Melinda Schneider is following the chart success of her 2010 album ‘Melinda does Doris‘ with her new show ‘Doris Day – So Much More Than The Girl Next Door’.

The show is a heart-felt homage, co-written by Schneider with musical theatre scribe, David Mitchell (Dusty, Shout!). It opened with great success in Adelaide this June and will commence from the 23rd August 2011 a 2 week run of performances at Melbourne’s Her Majesty’s Theatre.

Melinda explains “In DORIS, I’m paying homage to an artist I really admire. This is not an impersonation, there will only ever be one Doris Day. Sadly Doris hasn’t performed for over thirty years but so many great songs are associated with her and I get to sing them in this show.”

The show’s producers are however making an urgent appeal to local dog owners. They are seeking to cast two Melbourne based dogs to be “underdogs” for the upcoming production. They are inviting dogs of all breeds to an open audition on Tuesday 9th August at 11:00am in the foyer of Her Majesty’s Theatre to be tested for suitability – no previous stage experience necessary, but an ability to walk on stage, jump on a chaise lounge and be sung to is essential. The dogs must be obedient, professional, take direction well and be able to smile at the audience. This canine casting call is necessary as Melinda Schneider who sings nearly 20 Doris Day tunes in the show, has previously used her own dogs in the show but has asked the producers to have “underdogs” on standby for the Melbourne season just in case her dogs are unable to do every performance.

Melinda says “my two gorgeous doggies are 13 year old litter sisters called Rosie & Daisy who I’ve had since they were puppies. I call them ‘the girls’. They did the Brisbane season of DORIS with me in May, but I worry about  them being able to do all the Melbourne performances because of their age, so I suggested to the team that we have a look at recruiting a couple of standby doggies…just in case, they need a night off.”

For any further information regarding the dog auditions: Moira Bennett – (03) 8601 8904 / moira@boldjack.com.au

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Show details:

MELINDA SCHNEIDER in
DORIS DAY – SO MUCH MORE THAN THE GIRL NEXT DOOR
Written by Melinda Schneider & David Mitchell; Directed by Tom Healey

Tuesday 23 August – Sunday 4 September
Her Majesty’s Theatre, 219 Exhibition St, Melbourne
Bookings: Ticketek 132 849 or www.ticketek.com.au
Website: www.dorisday.com.au

“Starring Melinda Schneider, DORIS is a celebration of the life and times of one of the most incredible singers, actors and entertainers ever to grace the stage. Doris Day was much more than the girl next door. She was America’s sweetheart, the number one box office attraction of all time, and Hollywood Royalty. However all Doris Day wanted was to have a loving husband, stay at home and raise a family. With a unique blend of song and dance, and a wardrobe that is a nod to the high fashion trends, Melinda Schneider will perform with the Her Majesty’s Theatre Showband – a 14 piece orchestra in a two hour plus extravaganza!”

The acclaimed British musical production ‘A Sentimental Journey: The Story Of Doris Day’  has announced new dates which includes the El Portal Theatre in California (USA).

The show – part stage drama & musical extravaganza – is written by Adam Rolston and directed by Emmy Award-winning Alvin Rakoff . It brings to life the ‘on and off screen’ story of the magical Ms. Doris Day featuring renditions of her most beloved songs, such as: “Sentimental Journey”, “Que Sera Sera”, “Tea for Two”, “Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps”, “It’s Magic”, “Love Me Or Leave Me”, “The Deadwood Stage” and “Secret Love”.

In 2009, the all-new production made its debut at The Mill at Sonning – a small regional theatre located in the heart of Britain’s picturesque Oxfordshire countryside -  a year after charming local theatre goers and critics alike the show made a successful transition to England’s capital city London where it received an equally warm reception.

Sally Hughes – artistic director at The Mill – will reprise her role as the star of the show for the new dates just announced. These include the first performances of the show on American soil with a 3 week run at the historical El Portal Theatre in Los Angeles from 2-20 November 2011.

Before heading across the Atlantic, Sally and the cast are bringing ‘A Sentimental Journey…’ to audiences in Scotland at The Edinburgh Fringe Festival (from the 5-29 August) followed by a return to The Mill at Sonning Theatre in Sonning Eye (from 8 September – 15th October 2011).

• The Mill at Sonning Theatre
  Sonning Eye
  Oxfordshire
  England
  DATES: 8 SEPTEMBER – 15 OCTOBER 2011
  Box Office – 0118 969 8000
  www.millatsonning.com

•  El Portal Theatre
  5269 Lankershim Blvd
  North Hollywood
  CA 91601
  USA
  DATES: 2-20 NOVEMBER 2011
  (Note: The Red Carpet Gala Night is on Saturday, 5 November)
  Tickets 866.811.4111 or 818.508.4200
  www.elportaltheatre.com

The up-and-coming Warner Brothers musical star was just a name to me in the early ‘50’s and part of jocular word-play humour aimed at her name and the posters for Tea for Two when the school ‘bus stopped each morning outside the Royal Cinema. Sometime later, a school holiday visit to see the much praised The African Queen was much enjoyed but it was the featured trailer for the following week’s film which really grabbed my attention. Lullaby of Broadway was the title and Doris Day the star, with top-hat and tails, dazzling smile and a voice which ensured Bogart and Hepburn were instantly forgettable! Hardly any need to guess who was in the audience the following week to enjoy the complete film! Thus began my quest to track down all the movies, recordings and anything else which would celebrate the Day talent. It also triggered an on-going journey towards my appreciation of all types of music and singers following the decision not to remain solely caught within the full beam of Day’s star quality!

