TCM Schedule for Friday, August 2, 2013 -- Summer Under The Stars -- Doris Day

[Staph]

Today's star is Doris Day, born Doris Mary Ann Kappelhoff on April 3, 1924, in Cincinnati, Ohio. When a childhood car accident smashed her legs, she changed her dream of becoming a professional ballerina to a dream of singing professionally. After years on the road as a big band singer, she signed a contract with Warner Bros. and began making films (mostly musicals) in 1948. After her television series went off the air in 1973, she made only occasional TV appearances. Today, she runs the Doris Day Animal League in Carmel, California, which advocates homes and proper care of household pets. What else would you expect of America's sweetheart? Enjoy!


6:00 AM -- Romance On The High Seas (1948)
A singer on a Caribbean cruise gets mixed up in a series of romantic problems.
Dir: Michael Curtiz
Cast: Jack Carson, Janis Paige, Don DeFore
C-99 min, TV-PG

Nominated for Oscars for Best Music, Original Song -- Jule Styne (music) and Sammy Cahn (lyrics) for the song "It's Magic", and Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture -- Ray Heindorf

According to her 1975 autobiography, "Doris Day: Her Own Story" (co-written with A.E. Hotchner), Miss Day attended a show-biz party the night before she planned to leave for New York City. Also at the gathering was lyric writer Sammy Cahn who, taking Doris aside, explained that she would be the right match for the Cahn-Jule Styne score of this upcoming film. When, at Mr. Cahn's urging, Doris sang "Embraceable You" (music by George Gershwin, lyrics by Ira Gershwin) for the party crowd, she was heard by director Michael Curtiz, who then asked her to test for the role of Georgia Garrett.


7:45 AM -- My Dream Is Yours (1949)
A talent scout turns a young unknown into a radio singing star.
Dir: Michael Curtiz
Cast: Jack Carson, Doris Day, Lee Bowman
C-101 min, TV-G

The scenes in this film featuring Doris Day and her young on-screen son had a special emotional resonance for Day, since in real life she had often had to leave her own pre-school-aged son Terry behind with his grandmother while touring as a big band singer in the 1940s.


9:30 AM -- It's a Great Feeling (1949)
When nobody at Warner Bros. will work with him, movie star Jack Carson decides to turn an unknown into his co-star.
Dir: David Butler
Cast: Dennis Morgan, Doris Day, Jack Carson
C-85 min, TV-G

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Music, Original Song -- Jule Styne (music) and Sammy Cahn (lyrics) for the song "It's a Great Feeling"

Patricia Neal, still wearing the black fur-trimmed evening gown from The Fountainhead came directly from that set to film her ballroom scene cameo.


11:00 AM -- The Lullaby of Broadway (1951)
A star's former servants try to keep her daughter from learning of her fate.
Dir: David Butler
Cast: Doris Day, Gene Nelson, S. Z. Sakall
C-92 min, TV-G

Doris Day's 10-inch Columbia LP of selections from the film score captured first place on the "Billboard" pop albums chart.


12:45 PM -- On Moonlight Bay (1951)
A small-town tomboy falls for the boy-next-door in the years before World War I.
Dir: Roy Del Ruth
Cast: Doris Day, Gordon MacRae, ["Smiling"] Jack Smith
C-95 min, TV-G

This movie proved to be so popular that the studio immediately filmed By the Light of the Silvery Moon which is a direct sequel with all the actors playing the same characters. This was very unusual at the time.


2:30 PM -- By the Light of the Silvery Moon (1953)
A small-town girl's love life goes ballistic when her sweetheart returns from World War I.
Dir: David Butler
Cast: Doris Day, Gordon MacRae, Leon Ames
C-102 min, TV-PG

This film departs from "On Moonlight Bay" in three main ways. First, the film opens with Stella breaking the fourth wall, addressing the audience directly as she introduces the Winfield family. Second, the song and dance numbers are played like a traditional musical, while the original film incorporated the songs more organically within the story. Finally, the bespectacled music teacher, although the same basic character with the same mannerisms, has a different name and is played by a different actor, the only member of the cast who did not carry over from the original film.


4:15 PM -- Lucky Me (1954)
When the members of a musical troupe take cleaning jobs, their lead singer falls for a famous songwriter.
Dir: Jack Donohue
Cast: Doris Day, Robert Cummings, Phil Silvers
C-101 min, TV-G

This is the first musical to be filmed in CinemaScope, and was Angie Dickinson's film debut.


