A Doris Day Festival on TCM

[CineMaven]

This is what happens when you don't have Edith Head or Orry-Kelly or Givenchy or Oleg Cassini or Helen Rose or Adrian at the head of your studio's fashion department. Janis Paige looked downright dominatrixly severe in "Romance On the High Seas" perhaps in the studio's efforts to downplay her stunning looks since they were building up Doris. See Ms. Paige in "PLEASE DON'T EAT THE DAISIES" and the outfits she's poured into.

But what do I know. I'm no Beau Brummel.

[Sue Sue Applegate]

Maybe you are Beau Jest!

All I know is that I loved my Mom dearly, but she did dress me "funny" a couple of times.

Like those Harlequin pants.

When you are in the 3rd grade, and almost as tall as all of your teachers, all you need is a tent,
some peanuts, and you are in business! Mom said, "but they are so stylish. Everybody else is jealous."

That's when I used the dictionary to look up the word "garish."

[JackFavell]

My mom had those little foxes that bit their tails too, but I think they were out of fashion by the time I came around, so she let us have them to play dress up with. I loved them, played with them all the time and thought they were so cool with the little clamp fitted into those tiny little jaws.

I just love Doris' outfits in Romance on the High Seas, especially that white number with the mesh neckline and dropped waist! And the background colors of ocean glass blue and lavender still thrill me every time I see the film. And call me crazy, but I am crushing on the wide brim hats in both ROTHS and Now, Voyager. I don't care if those big boats of hats would go flying at the first sea breeze, I LOVE EM!

"No one dresses for dinner the first night out." Is that the way it works at TCM film Festivals too?

[intothenitrate]

*James Stewart was really creepy in his condescending treatment of Doris' character throughout the movie. I loathed his smug attitude toward her career, her friends, and her intelligence, even while I felt that Hitch was parodying a kind of childish innocence in American women of the period. Hitchcock seemed to be toying with Anglo-American attitudes toward domesticity and women in general throughout his career in movies on this side of the pond and the other, but it is still hard for me to say how he really felt about "the fair sex."

I was able to catch some of the Doris-palooza on Friday and they played a little piece between films--that one where Day narrates recollections of her career over clips from her movies. True to form, her praise and appreciation of others was warm, generous, and effusive. She talked about Gordon MacRae, Rock Hudson, James Garner, Michael Curtiz, and others, with extra time devoted to James Cagney in Love Me or Leave Me. No mention of Hitch or Stewart.

I thought it was telling, having recently read your post.

[mrsl]

.
One of the Encore stations had a mini-tribute to DD today and I sat down and watched closely, paying special attention to the relationship between Stewart and DD. I feel the 'Doctor' just gave his wife (who he knew pretty well), the pills to relax her before telling her about their son from love and concern more than any kind of male chauvinism. You can see how upset she got even after she took the pills, practically having a breakdown anyway. And when she figured out that Ambrose Chappel was a place rather than a person, he was full of praise for her even saying her thoughts were better than his. I guess just like these posts, each person reads them differently and gets a different feeling from them. I'm often misunderstood because people think I'm being judgmental instead of simply innocently thinking my way instead of theirs, and I assume I choose the wrong words to define myself.
.

[moira finnie]

My mother had a set of fur with animal heads almost exactly like the one in the photo of Doris. I can guarantee you it wasn't fox or any expensive fur, though. There was a special name for those which I can't remember. As a child I thought they were the height of elegance and called them her "kitty cats."

My mom had those little foxes that bit their tails too, but I think they were out of fashion by the time I came around, so she let us have them to play dress up with. I loved them, played with them all the time and thought they were so cool with the little clamp fitted into those tiny little jaws.

I'm glad we weren't the only ones who thought those furs were once "swelegant"--but I loved playing with them when Mom wasn't looking. I still remember their strange fixed eyes, their glorious softness, and the way that they smelled like Chanel No. 5--just like Mommy.

