TCM Schedule for Sunday, August 10 -- ESSENTIALS, JR. : DORIS DAY

[Longhorn]

4:00am Never A Dull Moment (1950)
A female music critic marries a rancher and has to adjust to life out West.
Cast: Irene Dunne, Fred MacMurray, William Demarest. Dir: George Marshall. BW-89 mins, TV-G

5:30am Short Film: One Reel Wonders: Meet The Fleet (1940)
In this patriotic comedy short, three greenhorn Navy recruits, Dan, Potter and Benson, undergo basic training in San Diego. Despite the boys' lackluster behavior and inaptitude for Naval skills, their Cheif Petty Officer manages to finally get them in line. However the Medical Officer realizes that Dan has a condition that might prevent him from his commission.
C-20 mins

6:00am Love Me Or Leave Me (1955)
True story of torch singer Ruth Etting's struggle to escape the gangster who made her a star.
Cast: Doris Day, James Cagney, Cameron Mitchell. Dir: Charles Vidor. C-122 mins, TV-PG

8:03am Short Film: One Reel Wonders: Artistic Temper (1932)
BW-18 mins

8:30am Billy Rose's Jumbo (1962)
The daughter of a circus owner fights to save her father from a takeover spearheaded by the man she loves.
Cast: Doris Day, Jimmy Durante, Martha Raye. Dir: Charles Walters. C-128 mins, TV-G

10:45am My Dream Is Yours (1949)
A talent scout turns a young unknown into a radio singing star.
Cast: Jack Carson, Doris Day, Eve Arden. Dir: Michael Curtiz. C-101 mins, TV-G

12:30pm Glass Bottom Boat, The (1966)
A woman writing a scientist's biography is mistaken for a spy.
Cast: Doris Day, Rod Taylor, Arthur Godfrey. Dir: Frank Tashlin. C-110 mins, TV-G

2:30pm Romance On The High Seas (1948)
A singer on a Caribbean cruise gets mixed up in a series of romantic problems.
Cast: Doris Day, Jack Carson, Janis Paige. Dir: Michael Curtiz. C-99 mins, TV-PG

4:15pm Please Don't Eat The Daisies (1960)
A drama critic and his family try to adjust to life in the country.
Cast: Doris Day, David Niven, Janis Paige. Dir: Charles Walters. C-111 mins, TV-G

6:15pm With Six You Get Eggroll (1968)
A widow and a widower have to contend with hostile children when they fall in love.
Cast: Doris Day, Brian Keith, Barbara Hershey. Dir: Howard Morris. C-95 mins, TV-G

What's On Tonight: ESSENTIALS, JR. : DORIS DAY

8:00pm Man Who Knew Too Much, The (1956)
International spies kidnap a doctor's son when he stumbles on their assassination plot.
Cast: James Stewart, Doris Day, Brenda De Banzie. Dir: Alfred Hitchcock. C-120 mins, TV-PG

10:15pm Young At Heart (1954)
A cynical songwriter upsets the lives of three musical sisters.
Cast: Doris Day, Frank Sinatra, Gig Young. Dir: Gordon Douglas. C-117 mins, TV-G

12:15am Teacher's Pet (1958)
A tough city editor assumes a fake identity to study journalism with a lady professor who's criticized his work.
Cast: Clark Gable, Doris Day, Gig Young. Dir: George Seaton. BW-120 mins, TV-G

2:19am Short Film: One Reel Wonders: Gym College (1955)
BW-8 mins

2:30am Tunnel Of Love, The (1958)
A married couple endures endless red tape when they try to adopt a child.
Cast: Doris Day, Richard Widmark, Gig Young. Dir: Gene Kelly. BW-98 mins, TV-PG

4:15am Julie (1956)
A stewardess is stalked by her psychotic estranged husband.
Cast: Doris Day, Louis Jourdan, Barry Sullivan. Dir: Andrew L. Stone. BW-98 mins, TV-PG

[Longhorn]

1. With Six You Get Eggroll (1968)

Doris Day's last feature film, With Six You Get Eggroll (1968), is a sunny comedy about two single parents, played by Day and Brian Keith, who marry and cope with the problems of blending their families. But behind the scenes, a crisis that had been brewing for more than a decade was about to put an end to Day's film career, and send her life into turmoil.

