Tea for Two

Tea for Two (David Butler, 1950) - I like Doris Day, but her cheery singing and cartoonish sensibility can't save this average musical, which is hamstrung by excessive comic relief, an unsuitable setting (the onset of the Great Depression - what an amusing scenario) and characters it's very difficult to root for. The set-up is this: Day dreams of being a Broadway star, and will get her big break if she can win a bet with uncle S.Z. Sakall to say "no" to every question she's asked for 36 hours. Not only do the writers fail to mine this promising premise to convincing dramatic ends, but they hardly wring any laughs out of it either. It's left instead for Billy "Oh no, not Billy De Wolfe" De Wolfe to provide the comic relief, which is not a situation I would like to revisit any time soon.

The lack of thought that went into the script is epitomised by the staggeringly artless way a gaggle of fun late-'20s songs are crowbarred into the narrative. Still, the film is lit by that good score, much of it performed by frequent co-stars Day and Gordon McRae, and some impressive hoofing from Gene Nelson - with his staircase dance the obvious high spot. Terence Davies' favourite character actress, Eve Arden, snipes agreeably in support. Tea for Two is based on the stage musical No, No, Nanette (filmed in 1930 and 1940), which is the show-within-a-film here.

No No Nanette, each stage and screen version, of it is one of those items that's going to have an eternal life on stage. This version of it, retitled with the best known number in the show is one of the best tellings of the story of a girl who has to keep saying no to all questions.

Tea for Two will be sung as long as people have voices. Doris Day and Gordon MacRae sing a nice version of it here, but the primo version of this song is done by Bing Crosby and Connee Boswell for Decca Records.

The whole ensemble performs quite nicely and settles into the roles that we've come to know and love them. Eve Arden as the wisecracking best friend, S.Z.Sakall as the confused old world uncle, Billy DeWolfe as the fussbudget conman producer just settle comfortably into their parts.

If on Jeopardy the answer is the most frequent leading man for Doris Day, phrase the question Gordon MacRae. They did four films together and sang beautifully in all of them. Of course in this one Vincent Youmans gave them a great score, but Warner Brothers had a song catalog themselves and Gordon MacRae sings I Only Have Eyes for You and does it well. In fact in a lot of Doris Day's films, the Brothers Warner dusted off some of their old song hits.

Gene Nelson appeared in a few Warner Brothers musicals. A very talented dancer, he should have come along when musicals were at their height. He'd be better known today.

You can't go wrong with Tea for Two, the song or the film.

This film peaks near its beginning with a production number featuring Doris Day and Gene Nelson dancing with both an infinity mirrored wall and the New York skyline showing outside (of some huge windows). The later production number, a blend of "No, No Nanette" and "Tea for Two", is tellingly anti-climatic.

The plot is easy - Ms. Day has to say "No" to everything for a day. But, the movie goes on and on with several songs and dances having little/nothing to do with the story. Other characters and sub-plots are thrown in; with all the extra songs and dances, I have no trouble believing everything in this film was not in the original "No, No Nanette". Some of it all is very good - Day and MacRae sing well, Mr. Nelson dances well, and Eve Arden does her thing - but this feels more like a string of songs and scenes than a movie.

***** Tea for Two (9/1/50) David Butler ~ Doris Day, Gordon MacRae, Gene Nelson, Eve Arden

DORIS DAY and GORDON MacRAE are a pleasant team again in TEA FOR TWO, this time given some nifty song and dance routines and a supporting cast of old pros--Gene Nelson, Eve Arden, S.Z. Sakall, Patrice Wymore, and Billy deWolfe. The fluffy plot has Day promising Sakall that she'll say "no" to any question posed over the week-end, but is only an excuse for some wonderful old-time songs and some talented dancing by Day and Gene Nelson.

Day proves what a fine vocalist she is--and Gordon MacRae proves he's no slouch with his pleasant baritone voice. Gene Nelson does some fancy footwork and there are comic highlights with Eve Arden tossing off one-liners with her usual skill and Billy deWolfe reminding us what a wonderful comedian he could be with the right material.

Pleasant, above average entertainment, well worthwhile if you like these kind of fluffy musicals.

Doris Day was involved in many musicals at Warners from 1948 onwards, and 'Tea for Two' is a typical example. Set in the stock market crash of 1929, this variation on 'putting on a show' has Day as both an heiress and a stage-struck singer and dancer, supported by her friends Jimmy the composer (Gordon MacRae, later to appear to good effect in 'Oklahoma' and 'Carousel'), and Tommy the hoofer (Gene Nelson, the cut-price Fred Astaire who ended up directing Elvis' minor musicals).

The score is nice but not that memorable - 'Tea for Two', 'No, No, Nanette', 'I Want To Be Happy', 'Do, Do, Do' - while the story, loosely based on the play No, No, Nanette concerns rivalries, lost investments, and a comic uncle (SZ Sakall, who played the same part in countless films throughout the 1940s and 1950s). Billy de Wolfe and Patrice Wymore round out the cast as a heel of a producer and his sniping leading lady.

As a film, 'Tea for Two' passes the time and boasts some great costumes and colour, even if most of the film doesn't have a 1929 feel. And the bookending sequences, with Sakall telling a tale to a roomful of children, doesn't quite sit with the rest of the material. But it isn't bad.