I’m still trying to fend off a high-grade depression and gain some footing as I move through my cycling mood swings. I can hear the siren song of melancholia beckoning but instead of succumbing, I’m taking stock of all that I have to be grateful for in my life and there is SO much. Is it possible to simultaneously feel both contentment and joy and nervous, stomach-churning dread? I don’t think I’m a candidate for an anti-depressant even though I have nothing but admiration for the people I know who use these effectively. Could it be my irrational fear that if I pop one pill I’ll soon be cruising down Hollywood Boulevard looking for seedy drug pushers or selling Leah’s schoolbooks for my latest Zoloft fix? I’m not sure why I have such major addiction fears. I have never smoked, I rarely drink, and I haven’t tried an illicit drug in years (well, there was that ONE time a few years ago but that’s another blog entry), yet I panic that taking one Excedrin PM will lead me down a path to a rat-infested crack house. Oy, I need a break from this. I saw tonight that Kendall finally hung up her very cool six-sheet movie poster (above) in her office. What better salve for borderline personality disorder than the calming presence of Miss Doris Mary Ann Kappelhoff, otherwise known as Doris Day.
I know what you’re thinking. To some uninformed folks, Doris Day conjures up memories of mindless froth, empty-headed confections, painfully out-of-date stories with no relevance to today. Well, to those of you in this camp, I say you are as wrong as wrong can be. Kendall and I have always felt that Doris Day was grossly underrated as an actress. I could point to moments in dozens of her films where she exhibits a talent that any actress would kill for, but I’ll spare you a mega-post on the subject and only mention two.
The first one occurs towards the beginning of the 1956 Alfred Hitchcock remake of his own “The Man Who Knew Too Much.” Jimmy Stewart and Doris are on vacation in Morocco with their young son. Jimmy is Dr. Ben McKenna and Doris his wife Jo, a once famous musical comedy star. One day they see a man murdered in the marketplace. As the man is dying he whispers something about an assassination plot in Stewart’s ear. To keep the couple quiet, the would-be assassins kidnap their son Hank. Jimmy finds out about the kidnapping and to prevent Doris from becoming hysterical, he slips her a heavy tranquilizer just before telling her. The scene in which Doris Day reacts to the news about her son being kidnapped while she is falling asleep from the tranquilizer is some of the best acting I’ve ever seen, bar none. (Useless trivia point #1: the boy who plays Jimmy and Doris’s son, Christopher Olsen, is the older brother of Susan Olsen, aka Cindy, the youngest daughter on “The Brady Bunch.”)
Hitchcock really knew how to take full advantage of Doris’s talents, it’s a shame they didn’t make more movies together. He made her most famous song “Que Sera Sera” into a major plot point. I think she sings it three times in the film and it helps her find her son and capture the assassins. If you’ve never seen this great film, here’s a link to Netflix so you can immediately add it to your queue! (By the way, wouldn’t you be pissed as hell if your husband slipped you a mickey just before telling you your son was being held hostage by killers?)
The other scene I wanted to mention is the opening of 1960’s “Please Don’t Eat the Daisies” starring Doris Day, David Niven, and Janis Paige. In the first scene, Doris is getting ready for a night on the town but as she’s getting dressed her four rambunctious boys are all over her and making obnoxious comments about everything from her girdle to her make-up. (Useless triva point #2: one of her sons is played by Stanley Livingston, who later that year began a 12-year gig as Chip Douglas on “My Three Sons.”) It’s hard to articulate why I’m so impressed with this scene—Doris is so incredibly natural and at ease with those kids you’d swear she was really their mother! Later in the film, when she’s furious with her theatre critic husband David Niven for his flirtation with sexy actress Janis Paige, Doris is fuming as she watches Niven and Paige on a TV talk show. Her boys are bored and protest, “Mom, change the channel! We can see Daddy anytime—we want to watch Frankenstein!” to which Doris replies sharply, “IS THERE A DIFFERENCE?” This is yet another movie line that I find myself repeating on an almost daily basis. You’d be surprised at how it comes in handy in so many diverse situations.
Kendall: Can we please watch the new episode of ‘The Surreal Life’ instead of Part 2 of that PBS series on Auschwitz?
Danny: IS THERE A DIFFERENCE?
