Thank You Doris Mary Ann Kappelhoff!

Going through receipts and bank statements is very painful. Entirely my fault of course. If I had kept up all last year (something I promise myself I am going to do every year so the pain index on doing my taxes stays relatively tolerable but so far it's still a promise) they would have been filed months ago. Luckily I still have a little over a week to get it done. 

However, two very important factors are helping me through it this year. One is my wonderful husband. The other is Doris Mary Ann Kappelhoff, better known as Doris Day. The picture below captures the quintessential Doris look, sweetly beaming with a devilish grin.

Photo shamelessly lifted from Wikipedia.

I love Doris Day. I can watch her movies over and over and over without getting bored. She makes me laugh, she makes me cry, she makes me smile, and she makes me sing (no worries, the only one getting offended is my cat).      

Doris wanted to be a dancer but was badly injured in a car accident. She discovered that she could sing while recovering. Her life story is pretty neat, check out an abbreviated version here.

I am a huge classic movie fan. It's just my fabulous luck that this is Doris' birthday week (April 3, 1923), and we are being treated to a variety of her films this week on Turner Classic Movies. I was delighted to learn that we share a birthday month. (Sometimes it's the little things!)

Among the highlights of my tax preparation distractions: 

Move Over Darling - This 1963 film also stars James Garner, Chuck Connors, Don Knotts, and the always amusing Thelma Ritter. It is a remake of the equally entertaining My Favorite Wife with Cary Grant and Irene Dunn. Doris' character pays homage to the original in a scene with (I believe it was) Thelma's character. See if you can spot it!

Do Not Disturb - Doris starred with Rod Taylor in this 1965 film. She gets to play a wife, a mistress and a girl who's had way too much to drink.

Billy Rose's Jumbo- One of my favorite movie songs is in this 1962 film, "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World." It is a carousel-worthy tune sung by Doris and her smolderingly-hot co-star Stephen Boyd. Jimmy Durante plays Doris' father in this movie.

Midnight Lace - Rex Harrison broke my heart by playing the bad guy in this 1960 drama. I loved him in My Fair Lady and it was rough on my poor heart to see him so evil, especially to poor Doris. The famously talented Myrna Loy also appears in this movie. It was remade in 1981 starring Mary Crosby, daughter of Bing.

Love Me or Leave Me - I think this is one of my favorite Doris Day films. She co-stars with Jimmy Cagney, and they both deliver. If you watch it, make sure you have a box of tissues handy. The movie tells the story of Ruth Etting, a torch singer from the twenties and thirties.

Doris had a list of co-stars a girl could only dream of. Besides the stars mentioned above, the list also includes Lauren Bacall, Kirk Douglas, Cary Grant, Danny Thomas, Ginger Rogers, Ronald Reagan, David Niven, Paul Lynde, Dom De Luise, Jack Lemmon and Ray Bolger.

Happy Birthday Week, Doris, and thanks!