Hint: "She turned down the role of Mrs Robinson in 1967’s The Graduate as she found the script 'vulgar and offensive.'"
ADDED: That last movie, from 1968, was "With Six You Get Eggroll." Look how they did opening credits back then:
(If you're like me, your main outburst was: "Hey, George Carlin's in it." And you secondary outburst was: "The Grassroots!")
AND: Look what happens when hippies try to help you:
I only watched that because I though George Carlin would be in that part.
September 28, 2015
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
79 comments:
Doris Day was very sexy...and a great dramatic and comedic actress. What a voice...slightly husky, with a hint of butterscotch!
Anne Bancroft owns the role of Mrs. Robinson.
It is difficult to imagine what Doris Day might have made of it.
She is now a rather frail old lady, and I wish her all the best. She always was a nice person.
Nude scene?
I am Laslo.
She had a that open trusting persona like women had back when men could be trusted. They don't make them like that anymore...either men or women.
I was ready to believe this story, even though it comes from a German mag, until the part about DD being considered for Mrs. Robinson. Too bizarre.
Maybe there is a Gloria Stuart role in the Sullenberger biopic.
Well, it was vulgar and offensive.
The best commentary on "The Graduate" was contained in the movie, "Barcelona" where it is perhaps unintentionally thoroughly denounced.
She'll get a small meaningless role, foundation underwear, and heavy makeup. The dog she will be holding, will get the close-up.
I was ready to believe this story, even though it comes from a German mag, until the part about DD being considered for Mrs. Robinson. Too bizarre.
Sounds like DD knew what she was doing managing her brand.
It would have been sweet if she could have made a cameo in Down With Love.
"Nude scene?"
Jack Carter did at least one nude scene on "Shameless" when he was about 90. He was great.
@Robert Cook Meade and I love the new avatar.
There's a great shot of Telegraph Ave in Berkeley in The Graduate, when Benjamin is trying to track down Elaine on campus.
She made some strong movies that have been forgotten---Young Man with A Horn, 1950, w/Kirk Douglas; Young at Heart, 1954, w/Sinatra; and Love Me or Leave Me, 1955, w/Cagney; Teacher's Pet, 1957, w/Clark Gable. Not eternal classics, but well worth checking out.
"@Robert Cook Meade and I love the new avatar."
Thank you. I drawed it myself!
A lot of 60's supporting acting names I recognized there: Milton Frome, Allan Melvin, Jackie Joseph.
Doris Day always struck me as having the greatest diction of any singer I ever heard. Plus she was smoking hot, contrary to the common putdowns of her back in the day.
The Grassroots were similar to the Guess Who: purveyors of very catchy rock music with excellent lead singers.
Never mind George Carlin, it has Vic Tayback and Jamie Farr! Oh, and Barbara Hershey too.
Al from Al's diner and Corporal Klinger!
Jamie Farr
Alice Ghostley
The Grassroots were a bunch of transient studio musicians. A new line up every week.
And Father Mulchay!
By the way that scene illustrates
Alice Ghostly, didn't she play the maid in The Brady Bunch?
@madAsHell
I recently watched a documentary on Netflix called "The Wrecking Crew." It's about the group of studio musicians in L.A. in the sixties and seventies who where used when recording most of the records and albums produced in that era. It states that the only Beach Boy that was used in the studio recordings was Brian Wilson, who arranged the music and did the vocals.
And the Monkees had to learn to play their instruments before they could go on tour. So who are you going to use for the recordings, professional musicians with a couple of decades of experience or four guys who were chosen pretty much for their looks?
"The bulk of the band's material continued to be written by Dunhill Records staff (not only Sloan and Barri) and the LA studio-musicians who were part of what became known as the Wrecking Crew played the music on most, if not all, of their hits.[6] The Grass Roots also recorded songs written by the group's musicians, which appeared on their albums and the B-sides of many hit singles."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Grass_Roots
The Wrecking Crew did do the backing tracks on many of the Beach Boys records, but that's not to say that the Beach Boys couldn't play -- They did it on their first couple of albums and on the road day after day, year after year. And they did all the vocals on the records, no session singers there. It simply made more economic sense to keep them touring than in the studio. (And Wilson's increasing reluctance to tour sealed the deal. Of course there was also Jan Berry's advice when Wilson saw him using session musicians for Jan & Dean and opined that his guys (the Beach Boys) could play: "Sure, but for $200 you can have the best players on the west coast"
Those are the films that wind up in the watched DVD rack after 5 minutes.