Remember the TV series they made out of “Please Don’t Eat the Daisies” starring Pat Crowley and Mark Miller in the Doris Day/David Niven roles? LOVED that show! (Useless trivia points #3 and #4: Mark Miller is actress Penelope Ann Miller’s father. The boy who played one of the four sons in the TV version of “Please Don’t Eat the Daisies,” Brian Nash, played Doris Day’s son in “The Thrill of it All.” He also guest starred on “My Three Sons” as a friend of Chip Douglas.)
There are so many other great Doris Day performances. If you’ve only seen her in her classic comedies from the early 1960s, do yourself a favor and rent “Storm Warning,” a disturbing film noir from 1951 in which Doris is married to a member of the Ku Klux Klan who beats the crap out of Doris’s visiting sister, played by Ginger Rogers. Ginger then helps the local District Attorney (Ronald Reagan!) bring down the Klan.
Or take a look at the dark 1955 musical “Love Me Or Leave Me” about real-life torch singer Ruth Etting. Jimmy Cagney plays a Chicago mobster named Jimmy “the Gimp” Snyder who makes Doris a star but beats the crap out of her along the way. Or you might check out 1960s “Midnight Lace” in which Doris is living in London with her English husband. It seems like an idyllic marriage…or is it? “Who knew that hubby Rex Harrison would turn out to be a sociopath who tries to beat the crap out of poor Dodo?
Oy, I don’t mean to be lurid in mentioning the litany of men who tried to beat up Doris Day in her films. I’m just trying to give you a more in-depth view of her career and acting abilities than you might have if you’re only familiar with her Rock Hudson movies. (Useless trivia point #5: Doris was offered the part of Mrs. Robinson in “The Graduate” but turned it down. Now that would have been something to see!) Sadly, there were a few men in Doris’s real life who also tried to beat the crap out of her, including her first husband Al Jordan who beat her up while she was pregnant with her son. She next married George Weidler, the brother of wonderful Virginia Weidler (Katharaine Hepburn’s little sister in “The Philadelphia Story”) but that marriage didn’t last long, and third husband Marty Melcher brought about Doris’s nervous breakdown by signing her up for a bunch of movies she didn’t want to make. Marty ended up squandering every cent Doris made and by the time he died in 1968 Doris was deeply in debt. She was eventually awarded $22 million by the courts and used this money to begin her animal rights organization.
Doris’s only child, Terry Melcher, was a pioneering rock and roll producer who once rejected would-be singer Charles Manson. Many people believe that Melcher was the actual target of the 1969 Manson murders since he once lived in the house where Sharon Tate and the others were slaughtered. Sadly, Terry Melcher died a few months ago of cancer. Doris is turning 81 this April, if you can believe it, and lives in Carmel where she owns an animal-friendly hotel.
Needless to say, Doris Day has had plenty of heartache in her life, proof that joy and pain co-exist in all of us.
I really do feel better now just thinking about this talented actress and singer. Who needs Zoloft when you have Doris Day?
Danny, I really wish you would have introduced me to the mood stabilizing nature of Doris Day's work sooner. How much of the past 14 years would have been different if only. Oh well, now I know. Thank you.
Posted by: brother-in-law | February 13, 2005 at 11:02 AM
Jeff, I can supply substitutes for all your pharmacology needs. Relief is only a DVD away!
Posted by: Danny | February 13, 2005 at 02:00 PM
Thanks for the Doris Day tribute ... she's such a wonderful actress and singer, but sadly, terribly underrated! A great lady!
Posted by: howard green | December 11, 2006 at 09:26 AM
Doris is number 1,always has been,always will be,great tibute,ive just started a blog page on doris,please take a moment to have a quick look,Thanks.
http://dorisday-calamity.blogspot.com/
Posted by: Allison | July 28, 2007 at 10:47 AM
Thanks for the Doris Day tribute. I've loved her since I was 10. It's 30 years later, and I'm still listening to her music. She was a terrific singer, and so much fun to watch in films.
Very sad to hear about her son Terry.
Posted by: rcf | October 09, 2007 at 05:20 PM
:) I find it amusing that three of the really good movies you mentioned involved beating the crap out of someone. But, don't worry, I don't feel that it necessarily provides a link to your character.
I also found the trivia you provided about Charles Manson very interesting. I never knew that before. Thanks for expanding my knowledge. (I live for trivia!)
Posted by: Rebekah | October 27, 2007 at 08:10 AM
Sehr wertvolle Informationen! Empfehlen!
Posted by: gesundheit | March 11, 2009 at 10:08 AM