Below is the transcript of the first interview which Doris Day granted Pierre Patrick to talk about her successful television sitcom ‘The Doris Day Show’ (from Mothers Day 1996). Pierre Patrick’s latest book”A Beautiful Day – The Doris Day Companion” is available now.

Pierre: Happy Mothers Day.
Doris: Thank you very much.

It’s great that I get to talk to you on Mothers Day. When I started to watch the show, I was just a little kid. And you were the perfect mother on television. And later on, I fell in love with you.
That’s sweet. Well as you know, when my series was on, I had two sons. Philip Brown – I love Philip so much – and Tod Starke, who played Toby. Tod was killed in a motorcycle accident at the age of 21. I was horrified when I heard that. I’m in touch with Philip, and he called me to wish me a Happy Mothers Day. He said “For three years you were my mother, and you were the best.” That was so sweet.

Now, originally you did not want to do the series, but you made it work and made it great! How did you do that?
I was a wreck the first year. I was in bad shape, but I didn’t take that on the set. I believe in giving 100% . And if you don’t, get out of it and don’t do it. You have to give your all and do it whole heartedly, really with your heart.

Connie Edney was very much responsible for the Doris Martin look. How did she make it all work, especially with all those fashion shows?
They were wonderful. I love our fashion shows. The bicycles, the dogs, the clothes… Connie did such a great job. She really has class. This lady has such taste and she knows me so well now. This is how we worked: Thursday would be the last day of filming an episode. On Friday morning, we would get a new script, read it, and rehearse. And on Friday afternoon, my favourite, trying on all the new clothes. Connie would go shopping Friday morning and put all the outfits together all around my dressing room. And Joy Turney would do all the alterations. Joy was great and she took care of all the other women on the show, like Rose Marie and Jackie Joseph. Joy was an angel. She would do the stitching and mending, and fast during all the fashion shows. She would whip those beautiful capes together in nothing flat. And Connie took such good care of me. We had the greatest crew. My makeup man, Harry Marit, who was with me for years was just wonderful. He passed away just a few years ago, and it broke my heart. His daughter is a makeup artist now. And my hairdresser, Barbara Lampson, who’s been with me for years and years, she is just wonderful.

Now how about those incredible sets?
Weren’t they fabulous?! Perry Ferguson II designed those. He even remodelled the kitchen in my house. I wonder what he is doing now? He loved horses. Maybe he’s raising horses. But he did a great job designing my apartment. I just loved him. He did everything right. We would talk about how things were going to be done, and he did it perfectly. And he also designed the farmhouse.

Let’s talk about the cast.
Peter Lawford…….well you know every time I think of him, I could cry. I just loved working with him as Doctor Lawrence. I thought we were really good together. We really bounced off each other. He never sounded like he was reading a script, and he told me the same thing. We always did our scenes like they were improvs from the top of our heads. I thought we were really right together. It is really sad that he passed away. Also, Patrick O’ Neal was just wonderful. I really liked him.

Your thoughts on McLean Stevenson.
Oh God! I just read something he wrote about me before he passed away. I couldn’t believe it. I didn’t know he felt that way about me. He was very good and very funny. I don’t know why they didn’t keep him. I think the word around was that he was too goofy. And he couldn’t run a big magazine like “Today’s World” and be like he was, I guess in M*A*S*H, with his style of comedy. He wasn’t legit enough to do that. And John Dehner could be very much in charge and yet so funny and the same time. We had arguments. I would jump on his desk, I would put my feet on his desk, plus he gave me the tiniest little office to work in. Oh, John Dehner was my love. When he passed away, it broke my heart. We were good together. We used to crack up so much.

You and Rose Marie made a very good team.
Rose Marie was very funny. She used to crack me up all the time. It was really fun working with her. She now has a lot of dogs because of me. I used to bring two or three dogs with me every day on the set.

I know you used to pester her about wearing all those fur coats.
Oh! Oh! Oh! She would tell me, “Well you used to wear them!” And I used to tell her that was a long time ago. And no one was talking about it then. Nobody knew the abuse these animals were enduring. I used to tell her, “Get out of those skins!” She used to tell me, “You keep caring about them and I’ll keep wearing them!” She was bad. Oh! She called me Do and I called her Ro.