By the time Lullaby of Broadway was released, Doris was already a major star with hit records and many popular films. The circumstances which lead to such a parallel movie and solo recording career began around 1947 after two embryonic stints with the Les Brown Band. Sentimental Journey had been the ideal popular recording to welcome home returning servicemen in 1945 and with a few other big-band hits, Doris had established sufficient popularity to spring-board her departure from band singer to a solo career and initially much radio work. Already established on Your Hit Parade, she attended a party at Jules Styne’s house in Beverly Hills and with encouragement from Sammy Cahn and with Styne’s piano accompaniment, Doris sang Embraceable You which obviously convinced them of her potential. The team had written the score for a film due to be produced at Warner Brothers with a singing part which had been offered and declined by both Judy Garland and Betty Hutton, possibly due to their respective iron-clad contracts with MGM and Paramount. The director, Michael Curtiz, signed up the reluctant Doris to the role after a dramatic and tearful audition caused by her current personal problems; obviously an emotional crisis which proved beneficial under the circumstances.

The film was called Romance On The High Seas (1948) and Doris made her screen scene debut with the camera shot just giving a back-view before the audience was allowed to glimpse the face which helped make her a major film star for the next twenty years. She played a hip gum-chewing honky-tonk singer, Georgia Garrett, who not only desires success but has ambitions to travel but is thwarted by financial constraints. However, the film’s dense plotting soon involved her in a multi-layered tale of switched identities in colourful settings on a cruise ship which happily ended up in Rio at carnival time. With the appropriate casting of Warner Brothers’ stalwarts, Jack Carson, Janis Paige and Don Defore, the fourth-billed Doris was listed ahead of Oscar Levant and S. Z “Cuddles” Sakall. She displayed a fresh and natural talent which made her an instant star with audiences, and the tuneful score included I’m In Love, Put ‘Em In A Box, Tie ‘Em With A Ribbon and It’s You Or No One; all accompanied by the Page Cavanaugh Trio. However, It’s Magic became the hit for Doris and was also the popular choice of many other singers and its success encouraged Warner Brothers to rename the film for its UK release.

My Dream Is Yours (1949) a remake of the thirties film, Twenty Million Sweethearts was again directed by Michael Curtiz. It used the formula of an up-and-coming singer, Martha Gibson, seeking fame in radio and discovering the chosen path, people and journey to be somewhat less optimistic and smooth than anticipated. The role gave Doris many scenes which showcased her natural acting ability, and echoing her period with Les Brown, she had a young child to consider within the plot equation. With top-billed, Jack Carson, Doris was listed ahead of the somewhat bland Lee Bowman and pompous Adolphe Menjou, with S.Z. Sakall on hand to fuss and fluster, and acerbic Eve Arden ready with welcome one-liners. The thin plot was boosted by a technically advanced dream sequence featuring the Bugs Bunny and Tweety cartoon characters, combined with the live action Doris and Jack in the number, Freddy Get Ready (based on The Hungarian Rhapsody No 2). Another novelty number, Tic, Tic, Tic had lyrics to do with the atomic bomb and Geiger-counters! Doris was in great voice with the updated lyrics of Canadian Capers, originally dating from 1915, giving her another hit. Other songs involved the talents of Harry Warren, Ralph Freed and Harry Dubin with I’ll String Along With You surviving the original 1934 movie when Dick Powell made it popular. The title song was also an ideal ballad for Doris, with the effective up-tempo Someone Like You providing a likeable contrast.

Modern satire is cruel and often ill-defined so the ‘40’s equivalent, It’s A Great Feeling (1949), can merely be considered a gentle send-up of the studio system. Warner Brothers obviously viewed the script as a good public relations exercise with many cameo appearances by contract stars like Gary Cooper, Joan Crawford and Sydney Greenstreet, who sent up their established movie images? Directors, Michael Curtiz (who directed her first two films), David Butler (director of this film), King Vidor and Raoul Walsh were also actively involved in the plot, as was Ray Heindorf, the studio’s musical director. The slender tale of a home-town girl working as a studio waitress in the hope of stardom, but finally settling for marriage and presumably domesticity, was, and still is fun to view. Let’s face it, in the Forties, most girls dreamed of ending up with Errol Flynn as their bridegroom! Needless to say, Doris, second-billed to Dennis Morgan, played the eye-fluttering starlet with relish, aided once more by Jack Carson; the two men playing themselves and competing for Doris’ on-screen attention. She sang That Was A Big Fat Lie which when reprised by Jack Carson’s Maurice Chevalier impersonation derived from the famous vocal-dub joke in Singin’ in the Rain. With so many comedy set-pieces and sight jokes it would have been easy for the score to have become minor key, but fortunately Sammy Cahn and Jule Styne again supplied Doris with a few good songs, which made up for some of the unflattering fashions she had to wear while singing them! At the Cafe Rendezvous was performed in black wig, thick French accent which ended with a prat-fall to end the scene! The big production number There’s Nothing Rougher Than Love, was a bizarre fantasy dream sequence and possibly the reason Doris did not record it commercially. However, Doris had no such distractions when singing the film’s ballad, Blame My Absent Minded Heart, nicely reprised by Dennis Morgan, with the title song a lively credit-opener to preface the erratic plot which followed.

Pre-dating the vinyl album, soundtrack recordings were a rarity at this time and Doris re-recorded almost all her film songs for Columbia. They are available on many current compilations as well as the Bear Family box-sets. Fortunately, Doris Day – It’s Magic – Her Early Years At Warner Bros. (WSM 8122755432) was released in 1998 and includes almost all the soundtrack versions of Doris’ featured songs with the exception of At The Cafe Rendezvous. It should be noted, however, that with the emphasis on Doris, songs performed by others have been omitted, even though, with a running time of just 42 minutes, non-Day featured songs like the calypso-styled, The Tourist Trade and Run, Run, Run by The Samba Kings and Avon Long featured in Romance on the High Seas, could and should have been included.

