Tom Santopietro - Considering Doris Day

H OLLYWOOD , 1947: D ORIS D AY IS CRYING . S OBBING , actually. Here she is, living out every American girls fantasyscreen testing to star in the Warner Bros. feature film musical Romance on the High Seas . And shes not testing with any Johnny-come-lately director, either: Her test is being directed by none other than Hollywood legend Michael Curtiz of Casablanca fame. Theres just one problem: Singing Embraceable You, Doris Day breaks down in hysterics. Mascara smeared, nose running, she stumbles out of the room. In his heavily accented Hungarian version of Americanese, a nonplussed Curtiz asks Days agent Al Levy, Whats the matter with hershe sick? Informed that she is having marital difficulties, Curtiz is relieved that the problem is not even more serious, a reaction that is short-lived when Day returns, begins singing, and breaks down in sobs once again. At which point Curtiz begins to ask Doris Day a series of questions, the responses to which startle this worldly A-list director.

Accustomed to hearing every fabrication under the sun designed to land a desperate aspiring actress a starring role in Hollywood, Michael Curtiz encounters something most unusual from Doris Day: the truth. Certainly never before has Curtiz asked a Hollywood aspirant about her acting experience, and instead of hearing exaggerations and half-truths about brilliant credits, he hears the neophyte actress state: Ive never acted. I dont know a thing about acting. It soon became even more unusual, because asked if shed like to become an actress, Day half-heartedly responded, Oh, I suppose. I guess it might be interesting.

Shes being tested by a Hollywood giant and the best she can muster is, Oh, I suppose? Its a scene that no screenwriter could possibly invent. Its too impossible to believe, and yet the clichd Hollywood film image of a movieland wannabe eagerly putting her best foot forward in order to impress the all-powerful director does in fact morph into this very real-life picture of Doris Days sobs and tear-stained makeup. The image of this big-band singer who mutters I suppose is hilariousand a bit frightening in its implications. This girl couldnt pretend. She was without guile, and its a very big reason why she went on to become the biggest damn female star in postWorld War II America. Well, that and her pretty freckled face, knockout figure, one-in-a-million singing voice, and knack for playing comedy, drama, musical, and farce, all with absolutely no sign of strain or effort.

But thats getting ahead of the story. At the time of the screen test, Doris Day felt compelled to tell Michael Curtiz that she was depressed over her newly failed marriage and just wanted to reunite with her mother and young son waiting back in Cincinnati. Well, Curtiz must have thought, this is interesting, a reaction that could only have been heightened when Day asked what part she would be playing. The lead, Curtiz replied, whereupon Days immediate response was an incredulous, How can I possibly be the lead? I havent had any experienceI dont know how to act. That seems pretty crazy to me. Agent Al Levy was, in Days own words, having a heart attack, but Michael Curtiz simply stated, You let me decide that, and a screen test was slated for the very next day. This Hollywood veteran knew he was dealing with someone most unusual, someone his intuition told him could be a very big star: a genuine, artifice-free woman whose personality would leap off the screen.

And what happened on that most nerve-racking of all days, the day a Hollywood screen test would decide Doris Days future? Well, on a day when most young women would have been experiencing a heady mix of fear, adrenaline, and overwhelming excitement, Doris Day fell asleep under the hair dryer while the Warner Bros. makeup and hair department got her ready for the opportunity of her life. Already depressed about the state of her personal life, Day became even more upset when she awoke to view her finished hair and makeup. Heavily made-up, her natural blond hair virtually cemented into place, Doris Day thought she looked awful. This wasnt just three strikes and youre out. This was ten strikes andyoure still in the ball game, because Michael Curtiz was one smart Hollywood director and stated simply, It was not like actress reading. This was something I was not used to. The little lady read like human being.

The screen test began, and remarkably enoughwell, maybe it wasnt so much astonishing as it was kismetDoris Day soared. She could find her marks without even looking for themit was intuition. She found it all effortless, thoroughly enjoyable, and in her own words felt a nice exhilaration at hearing the word Action! and then responding to the pressure of the rolling camera. Doris Day was a naturalshe loved filmmaking, the camera loved her, and so what did she do after this terrific screen test? She promptly booked a reservation for Cincinnati and called her mother to tell her when shed arrive. This young womanonly twenty-fourwas either clueless or the ultimate realist. Maybe she was a little of both, but the next day her phone rang and actor Jack Carson, the star of Romance on the High Seas , was on the phone to tell Doris Day that he believed the part was hers. At which point hometown Cincinnati went the way that hometown Allentown, Pennsylvania, did for ingenue-about-to-turn-star Peggy Sawyer in the ultimate backstage musical, 42nd Street: It went the way of no way, no how, because in the space of that very short screen test a star was born, a star who evolved over the next three decades into nothing short of a worldwide icon who spelled AMERICA to audiences around the world: Doris Mary Anne von Kappelhoff was on her way to becoming not just the nations biggest-selling female recording star for over a decade but also one of the biggest box office attractions in the history of Hollywood. This was not just stardom. This was superstardomthe province of genuine icons.

Hair and makeup test for her very first film, Romance on the High Seas (note the original title). Doris hated the Warner Bros. lacquered look. Photofest

Just how big a star did Doris Day become? The answer is simple: Doris Day is the biggest female box office star in Hollywood history. Thats right. In history. She spent ten years ranked as one of the top ten attractions in the country, including four years at number onea record for any actress, ever. Her closest competitors in this category were not exactly slouches in terms of popular appeal: Betty Grable spent ten consecutive years in the top ten, and Elizabeth Taylor ranked in the top ten for a grand total of ten years, but neither of them matched Days record of four years at number one. Further proof of Days enormous appeal came in the form of the annual survey of film exhibitors and distributors, the Quigley Poll, which ranked her as the top female box office draw of the 1960sonly John Wayne ranked ahead of her. She was the only woman to appear in Variety s 1980 list of the top ten all-time box office attractions (John Wayne held down the number one position). Even more significant, at the height of her popularity, no one ever cast a bigger shadow in the entertainment world, for the simple reason that she was also the number one female recording star in the nation from the mid-1950s through the early 1960s, garnering multiple gold albums. True, beginning in the early 1960s, Barbra Streisand sold more records, but in overall career terms, Streisands clout at the box office never topped Days.