Jackie Joseph.
I used to call her Little Jackie Joseph. She was a very funny person. She had special values to bring to the show. I came up with this idea. I told her, “You should wear an outrageous hairdo. And when Cy would walk by, he would just go bonkers looking at your hairdo. And of course the hair was just normal for you.” And there are a lot of people like that. She loved it. She got the biggest kick out of it. She was in With Six You Get Eggroll.

Paul Smith as Ron Harvey, who also played Jodi Foster’s father in the first season.
Wasn’t that something? Wasn’t he good? There’s one in every office. He was marvellous. Do you remember the show with the dancing school, with Larry Storch? He was having a problem because somebody else had a dancing school. Rose Marie and I took dancing classes and I think Ron Harvey was in there too.

Bernie Kopell and Kaye Ballard.
He’s a genius. He was in The Thrill of it All. Bernie is an absolute genius with dialects. He just transforms himself. He and Kaye were brilliant together. And Kaye and I were really good together. “Wooooo! Have I got a fellow for you!” Always trying to fix me up with somebody. I’d say “Leave me alone, I’ve had enough!” Oh! I loved Pallucci’s Restaurant. We had such fun with those shows. It was so convenient that the apartment was located upstairs. With the terrace and the spiral staircase I have right here in my house now. As a matter of fact, most of the furniture in the farm house and apartment I paid for all myself. We bought good things, antique things, and I ended up with everything. It was really my own. That apartment had to be kept just so. I was always going around “Ay! Finger marks on the doorway here!”

Billy De Wolfe.
He was one of my best friends. Oh! He was so, so good. He loved all my doggies. And Kaye Ballard just adored him too. Now Kaye Ballard loved to have get-togethers. She would have so many people at her house, and the spaghetti would be flying! And Billy would be there and he’d say to me “Clara,” which was my funny name, “I’ll pick you up at 6:30 prompt.” He’d say it like that so I’d be ready. We’d go out and have such fun. We had a great time. I fell in love with him in Tea for Two and Lullaby of Broadway, two great movies we made together.

Denver Pyle, who directed some of the episodes, too.
Oh! Buck, my love! I love him so. He was so good as my father. We had such lovely, tender moments, and also in the first season Jim Hampton, who played Leroy B Simpson, was just the cutest.

Van Johnson
Oh! God! He’s another one that calls me Clara. So, so funny.

Edward Andrews.
Edward was in so many of my films, we were like related. He was just like part of my family. I adored this man. When I worked with him, he convulsed me, also John Dehner. Very difficult to work with him. We had to stop and the director would say, “Doris pull yourself together, we’ve got to get this show on the road.” But I couldn’t help it. They were just incredible to work with. All the people around me in my series and in my films were incredible. I adored Eddie. There will never be another Edward Andrews or John Dehner, never. The guest stars on the show were great. Lee Meriwether, who played Peter Lawford’s nurse, Henry Fonda, Tony Bennett, Bob Crane, and Jodi Foster. Remember that? That cute little kid? Plus, we even had James L. Brooks as one of our writers, who ended up doing The Mary Tyler Moore Show, The Simpsons, and was nominated for an Oscar for Broadcast News. He wrote our guide episode, which is listed as our first where I work for a women’s magazine in New York I think it would be nice to get the series back on the air.

Any favourite episodes?
One that I loved was a man who came in to the office and invited me to a premiere (DORIS STRIKES OUT). He was very handsome, but I had a baseball game to umpire. And I wanted to do both. I had to rush home and get dressed. And I was calling everybody out to make the game go faster! And they were really safe. Billy would say “MOM! He was safe! How can you do that!” “I said out! I’m in a hurry! Lets get this thing going.” Oh god! I really enjoyed that. I had such a ball doing that one. Another one I like that I was winging it all the way through was where I had a date with a man who hated women, who was writing articles for the magazine (THE WOMAN HATER). And meeting me changes his entire view of women. So I had to change his mind again so he would still write for the magazine. Well there was a restaurant scene in the episode where the whole thing was ad-lib. “I have a corn on my toe.” I mean is there anything worse than that? For someone to say that? And I chewed gum and combed my hair at the table. I fixed my teeth. I asked him to hold my mirror so I could do that. I changed tables about four times. Then I hollered to the waiter “Don’t forget the ketchup!” and this was a fine French restaurant. And then ordering dessert. Vanilla ice cream with chocolate on top and the chocolate ice cream with caramel on top. And the strawberry ice cream with strawberry on top. Peanuts all over, “don’t forget the cherry!” none of that was written. They said “Come in and do what you want.” And I thought about the most obnoxious things. First of all, I was late and I came in and I went “Yoo-hoo!” Then I said “Are there any stars here? Cause I want to get some autographs.” All these things came to me. It was so much fun.