Moving from Technicolor gloss to stark black and white, Young Man With A Horn (1950 – UK title: Young Man Of Music), a musical melodrama, was directed by Michael Curtiz and vaguely based on the life of Bix Beiderbecke. Harry James provided Kirk Douglas with the necessary ghost trumpet needed to obsess the musical perfection he reaches for but fails to achieve. Lauren Bacall played the ambivalent society bitch determined to emotionally destroy all around her. Third-billed was Doris in the sympathetic but somewhat subservient role of Jo Jordon, a big-band singer; a life she knew only too well. In her first dramatic part, she acted with sincerity and sang The Very Thought Of You, With A Song In My Heart , I May Be Wrong and Too Marvellous For Words between the taut and sombre plot twists. The intense performance by Douglas, was backed-up by Hoagy Carmichael and Juano Hernandez as believable musicians. The Columbia album Young Man With A Horn (Columbia/Legacy – CK 65507), available on CD is not soundtrack but does reunite Doris with Harry James on several tracks and also includes some James solo instrumentals.

Around this time servicemen in Korea voted Doris “the girl we would take a slow boat back to the States with”; an affirmation she had finally arrived with the right to be finally topped-billed. It was fortuitous she moved from stark reality to a fluffy musical comedy which allowed not only ample opportunity to sing, but also to dance on screen for the first time. The “Let’s put on a show” Tea For Two (1950) was loosely based on the stage success, No, No Nanette, but rewritten as a typical Warner Brothers back-stage tale. It mattered not that most of the likeable score had been discarded in favour of other songs, and with the mood bright and breezy, director David Butler ensured Doris had the full support of Gordon MacRae for songs and Gene Nelson for some nifty footwork. Adding the comedic force of Eve Arden, the effete humour of Billy De Wolfe, and the neurotic outpourings of S.Z. Sakall was pure necessity, with Patrice Wymore occasionally jamming a jealous spanner in the works. Doris played an heiress eager to invest in a Broadway show and grab some show business star-dust for herself in a plot which involved a bet that she should say “No” to every question for twenty-four hours. Coached by Nelson’s wife, Miriam, Doris worked hard enough to make the dancing look easy on screen. However, no musical can be successful without songs and Doris, MacRae and Nelson, sang I Want To Be Happy, I Know That You Know, Do, Do, Do, I Only Have Eyes For You and the agreeable title number Patrice Wymore took care of a production number, Crazy Rhythm with Gene Nelson adding some spectacular dancing whilst The Charleston showcased young dancers in a lively work-out and provided the only reminder the action was set in the year of the Stock Market crash (1929) as costumes and hairstyles reflected pure Fifties! An attractive medley from an on-stage No, No Nanette production tied up all the loose ends of the plot in the speedily reached finale.

Despite the huge box-office success of Tea For Two, the film which followed, The West Point Story (1950 – re-titled Fine and Dandy in the UK) was a disappointing backward step for Doris as she was third-billed behind James Cagney and Virginia Mayo. At least it reunited her with Gordon MacRae and Gene Nelson but this routine tale about a Broadway director staging a revue at West Point promised more than it delivered and was let down by the film’s drab black-and-white photography and routine direction by Roy Del Ruth. Cagney had the opportunity to sing, dance, and veer between feisty light-weight comedy with a nice line in on-the-spot tantrums, with It Could Only Happen in Brooklyn his big number. The Sammy Cahn/ Jule Styne score also included the attractive Military Polka heavily promoted by marching men in uniforms in keeping with the location. Gordon MacRae smoothly delivered Long Before I knew You and shared You Love Me with Doris who triumphed in solo mode on the perky Ten Thousand Sheep; fortunately she recorded the two latter songs. The Kissing Rock was reprised throughout the film by all the cast. An ensemble piece rather than a Day movie, the lack of clear focus branded this film as lacking in distinction.

The melodramatic Storm Warning (1951) gave Doris her first non-singing role. This change of pace was significant for several reasons; the hard-hitting subject matter involving the Ku Klux Klan; the opportunity for Doris to work with her childhood idol, Ginger Rogers (who played her sister) and the only Day movie in which her character dies. With Steve Cochran moodily menacing as the husband and Ginger in a gutsy sophisticated role, Doris was somewhat grounded as the pregnant wife which at least allowed her sympathetic nature to believably flourish in a part which stretched her dramatic abilities. Ronald Reagan was also on hand as a good guy. Director Stuart Heisler, an expert at such film noir assignments, provided the intense atmosphere, and the film, rarely seen, still stands up well in the context of its subject and as one of Doris’ less typical films.

From realism to familiar back-stage musical territory must have delighted Doris and Lullaby of Broadway (1951), directed by David Butler, and was a lavish song and dance event in full Technicolor. Warner Brothers otherwise cut other costs by raiding their own music catalogue in order to provide Doris and others with lively numbers. The plot involved Doris as an aspiring singer/dancer, Melina Howard, returning from Europe to seek her mother (Gladys George), a faded Broadway star well in decline but intent on hiding the truth from her daughter. The opening number, Just One of Those Things, the heart-stopper which originally grabbed my attention with Doris in top hat and tails, still confirms what a great number it is! Doris’ co-star was the amiable Gene Nelson and they seemed to strike sparks in their duets and dance numbers together. You’re Getting To Be A Habit With Me, Somebody Loves Me and I Love The Way You Say Goodnight are shared and Gene sings and keeps his twinkling taps busy on Zing Went The Strings Of My Heart. Gladys George, a once popular Warner Brothers star, was ideally cast, pulling the heartstrings despite her hard exterior and delivering A Shanty In Old Shanty Town and Please Don’t Talk About Me When I’m Gone in the defiant way certain aging divas nowadays identify Sondheim’s I’m Still Here! as their anthem of survival! Comedy provided by Billy De Wolfe, Florence Bates and “Cuddles” Sakall kept the buoyant mood busy and somewhat unbelievable and prevented the plot from overdosing on cloying sentimentality. The perfect finale featuring the title song gave Doris and Gene the benefit of spectacular staging and slow-motion dance choreography which added elegance to the inevitable happy ending.

