Tea For Two

[Ania]

[webmaster]

Gordon MacRae Railroad Hour - "No, No, Nanette" with Doris Day

Gordon & Doris present a preview of their not-yet-made film "Tea For Two" on the radio:

[Johnny]

I saw Tea For Two recently on TCM. As I started to watch it, I found myself remembering how much enjoyed seeing it before. There are so many wonderful and funny moments in this film. Eve Arden, S.Z. Zackall, Billy deWolf scenes keep the movie bubbling.

The dancing of the talented Gene Nelson, (an underrated actor) is terrific to watch.

The sweet chemistry between Doris Day and Gordon Mac Rae is charming.

All in all, Tea For Two is really an enjoyable experience.

[webmaster]

I loved her films with Gordon MacRae - wished they had got married! They would have made the perfect couple!

[Lauren Benjamin]

Ania~
Wonderful photos above.

Bryan ~ Did Gene Nelson become a director in the movies after he ended his dancing career?

We are so fortunate with Doris to have such a wide variety of types of movies to reflect upon and such wonderful pictures - some even in color!!!! Ha!!!

daisey_half.jpg (3.52 KiB) Viewed 709 times

[Tybear2015]

I love Tea for Two is a perfect Doris Day film. This movie has everything-it is a great musical with great musical numbers, dancing, and comedy. I think Gordon McRae and Doris had good on screen chemistry. I also like Eve Garden's character in the film she is very funny. I rated this film excellent.

Tybear

[Musiclover]

This isn't Bryan -- but, yes, Gene Nelson directed several dozen television episodes for different series. He was so underrated as a dancer; I may set off a firestorm here (!), but I would rather watch him dance than Gene Kelly.

[Johnny]

Yesterday I settled in to watch Tea For Two on TCM. Ben Mankiewick introduced the film and commented that Tea For Two was Doris' first film where she received top billing. He said it was a clear indication that Doris' star was on the rise. He commented that film critic Bosley Crowther described Doris Day's and Gordon Mac Rae chemistry as" Going together like Peanut Butter and jelly", and that they should make more films together. The picture started filming on March 23, 1950 and finished on May 13th.

The film sparkles from beginning to end with fun performances from S.Z. Sakall, Billy De Wolf, Eve Arden, Gene Nelson, and Patrice Wymore. Eve Arden had laugh-out loud lines such as - " Luckily I just happened to be listening at the keyhole", and" If I said yes and no in the right places I would be wearing mink". "Welcome to insanity lodge". Watching Billy De Wolf doing the Charleston and knocking himself out is hilarious.
During the picture Doris phoned Vera Ellen who went to the same dancing school as Doris in Cincinatti. Doris was nervous about the dance numbers in Tea For Two. Doris commented that Tea For Two was one of the happiest film experiences in her career. She became life-long friends with Billy De Wolf. Billy initiated the nickname, Clara Bixby for Doris. When she would phone him she would say this is Clara.

The crew on the picture nicknamed Doris, Nora Neat and Dorothy Detail.

I experienced great happiness watching this film and I see something new to appreciate each time I see it. If there was one word to describe the feeling of seeing Doris in Tea for Two, it would be joy.

[webmaster]

Thanks for that, Johnny. Coincidently, I'm just doing Tea for Two and your comments fit my view of it - it's fun and it must have been great to see in the cinema at that time.

[Musiclover]

Just discovered that one of the dancers in the chorus of Tea for Two was Carol Haney, who gained fame a bit later in Pajama Game.

[Johnny]

The subject of Doris' talent as a dancer is not commented on often(Lullaby Of Broadway, the exception). In David Kaufman's book I found some interesting information about Doris dancing when she was making Tea for Two.

"Since she broke her leg as a teenager, Day was skittish about dancing for the first time in front of camera. But according to Miriam (Gene Nelson's wife) "It came back very quickly to her. I don't remember her ever not being able to do something I showed her. She was a good tapper. She showed me some things that she had learned from her teacher when she was a kid and there was one step in particular that we used in "I Know That You Know".Miriam subsequently incorporated the step into one of her routines, and then passed it on to other tap dancers, who thanks to their mentor referred to it as: "The Doris Day Step". It's a combination that you repeat three times and it had a good rhythm to it, explains Miriam.It was very fast and it had a lot of taps and riffs.

While she was working on the picture, Day told James Padgitt of The Dallas Herald about her discovery that she could dance again; "Call it progress in reverse .... I thought I was through forever with a dance career when I broke my leg in an automobile accident,(October 13, 1937)...Not knowing what to do I took up vocal lessons. Now look what's happened, I'm dancing". Day told Padgitt she tentatively listed dancing as one of her accomplishments when she signed with Curtiz. "But I wasn't sure about my leg even after all this time". Day explained. Then when Tea For Two came long I was asked If I would like to take a crack at some of the tap routines with Gene Nelson as partner." In a week and a half of rehearsals, going for eight hours every day, I picked up the dancing that I thought never could be mine again. I'm in the groove once more, rari'n to go" according to Padgitt, Day was, "exuberant" over current developments. She said, "I'm having every opportunity to prove my versatility", she told the reporter.

I wish Doris would have had a chance to dance with Fred Astaire. I think they would have danced some wonderful routines that would have been memorable. I often think Doris was under- appreciated as a dancer. Her dance on the steps in Lullaby of Broadway is mesmerizing.