Any special favourite characters?
Well it would be definitely have to be Nelson. A dog among dogs, played by Lord Nelson. I loved him very much and I miss him terribly. One thing I must say, before we go, it was a really wonderful show to do !

And a wonderful one to watch!

This interview is reproduced by kind permission of Pierre Patrick.

2008 is a year for career milestones for Doris Day so there are lots of reasons to celebrate and reflect on her accomplishments.

Tuesday, September 24 marks to the day the 40th Anniversary that “The Doris Day Show” premiered on American television. This was notably followed that night by the first investigating news magazine on television “60 minutes” (which still airs today).

“The Doris Day Show” told the story of Doris Martin a new widow living back on her fathers farm with her sons. During its successful 5 year run on CBS the character would evolve before our eyes into an investigating reporter for Today’s World Magazine in San Francisco. Forty years later this TV series has become one of the most beloved and best-selling DVD series in Australia, the UK, Canada and the USA.

Other significant dates from 2008 were July 3 which marked the 60th Anniversary of the New York premiere to Doris’s film debut in “Romance On The High Seas“. Also in February at the 50th Grammy Awards she received the “Lifetime Achievement Award” as recognition for her recording career which began 70 years ago.

Now lets all throw daisies in the air, Have a Doris Day and Celebrate.
Pierre Patrick

Doris Day’s Best Friends
US Transmission Date: 1985/86

On 16 July 1985, Doris Day’s Best Friends premiered on the American cable channel the Christian Broadcast Network (CBN). This series of 30 minute shows was to be Doris’s last regular return to the small screen. The main focus of these shows was to promote awareness on various animal welfare issues that Doris felt impassioned about as well as chat and reminisce about the good old days with some of her dearest showbiz friends. Doris recorded with her son Terry Melcher a handful of songs especially for the show including the main theme [these remain unreleased].

Episode Guide:-
01: Rock Hudson
02: Les Brown and His Band of Renown
03: Bobby Benson
04: Denver Pyle
05: Earl Holiman
06: “Biggest”
07: Joan Fontaine
08: Cleveland Amory and Ryan P. Melcher
09: Gretchen Wyler
10: Mickey Gilley
11: Danny Cooksey
12: California Rescue Dogs Association (CARDA)
13: Alan Shepard
14: Howard Keel
15: Kaye Ballard
16: Monterey County SPCA
17: Angie Dickinson
18: Robert Wagner
19: Tony Randall and Ryan P. Melcher
20: Loni Anderson
21: Jill St. John
22: Gary Collins
23: Gwen Wynn
24: Tony Bennet
25: Connie Edney and “Biggest”
26: Leslie Nielsen

Production Credits:

• Executive Producer – David Freyss & Terry Melcher
• Producer – Dan Evans
• Director – Joe Coleman
• Writers – Terry Melcher & Dan Evans
• Music Directors – Terry Melcher & Bill House
• “Best Friends” Theme Song written by Terry Melcher & Bill House
• Makeup – Michelle Rede
• Hair Stylist – Barbara Lampson & Jon Thanos

The Doris Day Show (known as Que Sera, Sera in French) is probably the only show in the history of television to have been brought on the air without the star’s knowledge or approval!

CBS signed Doris Day exclusively, in the spring of 1967, without her knowledge, through her husband and manager, Martin Melcher. Variety called it “One of the industry’s all time plush talent deals.” The Melchers would own the negatives of the show, plus all re-run rights, and the rights to produce movies for CBS (the movies were later switched for two extraordinary music specials featuring the vocal talents of Miss Day). CBS was ecstatic.