On a gentler level, On Moonlight Bay (1951), based on the Penrod stories by Booth Tarkington, was clearly seeking to emulate the style and success of Meet Me In St. Louis. Maybe it failed to reach the same level of period charm, but the film was successful enough to inspire a sequel and it remains a movie Day fans cherish with each television transmission adding further numbers to her fan-base. With the emphasis on tomboy Marjorie Winfield played by Doris, the plot dwelled on her family’s light-hearted tribulations in-between nostalgic songs. Cuddle Up A Little Closer, Tell Me, Till We Meet Again, I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles and the title song sung by Doris, Gordon MacRae and Jack Smith who played her suitors. On hand with spiky comments, Mary Wickes played the busybody maid and key figure in the corny plot. The film provided pure entertainment with the feeling nothing too drastic would ever happen to threaten the cosy atmosphere permeated by Roy Del Ruth’s assured direction.

The bio-pic I’ll See You In My Dreams (1951) detailed the life of the lyricist, Gus Kahn, who claimed fame with Ain’t We Got Fun, It Had To Be You, The One I Love Belongs To Somebody Else and many other songs. Intended as a starring role for Danny Thomas, Warner Brothers’ on one hand needed to protect the film’s box-office potential by giving Doris top-billing yet opted for black and white photography, which conversely did the movie no favours! However, directed by Michael Curtiz, this formulaic movie artfully combined the dramatic and interpolated musical elements of the story. Doris in the role as wife and composer expanded her innate acting ability in scenes with Thomas and they gelled well together. The show business milieu was well-conceived and the passing years indicated changing period and fashion with effective simplicity. Humour and poignancy was shared in equal measure as the tale unfolded with Frank Lovejoy and Patrice Wymore, who had Love Me Or Leave Me as her big production number, in the supporting cast.

Starlift (1951) is probably Doris Day’s rarest film, having never been shown on UK television. She was top-billed and supported by Gordon MacRae, Gene Nelson and Virginia Mayo with numerous Warner Brothers stars, like Cagney, Phil Harris, Jane Wyman and Randolph Scott making token appearances as themselves. The background was a Californian US base during the Korean War and Hollywood’s flag-waving idea of providing troop entertainment without their stars having to travel too far from the studio. To emphasize realism and propaganda, Air Force officers explained to the stars the mechanics of looking after injured troops, the departure of men to the front and other base operations. The forgettable romantic plot involving a publicity stunt existed as an excuse to link the songs, dances and comedy. Doris sang You’re Gonna Lose That Girl with MacRae and her solo numbers were You Outta Be In Pictures, You Do Something To Me, ‘S Wonderful and a snatch of Lullaby of Broadway. However, Doris only occupied a small section of the movie which short-changed moviegoers who expected more considering her star-billing.

The Winning Team (1952) may have top-billed Doris but Ronald Reagan was really the star. He played Grover Cleveland Alexander, a telephone company technician who aspired to and succeeded in becoming a professional baseball player. Reagan was convincing if slightly too old for the part, with the plot following the usual highs and lows of baseball fame and the resulting detrimental effect on family life. Doris as girlfriend/wife gallantly offered a sensitive performance but there was no escaping her second place billing and status within the plot. She did get to sing Ol’ St. Nicholas and personally succeeded in giving her character some personable charm, but this film with its pedestrian direction by Lewis Sieler continued the lull in the silvery

Day movie career with the feeling that Warner Brothers merely exploited her name in order to boost its box-office viability.

At least April In Paris (1952) returned Doris to musicals even if the movie, directed by dependable David Butler, was a dull affair. It involved a State Department invitation to represent the USA at a Paris festival being sent in error to the slightly zany Ethel “Dynamite” Jackson, played by Doris, when in fact it is intended for the great actress Ethel Barrymore! Doris’ co-star was Ray Bolger who although an excellent dancer lacked leading man potential in movies; his milieu was comedic roles on Broadway. Adding to the problem was third-billed Claude Dauphin’s inept acting and terrible English which left Doris to finely shine her radiance over the thinly plotted proceedings. Initially set in New York, a journey by luxury liner soon found her in Hollywood’s idea of Paris. The ensuing misunderstandings and mistaken identities indolent of such a banal plot did at least leave room for some lively musical moments. Apart from his collaboration with E.Y Harburg on the title song nicely sung by Doris, Vernon Duke teamed with the ubiquitous Sammy Cahn for new songs I’m Gonna Ring The Bell Tonight and That’s What Makes Paris Paree which provided the musical means to mount decent production numbers whilst the ballad I Know A Place was well ahead of the remainder of the score.

By The Light Of The Silvery Moon (1953), the sequel to On Moonlight Bay put the Day career back on track. It featured the same co-stars, family and a similar plot mix of good-natured comedy set in the pure nostalgia of 1917 which just moved the action on from where the previous movie left off. Doris set the mood with her portrayal of the likeable tomboy now exhibiting female foibles on her capricious journey to womanhood and love! On the way, she finally fell for Gordon MacRae who celebrated this fact with Just One Girl while Doris had fun with King Chanticleer. The remaining songs If You Were The Only Girl In The World, Ain’t We Got Fun, Your Eyes Have Told Me So and I’ll Forget You just added tuneful resonance to a warmly appealing movie.

