The Classic Movie Blog Association is hosting a Fabulous Films of the '50s blogathon from May 22 - 26. This is my entry for the event - click here for links to all participating member blogs.
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Doris Day began her ascent to fame and fortune as a big band singer in 1939. She scored several million-selling records during her singing career, beginning
with "Sentimental Journey," her hit with Les Brown’s band in 1945. Her next million-seller
came in 1948 with “It’s Magic,” but her biggest hits were songs from two of her
popular mid-‘50s films, “Secret Love” from Calamity
Jane (1953) and “Que Sera, Sera” from The
Man Who Knew Too Much (1955). Day’s last hit single, Everybody Loves a Lover was released in 1959. Coincidentally, Pillow Talk, a frothy sex comedy, and a new direction in type for her, was also released in 1959 and it would change
the course of her career. For the next several years she would reign as queen
of the box office starring in bubbly romcoms, most famously opposite Rock Hudson.
While she was still churning out hit records in the '50s, Day starred in
a movie that was all but forgotten once her screen persona shifted and she
became the wholesome but feisty, stylishly gowned and bouffantly
coiffed icon of the early ‘60s. The
Pajama Game (1957) is an overlooked and underappreciated pièce de résistance of a musical that
contains one of Day’s most captivating performances – along with 11 songs, quite a few of
them show-stoppers - and more.
