I'll See You in My Dreams

I'll See You In My Dreams is one of the many songs that lyricist Gus Kahn had a hand in writing during the first half of the 20th Century. You couldn't possibly have gotten all the titles and fairly well known ones at that into a nearly two hour picture though Warner Brothers certainly gave it a try. Even if maybe a bar or two of music was played the film tried to get them in.

Gus Kahn was not as well known a public personality as say George Gershwin or Cole Porter was so I'm sure certain liberties had to have been taken. Doing a little bit of internet research I learned next to nothing about him personally before writing this review.

Kahn died in 1941 and his widow Grace LeBoy Kahn was still alive and she collaborated in the writing of this film. Danny Thomas and Doris Day play Gus and Grace and since their public personalities were a blank slate I'm sure what we saw was Danny Thomas and Doris Day on the screen pretty much as themselves. In fact Danny Thomas in his domestic scenes with Doris, their children and with wisecracking maid Mary Wickes is not any different from the Danny Thomas from the long running television family comedy that Thomas starred in.

This was the first of two projects that Doris Day starred in as the widow of a famous personality, the second being The Winning Team where she is the wife of Grover Cleveland Alexander the famous baseball pitcher. In both cases Grace LeBoy Kahn and Amy Arrants Alexander served as custodians of their husband's legacy although Grover Cleveland Alexander led a far more public life than Gus Kahn.

A lot of liberties were taken with the lives of Gus and Grace and there's no way the average moviegoer would know. But with these films it's the music that counts and the Kahn lyrics are sung beautifully by Doris, Danny, and others.

One that wasn't sung by either was Love Me Or Leave Me which in real life Gus Kahn wrote for Ruth Etting for the show Whoopee. Here Patrice Wymore plays a fictional musical comedy star who unsuccessfully tries to seduce Kahn. Her character is far more like Marilyn Miller than Etting. And coincidentally enough when Ruth Etting's story came to the screen in 1955, Doris Day played her and played her well in both a great acting performance and a great singing one as well.

Kahn wrote lyrics for many different composers, but the only one of his partners who gets a substantial role here is Walter Donaldson played by Frank Lovejoy. Donaldson apparently had a love of the sport of kings and required his partners to indulge same. When Kahn proved he could write at the clubhouse track he was in as far as Donaldson was concerned.

I never worry that these films ever get the biography right and I don't know how close they came here, but the lyrics that Gus Kahn wrote will be sung for the next millenia and that's what really counts.

The first time I saw Doris Day, was in "Pillow Talk". Since then I've grown very fond of her quirky personality on screen. She brings any role she plays to life before your eyes. This romantic comedy is a great example of her ability to make you care for a character's welfare. You want more than anything for she and her husband to succeed. Doris Day lights up the screen, as always.

This is one of my favorite musicals. Doris Day and Danny Thomas are delightful in their roles as Grace and Gus Kahn. They do a great acting job and are very believable. The music is all wonderful and really takes you back. The reason I think the story is so good and probably close to their life is that Grace Kahn was one of the advisors when the film was being made. The movie was made after Gus died but she was still around to see that the story got told as close to the truth as possible.

Mary Wickes also gives one of her best performances. Although I have never seen her give a bad one. She is just good in whatever role she has. Her sly comments are always charming and very funny and she delivers her lines so well.

I think this should be at the top of their list to produce on DVD for all of us old musical fans and collectors. I think it was out at one time on VHS but now it's not in print. I for one vote to see this one come out again. If you haven't seen this it should prove to be a very good couple of hours spent if you get a chance to see it.

This musical bio of Gus Kahn, the "Corn Belt Bard," selected by New York's Radio City Music Hall as their Christmas presentation in 1951, is one movie you can just sit back and listen to. Doris Day sings one great song after another, while Kahn, the author of countless tunes from the title number to "Ain't We Got Fun" and "Makin' Whoopee," is portrayed by Danny Thomas, in his first screen role. Day is the "Song Plugger," who believes in his greatness and eventually marries him. A virtual survey of American popular music from the days of Tin Pan Alley, vaudeville, Broadway and early sound movies, the story is swept along by the expert direction of Michael Curtiz (YANKEE DOODLE DANDY, CASABLANCA et al.). Patrice Wymore (at one time married to Errol Flynn) does a wonderful turn as a singer in Florenz Ziegfeld's "Whoopee," performing "Carolina in the Morning" and "Love Me or Leave Me," with elan. It may be corn, but there is a nostalgic glow about the production that is most appealing.

In Chicago, the aspiring songwriter Gus Kahn (Danny Thomas) seeks out Miss Grace LeBoy (Doris Day) that works in a sheet music publisher and shows his lyrics expecting her assessment. The insistent Gus calls the attention of Grace and sooner she quits her job to help him in his career. They get married, Gus Kahn rises to the stardom and they have two children.

However, Gus Kahn loses his fortune in stock market crash in the Great Depression and the couple has serious financial difficulties. But behind every great man, there is a great woman and Grace encourages him to return to a successful career.

"I'll See You in My Dreams" is a delightful drama with the biography of the songwriter Gus Kahn and his beloved wife Grace LeBoy Kahn by Michael Curtiz. The story is very beautiful and Doris Day and Danny Thomas have magnificent performances and show wonderful chemistry.

The music score is fantastic and the moment when Gus Kahn sings "It Had to Be You" is heartwarming. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Sonharei com Você" ("I Will Dream of You")