For years, CBS had had to deal with the unshakable Lucille Ball, now on her third series. She was the network’s biggest superstar, and was making more incredible demands every year. Doris Day, being a major movie star and recording artist, would create a certain balance within the CBS empire, giving the network some negotiating power. The feeling was that Doris Day would be an unbeatable value for the network. The only problem was that Miss Day wanted nothing from television. Her only previous television appearance had been on the game show I’ve Got a Secret in the mid-50s. She had made major efforts to stay away from the medium, yet had no idea that within a year’s time she would be working very hard in it.

Came 1968, and Doris’ husband/manager of 17 years suddenly died, having somehow forgotten to mention this major television deal he had signed her onto. Miss Day, still suffering from her loss, found by accident a few complete scripts for a Doris Day Show. She was shocked, surprised, and baffled! Barely recovered, she discovered from her son (who became executive producer of the show) that she was locked into TV for five years.

Far worse was that her husband had invested all her money from 30 years of hard work with a crooked attorney, who took it all after her husband’s death. Doris needed to work and needed to fight back. And, yes, she was successful at both. Throughout her life she has been able to turn tragedy into gold. She did that with her series, fought her attorney, and won.

Doris Day succeeded in television where virtually no other movie star ever had (Fred MacMurray being the other notable exception). Lana Turner, Debbie Reynolds, Bing Crosby, James Stewart, and Henry Fonda all failed to create hit series, but Doris was magic, and people welcomed her into their homes.

Television’s Doris Day Show was an innovative, fast moving, and creative series. It is sometimes noted for having the most changes in the history of television, which is not true at all. Doris Day played Doris Martin as a character who evolved through the years and became, according to Vanity Fair (Dec. 95), “one of the best working women on television.”

Without input from the star, it was decided by the creator of the show, James Fritzell, that Doris Martin would be a recent widow with two children, having left the city to return to her father’s ranch (CBS knew how to make those small farm community shows, so why not put Doris Day in one!?!).

Doris made the show very real and very human, as opposed to the other farm shows, which were a little off the wall. Miss Day was not thrilled with the format, but dealing with the loss of her husband, she let it go… at least for a while.

CBS was sure that Doris Day would be an instant hit, so scheduling would be important for the show which would follow Miss Day’s. As it happened, The Doris Day Show was to serve as lead-in to another new series, a serious one with journalists doing major investigation The show was called 60 Minutes. The Doris Day Show was scheduled for 9:30 on Tuesday, and 60 Minutes followed, hoping to keep a large portion of her audience. The rest is history.

September 24, 1968 was the day we all met Doris Martin, beautiful widow, talented journalist, fashion trendsetter, wonderful singer, animal lover, and a determined, caring person. It is no coincidence that those are also some of Doris Day’s best qualities. As stated in the 1996 Encyclopedia of Fictional People: “Doris Martin is perfect. Blonde hair, blue eyes. She favors coat dresses and color coordinated ensembles. She always smiles through her problems and always looks nice.”

The Doris Day Show was very much a reflection of Doris Day’s career. People who worked on the show in front of and behind the camera had been with Doris for years. The songs on the show were from Doris Day’s albums or movie soundtracks. References were made to her movies, and Doris Martin even met Doris Day (DORIS GOES TO HOLLYWOOD).

The Doris Day Show was filmed, and never in front of a live audience. Doris wanted a situation comedy that was not based on jokes. A lot of time was spent on selecting locations, sets and backgrounds. The 1ook of each show was like a mini-movie in a period when TV was turning to videotape. A show like this today would easily cost $2 million to produce.

The first season opening credits show Doris and the entire cast walking on a vast beautiful field with the sun shining brightly behind them, as Doris sings Que Sera, Sera on the soundtrack with a choir of children. Though different arrangements would follow, this would remain the theme song throughout the run of the show. Doris Day had been and remains strongly identified with the song, having sung it in among other films, Alfred Hitchcock’s 1956 remake of his own The Man Who Knew Too Much.