Cine, I thought that Janis was supposed to be the height of chic and a humorous contrast to the star--but Paige was so over-dressed she was meant to look shellacked next to the relatively fresh-faced Doris, who was definitely being given the big studio build-up. I actually liked those "I've got it all together" outfits worn by JP's take-charge character. They were pretty funny. I've always loved Janis Paige, who was just a really talented kid in those Warner movies, but was capable of belting out a song, sizzling on screen or breaking your heart--if only she'd been nurtured more carefully back then. I wish she could sit down for a Private Screening with Robert Osborne or make an appearance at the TCM Festival.

Maybe you are Beau Jest!

All I know is that I loved my Mom dearly, but she did dress me "funny" a couple of times.

Like those Harlequin pants.

When you are in the 3rd grade, and almost as tall as all of your teachers, all you need is a tent,
some peanuts, and you are in business! Mom said, "but they are so stylish. Everybody else is jealous."

That's when I used the dictionary to look up the word "garish."

Pictures, please, Miss Harlequin Pants! I got that "they're just jealous" routine from Mom too when she had me wear a sun dress that was way too fancy to day camp one summer. Man, the razzings never stopped. Being stylish in certain circles really doesn't pay.

To those who spoke up in defense of Jimmy Stewart's character in The Man Who Knew Too Much:
Normally, I love Stewart in his post-WWII movies when he was capable of great depth and a fantastic range as an actor. I do think his character in the Hitchcock movie was trying to do what he believed was best for his wife, but I can't help feeling that he never completely accepted her as an adult and used his power as a doctor to keep her under control. Then again, her own self-image was not entirely formed by her marriage, since she had a life before her marriage, lending her a bit of mystery and giving the couple's relationship a dramatically interesting tension that was heightened by the film's danger.

I'd like to thank Moira and everyone else who recommended I'll See You in My Dreams, which I would otherwise have overlooked. Gus Kahn wrote the lyrics to many songs which were among my parents' favorites. Doris Day gives an unmannered performance which delivers every emotion called for in the script, and she makes it look so easy and natural. Her singing has those qualities, too. She and Danny Thomas make a charming couple. James Gleason and Mary Wickes don't disappoint their fans, either. Patrice Wymore, best known for marrying Errol Flynn, plays a Broadway diva who looks and acts like a cross between Lauren Bacall and a deranged whippet. But don't they all?

LeRoy Prinz staged the musical numbers--Doris and Danny singing "Makin' Whoopee" in a train compartment was a favorite, but director Michael Curtiz deserves a lot of credit for blending romance, comedy, tears, and music into a satisfying whole. Look at how he films the scene backstage when Danny finally proposes. Several people who post here consider Curtiz a much underrated director, and here is yet another case in point.

I'm so glad that you liked I'll See You in My Dreams too.

I have a soft spot for Danny Thomas but after seeing him recently in this movie and the very well done remake of The Jazz Singer (1952)--another forgotten, late career film from Michael Curtiz--wonder if Thomas might have had more chances to make movies if he'd come along ten or twenty years earlier. I love your description of Patrice Wymore as "a cross between Lauren Bacall and a deranged whippet." I think the scene when Thomas sings "It Had to Be You" to Day is a killer. Yeah, the movie is schmaltzy (with a twist of zest provided by Mary Wickes), but Doris was exceptionally fine (and not cutesy) as the woman who gave the outsider his grounding in life. I think that "outsider looking in" motif is one of Curtiz's recurring themes--though the director was too talented to be easily categorized as an auteur. I've always thought that in his movies characters are sometimes separated from others by cultural differences, war, poverty, and education, but sometimes they are also isolated by their own bitterness, egoism or ferocious need to succeed and work in a society that is never truly home for them. In this movie, it is the central character's own life that passes by as he becomes involved in his own creative pursuits, enabled by his wife-partner's efficiency. Though I wouldn't look for biographical accuracy in such a movie, I like the way that the film's resolution includes a recognition of his own mortality and his need for others while acknowledging the enduring quality of Gus Kahn's music.