Despite the return to form and box-office success, Doris must have wondered just where her career was heading. Fortunately Calamity Jane (1953) gave her a tailor made role equal to her abilities. Doris turned the vivacious if ambivalent, two-fisted, back-slapping, pistol-toting tomboy into the bombastic but irresistible character we all rooted for. The plot was quite predictable, leaving welcome spaces for the songs which were certainly top-notch, having been written by Sammy Fain and Paul Francis Webster for an unproduced stage musical until Warner’s snapped it up as the ideal vehicle for their musical star. That great opener, The Deadwood Stage [Whip-Crack-Away] was followed by Just Blew In From The Windy City, The Black Hills of Dakota, A Woman’s Touch and the massive hit Secret Love which received an Oscar as Best Song. The film’s finale emphasized the reassuring notion that love had tamed Calamity Jane’s excesses and with her newly found femininity in full bloom and finally hitched, she headed for life-long domestic bliss with Wild Bill Hickok played with gusto by Howard Keel. No matter if the character and theme echoed Annie Get Your Gun in many ways: at least Calamity Jane has had the advantage of being seen constantly over the years and is the Doris Day movie which has kept her name popular with younger generations, whereas MGM’s movie of Irving Berlin’s masterpiece was unfortunately locked in the archives for over thirty years until its DVD/video reissue not long ago.

Calamity Jane was particularly popular in the UK and every song received extensive airplay with Philips releasing four 78’s until the availability of the 10 inch album at a later date. Most of the songs had been re-recorded by Doris for Columbia, including Tis Harry I’m Going To Marry which she did not sing in the film and the only included soundtrack items were The Deadwood Stage (without the middle segment), I Can Do Without You, Secret Love (alleged to have been recorded in a single take), and Howard Keel’s Higher Than A Hawk.

Warner’s first musical in Cinemascope, Lucky Me (1954) was a slip-shod affair which came nowhere near the quality of Calamity Jane. Doris played Candy, a superstitious member of a theatrical troupe stranded without work in Miami and so down on luck they are forced to survive by working in a hotel kitchen. Adding a songwriter (Robert Cummings) and false identities to the mix of overdone backstage capers from Phil Silvers, Eddie Foy Jr. and Nancy Walker, plus a bitchy turn from spoilt socialite played by Martha Hyer, at least provided Doris with the love interest and the script’s basic function. Fortunately, she surmounted these odds, looked great, and delivered vivacious performances of The Superstition Song; I Wanna Sing Like An Angel, I Speak To The Stars and The Bluebells Of Broadway. The remaining Sammy Fain/Paul Francis Webster songs included a couple unused from the Calamity Jane score (Love You Dearly and Men!) which joined High Hopes and Parisian Pretties for additional tuneful moments. Only I Speak To The Stars and The Bluebells Of Broadway were released as a single by Columbia which clearly signalled lack of faith in the movie but the unreleased Love You Dearly was later rescued from permanent obscurity and included in the Bear Family anthology.

Dream casting teamed Doris with Frank Sinatra for Young At Heart (1954), a remake of the 1938 movie Four Daughters based on a story by Fanny Hurst and produced by Doris’ own Arwin production company for Warners. With Sinatra’s movie come-back fully established and the name of his previously released hit chosen as the films’ title, this drama with music had all the ingredients to induce box-office excitement. The story of a family of three (reduced from four) daughters; their romances; overseen by a musical father and a grouchy but wise aunt (Ethel Barrymore) was classily mounted and played as totally irresistible soap opera. Doris looked terrific in her role as one of the sisters, Laurie Tuttle, and handled her excellent songs contributed by many including Mack Gordon and James Van Heusen, with great feeling which consolidated her warm-hearted performance. These included the ballads There’s A Rising Moon, Hold Me In Your Arms and the happy hit Ready, Willing and Able . Sinatra obviously insisted on bringing his own choice of standards from his favourite repertoire and Just One Of Those Things, Someone To Watch Over me and One For My Baby were set in a suitably smoky night club atmosphere to match his moody and convincing performance as a disillusioned songwriter/performer. The happy ending he demanded in place of the original downbeat finale, at least found him smiling and fully recovered from the preceding angst, and he and Doris shared You My Love with both committing their individual versions to disc and Sinatra’s version reaching the Charts.

As Doris’ 17th and final film under her Warner Brothers contract, she was now free to look to other studios for interesting projects, with third husband, Marty Melcher, whom she married in 1951, eager to extend his role from manager to producer. She later commented about the ending of her contract:

“I had but one year to go on my seven year contract and no prisoner ever waited deliverance day more eagerly than I anticipated being sprung from Warners. I just wanted the privilege of being able to say “No”. It was a word that had been banished from my vocabulary and I meant to put it back where it belonged”  – Doris Day

