No, No, Nanette

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.

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.

Doris Day at her best! This film made me a fan. I love you Doris...and hope you are blessed knowing you've lifted my spirits many times. The color is out of this world in this bright cheerful film too.

Doris and Gordon have delightful musical chemistry but this cobbled together backstage comedy (that has nothing to do with "No No Nanette") is kind of a dud. Both stars fare much better in the charming "On Moonlight Bay."

Despite a few spirited dance numbers, and the energetic (if light on charisma) Gene Nelson, it feels like all the A-List musical talent was locked up over at MGM.

The reliable Eve Arden is given some C-list wisecracks, SK Sakall tries his best with his trademark adorable apoplexy, but much of the comedy unfortunately falls into the less than capable hands of Billy DeWolfe.

This very early Doris Day effort is a re-working of the stage show, "No, No, Nanette!". In order to get her chance to appear in a musical, Nanette has to promise to say 'no', for a prescribed period of time, to everything that is asked of her.

Set notionally in 1929, the period of the original show, but barely even attempting historical accuracy, the film is really only a vehicle for Doris, Warners' new star. So little regard is had to period feel that Doris performs one number in a New Look dress. Soft-focus close-ups and jerky dialogue trundle the action from one musical set piece to the next.

The opening number in the rehearsal room is well-presented, with an attractive New York cityscape beyond the window and a nice 'infinite regression' effect in the wall mirrors. Doris sings and dances appealingly throughout, especially in "Crazy Rhythm" (in which Gene Nelson has a terrific athletic dance solo).

Gordon MacRae as Tommy gives us his usual thoroughly dependable (if uninspiring) male lead, and Patrice Wymore does her customary 'beautiful bad girl' as Bea Darcy. Pauline the wise-cracking secretary is played by Eve Arden (27 years later, the principal of Rydell High in "Grease"). The 'Charleston' sequence is a knockout, and Gene Nelson's bannister dance in "Oh Me, Oh My!" is astonishingly good. The character of Mabel Wylie (Virginia Gibson) is introduced, but then not persevered with, suggesting that some plot sections were later edited out.

Verdict - A pleasant Doris vehicle with songs cleverly embedded in a so-so plot.