[Jezebel38]

I'd like to thank Moira and everyone else who recommended I'll See You in My Dreams, which I would otherwise have overlooked. Patrice Wymore, best known for marrying Errol Flynn, plays a Broadway diva who looks and acts like a cross between Lauren Bacall and a deranged whippet. But don't they all?

I was quite impressed by Patrice Wymore's performance when I first saw this film. I thought she was stunning, has great legs and dancing ability - I wish she would have been in more musicals. She sure does look like Lauren Bacall - even more so now - there is the promo TCM runs with her where she discusses Flynn and I swear she looks like Bacall's sister!

[Sue Sue Applegate]

I just loved the Doris-Palooza and hope it happens again sometime. What a bonus that mini-retrospective was for the interstitial.

Love to all,
Miss Harlequin Pants

P.S. Moira, if I had a photo, believe me, no one would ever be allowed to see it.

[Vecchiolarry]

Hi Moira,

I second your wish for Janis Paige to sit down with Robert Osborne and have a good old 'heart to heart'..... She should also be invited to the TCM Film Festival and she on my list to get an Honourary Oscar too!!!

She was a reliable star and good in everything she did.
I saw her once in the MGM Commissary, when she was making "Bachelor in Paradise" in 1961, but unfortunately never met her. Bummer.....

Larry

[CineMaven]

...Patrice Wymore, best known for marrying Errol Flynn, plays a Broadway diva who looks and acts like a cross between Lauren Bacall and a deranged whippet. But don't they all?

"Deranged whippet?!" Too much!!!

Janis Paige looked downright dominatrixly severe in "Romance On the High Seas" perhaps in the studio's efforts to downplay her stunning looks since they were building up Doris. See Ms. Paige in "PLEASE DON'T EAT THE DAISIES" and the outfits she's poured into. But what do I know. I'm no Beau Brummel.

Cine, I thought that Janis was supposed to be the height of chic and a humorous contrast to the star--but Paige was so over-dressed she was meant to look shellacked next to the relatively fresh-faced Doris, who was definitely being given the big studio build-up. I actually liked those "I've got it all together" outfits worn by JP's take-charge character. They were pretty funny. I've always loved Janis Paige, who was just a really talented kid in those Warner movies, but was capable of belting out a song, sizzling on screen or breaking your heart--if only she'd been nurtured more carefully back then. I wish she could sit down for a Private Screening with Robert Osborne or make an appearance at the TCM Festival.

Her clothes were overdone, and I've been a Janis Paige fan from way back; the only thing is I'm afraid I've seen the same coupla films over and over again.

BETWEEN ALEXIS SMITH AND ANN-MARGRET:


MORE BOBBY PINS THAN TINA TURNER IN THE 60'S
KITTEN WITH A SWEATER

She always seemed like a sexy fun-loving gal. Kind of a cross between the lacquered upsweptness of Alexis Smith and the free & loose Ann-Margret. Yes, nurtured more carefully...I think there really was a plethora of actors and actresses back then. The well was deep with talent in the heydey; much much more than today. And again I agree...she'd be a great candidate for a Private Screenings interview. I just fear that she didn't have as many "A" pictures to warrant a sit-down. But she should have one anyway.

I'm glad we weren't the only ones who thought those furs were once "swelegant"--but I loved playing with them when Mom wasn't looking. I still remember their strange fixed eyes, their glorious softness, and the way that they smelled like Chanel No. 5--just like Mommy.

Somehow...

[moira finnie]

For those who wish that Doris Day movies could come around more often, here's a treat--an interview from that great program, Fresh Air on NPR with Terry Gross, who found Doris in good voice, reflecting on her career and her birthday. It's delightful and can be heard here: