Ranked one of the greatest female stars of all time, Doris Day has died at the age of 97. I “got into it” (in a very mild way) with a guy on Twitter who said she was symbolic of “1950s conservative ideology” but this is a mistake, it’s incorrect, it’s not right, and all you have to do is watch her movies to understand that the image passed down to us of the perpetual virgin is wrong. Doris Day was NOT Sandra Dee. It’s a category error. It does her – and the women who were trying to live/date/navigate in the 1950s and 60s – pre-birth-control-pill – a great disservice.
I was going to write something about this but I woke up to this FANTASTIC piece by A.O. Scott in The New York Times which says it all, sums up what I was trying to say on Twitter. I love this piece so much: Doris Day: A Hip Sex Goddess Disguised as the Girl Next Door. If your image of Doris Day is a 1950s goody-goody, then I highly recommend you go back and watch her films. You are in for a huge treat. Received assumptions is not a good way to respond to culture. You’ve gotta actually watch the films.
Because there is always a connection to Elvis, have a listen to her absolutely dreamy cover of one of his greatest hits.
She was like Ella Fitzgerald or Frank Sinatra in that she wasn’t “just” a singer. She was one of the instruments in the orchestra, she was a conductor. Her singing – the tone, the beautiful elongation of her phrasing, where she chose to breathe, all of it – was an act of pure musicianship.
I haven’t written a lot about Doris Day, but the main piece I wrote – which I’m very proud of – was this Film Comment essay on the great Love Me or Leave Me, where Day is cast opposite James Cagney (he lobbied hard for her to get that role: he wanted only her), and the two of them are out of this world together. It is a deeply disturbing film about a violent domestic relationship, and she gives her greatest performance in it.
My friend Mitchell has always been voluminous in his praise for Doris Day, so one day I turned the voice recorder on and asked him to pontificate. It’s a great tribute to Day, and what she did, and who she was, and just how damn talented she was.
Rest in peace, to a real class act.
Oh Sheila, I thought of you and Mitchell the second I heard of her passing and send my love xoxoxo Stevie
Love you Stevie!! I always liked knowing she was still out there – like Olivia de Havilland, a living link to the past. She gave so much joy to so many!
Stevie-Me too! I also thought of Cari Beauchamp who introduced Calamity Jane at a TCM Film Festival, and blew us all away with her passion about Doris Day, and her incredulity that she has never been given an honorary Oscar.
Sheila, I’m so glad you mentioned the misconceived “all American virgin” notion. The goody two shoes-in many movies she was married with children, and when she was single, she was an independent career woman with great clothes and usually an awesome apartment.
Her singing voice is absolutely incredible to me, I love her phrasing (I’m not even sure if that is the right word), it is so satisfying to me.
I’m so sad she is gone, and have thought of her so much over the years, and it made me feel so happy to know she was still with us. Feels like the end of an era.
Maureen – it definitely feels like the end of something. And the injustice of her not getting an honorary Oscar. Ridiculous. Well, her FANS know the truth about her.
// The goody two shoes-in many movies she was married with children, and when she was single, she was an independent career woman with great clothes and usually an awesome apartment. //
It’s so annoying. Of course some of the views in these movies are “retro” but to just write her off as a symbol of conservative Eisenhower era ideology is wrong, incorrect, a disservice to what she brought. She played smart self-sufficient women. Or sometimes she played married women too. I mean, Man who Knew Too Much! and more.
Her singing is exquisite. The TONE of her voice … it’s just perfect.
Rest in peace, Doris!! I will miss her!
It has been frustrating to read so many “girl next door” obits. Before the 1950’s even begun she had been married twice and was a single mother. In interviews her favorite movie was Calamity Jane as she said that movie best described her. She describes herself as a tomboy who liked to play with dolls. Her story is so complex. Her son was a successful music producer in the 1960’s and was perhaps the target of Manson (I think the Tate house used to belong to him and he had met Manson). Doris had four marriages and then her only son dies of cancer. One husband abused her and one wasted all her money as her manager. I will stop, but I always loved her and she is so much more than the virgin good girl next door.
Donna – yes! And God, you watch Love me or Leave Me – and in that she played a woman who had been around the block a million times. She brought to it such BITE, the knowledge of what it feels like to be a beautiful woman whom men feel like they own. She was TOUGH in that, and then – once he broke her spirit – she was tragic. This woman had a mighty and complex talent. One dude on Twitter said I was “rewriting” her. Honestly, no, I’m not. HE’S the one who actually needs to watch her filmography and see what else might be there beyond his preconceived notions about her.
and yes – Manson was obsessed with her son – it’s such a creepy dovetail, how those stories intersect.
She was a major talent and a huge star. I hope her career made her happy.
Sheila, I could not agree with you more. “Rewriting her”? To me that is a man who has not watched every single one of her movies. I honestly don’t get where that idea of her came from. I mean there were the period nostalgia pieces, like On Moonlight Bay and By the Light of the Silvery Moon-where she was the girl next door for Gordon MacRae-but that was such a small part of her filmography. I feel so strongly that this kind of attitude undervalues her contribution to film, and it totally pisses me off!
I’ve had Lover Come Back sitting in the dvr for some time. Watched the final hour or so last night. I remember gobbling up her movies when Marci and I would go to the show. Probably old enough to walk it by the time most of the Doris Day/Rock Hudson movies came out (8 0r 9). Small town. I’ll go back and read the Scott piece. We loved her sass. Marci loved her outfits (became theater professional after grad school). Child was always drawing costume designs.
// We loved her sass. Marci loved her outfits (became theater professional after grad school). //
Ha! This is great.
I loved hearing her version of “Can’t Help Falling in Love.” That was new to me, so thanks for that. One of my favorite recordings of Day’s is her version of “Hurray for Hollywood.” She slows it way down and makes it ultra-sexy. Which makes sense, because none of us would have ever said hurray if Hollywood weren’t very sexy (among many other things).
When we heard the news, my wife asked me what my favorite Day movies are. I answered “Love Me or Leave Me,” for the reasons you detailed in your essay, and “Teacher’s Pet,” her underrated movie with Clark Gable. Among other pleasures, it has this piece of dialogue, delivered by Day to Gable after she discovers how he has deceived her: “You’re stupid and you’re proud of it, and that makes you cruel.” It’s a shame that line never seems to lose its pertinence.
On a lighter note, I’ve always liked the fact that when the Lakers first moved to Los Angeles in 1960, she had courtside seats for many years. That always makes me smile because it just seems like such a Doris Day thing for her to do.
Thanks, Bill for the Lakers story. Just another example that Doris was always cool.