie’s soundtrack. Regardless of what actually triggered the release, no one can deny the skilful blending together of some classic Doris Day tunes (from 1952-61), featuring rarities like “Til My Love Comes To Me” (from the obscure vinyls issued for the Sinatra/Day film Young At Heart), as well as elusive singles “Be Prepared” and “Julie”. "

 

[Matt Hough]

Yes, I've loved Doris Day my entire life. My first recollection of her as a child was through a 78 rpm record in the 1960s. My Grandma and Aunt still had a 78 rpm record player at their house and one of my favorite songs to play was The Deadwood Stage (Whip-Crack-Away) from Calamity Jane. So much energy. Of course, this was the B-side to Secret Love. I'm guessing the record was my Mom's since this was my parent's "love song" and they got married the following year in 1954. Those 78s broke so easily.

Yes, my folks had the LP of "Secret Love/The Deadwood Stage" as well, and I played it incessantly especially after I saw the movie Calamity Jane on television. It took me years to get the soundtrack album of the film: had to buy it first on an English import LP and years later I found a set of 45s of the soundtrack selections.

 

[PMF]

The Girl Next Door to where I lived couldn’t even whistle, let alone carry a tune.

 

[BILLONEEG]

I've seen all of Doris Day's movies & I am in the process of buying all of them on DVD & Blu-Ray. She is one of my all-time favorite actresses & singers! My two favorite movies are "On Moonlight Bay" & it's sequel "By The Light Of The Silvery Moon". My two favorite songs are "Secret Love" & "Till We Meet Again". Doris Day is an American treasure like Kate Smith ("God Bless America")!!!