Day's husband-manager Marty Melcher had been in charge of her career since their 1951 marriage, and it appeared that he had done an excellent job. She had gone from hit to hit, and just when it seemed that her career might be slowing down in the late 1950s, she segued into a series of sexy romantic comedies in which she tried to protect her virtue from such smooth operators as Rock Hudson and Cary Grant. Playing a middle-aged woman with children in With Six You Get Eggroll could have moved her into a new phase of her career - family comedies. During production of With Six You Get Eggroll, Melcher was ill with what appeared to be the flu. After filming ended, he got worse, but as a Christian Scientist, he refused to consult a doctor until Day insisted. Melcher was quickly hospitalized with a heart condition, and in April of 1968, he died.

After his death, Day discovered that Melcher and his business partner had embezzled and squandered her 23 million dollar fortune on bad investments. There was nothing left. Melcher had also committed her to star in a television sitcom without her knowledge. Although she did not want to do television, she felt obligated to honor the contract. She also needed the money to pay off the debt Melcher had incurred, and to fight the legal battle against Melcher's business partner, which she ultimately won. The Doris Day Show ran from 1968 to 1973. After two television specials, which were also part of the contract with CBS, Day retired.

Fortunately, Day's final film is a worthy one, much more so than such previous films as Where Were You When the Lights Went Out? (1968) and The Ballad of Josie (1967). What could have been a cliché situation in With Six You Get Eggroll benefited from sharp writing, the charm and chemistry of the two stars, and an excellent supporting cast. Comic George Carlin makes a bright film debut playing the owner of a hamburger stand. Barbara Hershey, who had starred in the television series The Monroes (1967), also made her feature film debut as Keith's sullen teen daughter. And veteran Alice Ghostley showed off her skill with verbal zingers as Day's harried housekeeper.

Critics, while not effusive about With Six You Get Eggroll, were at least mildly enthusiastic. Roger Ebert, in the Chicago Sun-Times, wrote, "It's not great, but if you like Doris Day in pleasant family comedies with lots of kids and dogs, you could do worse." Vincent Canby of the New York Times wrote of Day's performance, "There are...some hints of the very real comic talent that has, over the years, become hermetically sealed inside a lacquered personality like a butterfly in a Mason jar."

In his book Reconsidering Doris Day (2007), Tom Santopietro notes the Day-Keith chemistry: "Day and Keith make a terrific team, beautifully playing off each other; her pep gives his laconic delivery some zing, and he calms her down through some nicely calibrated understatement." Santopietro regrets what might have been. "It makes her subsequent retirement from feature films all the more frustrating because this movie clearly demonstrates that with good material, she could still rise to the occasion - and then some."

Producer: Martin Melcher
Director: Howard Morris
Screenplay: Gwen Bagni, Paul Dubov, R.S. Allen, Harvey Bullock, based on a story by Bagni and Dubov
Cinematography: Ellsworth Fredericks, Harry Stradling, Jr.
Art Direction: Cary Odell
Music: Robert Mersey
Film Editing: Adrienne Fazan
Cast: Doris Day (Abby McClure), Brian Keith (Jake Iverson), Pat Carroll (Maxine Scott), Barbara Hershey (Stacy Iverson), George Carlin (Herbie Fleck), Alice Ghostley (Molly the maid), John Findlater (Flip McClure), Elaine Devry (Cleo Ruskin), Herb Voland (Harry Scott), Jamie Farr (Jo Jo), William Christopher (Zip 'Cloud'). C-94m.

by Margarita Landazuri

[Matilda]

2. I know it's fashionable to rubbish Doris Day in today's climate,

and I know in those comedies with Cary Grant and particularly with Rock Hudson she was too squeaky-
clean to be true, but I think she had a good sense of comedy. Her timing was excellent (perhaps due
to her singing training?), and although the roles she played were a bit unbelievable (the eternal
virgins), she never was.

I can still watch those old films - I don't get much involved in the stories, but I enjoy watching
her, and in fact she and her co-stars were usually backed up by other good comic actors of the time,
and the result was enjoyable viewing. They were certainly no sillier than a lot of modern comedy
films, and I think she deserves more credit than she usually gets.

[Longhorn]

3. I watched Romance on the High Seas, her first movie, and With Six, You Get Eggroll,

her last, and I couldn't agree with you more. She didn't stray far from the same character but that could be said for a lot of actors, such as Clark Gable and Robert Mitchum. But that character did have a range of believable emotions. I always enjoy watching her movies.

I had never seen With Six, You Get Eggroll, and noticed that Jamie Farr and William Christopher of M.A.S.H. fame had small roles. It makes you realize the networking that goes on -- meeting and working with an actor in a previous production can help you land a dream job later!

:hi:

[SurveyResearch2008]

4. She was awesome back in the day.

My dad once told me that he was attracted to my mom because she was "a Doris Day type".