In the first year of The Doris Day Show, shot at Golden West Studios in Hollywood, we discover Doris Martin recovering at her father’s ranch with her two young sons, Billy and Toby, all feeling the loss of the husband-father “Steve,” and living far from their city home. A new loving environment on the ranch would be provided by Buck Webb, grandfather extraordinaire; farm help Leroy B. Simpson; plus two housekeepers, Aggie and Juanita, who never worked on the same day.

The ranch was located at 32 Mill Valley road in the community of Cotina in Mill Valley, a suburb of San Francisco. The house was huge. It had four bedrooms, two stairways (one from the kitchen and one from the living room). Traditional American furniture garnished the house, along with a beautiful fireplace complete with a “Home, Sweet Home” sign right above it, and with ducks, pigs, horses and cows all around.

Our main character was definitely a hard working, loving wife and, although a city person, she adapted well to the farm. Doris was where she needed to be, at least for a while. She was involved with the community. She directed a school musical. She even went back to work for a short time for “Women’s World, Magazine” in New York. Doris worked on the farm, brought some important values to the kids, and even dated a little.

The cast for the series was top-notch. Veteran actor Denver Pyle played Buck Webb, Doris’ father, who had been operating the ranch for three generations. Buck was a good man with old fashioned common sense and a good heart.

Doris’ older son, Billy, was played with conviction and determination by Philip Brown, who recently worked on ABC’s The City.

Todd Starke played the youngest son “Toby”, a very sensitive young man who looked up to his older brother and loved his mother very much.

Jim Hampton, remembered by many for his role as Dobbs in F Troop, played farmhand Leroy B. Simpson. He was very clumsy, causing more problems on the ranch than poor Buck could ever imagine. He was a nincompoop.

Two maids were added to the cast; opinionated and stubborn Aggie, played by Fran Ryan, and warm and loving Juanita, played by Naomi Stevens.

And, last-but-not-least, Lord Nelson as Nelson the family’s big, shaggy dog, and the first cast member to follow Miss Day from film to television. Lord Nelson had “co-starred” with her in With Six You Get Eggroll. He was the most natural dog on television, and his relationship with Doris and the kids gave the show a real family home atmosphere.

After her first year of television, Miss Day took her show in hand and made some changes. Doris Martin got herself a job with the San Francisco magazine ”Today’s World” where she would remain until the end of the series.

For the second season, a new opening was created where Doris Martin says “Goodbye” to her family and drives in her new red convertible to her new job in San Francisco which to some extent mirrored the move made by the production company to the CBS Studio City facility, where Doris Day was very happy to be working. Que Sera, Sera was sung solo this time by Doris Day.

Doris’ first job at the magazine was as executive secretary to managing editor Michael Nicholson, played by McLean Stevenson in his first regular series. Mr. Nicholson was a cautious and patient boss who cared about Doris very much. Although no romantic relationship ever developed, it was hinted at now and again.

A special addition to the cast this season was Rose Marie: “My understanding was that Doris asked if I was available to do her show. I went to meet her, and we clicked immediately and I did the show for three years.”

Rose played the perpetually single Myrna Gibbons, always funny and always right beside Doris.

Veteran character actor Paul Smith was also added, as Ron Harvey, Assistant Editor. Ron was not terribly smart, and always had a bad joke. It is a wonder he got the job. As Miss Day says, “There’s one in every office!”

Doris still lived on the ranch and had the hard life of a commuter. The episodes were split between the magazine offices and the farm.

The changes Doris Day created helped the series tremendously. CBS moved the show to Monday nights at 9:30pm, where it jumped to the top ten. Suffice it to say that CBS was thrilled with their new acquisition.

Among the highlights of the second season was DORIS HIRES A MILLIONAIRE, a special two-part episode with one of Doris’ favorite actors, Lew Ayres, as William Tyler, an eccentric billionaire who needs to keep his identity a secret. Tyler would come back again in the next season in two episodes where Doris would work for him. Doris said of Lew Ayres that he was a beautiful person who shared her passion for peanut butter. Other notable second season episodes include DORIS, THE MODEL, the first of four annual episodes featuring Doris as a model; TODAY’S WORLD CATCHES THE MEASLES, which brought the entire cast to the ranch under quarantine; and COL. FAIRBURN TAKES OVER, the season finale that introduced Col. Fairburn, the magazine publisher who would remain until the end of the series, brilliantly played by Edward Andrews (who had made three movies with Miss Day).

