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[webmaster]

Thanks all! New banner soon.



Comedy moments from The Glass Bottom Boat.

[Musiclover]

Love the caption above, Bryan, and I think this chase scene through the 2 houses is just perfectly choreographed slapstick that Doris executed flawlessly. Makes me laugh to think about it.

Johnny, glad you were able to get those DVDs.

[webmaster]

Thanks, Judy! Hope you like this one as well!



Paul Lynde, with a brief guest appearance from Robert Vaughn, in The Glass Bottom Boat.

[Johnny]

Thanks Bryan for this Doris GBB that brings back great funny memories. Paul Lynde steals every scene. I love the look on Robert Vaughn's face. I had forgotten that he was in the film.

Doris looks so smart in the nautical stripes.

[Jas1]

Another great GBB banner- Robert Vaughan said DD was one of the sexiest women he ever met.

[webmaster]

Thanks, Johnny, I agree that Paul Lynde was a scene stealer - how could you not be dressed like that!

I think we'd all concur with Robert Vaughan, Jas. Doris made sex appeal seem nice and friendly.
I was thinking as I was doing the banner that as Doris wasn't in the scene, did she come in that day to meet Robert Vaughan? But then I half-remembered another scene where I'm sure they were both in it? But they obviously met or he wouldn't have made that comment.

[Jas1]

RV was in the party scene - i am sure Doris was on the set - even if they did not have a scene together per se- though there is the 2nd take scene.

[webmaster]

Thanks, Jas & Johnny.

A new one from Puck - nearing the end now.



An old favourite of mine:

[Jas1]

Fabulous banner Puck.

[Peter Flapper]

Hi Bryan and Puck,

Great banners again, again a job well done both!!! For a film that is so much fun to watch!!!

P

[Johnny]

Thank you to Bryan and Puck for celebrating this month of January 2019 with everything Doris Day and The Glass Bottom Boat. Joy filled memories abound.

[jmichael]

I always loved the work Puck did on her Mata Hari impersonation. The coloring is outstanding.

Thank you both for dazzling us.

Michael

[Johnny]

Thanks Bryan and Puck for this impressive GBB Doris banner that showcases a very sexy and funny Doris.
It makes me wonder if Mike Nichols spoke with Doris about the acerbic dark humour in the Graduate's Mrs. Robinson. Did Marty veto the choice? Doris would have done a brilliant job. Candice Bergen who was dating Doris' son Terry was being considered for Mrs. Robinson's daughter Elaine. It would have been perfect casting.

[Jas1]

Johnny, we will never know the full story behind the Graduate and Doris casting- my guess is that it frightened her to step outside the box - [as it did in 1955 to play Ruth Etting] but then, Marty persuaded her - I think Marty too was against or cautious of the Graduate role and by this time his mind was off the job- had he been the Marty of 1955- my guess is that he would have seen the potential of the change and would have persuaded Doris to do it- he is responsible for Love me or leave me and Man who knew too much - he doesn't get the credit sometimes that he is due.

[webmaster]

Thanks all on behalf of Puck.

Johnny, according to IMDB, "It was he (Martin Melcher), not Doris Day, who turned down the role of Mrs Robinson in The Graduate (1967). When the movie's producer* sent him the novel, he was reportedly so offended by it that he never even showed it to his wife, costing her the role that might have revived her film career."
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0577455/bio ... _sm#trivia

*Lawrence Turman, Producer
Joseph E. Levine, Executive Producer (uncredited)



I know we've talked about this a lot, my current thinking is that Doris could have made it in a tasteful way as befitting her image, as shown in Pillow Talk below, It would certainly have been better than Do Not Disturb, Where Were You When The Lights Went Out, etc.

[Johnny]

You are right Jas, we all never truly know the true story.

Bryan, the Pillow Talk image is eight years earlier than similar The Graduate photo; what a brilliant comparison! Marty made many decisions about Doris' career without consulting her. It is highly probable this is the case with The Graduate.

If Doris and Mike Nichols had spoken, Doris would have appreciated the dark humour in the role of Mrs. Robinson. She clearly understood the Ruth Etting character.

[jmichael]

Again, I say some of the stories swirling around casting choices become urban myth after so many difference sources share their version of what really happened. At some point, you have to accept that everyone involved has their own perspective of what went down and their stories will never match.

What may have offended Marty Melcher or middle America at the time looks surprisingly tame by today's standards. It's hardly shocking to consider that a middle aged mother might hit on her daughter's boyfriend. Back then, however, Doris was viewed as the frosty icing on top of the Eisenhower era wedding cake, a fading holdover from a bygone era that collapsed under the weight of extreme social and political change that overtook this county in the Vietnam Era. There was a strong reaction against the innocence of the 1950's and Doris needed to shake things up to remain relevant with younger, mainstream audiences who were listening to Bob Dylan and Joan Baez and reading the radical likes of Jack Kerouac and Betty Friedan.

I wish Marty and / or Doris had sat down with Mike Nichols and talked this through. Doris would have given the hard-boiled, predatory character a vulnerable quality that eluded Anne Bancroft.