However, after three movies for MGM and Paramount, Doris returned to Warner Brothers on her own terms for The Pajama Game (1957) which was directed by Stanley Donen. The hit musical which had starred Janis Paige on Broadway, had a catchy score by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross, with choreography by Bob Fosse, and offered Doris a role too good to miss. Labour relations, pay negotiations and management problems may have seemed an unlikely subject to form the basis of such a musical but with a believable central romance, peripheral comedic characters and engaging songs, this one was a winner. As Babe Williams, head of the factory’s grievance committee, Doris soon set her heart on the physically and vocally virile John Raitt who played the newly arrived factory-floor manager. Complications ensured the path to romance was particularly bumpy when a negligible and crooked pay deal inflamed the workers to take necessary strike action. With most of the original stage cast imported from New York, Doris was the sole box-office name and she lead the proceedings with energetic enthusiasm combined with occasional vulnerability and was in great voice for I’m Not At All In Love backed by the factory girls, Small Talk and There Once Was A Man with John Raitt; joining the ensemble for Once-A-Year Day and Seven And A Half Cents. The secondary jealousy-driven relationship between the Carol Haney and Eddie Foy Jr. characters set up numbers like Hernando’s Hideaway and I’ll Never Be Jealous Again which left John Raitt with the hit song, Hey There, and although Doris just caught its crumbs, her brief tearful reprise was a key scene set evocatively against the changing colours of a railway crossing and demonstrating her ability to act through the lyrics of the song. Three minor songs had been omitted from the film adaptation so Adler and Ross decided to write an additional ballad, The Man Who Invented Love for Doris but unfortunately despite the fact Columbia released her commercial recording, the filmed scene and song was cut from the film which probably caused Doris some disappointment. However the Region 1(USA) DVD of The Pajama Game (Warner Bros. 35085) has rescued the scene from the cutting room floor and included it as a welcome “extra”. Overall, this film was a faithful adaptation of a popular musical and despite the ailing musical genre by the late 50’s it was a critical and box-office success which later encouraged Warner Brothers to snap up other Broadway successes like The Music Man, My Fair Lady and Gypsy for similarly high-profile transfers to the big screen without the loss of their original integrity.

After The Pajama Game Doris never worked for the studio again. The films Doris made at Warners certainly succeeded in making her a star name, despite the fact many of them fell short of expectation, but the musicals were entertaining and popular. Maybe the few dramatic movies expanded her acting range but these roles could have been played by any competent actress. No doubt her contract made it necessary that she should accept such parts and did no harm to her movie stardom which peaked in the early Fifties and would do so again ten years later when working at Universal Studios. Her need to concentrate on movies possibly overshadowed her recording career and only in recent years has her vocal ability been fully appreciated. It is perhaps ironic that this realisation came after she had made her last album and movie around 1968. Now living in Carmel, Doris has championed animal rights and her own contingent of dogs and cats keep her near home with her maxim firmly fixed on today and not the past.

Allen Pollock
(British music/film critic and researcher)

Aaron Edward (Hotch) Hotchner, the man behind Doris Day’s ONLY official biography “Her Own Story” (published in 1975/6) revealed in an interview this week with The New York Times how he is picking up his pen to work on a new Broadway musical about the life of darling Doris.

“….I’m working on a musical about my old friend Doris Day. I think it could be marvelous.” – A E Hotchner

Hotchner also explained during a subsequent radio interview for “The Diane Rehm Show” that the subject of a doing a musical had first been discussed with Doris during the seventies when they worked together on their book but she felt it was then too soon to do it. The singer and actress Olivia Newton-John was at the time rumoured to be keen to be cast in the show’s starring role.

Hotchner was born in St. Louis (Missouri) but now lives with his wife on the Upper East Side of New York and in Westport (Connecticut). He is best known for his 1966 biography “Papa Hemingway” which was about his friend Ernest Hemingway. As well as writing Doris Day’s #1 selling biography, the editor, novelist, playwright and biographer has also written an acclaimed book on the actress Sophia Loren with his latest offering to the literary world being ‘Paul and Me: 53 Years of Adventures and Misadventures with Paul Newman’.

Mr. Hotchner now aged 89 is far from retired and continues to live an active life of writing books and plays whilst spending most weekends along with his beloved parrot and a flock of peacocks and chickens.

US Release Date: 11 February 1963

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1. Colonel Buffalo Bill
   (Leonard Stokes)
   (Irving Berlin)
2. I’m A Bad, Bad Man
   (Robert Goulet)
   (Irving Berlin)
3. Doin’ What Comes Naturally
   (Doris Day)
   (Irving Berlin)
4. The Girl That I Marry
   (Robert Goulet)
   (Irving Berlin)
5. You Can’t Get A Man with A Gun
   (Doris Day)
   (Irving Berlin)
6. There’s No Business Like Show Business
   (Ensemble)
   (Irving Berlin)
7. They Say It’s Wonderful [1962 remake]
   (Doris Day & Robert Goulet)
   (Irving Berlin)
8. Moonshine Lullaby
   (Doris Day)
   (Irving Berlin)
9. My Defenses Are Down
   (Robert Goulet)
   (Irving Berlin)
10. I’m An Indian Too
    (Doris Day)
    (Irving Berlin)
11. I Got Lost in His Arms
    (Doris Day)
    (Irving Berlin)
12. Who Do You Love, I Hope?
    (Kelly Brown & Renée Winters)
    (Irving Berlin)
13. I Got the Sun in the Mornin’ [1962 remake]
    (Doris Day)
    (Irving Berlin)
14. Anything You Can Do
    (Doris Day & Robert Goulet)
    (Irving Berlin)

Conductor: Franz Allers
Label: Columbia Masterworks (USA)
Format: 12″ Mono LP (#OL-5960) / 12″ Stereo LP (#OS-2360)
LP Cover Art: Isadore Seltzer

The musical Annie Get Your Gun is loosely based on the life of American sharpshooter Annie Oakley (1860-1926). It was songwriter Jerome Kern who was originally tasked with the job of writing the music for the stage production. The project was however passed to Irving Berlin after Kern unexpectedly died. In 1946, the show opened to glowing reviews on both sides of the Atlantic. A few years later Metro Goldwyn Mayer (MGM) adapted the show for the big-screen. The film version starred actress Betty Hutton and became one of the most successful musical-movies of the 1950s. A decade later, it was Doris’s turn to record a new version of this classic score with her Columbia stable mate Robert Goulet. The two singers laid there vocals separately with Doris completing her contribution for the project on the 8 October 1962. The orchestra was most probably overdubbed in New York. As a final fact for this project the song “I Got The Sun In The Mornin’” is actually Doris’s most recorded tune. She cut no less than three versions of it: her first with Les Brown in 1946, then in 1960 for her solo album Show Time and finally for this release.