6:00 PM -- It Happened To Jane (1959)
A small-town businesswoman takes on a railroad magnate in court.
Dir: Richard Quine
Cast: Doris Day, Jack Lemmon, Ernie Kovacs
C-98 min, TV-G

Doris Day wrote that her manager/husband Martin Melcher was terribly concerned over the box-office failure of this film and The Tunnel of Love. Their failures caused Day to drop out of the Top Ten Box Office Stars. Day and Melcher had words about him hustling her into almost any film for the money instead of waiting to find good scripts that would have produced better results.


7:45 PM -- Carson on TCM: Doris Day (1/16/76) (2013)
TCM presents a classic interview from The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson.
C-10 min, TV-PG

According to her autobiography, she got the nickname Clara Bixby when Billy De Wolfe told her, on the Tea for Two (1950) set, that she didn't look like a "Doris Day," but more like a "Clara Bixby." To this day, that remains her nickname among a close circle of old friends, such as Van Johnson.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: SUMMER UNDER THE STARS: DORIS DAY



8:00 PM -- Calamity Jane (1953)
The Wild West heroine helps bring a star attraction to Deadwood and finds love.
Dir: David Butler
Cast: Doris Day, Howard Keel, Allyn McLerie
C-101 min, TV-G

Won an Oscar for Best Music, Original Song -- Sammy Fain (music) and Paul Francis Webster (lyrics) for the song "Secret Love"

Nominated for Oscars for Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture -- Ray Heindorf, and Best Sound, Recording -- William A. Mueller (Warner Bros. Sound Department)

Appearing on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson in the 1970s, Doris Day recalled seeing early dailies from this film, in which she was stomped about the set in buckskins and leather, speaking in a high, girlishly feminine voice. She immediately brought her line readings down several registers, so she'd sound as tough as she looked.


9:45 PM -- Fortune Seekers (1956)
This short film highlights the many seemingly small inventions that have become part of daily life.
Dir: Larry O'Reilly
Narrator: Bob Hite
8 min

The inventions shown include the bobby pin, the paper clip, the crimp crown bottle cap, the zipper, and cellophane tape. Some unsuccessful efforts are also shown, such as a combination cradle rocker/butter churner.


10:00 PM -- Please Don't Eat The Daisies (1960)
A drama critic and his family try to adjust to life in the country.
Dir: Charles Walters
Cast: Doris Day, David Niven, Janis Paige
C-111 min, TV-G

Beginning her feature-film career portraying Katharine Hepburn's mother in Little Women, Spring Byington closed her movie years playing Doris Day's mother in this film.


12:00 AM -- The Glass Bottom Boat (1966)
A woman writing a scientist's biography is mistaken for a spy.
Dir: Frank Tashlin
Cast: Doris Day, Rod Taylor, Arthur Godfrey
C-110 min, TV-G

Not only does Robert "Napoleon Solo" Vaughn cameo at the party, but there is a snatch of the "Man from U.N.C.L.E." theme heard on the soundtrack when Paul Lynde goes undercover in drag.


2:00 AM -- Tea For Two (1950)
An heiress has to say no to every question for 24 hours if she wants to star on Broadway.
Dir: David Butler
Cast: Doris Day, Gordon MacRae, Gene Nelson
C-98 min, TV-PG

In this version of the Broadway musical "No, No, Nanette", Eve Arden plays Pauline, but in the original 1940 version she played Kitty.


3:45 AM -- Love Me Or Leave Me (1955)
True story of torch singer Ruth Etting's struggle to escape the gangster who made her a star.
Dir: Charles Vidor
Cast: Doris Day, James Cagney, Cameron Mitchell
C-122 min, TV-PG

Won an Oscar for Best Writing, Motion Picture Story -- Daniel Fuchs

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- James Cagney, Best Music, Original Song -- Nicholas Brodszky (music) and Sammy Cahn (lyrics) for the song "I'll Never Stop Loving You", Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture -- Percy Faith and George Stoll, Best Sound, Recording -- Wesley C. Miller (M-G-M), and Best Writing, Screenplay -- Daniel Fuchs and Isobel Lennart

This was the only time, after becoming a star in the 1930s, that James Cagney ever accepted second billing for a major role. He thought that Doris Day's character was more central to the film's plot, and so ceded top billing to her.