Michael

[webmaster]

A lot of food for thought there, Michael.

This is how Doris looked the year after The Graduate was made (1967):



Eggroll (1968) I must admit I don't like the hair-bow below!

[Ania]

A wonderful banner, it's amazing, just fantastic!♥

Thank you Puck and Bryan!♥

Ania

[Jas1]

Mike Nicolls considered DD for The Graduate after seeing her in Glass Bottom Boat- that is how I imagine Mrs Robinson would have looked, played by DD.

[texas gonzalo]

For the sake of accuracy, Doris Day saw Marlon Brando in "Last Tango In Paris" with Billy DeWolfe, and as reported both were very embarrassed. Happy Days, Texas Gonzalo

[webmaster]

I found it somewhat embarrassing myself as I went along with some Christian friends and none of us knew what it was about - until it was too late!

This month's film, Move Over Darling:



IMDB

"This film is loosely based on Alfred Lord Tennyson's famous poem "Enoch Arden." In the poem, a husband is shipwrecked and presumed dead, only to return home to find his wife involved with a man he used to know. In this film, the roles of husband and wife are reversed. The poem also served as the source material for My Favorite Wife (1940), the film of which this is a remake, as well as another box office hit of 1940, My Two Husbands (1940)."

"In a bonus feature on the DVD release, Polly Bergen admitted she had misgivings about playing "second banana" to Doris Day, who was the most popular actress in the world at the time and Bergen expected her to behave like a diva. However, Bergen admitted to "falling in love" with Day, finding her to be extremely charming, funny and generous."

"The producers scheduled the scene with Doris Day riding through a car wash for the last day of shooting because they were concerned the detergents used in the car wash might affect the star's complexion. When the scene went off without a hitch, they admitted their ploy to Day, then used the story in promotional materials for the film."

"Move Over Darling is a re-worked version of what would've been Marilyn Monroe's Something's Got to Give (1962) the last movie Marilyn worked on. It co-starred Dean Martin and Cyd Charisse. It was supposed to begin filming on April 23, 1962, but the schedule was reorganized due to Monroe suffering a sinus infection. Production shot around her scenes using the rest of the cast. Soon enough, the shooting fell 10 days behind schedule. Monroe's last day on the set fell on her birthday, June 1, 1962. When Monroe called in sick again the following Monday, June 4, she was fired a few days later on June 8. Dean Martin refused to continue filming without Monroe, and Marilyn was quietly rehired, but, due to her death, the movie was left unfinished. The following year, it was recast (and tailored for Ms Day) with James Garner, Doris Day and Polly Bergen, re-titled Move Over Darling and released in December 1963."


Confession: I intended to make The Thrill of it All the film of the month but after finishing the banner with Puck's artwork I realised it was Move Over Darling! So I corrected the title and decided to go with Move Over Darling.



The one that got away - maybe next time, we haven't really focused on The Day-Garner film partnership, have we?

[jmichael]

The Day / Garner duo was the most sexually charged onscreen pairing in Doris' film career. (Runner-up status goes to Brian Keith, IMO). They not only held a mutual respect for each other's talent, but they also shared a romantic chemistry that radiated from the screen. Garner admitted in print that he had a crush on her and had they both not been married at the time, he would have been tempted to continue their love scenes after the director yelled "cut." I think you sense their attraction for each other throughout both films.

MOD is a lot of fun. Garner is terrific, Polly Bergen is game and rather earthy, and the movie boasts a wonderful supporting cast of comic actors. Hats off to Don Knotts for making me laugh out loud several times (he is much funnier than Wally Cox in the role of Adam), and I chuckled several times when Edgar Buchanan, Fred Clarke and John Astin were on screen. The only debits in the supporting cast were Chuck Connors, who did not impress me much, and surprisingly, Thelma Ritter, who was stuck with a worried mother role that did not give her anything interesting to do.

The car wash scene is a classic. Doris excelled at physical comedy and her playful sense of the absurd made this scene even funnier. Now, if only someone in the continuity department had made her blonde wig match from shot to shot. Oh well.

MOD is a frantic farce that never fails to make me smile.

Michael

[Musiclover]

Another good assessment from Michael. I, too, think that Garner and Brian Keith were Doris's top 2 leading men as far as their onscreen romantic chemistry with her. In one comment she made about Garner, she said that they "just clicked from the minute we met," which was really obvious. Something else about Doris that translated to the screen was how comfortably she worked with children. If there had been 2 or 3 more scenes with her "daughters" in this picture, that would have been even more apparent.

[Johnny]

Thanks Bryan and Puck for the Doris and James Garner banner.

Doris and James sparkle together in both The Thrill Of It All and Move Over Darling.

Doris created screen magic with both Rock Hudson and James Garner. Young romantic love was apparent in Doris' work with Gordon MacRae.

Doris and Clark Gable created sexual sizzle in Teacher's Pet.

Move Over Darling holds a special place in my heart. I loved Doris' tender scenes with the children and the comic tension between her and the hilarious Polly Bergen. From the moment in the opening of the film with Edgar Buchanan as the confused judge, there was a sense that it was going to be a fun ride.