April 3 Doris Day

April 3

Happy Birthday to Leslie Howard, Marlon Brando and Doris Day.

TCM celebrated Doris Day’s birthday on April 22. Most of the films I have seen before. I managed to catch the last half hour of With Six You Get Eggroll. I never much cared for the film. I must have gotten bored with the film and not watched the last part. It was funny. Brian Keith out in the street in his underwear clutching a large teddy bear and hippies on bikes and little kids fighting Vic Tayback. I will have to watch this one again. My favorite Doris Day film is Pillow Talk.

As part of the celebration I watched Romance on the High Seas. It starts with a couple getting married, Janis Page and Don De Fore. Each anniversary they plan to go on a trip but Don cancels due to business. On their third anniversary they are planning a South American cruise and once again Don is going to cancel the trip. Janis thinks that Don is interested in his new beautiful blonde secretary and Don thinks that Janis is interested in other men. Janis talks Doris Day into taking the trip in her place. Doris is given money and wardrobe to play the NY society woman. Janis tells her husband that she is going on the trip so that she can spy on him. Don hires a private detective, Jack Carson, to follow Janis on the trip. Oscar Levant is interested in Doris, but she only sees him as a friend. As the boat leaves New York all is well. Jack and Doris meet the first night on the way to dinner. They spend a lot of time together and fall in love, but both have a part to play and they struggle with their emotions. In Havana Oscar joins the ship. To avoid Oscar she tells Jack that she is not well and stays in her cabin. He brings the doctor who gives her a sedative. Oscar finally tracks Doris down. Jack sees Oscar go into Doris’ room. He goes to the outside window and sees them hugging and then putting Doris in bed (after she falls asleep). The next day Jack acts very cold to Doris. She goes to the bar to drink but sings with the band rehearsing. Oscar comes in and she tells him basically what is going on. It is a nice affect where the film of what she is saying is projected on the upright piano cover.

The next stop, Trinidad, Oscar and Jack both invite Doris to meet them at the club. At the club the two men meet and being Americans in a strange place they decide to sit at the bar and drink and talk. They order a double anything. As they sit down a drunk man sits next to Oscar. As a drink is put in front of Oscar the drunk takes it and drinks it, putting the empty glass back in front of Oscar. The drunk goes to the other side of Jack and takes Jack’s drink. The men order another and the drunk takes Jack’s drink and then moves to the other side of Oscar and takes his drink again. This happens a total of 5 times. Jack and Oscar may have had 2 or 3 drops of alcohol, but they start slurring their speech and act drunk. The whole time they are talking but I was so focused on the drunk man that I have no idea what they were saying. They get notes that Doris is not going to meet them and they decide they are going to leave the boat and go back to New York. As they leave the bar, staggering, the drunk starts to follow, but passes out. This scene was so well done and original. I have never seen this type of action before. The drunk got a credit he was portrayed by Johnny Berkes.

Jack and Oscar end up on a plane to Rio where the ship is going. At a hotel Jack and Oscar meet Doris. Back in New York Janis realizes that her husband is only working, not womanizing and decides to on the cruise, meeting the ship in Rio. Jack and Don speak on the phone and Jack has been telling him there is more than one man in his wife’s life. Don decides to go to Rio. Don gets their first and goes to his wife’s room and sees Doris in bed. He goes back to the front desk and gets the same room number again. He goes back to the room and sees Oscar in the same bed. He goes back to the front desk, just missing Janis who is going to her room. In the lobby, as Jack is checking out he tells Don that he is in love with his wife and Don hits Jack. Don goes back to the room and Janis is in the same bed. As Don confronts Janis about Jack, Doris wanting to defend Jack comes out of the closet. She leaves to find Jack. Oscar Levant and C.Z. Sakall (Janis’ uncle) also come out of the closet. After they leave Janis explains everything to Don. Doris as the Janis character has a singing engagement in the hotel club. Jack changed his mind about leaving and goes to the club to hear Doris sing. As Janis is introduced she introduces Doris to sing in her place. Jack has a look of astonishment and relief on his face. Doris sings It’s Magic. After she finishes, Jack comes up to her. They straighten everything out and kiss as the camera pulls back and fades to black.

Doris Day is a wonderful actress. Her actions at times mirror Jack Carson’s. Her singing is outstanding. In the film she sings It’s Magic three times and each time is wonderful. Her character is a normal woman, who pretends to be a high society woman. Doris tries to make the proper speech of high society, but the everyday woman sometimes comes through and she tries to go back into the part she is playing.

Oscar Levant has a famous quote about Doris, which took me a while to understand “I knew her before she was a virgin”.