Rose Marie reveals a droll anecdote from DORIS, THE MODEL:

‘We did the scene and nobody said cut. And I looked at her and I said, ‘Do you want a baloney sandwich?’ She said, ‘Baloney gives me gas.’ I said, ‘Ah, everything gives you gas!’ She said, ‘Is anyone gonna yell “Cut?””

Those fashion show episodes were out of this world. Doris wore trendy, outrageous crazy clothes. Doris Day may have been over 40, but she was the most beautiful woman on television. These episodes were favorites with viewers and with Doris Day herself. Miss Day can in all likelihood be credited with starting “Fashion Television.”

Another episode that needs to be mentioned is THE GAS STATION, which was Rose Marie’s favorite. Working in a gas station had never been so difficult.

The third season found Doris Martin secure in her job and ready to stop commuting. A move to San Francisco was needed. CBS, in expanding its budget on this filmed series, decided to give Doris a beautiful apartment in the city of San Francisco, built by creative Art Director, Perry Ferguson II.

The apartment was distinctive because of its spiral staircase which centered the room, a beautiful terrace, a red kitchen, an alcove with a piano and two bedrooms. Her flat was decorated lavishly with plants, flowers, candles, and antiques. Although the decor would vary from season to season, Doris stayed in this great location.

965 North Parkway, Apartment 207 where rent would be $140 a month, was conveniently located atop Pallucci’s Italian Restaurant (the best kept secret in San Francisco). The owners of the building were Angie and Louie Pallucci, played by veteran actors Kay Ballard and Bernie Kopell, respectively. Angie was always eating, always on a diet! Her husband, Louie, did not like children until he met Doris’ and found out that they loved his pizza.

Again a new opening was created, with Doris Martin greeting her audience by coming down the now-famous spiral staircase, sequenced with the cast and shots from the fashion shows.

Another new and important cast member would be Doris’ old friend from her Warner Bros. days, Billy DeWolfe. He played Doris Martin’s nemesis and next door neighbor, Mr. Jarvis. His most famous quote was when Doris would point her finger at him: “Never touch, Ne-ver touch!” The three new cast members would remain till the end of the series.

Highlights of the season include TONY BENNET IS EATING HERE, guest starring guess who; DORIS GOES TO HOLLYWOOD, in which Doris Martin meets Doris Day; and Doris traveling all over the world in DORIS LEAVES TODAY’S WORLD. Season three also saw a departure for Miss Day when she interrupted the Doris Martin saga with her first musical special in DORIS MARY ANNE KAPPELHOFF, with guests Perry Como and Rock Hudson. Doris sang some of her greatest songs: It’s Magic, Sentimental Journey, and Everybody Loves a Lover. The show was a huge hit.

Season four brought some exciting new changes and yet another opening, showing the new cast, some new Doris modeling shots, and greeting her guests at the door.

With the fourth season, Doris Martin became a “Today’s World” reporter. She no longer worked for the managing editor, Mr. Nicholson, but for Cyril “Cy” Benett, City Editor, played by John Dehner. Cy was a driven ego-tripping, pompous, cheap, overbearing, hypochondriac. “Get the story done at any cost” was his motto, but our heroine was determined not to let him walk all over her. She argued, fought and defended her point of view on any story. Doris and Cy would go head-to-head on many issues.

Another addition to the cast was Jackie Joseph, who played Jackie Parker, Cy’s secretary. She was single, confused, and had big, tall hairdos.

For this season, Doris was finally given an office, but it was the smallest office in the history of television where Doris could reach everything from the chair behind her desk.

Leaving the show was Rose Marie, who recalls her time working with Doris fondly:

“I loved her. First of all, she’s the most underrated talent in the business today. She’s so wonderful and so brilliantly talented… everybody takes her for granted… It was wonderful to work with her. She was such a professional. So great to work with. We still write to one another, we call one another. Christmas cards, birthdays, everything. We were a nice big family, I know that’s a cliché that everybody uses, but it was true, because Doris was a very easygoing kind of person. There were no tantrums. And if the kids had any problems, they’d go to Doris or come to me.”

