UCLA Film and Television Archives A tribute to
Doris Day will screen at the James Bridges Theater
through Feb. 11.
By Suneal Kolluri
Daily Bruin Contributor
Doris Day’s dream to become a famous dancer died at the
age of 14, when a serious car accident impeded her dancing
abilities. At 17, she married a jealous man who abused her
regularly, and at 27, she married a man who squandered much of her
fortune. Her other two marriages were only slightly less
devastating.
One of the warmest, most adored young actors to grace Hollywood
with her presence, Day had a personal life that was cold, dark and
difficult. Yet America didn’t have a clue.
“Looking back on it, that contributed to her appeal. She
had a tormented life, but she could handle it,” said Andrea
Alsberg, head of programming for the UCLA Film and Television
Archives.
The UCLA Film and Television Archive is presenting a series of
movies starring Doris Day. The films are being shown in James
Bridges Theater and will run through Feb. 11.
“The Girl Who Knew Too Much: A Tribute to Doris
Day,” will feature numerous films from Day’s extensive
repertoire ranging from light romantic comedies and musicals to
suspenseful thrillers.
In each of her movies, Day overcame the trials and tribulations
of her private life to build a successful career around her acting
and singing abilities.
Day began her career in entertainment as a singer and sang with
such celebrities as Bob Crosby and Frank Sinatra. Her agent
eventually convinced her to try acting and she auditioned
successfully at Warner Bros. Studios.
In 1948, the young Day starred in her first feature film,
“Romance on the High Seas,” a musical that began her
career as the incredibly successful and revered actress of the
1950s and ’60s.
In the following years, the nation came to adore the sweet,
attractive young blonde and the public fell in love with the
characters she played.
“She had appeal both to men and women. Men because “¦
she had a lot of zest and sex appeal, and she was fun, and women
because she could handle all these various roles,” Alsberg
said.
Day’s roles usually reflected the sweet, innocent
“good girl” image she conveyed to the public.
“On screen she was the good girl always and she did not
have a scandalous off-screen image either “¦ publicly she had
a placid private life,” said Jonathan Kuntz, visiting
assistant professor in the UCLA School of Theater, Film and
Television.
Despite her good girl status, however, Day’s characters
didn’t merely conform to society’s perspective of women
as subservient homemakers. In the cinema of the ’50s, women
would often play housewife roles in Leave it to Beaver-esque
situations ““ cooking, cleaning and caring for the
children.
“Having contributed to the war effort, (women) were coming
back into the home in the traditional female role, and that was
shown on the screen,” Alsberg said.
Day, however, rarely played the typical housewife. She often
played roles of strong, focused women, often times with an
occupation of some sort.
In movies like “Pillow Talk” (1959) and “Lover
Come Back” (1962), Day plays professional women.
“Pillow Talk” features her Oscar-nominated performance
as an interior designer, while “Lover Come Back”
features Day as a powerful woman at an advertising agency.
“She was never the little retiring woman,” Kuntz
said. “She often had a career, and she certainly had her own
mind and was determined to get what she wanted. She is not a weak
figure in any way. She is very strong willed.”
Even when Day’s character doesn’t have a job, she is
able to command power in other ways. In “Send Me No
Flowers” (1964), she plays a married woman and exerts a
substantial degree of power in her relationship with her
husband.
In the film, her husband mistakenly believes he is going to die
and thus attempts to set his wife up with an old college
sweetheart. Day’s character interprets the situation as her
husband’s attempts to justify his own infidelity. A battle of
the sexes thus ensues where Day’s character overpowers her
husband and takes control of the relationship.
“She had a lot of resilience,” Alsberg said.
“She could go out and get a career and be successful “¦
and then she could go out eventually and have a
relationship.”
Despite the ugliness of her private life, Day was able to
maintain the beauty and strength in her character that enabled her
to become one of America’s most lovable sweethearts.
“Her films are really fun, they’re just good
fun,” Alsberg said. “There is no other performer like
her today who had such a good sense of humor and was as talented as
she is.”
FILM: “The Girl Who Knew Too Much: A
Tribute to Doris Day” is playing in the James Bridges Theater
and runs through Feb. 11. For more information contact the UCLA
Film and Television Archives at (310) 206-FILM or check out
www.cinema.ucla.edu.
Original graphic by JACOB LIAO/Daily Bruin Web adaptation by
ROBERT LIU/Daily Bruin Senior Staff