As you can see, I am a gag. I am another gag. I am another gag.
That clip of Hippies is standard Hollywood myth showing a cross between druggies, Hells Angels and innocent young people. The film makers forgot to tell us the three did not mix wel in reality.
BTW, Beach Boy Bruce Johnston's first hits came as part of the group "Bruce & Terry" with Terry Melcher -- Doris Day's son.
I was thinking Bridget Bardot, but she last made a movie in 1973
Jamie Farr and William Christopher from TV's MASH!
Did patrol cops in the 60's usually wear motorcycle helmets when driving in their squad cars?
DD was smart to turn down "Mrs. Robinson". That would've been stunt casting. The real tragedy of her career was she didn't do more musicals. She would've been great in "South pacific".
"Eggrolls" is a nice little movie. I like because I like the actors - otherwise its nothing special.
"Eggroll" is actually less dated then "The Graduate". Odd.
She was the opposite of a blues singer. Her voice was sunny and reassuring. Que Sera Sera was a promise and not a threat. Sentimental Journey was a trip worth making. She was to music what Norman Rockwell was to illustration.
"Did patrol cops in the 60's usually wear motorcycle helmets when driving in their squad cars?"
I missed that, but I was taken aback by hippies on motorcycles. Of course Altamont was still about a year and half in the future.
Interestingly enough and speaking of "The Graduate," Alice Ghostley has a wonderful cameo role: "Hello, Mr. Braniff."
She was also a minor character in "Bewitched." Much beloved. The perfect befuddled old lady.
"Sha la la la la la la live for today."
Judge for yourself how great a singer Doris Day was: "Sentimental Journey."
(My parents considered that "their song," for reasons I only understood many years later.)
So not Alice in The Brady Bunch. The actress next to her in that clip also played a character in Bewitched, Aunt Clara.
The title is racist, as is the gong music.
"The real tragedy of her career was she didn't do more musicals. She would've been great in "South pacific".
Musicals pretty much ended about 1970.
"American in Paris" is out as a stage musical. It was a terrific movie.
"BTW, Beach Boy Bruce Johnston's first hits came as part of the group "Bruce & Terry" with Terry Melcher -- Doris Day's son."
It was Terry Melcher that Manson's minions had been sent to kill, not Sharon Tate or her houseguests. Melcher had been the former resident of the Sharon Tate house. Melcher had apparently offended Manson for some reason...something to do with Manson's desire to become a recording artist. I think he believed Melcher had welshed on a promise to record him.
It wouldn't just be subversive and wrong to cast Doris Day as Mrs. Robinson. It would be nasty and evil to make such a casting choice, but that's Hollywod. Robert Redford said he could see the dark side of Mary Tyler Moore, and he cast her as a cold, controlling mother in Ordinary People. She was effective in that role, but that's not what made her a star nor how people remember her........It's a shame that Robert Redford didn't make his screen debut playing the Notman Bates role in Psycho. He would have been really good in that part.
"Melcher had apparently offended Manson for some reason...something to do with Manson's desire to become a recording artist. I think he believed Melcher had welshed on a promise to record him."
Odd considering the media narrative about the political import of killing Tate and her unborn child. Was Helter Skelter an 'afterthought?'
"It would be nasty and evil to make such a casting choice, but that's Hollywod."
Or perhaps some actors like to play against type, and actually exhibit something called "range."
See also, Theron, Charlize.
"She was the opposite of a blues singer. Her voice was sunny and reassuring. Que Sera Sera was a promise and not a threat. Sentimental Journey was a trip worth making. She was to music what Norman Rockwell was to illustration."
Was "Que Sera Sera" ever a "threat"? I see it as a song acknowledging (and accepting) that the future is unknowable and uncontrollable...whatever will be, will be.
Had Doris Day been cast as Mrs. Robinson, I thoroughly suspect that Dustin Hoffman would have had to wait considerably longer before he got his big break.
Doris Day is one of 8 people mentioned in the (love it or hate it) Billy Joel song "We Didn't Start the Fire". The remainders would be:
Doris Day
Bernhard Goetz
Bridget Bardot
Fidel Castro
Chubby Checker
Bob Dylan
John Glenn
Queen Elizabeth II (not mentioned by name, but in the lyric "England's got a new queen")
Who will be next to go?
"Odd considering the media narrative about the political import of killing Tate and her unborn child. Was Helter Skelter an 'afterthought?'"
Here is clarification. Apparently Manson had learned that Melcher had relocated, but he wanted the people in the house--whoever they were--killed to scare Melcher.
