... described here. I don't know if I'm really doing the project, but I did watch the movie that would be the first movie, the 1960 Doris Day movie, "Please Don't Eat the Daisies." In 1960, I was 9 and I was taken to see this movie in the theater, I suppose by my mother, who must have liked Doris Day. I know she loved the Doris Day recording, "Sentimental Journey," and maybe she looked a little like Doris Day, especially around 1960, when she'd bleached her dark hair blonde. I remembered how I reacted to the movie when I was 9: I couldn't understand it, had no idea what was going on. Watching the movie last night, it was plain to see that the movie was incomprehensible to a 9 year old.
Though it had kids in it — Doris Day's 4 unruly sons — it was the story of a married couple with a disagreement about how to live — city or country? — that got the husband — David Niven — into a position to be sorely tempted to commit adultery. The husband and wife also kept approaching but not having sex, as those unruly sons would inevitably interrupt them (in a manner that I can now understand must have been funny to adults in 1960s even though it still doesn't make me laugh). Sexual frustration is expressed in the lyrics to the song "Please Don't Eat the Daisies" — "Here I am waitin' and anticipatin'... I'm so romantic but I'm gettin' frantic" — which is inexplicably sung by Doris while dancing in a circle with a couple dozen schoolchildren.
The husband is a New York City theater critic, and much of the story depends on fathoming what this job is and the sort of ethical issues that arise within it — should you pan a play written by your friend? — and the dynamic at cocktail parties and how success as a critic might warp a man's personality. None of that was accessible to me when I was 9!
Niven wants to live in NYC and go to literary parties. Doris wants a house in the country:
Showing posts with label David Niven. Show all posts
Showing posts with label David Niven. Show all posts
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