[webmaster]

Musiclover said: Just discovered that one of the dancers in the chorus of Tea for Two was Carol Haney, who gained fame a bit later in Pajama Game.

Didn't see that before, Judy - interesting, She was a great dancer, I love this photo of them:


Girl Power with Doris & Carol!


And great post, Johnny - very uplifting. So Doris was 13 when she broke her leg - she learned to deal with pain at an early age! Probably why she described herself as someone who bounced back, like one of those dolls she compared herself to, after a hard time.

Yes, Doris and Fred would have been cinema history, As they said about Fred & Ginger, "She gave him sex and he gave her style". What would they have said about Fred & Doris?

"She gave him Moonlight, he gave her Daylight"?

Answers on a postcard, etc...

[Johnny]

Reading David Kaufman's book on Doris Day there are several interesting insights discussed about Doris' relationship with Martin Melcher while she was filming Tea For Two.

Eve Arden, Doris' co-star in Tea For Two recalled in her autobiography that Doris made these comments. Doris said, "Look for a man who will be your lover as well as your friend". At the time, Doris was openly declaring her desire to marry again - in particular so her son might have a father. Columnists had begun to devote more space to reporting that Day and Melcher were "romantically inclined". But with the phony coyness that circumscribed their, "just friends" celebrity love-dance, Melcher would only acknowledge that she was "one" of his clients.
It was true that Day's relationship with Melcher had begun as a friendship. She did not fall madly in love with him - as she had with her first two husbands. "When it came to romance I only thought in terms of explosions". Day maintained, "It never occurred to me, for example, that friendship with a man like Marty could ripen into love. How could I possibly love him when I liked him so much? Wouldn't you think I'd known better after having been through two Fourth of Julys"?

Tea For Two

Doris and Marty married on her 27th birthday on April 3-1951.

[Johnny]

Some interesting facts about Doris' career are revealed in David Kaufman's book on Doris as she was about to make April In Paris.

"As before a loan-out agreement had been drawn up with Michael Curtiz Productions for Day to make Tea For Two her sixth picture- albeit the fifth to be released - and the second directed by David Butler. After a few weeks of rehearsals, filming began on March 23, 1950. Tea For Two would mark the first time Day received top billing. It was also the first film she made with both Mac Rae and Nelson--not to mention Billy de Wolfe, who would become one of her dearest friends. Two decades later, she would remember that it was "as enjoyable as any picture I ever made". According to Butler, " there had been a great improvement", in Day's grasp of how to perform before a camera.

[Johnny]

In Alan Gelb's The Doris Day Scrapbook he writes
about Tea For Two:" With her second film of 1950, Doris became an unequivocal star. The vehicle was not a distinguished one but the public loved it. It was a piece of fluff called Tea For Two and it went on to become one of the top moneymakers of the year. It paired Doris for the first time with Gordon MacRae, of the stalwart baritone school and she was to make a total of five films with him. In Tea For Two Doris received top billing for the first time in her career, and , as it turned out, her name spelled magic and money for Warner Brothers".

Doris was surrounded by an outstanding supporting cast in Tea For Two. All throughout the film, Eve Arden, S.Z. Sakall, Billy De Wolfe, and Gene Nelson sparkle with funny joyous work.

This was the third film musical reincarnation of Tea For Two, Doris dazzles with her dancing and songs. It is a vintage story with lots of charm and good humour.

[jmichael]

When I was working on the 1940s's video, I came across a photo of Doris rehearsing one of the Bob Hope Shows in 1949. Upon closer inspection, I noticed that Marty Melcher was standing in the background while she rehearsed. Whatever the nature of their relationship was at the time, they were professionally connected at least two years before they married. This may be old news to some but I was surprised to see him in that early photo.

Michael

[Johnny]

This is a All Music review by William Ruhimann on the Tea For Two soundtrack.

“In 1950, Warner Bros. Pictures released the third film adaptation of the 1920’s Broadway musical No,No, Nanette, this time renamed after one of it’s most popular songs “Tea For Two”. The movie co-starred Doris Day and Gordon MacRae, and the score took liberties from the sex how, including some of the original songs but also interpolating much other material. Since Warner had no record label at the time, no soundtrack album was released, and since Day was signed exclusively to Columbia Records as a recording artist while MacRae was with Capitol, no real re-recreation could be made, either instead, Columbia brought in second-billed dancer Gene Nelson, along with the Page Cavanaugh Trio, an orchestration conducted by Axel Stordahl and various vocal groups for an album of songs from the motion picture. Even further liberties were taken with the score Rodgers & Hart’s “Here In My Arms”, which was not in the show or in the movie , was added, while the song No, No, Nanette”, performed by Day and Nelson was dropped. Day took over material from her co-stars and made do without a male counterpart to duet with (Nelson tapped dance for the most part). The result did not have much to do with the movie, really, but it was an enjoyable collection of vintage material that Day handles ably. Especially impressive was her version of “I Only Have Eyes For You”,( another song not from the original show). And her fans didn’t mind: this Tea For Two LP became a Top Five hit for her.”


Tea For Two is a joyous and uplifting film experience. I am particularly impressed with Doris’ dancing.