As for "Helter-Skelter," I don't know. Manson is nothing if not a master manipulator--of the public and its perception of him as much as the people in his "family." He may have concocted the story after the fact or it may have been some genuine bit of nuttiness on his part.
Always amused by the quote attributed to Oscar Levant: "I knew Doris Day before she was a virgin."
I've also heard that Manson wanted to either kill or scare Beach Boy drummer Dennis Wilson who had hung with the family for a while but was now trying to get out. (Interestingly, the song "Never Learn Not To Love" on the Beach Boys album "20/20", while credited to Dennis Wilson is actually a Manson composition)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-it4Xp1IrhU
I think iMarianne Faithful in her Broken English phase could have made Que Sera Sera sound like a threat. I think when Doris Day sings about the unknowable future you get the sense that things will turn out all right.
Greil Marcus says Sly and the Family Stone turned "Que Sera Sera" into a "hymn of dread, which I don't hear, but it does start getting a little ominous around the three minute mark...
Hollywood propagates myths and icons in one generation and then in the next denounces them as false gods and stereotypes.....Psycho, when you stop to think about it, propagates the harmful stereotype that transgendered men are dangerous, serial killers. No matter how much your kids beg to see it, I would recommend that all conscientious parents not let their kids view Pscho Instead let them see Mrs Doubtfire. Mrs Doubtfire presents a far more balanced view of the transgendered and their aspirations. I'm sure Caitlyn has far more in common with Mrs Doubtfire than with Norman Bates.......We now know that the aspirations of the transgendered are ennobling and that society has a duty to be supportive of the quest of such people to be authentic. In like manner, Hollywood now teaches us that premarital virginity is the most toxic perversion known to humanity. If Carrie had loosened up, she wouldn't have been such a drag on Prom Night. Hollywood would have loved to cast Doris Day in the Carrie role, but she was too old for the part.
PSYCHO was not about a transgenderd man, but about a man with mommy issues. (The story "Psycho," written by Robert Bloch, was based on Wisconsin's own Edward Gein, whose activities were more gruesome than what was depicted in PSYCHO. A later film also based on Gein's activities was THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE.)
What about DRESSED TO KILL? I don't think Hollywood was especially supportive of the transgendered in previous generations......The Marxists used to claim that homosexuality was an artifact of decadent bourgeoise civilization. Hollywood tacitly supported that thesis. Certainly gays were almost exclusively shown as being frivolous or sinister. We now learn that they're witty and sensitive--unless they're closeted gay Republicans. Then they're evil in its purest form.
I completely concur with Robert Cook's opening comment. She's still quite attractive.
I actually thought she'd died.
(Didn't she do cruise ship commercials in the 70s? She didn't seem to age.)
William said...
I'm sure Caitlyn has far more in common with Mrs Doubtfire than with Norman Bates.
I'm pretty sure Mrs Doubtfire never killed anyone...
Is Taylor Swift the new Doris Day? I don't follow pop music that closely, but I get the sense that she's wholesome and supportive of traditional values. She'd be a natural for the musical version of Carrie.
The fact that Caitlyn cut a notch in her steering wheel is disturbing, but, as of yet, there's no evidence that she's a serial killer.
I think the male version of Doris Day is not John Denver but Louis Armstrong. There's something joyful and reassuring about his music.
Jamie Farr and William Christopher are in it also. That was before their roles together in Mash.
Alice Ghostly, didn't she play the maid in The Brady Bunch?
@Ron Winkleheimer
No, that was Ann B. Davis.
This was Alice Ghostley. She always had a schadenfreude smile.
Taylor Swift is the new Cher. She seems to have a disproportionately large following of gay men along with the obligatory female impersonators. This is according to my gay nephew. I cannot verify.
My girl friend who later became my first wife thought she looked like Doris Day, so we saw all DD's movies in the very late 50's and early 60's. They were actually very good make-out movies at drive-ins because you never had to worry about losing track of the plot.
Ironically, years later my FW and I were walking down Rodeo Drive and Doris and some guys were coming the other way, she was pushing her bike, and she paid no attention to us pedestrians on the same sidewalk and almost ran us down. I've assumed ever since then that she was a bitch.
She was a good singer, though.
"Musicals pretty much ended about 1970."
Yeah, pancakes are good with syrup.