As for her role being eliminated, she is philosophical:

“Well, they figured they wanted to change the whole concept of everything. It’s just like anything else. You’re not on and you’re on, or you’re on and you’re not on.”

Changes were important to Doris Day — give the audience something new every year; keep the show fresh and entertaining. Doris, who was used to making two or three movies a year, where everything would change, was always looking to find new horizons.

Season four brought the most sweeping changes in personnel yet, as also departing the show were Denver Pyle, Philip Brown and Tod Starke; as well as Mclean Stephenson, who joined the cast of M*A *S*H.

No real explanation was given for the departure of Doris’ family, but it could be well assumed that the kids went back to help their grandfather on his ranch, and Doris, being the kind of daughter and mother that she was, would certainly accept such a move and would certainly visit all the time (off camera) so she would be free to travel and pursue her career. She dated some more adventurous men. A major new love interest was brought into Doris’ life, Dr. Peter Lawrence (beginning with DORIS AND THE DOCTOR). Peter Lawford played Doris’ new beau, and the chemistry between the two was extraordinary. They achieved a perfect balance of humor, love and entanglement.

Highlights from season four were more exciting trips around the world, meeting a sheik (THE SHEIK OF ARABY), and some thrilling undercover adventures and international intrigue featuring our feisty reporter (A WEIGHTY PROBLEM, THE ALBATROSS, THE SORROW OF SANGAPUR).

The major change of the fifth and final season was that Doris Day became executive producer of her show. Despite Miss Day having wanted little to do with television four years earlier, now she was ready to do it all. She took over the budget, the music, the casting, the set design, etc… and loved it all.

Mr. Jarvis became Doris Martin’s hard-to-deal-with landlord, while the Palluccis just took care of their restaurant.

The only regular cast member added to the last season was Patrick O’Neal, (Doris Day’s leading man in Where Were You When The Lights Went Out?) who played foreign correspondent Jonathan Rusk, another love interest for Doris. During the last year, Doris dated both Peter Lawrence and Jonathan and America was on the edge of its collective seat waiting to finding out who she would pick.

Highlights of the last season include THE MUSIC MAN, in which a young musician falls in love with Doris; ANNIVERSARY GIFT, wherein Peter Lawrence buys her a classic car; and MEANT FOR EACH OTHER, in which she accepts a marriage proposal from Jonathan.

And so the series ended with a possible marriage in the future for Doris Martin. Had the series continued, Jonathan would have probably made a run for the White House, and Doris Martin would have been the best First Lady ever!

After this fifth year, CBS wanted desperately to keep Doris Day on the air, as the show was doing extremely well. Doris instead decided to make a graceful exit from prime time.

“I have done everything I can with the series. My contract is up. Thank you very much” – Doris Day

Doris Day would come back to CBS one more time; in February of 1975, with a musical special, Doris Day Today!, featuring guest stars John Denver, Rich Little, and Tim Conway. In 1977, Doris did a talk show tour promoting her book, Doris Day; Her Own Story. In 1985, she hosted an informal talk show with music called Doris Day’s Best Friends, which featured Denver Pyle, Kaye Ballard, and costumer Connie Edney from The Doris Day Show among the guests. In 1993, a Doris Day Best Friend event was staged in Carmel, with media coverage presented on a Vicki Lawrence special.

The other on-camera veterans of The Doris Day Show continued working steadily long after the end of the sitcom. In addition to the aforementioned McLean Stevenson’s stint on M*A *S*H, Denver Pyle enjoyed a successful run on The Adventures of Grizzly Adams; Bernie Kopell signed up for a hitch with The Love Boat; John Dehner continued to grace both the small and big screens with his presence, often in far more sinister roles than Cy Bennett, until his death a few years ago; and both Rose Marie and Kaye Ballard have continued to be in demand as popular comedic actresses. Ms. Marie recently completed her autobiography, Hold the Roses.

As for the star herself, Miss Day continues to look to the future, now working hard with her animal charity organizations that save the lives of many unfortunate creatures.

Pierre Patrick