The Doris Mary Anne Kappelhoff Special

This special was a TV triumph for Doris Day. It was called a polished musical hour. Doris interacted with the TV audience and was pleasant and herself. Her two production numbers during a stills in motion fashion show were delightful. Her and Perry Como singing together was seductive and almost a dreamy feel to it. Her talking about her movie crying scenes were funny and Rock Hudson turned up with a surprise visit. Her singing Both Sides Now and Sentimental Journey made you drift into the emotion of the singer. Her biking in the opening were uplifting and enjoyable with some new songs throw in. This special was top notch material that Doris wasn't offered much on television sadly. Her Sunshine Meledy and The Way We Were form her second special is notable. Along with her music videos with her Son from her cable series. This TV outing puts Doris where she belongs as a great entertainer in all aspects. The show was taped in 1970 but did not air until 1971. Why that was is anybody's guess because this special did well for CBS and the ratings. It was written is was a nightmare to tape because Doris wanted the set to be a duplicate of her backyard in Beverly Hills. She is a perfectionist and the nightmare turned into Magic! Doris also sings her other hit song It's Magic and it is:)

I am a Doris Day fan and have been for fifty some years but this special which was like many made at the time to counteract the revolutionary music and feelings of the sixties is much too syrupy. If you want to see her sing her songs rent her movies and you'll get much better production values. I am also a Perry Como fan and they sing well together but look closely when they sing together. Doris is always trying to look Perry in the eye and kiss him and he is always avoiding her gaze and her kisses. He has never been demonstrative that way and is clearly uncomfortable with her advances whether they were for fun or more serious. In other words you are uncomfortable for him. I wonder if they even had a live audience. It is well known that Doris did not like to perform before a live audience and much of the laughter and applause does sound canned. Watch the set pieces and you can see that they are suddenly transported from sitting on the grass to Perry sitting on a pillow or something. So it was not shot live even and was stitched together later by a poor editor. If you want to learn more about Doris from this DVD you won't. Better to read the new book about her, that I am reading and watch her movies.

Her eponymously-titled TV sitcom a hit for CBS, Doris Day filmed this musical special in April 1970 for the network because, as executive producer Don Genson remembers it, she didn't have anything else planned for the summer (Day-historians have been led to believe it was part of the television contract her ailing husband had signed her to without her knowledge). Opening with an outdoor segment featuring Doris on her bicycle (cruising the neighborhood and doing figure eights around motorcycle cops driving in Busby Berkeley-styled unison), we are treated with Day singing a medley of then-current tunes such as "The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy)"--a welcome idea of her son's, Terry Melcher, also a producer. Once inside the studio, designed like an outdoor park filled with flowers, Day alternately lip-syncs to prerecorded tracks or wings it live, and she rarely hits an off note. Still--and she admits this--her collection of outfits were a big priority; Doris is alternately fashioned like an amusement park tour guide, a lady of leisure, and an up-to-date gal about town. There's even a fashion slide show with Doris narrating auctioneer-style (accented with canned laughter from a non-existent audience). Her guest is Perry Como, who is low-keyed and charming, as well as her collection of dogs and a cameo by Rock Hudson. The special is great fun to watch on DVD, as almost the entire hour is repeated but with extras and outtakes (including a waltz to "Que Sera, Sera" and Doris in lovely pink chiffon that was inexplicably left on the cutting-room floor). The joshing with Como aside, Doris tends to comically rely on her patented funny faces for effect, and the dancing is so good one wants more of it. But when our star croons the standards ("It's Magic", "Sentimental Journey"), the years that have intervened simply melt away.

She only ever made two variety 'specials', this was the first and probably the best, some of the great old Doris Day standards as well as a few newer ones, Perry Como is as laid back as ever, a surprise guest and some very energetic dancing by Doris at 47, gotta say the 'Them Was the Good Old Days' number is my favourite albeit too short! Did anyone notice that the opening credits has her name spelt as Kapplehoff, every where else I've seen it including here, it's spelt Kappelhoff, I'm guessing the former is correct, You'd assume Doris would have known how to spell her own real name?

If you are not already in an assisted living facility you will be by the time this show is over. To begin with you've got music that is strictly of the doctor's waiting room variety. Then there is the sanitized 60s flower motif that screams "cheery hospital corridor". And finally you've got Mr. Retirement Home himself (i.e. Perry Como) as Doris' guest. So park the walker, balance the dinner tray, adjust the ol hearing device, take a celebratory swig of Manichevitz or apricot cordial and enjoy.