I would have liked seeing Doris Day do the Graduate (no pun intended), or at least some sort of evil character. It was great when stars in the 60s and early 70s with overly "wholesome" images started taking on darker roles. Henry Fonda as Frank in Once Upon a Time in the West; Gregory Peck as Josef Mengele. Even Doris' friend -- Rock Hudson -- took the role (and apparently loved it) of a football coach/serial killer of high school girls in Pretty Maids All in a Row.
" (Interestingly, the song "Never Learn Not To Love" on the Beach Boys album "20/20", while credited to Dennis Wilson is actually a Manson composition)"
And then there's this (which is actually better than the Beach Boy's version of 'Never Learn Not to Love'):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qMFBqCeAc8
Pillow Talk is amazing. I love that movie.
Ron Winkleheimer
And the Monkees had to learn to play their instruments before they could go on tour.
Peter Tork and Michael Nesmith were competent musicians before they joined the Monkees.
Doris Day, God bless her, is a living legend.
She was a gifted vocalist and a fairly good actress.
The films she made with Rock Hudson, Tony Randall, James Garner and Rod Taylor were some of the best light comedy motion pictures of the 1960s.
Doris was nominated for an Academy Award in 1960 for her role in "Pillow Talk".
Unfortunately, she made several poor choices in the men she married.
Her marriage to Marty Melcher was a personal and professional diaster.
A strong work ethic and personal optimism (along with good legal representation) restored her fortunes.
Her son, Terry was a steadfast friend.
Cats, dogs and horses have an strong advocate in her.
A.E. Hotchner wrote the difinative biography entitled, DORIS DAY HER OWN STORY.
At 91, I think Doris Day, the one we remember and love, should leave us with that image.
All of her best work is there for us to enjoy.
Mr. Eastwood, don't take our sunshine away.
Let's fete the legend and thank her for all the happiness she gave us through the decades.
Oh dear God, they actually were going to cast Doris Day as Mrs. Robinson? Seriously?? Was Paul Simon gonna write a few tunes for her? What the hell were they thinking??
My favorite film with Doris Day (co-starring James Stewart plus in a bit part, Morticia herself, Carolyn Jones!) is Alfred Hitchcock's 1956 remake of his 1934 original "The Man Who Knew Too Much." Que Sera Sera is an important and moving part of the film's climax!
"Peter Tork and Michael Nesmith were competent musicians before they joined the Monkees."
In fact, Peter Tork was encouraged to audition for the part by his friend and fellow musician in the folk/rock scene Steven Stills, who had auditioned and been passed over. (I read recently that Davy Jones was himself an accomplished drummer, but he was chosen to be the "cute" front man, so it was Dolenz for the drums!)
Doris Day is not a virgin in Pillow Talk, by the way. She's aggravated by sex and aggravated by men. And it's been a long time since she's had a man. And she's thrown herself into her work.
There are a lot of strains of feminism in her character. She likes the idea of man. She wants a man. She has a romantic view of man. But the reality of man annoys the shit out of her.
Interesting to compare her to Marilyn Monroe. I think Marilyn is an underrated comic actress. She was a brilliant comic, and the master comic directors of her age (Hawks and Wilder) were desperate to work with her, even as working with her meant putting up with all her shit.
Monroe always played to a male fantasy. So she's the exact opposite of Doris Day, who refuses to play that game. In Pillow Talk she subverts man's fantasies and mocks them. While simultaneously her fantasies are also shattered.
Also, she has a great ass. I totally get why that drunk kid wanted to jump her. People who don't see the sexuality of Doris Day aren't paying attention.
Saint Croix
I think Marilyn is an underrated comic actress.She was a brilliant comic..
Yes, indeed. I once saw Gentlemen Prefer Blondes on cable, and couldn't stop laughing. Before I saw the movie, I had written her off as a dumb blonde sexpot who couldn't act her way out of a cardboard box- this without having seen her in a movie. After seeing her in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, I concluded I was wrong. Marilyn Monroe was definitely a talented comic actress.
Doris Day, famous beard for homosexual actor Rock Hudson, is still alive? Who knew?
"Eggroll" was the first movie released by Cinema Center Films, the short-lived filmmaking arm of CBS. Co-stars Doris Day and Brian Keith had both recently starred in CBS sitcoms, Day in her self-titled show and Keith in "Family Affair".
And it's got two future stars of the TV series M*A*S*H in it!
Speaking of Bob Hope: From the biography of him written by Groucho Marx's son two comments Hope made about Doris Day:
1) he called her 'J.B.' for 'jut butt' and
2) he said he knew DD 'before she was a virgin'.
Post a Comment