by Shannonn Kelly
19:25 EST, October 29, 2011
According to Steve Pond at TheWrap, “Doris Day has been named recipient of the Los Angeles Film Critics Association’s 2011 Career Achievement Award.”
When I was little, I remember sneaking towards the living room to see what was that “flickering light” on many nights.
One night, (as I came to know later) an Alfred Hitchcock classic was on the late night classic movie channel, “The Man Who Knew Too Much“, from 1956.
I thought it was odd that a woman was sitting down at a piano with a hat on singing in what appeared to be a very serious movie. The woman singing was Miss Doris Day. She was married to a guy I had seen before and really liked. His name was James Stewart (as I came to know later). Because I liked him, I was going to sneak in as much of the movie as I could before I got caught and sent back to bed.
What struck me about Doris Day was how her speaking voice and her singing voice weren’t the same, but if she used either of them while tucking me onto bed, I would certainly give her a big hug. She seemed warm and kind. I imagined she smelled like strawberry short cake.
Over the years, I made a point of checking out her movies on late night TV and channels like TCM. I especially loved her as the rootin’ tootin’ “Calamity Jane” (1953), “Pillow Talk” (1959), opposite Rock Hudson and Tony Randall, “Please Don’t Eat the Daisies” (1960) with David Niven as her husband and “That Touch of Mink” (1962) starring Cary Grant and Gig Young.
There was just something so likable about her. To this day I wouldn’t be able to tell you what exactly. She felt safe, but in a clean yet sexy way. She seemed like she’s be easy to work with and maybe after a long day on the set, go have a drink with the boys who would treat her more like a buddy than someone they had to conquer.
For whatever the reason I liked her (being an animal activist just adds to her charm) many, many more people know exactly why they admire her. And I’m sure many of them wonder why, at her advanced age of 87 it took so long to honor Miss Day.
To read the full article by Steve Pond, please click here.
To see the official “The Man Who Knew Too Much” trailer from 1956, please click here.