US Release Date: 06 December 1962

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• Doris Day — Kitty Wonder
• Stephen Boyd — Sam Rawlins
• Jimmy Durante — Pop Wonder
• Martha Raye — Lulu
• Dean Jagger — John Noble

This Rogers and Hart musical revolves around a debt-ridden circus and the struggle to save it. The popularity of the Hollywood musical-movie was on the wane by the time this movie was released. As a result of moviegoers changing tastes this picture seriously underperformed at the box-office. Although it missed the boat commercially it did deliver a beautiful soundtrack of songs which received an Oscar nomination for Best (Adapted) Score.

Director(s): Charles Walters
Producer(s): Joe Pasternak & Martin Melcher
Studio: MGM  (USA)
Musical/Comedy/Romance
Colour (Metrocolor-PanaVision)
This film was also known as Jumbo

US Release Date: 12 November 1962

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1. The Circus is on Parade
   (Doris Day, Jimmy Durante & Martha Raye)
   (Lorenz Hart/Richard Rodgers)
2. Over and Over Again
   (Doris Day)
   (Lorenz Hart/Richard Rodgers)
3. Why Can’t I?
   (Doris Day & Martha Raye)
   (Lorenz Hart/Richard Rodgers) Listen
4. This Can’t Be Love
   (Doris Day)
   (Lorenz Hart/Richard Rodgers)
5. The Most Beautiful Girl in the World
   (Stephen Boyd)
   (Lorenz Hart/Richard Rodgers)
6. My Romance
   (Doris Day)
   (Lorenz Hart/Richard Rodgers)
7. The Most Beautiful Girl in the World [Reprise]
   (Jimmy Durante)
   (Lorenz Hart/Richard Rodgers)
8. Little Girl Blue
   (Doris Day)
   (Lorenz Hart/Richard Rodgers)
9. Sawdust, Spangles and Dreams [Finale]
   (with Entire Cast)
   (Roger Edens/Lorenz Hart/Richard Rodgers)

The songs featured on this soundtrack album originate from the colourful musical-movie set around a circus. They were recorded with the MGM studio orchestra during 1962. I have to admit that on the whole the tunes are for me a little too slow and sentimental. However, if you enjoy a good ballad you will likely adore many of these performances that are given so tenderly!

Conductor: George Stoll
Label: Columbia Masterworks (USA)
Format: 12″ Mono LP (#OL-5860) / 12″ Stereo LP (#OS-2260)

US Release Date: 11 July 1960

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1. Show Time [Part One]
   (Joe Lubin)
2. I Got the Sun in the Morning [1960 remake]
   [from the musical Annie Get Your Gun]
   (Irving Berlin)
3. Ohio
   [from the musical Wonderful Town]
   (Betty Comden/Adolph Green/Leonard Bernstein)
4. I Love Paris
   [from the musical Can Can]
   (Cole Porter)
5. When I’m Not Near the Boy I Love
   [from the musical Finian's Rainbow]
   (E. Y. Harburg/Burton Lane)
6. People Will Say We’re in Love
   [from the musical Oklahoma!]
   (Oscar Hammerstein II/Richard Rodgers)
7. I’ve Grown Accustomed to His Face
   [from the musical My Fair Lady]
   (Alan J. Lerner/Frederick Loewe)
8. The Surrey With the Fringe on Top
   [from the musical Oklahoma!]
   (Oscar Hammerstein II/Richard Rodgers)
9. They Say It’s Wonderful
   [from the musical Annie Get Your Gun]
   (Irving Berlin)
10. A Wonderful Guy
    [from the musical South Pacific]
    (Oscar Hammerstein II/Richard Rodgers)
11. On the Street Where You Live
    [from the musical My Fair Lady]
    (Alan J. Lerner/Frederick Loewe)
12. The Sound of Music
    [from the musical The Sound of Music]
    (Oscar Hammerstein II/Richard Rodgers)
13. Show Time [Part Two]
    (Joe Lubin)

The Show Time LP was Doris’s first studio album of the 1960s. She began working on it after recording a series of novelty singles in January 1960 (this included the title-tune to her upcoming picture Please Don’t Eat The Daisies). The sessions for the album ran between 11-25 February, with exception of the Grammy nominated song “The Sound Of Music” which had been cut in November 1959 with Frank DeVol. Show Time offers a bumper crop of the brightest tunes from the greatest of musicals. Doris tackles each of the acclaimed stage anthems with such conviction that you soon forget she didn’t sing the originals. She also gives a gutsy performance of the specially written title-song. You could say behind every great women there are usually one or two highly talented guys. In this instance the conductor Alex Stordahl, renown for his work with with Frank Sinatra, provides some beautiful orchestral arrangements. This was the first complete album he has worked on since he conducted part of Doris’s Tea for Two album. , whilst photographer Bob Willoughby comes up trumps with the cover shot!

Conductor: Alex Stordahl (except track 12a)
Label: Columbia Records (USA)
Format: 12″ Mono LP (#CL-1470) / 12″ Stereo LP (#CS-8261)
LP Cover Photograph: Bob Willoughby

US Release Date: 20 October 1958 (Double LP)
US Release Date: 19 January 1959 (Volume 1 & 2)

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Volume One

1. Hooray for Hollywood
   [from the film Hollywood Hotel]
   (Johnny Mercer/Richard Whiting)
2. Cheek to Cheek
   [from the film Top Hat]
   (Irving Berlin)
3. It’s Easy to Remember
   [from the film Mississippi]
   (Lorenz Hart/Richard Rodgers)
4. The Way You Look Tonight
   [from the film Swingtime]
   (Dorothy Fields/Jerome Kern)
5. I’ll Remember April
   [from the film Ride 'em Cowboy]
   (Don Raye/Gene dePaul/Patricia Johnston)
6. Blues in the Night [My Mama Done Tol' Me]
   [from the film Blues in the Night]
   (Johnny Mercer/Harold Arlen)
7. Over the Rainbow
   [from the film The Wizard of Oz]
   (E.Y. Harburg/Harold Arlen)
8. Love is Here to Stay
   [from the film The Goldwyn Follies]
   (Ira & George Gershwin)
9. In the Still of the Night
   [from the film Rosalie]
   (Cole Porter)
10. Night and Day
    [from the film The Gay Divorcee]
    (Cole Porter) Listen
11. Easy to Love
    [from the film Born to Dance]
    (Cole Porter)
12. I Had the Craziest Dream
    [from the film Springtime in the Rockies]
    (Mack Gordon/Harry Warren)

Volume Two

1. I’ve Got My Love to Keep Me Warm
   [from the film On the Avenue]
   (Irving Berlin)
2. Soon
   [from the film Mississippi]
   (Lorenz Hart/Richard Rodgers)
3. That Old Black Magic
   [from the film Star Spangled Rhythm]
   (Johnny Mercer/Harold Arlen)
4. You’ll Never Know
   [from the film Hello, Frisco, Hello]
   (Mack Gordon/Harry Warren)
5. A Foggy Day
   [from the film A Damsel in Distress]
   (George & Ira Gershwin)
6. It’s Magic [1952 Re-recording]
   (with Percy Faith and His Orchestra)
   [from the film Romance on the High Seas]
   (Jule Styne & Sammy Cahn)
7. It Might As Well Be Spring
   [from the film State Fair]
   (Oscar Hammerstein II/Richard Rodgers)
8. Nice Work If You Can Get it
   [from the film A Damsel in Distress]
   (Ira & George Gershwin)
9. Three Coins in the Fountain
   [from the film Three Coins in the Fountain]
   (Sammy Cahn/Jule Styne) Listen
10. Let’s Face the Music and Dance
    [from the film Follow the Fleet]
    (Irving Berlin)
11. Pennies From Heaven
    [from the film Pennies from Heaven]
    (John Burke/Arthur Johnston)
12. Oh, But I do
    [from the film The Time, the Place and the Girl]
    (Leo Robin/Arthur Schwartz)

16 Oct-19 Nov 1957 (7 days). Doris began recording for the Hooray for Hollywood project in October 1957. These sessions followed less than two months after she had completed Day by Night, which was her final album with conductor Paul Weston. The man to fill Weston’s shoes would be Frank DeVol, who had first worked with Doris on a series of single releases in 1954. DeVol was also the man behind Doris’s million-seller, “Que Sera, Sera”. Hooray for Hollywood was an adventurous project as it bucked the trend of being limited to just a single LP. There were instead enough songs to fill lavishly a double LP set; these later were split into two separate volumes. Both LPs contained an array of timeless standards that Doris had chosen from Hollywood’s vintage era of the big-budget musical movie. The song writing credits included many of America’s greatest composers like Porter, Berlin, Styne and Gershwin. The spine-tingling interpretations that feature are the jewels in the DeVol/Day crown with the lush, emotive string arrangements of “In the Still of the Night”, “Night and Day” and “Three Coins in the Fountain” penetrating even the sternest of hearts.

Conductor: Frank DeVol (with exception of track 18)
Label: Columbia Records (USA)
Format: Complete Double Stereo LP Set (#AC2L-5), Volume 1: 12″ LP (Mono #CL-1128) / (Stereo #CS-8066), Volume 2: 12″ LP (Mono #CL-1129) / (Stereo #CS-8067)

US Release Date: 29 August 1957

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• Doris Day — Katie ‘Babe’ Williams, Grievance Committee
• John Raitt — Sid Sorokin, Sleep Tite Superintendent
• Carol Haney — Gladys Hotchkiss, Hasler’s Secretary
• Eddie Foy Jr. — Vernon Hines, Sleep Tite Vice President
• Reta Shaw — Mabel, Sorokin’s Secretary
• Barbara Nichols — Poopsie
• Thelma Pelish — Mae
• Jack Straw — Prez, President Local 343 Amalgamated Shirt & Pajama Workers of America

The much loved Broadway musical made its big-screen debut here and notably featured several of the original stage cast (e.g. John Raitt and Carol Haney). Doris was however drafted in to replace the show’s original female lead — Janis Paige. The tuneful tale of pyjamas, love and labour union vs. management conflicts is brought to life by some impressive dance numbers from pioneering choreographer Bob Fosse. Five decades after the film premiered, Warner Bros. (USA) released a DVD revealing a deleted scene of Doris singing the gorgeous ballad The Man Who Invented Love. This was originally cut from the movie in favour of a reprise of the tune Hey There.

Director(s): George Abbott & Stanley Donen
Producer(s): George Abbott, Stanley Donen & Frederick Brisson
Studio: Warner Bros. (USA)
Musical/Comedy/Romance
Colour (Warnercolor)