The Magic of Doris Day... Too Marvelous for Words
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    • Doris Day Co-Stars
    • Romance on the High Seas
    • My Dream Is Yours
    • It's a Great Feeling
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    • Tea for Two
    • The West Point Story
    • Storm Warning
    • Lullaby of Broadway
    • On Moonlight Bay
    • I'll See You in My Dreams
    • Starlift
    • The Winning Team
    • April in Paris
    • By the Light of the Silvery Moon
    • Calamity Jane
    • Lucky Me
    • Young at Heart
    • Love Me or Leave Me
    • The Man Who Knew Too Much
    • Julie
    • The Pajama Game
    • Teacher's Pet
    • The Tunnel of Love
    • It Happened to Jane
    • Pillow Talk
    • Please Don't Eat the Daisies
    • Midnight Lace
    • Lover Come Back
    • That Touch of Mink
    • Billy Rose's Jumbo
    • The Thrill of It All
    • Move Over Darling
    • Send Me No Flowers
    • Do Not Disturb
    • The Glass Bottom Boat
    • The Ballad of Josie
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Picture
Please Don’t Eat The Daisies is a light and frothy comedy, and boff family fare. Pic is episodic – as was the book by Jean Kerr – a series of highly amusing incidents strung together by a rather loose story thread, but this circumstance doesn’t militate against interest. Charles Walters’ direction maintains terrific pace. - Variety

"Doris Day is completely natural and gives one on her best performances. Genuinely realistic in her scenes, it was difficult to tell if she was acting or whether she was actually 'Kate Mackay' in the real world." - Ralph McKnight

"David used to keep asking me why I'd hired him when there were so many better actors around so I said, 'Look, I'll tell you what I'll do. Every day I have to look at the rushes, and if you're any good I'll give you a quarter.' So every morning he used to hang around like a schoolboy waiting for his 25 cents and some days I wouldn't give it to him and then he'd act a bit better the next day. But I don't think he was very happy...and David seemed much more turned in on himself than he had been before." - Joe Pasternak




Picture
Picture
Directed by  

Produced by

Written by


Starring







Music by

Cinematography

Editing

Distributed by   

Release date(s)   

Running time

Country

Language

Box-Office Gross (USA)
Charles Walters

Joe Pasternak

Jean Kerr (book)
Isobel Lennart (screenplay)

Doris Day
David Niven
Janis Paige
Spring Byington
Richard Haydn
Patsy Kelly
Jack Weston

David Rose

Robert J. Bronner

John McSweeney, Jr    

MGM

March 31, 1960

112 Minutes

USA

English

$11,100,000.00




This film was based on Jean Kerr’s popular best selling book and co-starred David Niven as a drama critic. The movie was actually fun. The popular song culled from it was called “Any Way The Wind Blows”.

Based on the popular book by Jean Kerr, Please Don't Eat the Daisies is probably the best of Doris Day's 1960's comedies--and it finds her surprisingly paired with David Niven. While the two may seem an unlikely couple, they have  extremely good on-screen chemistry, and the film neatly balances its story between the two stars so that neither overshadows the other.

Day plays Kate MacKay, mother of four hellions and the long suffering wife of esoteric drama critic Larry MacKay (Niven.) With her husband under siege by every actor, director, and producer in town, Kate decides to move the family to a home in the country--and in the process leaves her husband open to the temptations of Broadway star Deborah Vaughn (Janis Paige.) Before too long, Larry's swelling  ego threatens their happy home.

Perhaps the best scene in the movie is the confrontation between Day and Niven when Niven learns that a friend has tricked Day into using one of his old college scripts for a church production. When Niven realizes what is happening, he  explodes and refuses to allow his play to be produced. Day lays into Niven for his insensitive and self-centered attitude--the result of his new-found celebrity as a New York drama critic. The exchange between them in the school  auditorium truly showcases the polished side of Day's dramatic talent. Please Don't Eat The Daisies is charming in a way films wouldn't dare be today. The dialogue is unnaturally whip-smart Neil-Simonesque, even when it's Day talking to one of her sons about the family pet. ("All he does is eat and sleep." "He's a dog. What d'ya want from him, blank verse?").  Many eccentric, wonderful, lovable, characters appear in and out of the story making this a must see movie for movie fans.





Movie Quotes

Kate: Just once in my life I'd like to get dressed without an audience.


Kate: Go ahead honey tell her what to do with her third act.


Kate: Well he's a dog. What do you want from him blank verse.


David: Maybe you should have lost 10 pounds.

Kate: You just took a pound of dear old mother!




Songs

"Please Don't Eat the Daisies" - Performed by Doris Day

"Any Way the Wind Blows"
-  Performed by Doris Day
This  musical number , which Kate rehearses for the amateur show , had been written for the previous year's Doris Day movie, Pillow Talk (1959). The song title was even considered for the title of that film. But the song was left in limbo till this film was produced.

"Que Sera Sera" - Performed by Doris Day

"I Concentrate on You"

"I've Got You Under My Skin"


Trivia

From IMDB:

"During an argument with her husband, Kate, played by Doris Day, facetiously claims that she had a "rendezvous with Rock Hudson." Day's previous film had been the very successful Pillow Talk (1959) which starred Hudson as her romantic interest. Day and Hudson would eventually become a famous, on-screen, romantic pairing and would appear in a total of three romantic comedies together. "

"Beginning her feature-film career portraying Katharine Hepburn's mother in Little Women (1933), Spring Byington closed her movie years playing Doris Day's mother in this film. "


This movie is also referenced in the following:

Twilight Zone: Execution (1960) (TV Episode)

Theater marquee. Mystery Science Theater 3000: Stranded in Space (1991) (TV Episode)
Crow: "It's 'The Fugitive' meets 'Logan's Run,' with 'Please Don't Eat the Daisies' sprinkled in."

Mystery Science Theater 3000: Viking Women vs. the Sea Serpent (1991) (TV Episode)
Joel: "Oh, please don't eat the daisies."

Mystery Science Theater 3000: Teenage Caveman
 (1991) (TV Episode)
Joel: "Sounds like the theme song from 'Please Don't Eat the Daisies'"

Mystery Science Theater 3000: Radar Secret Service
 (1993) (TV Episode)
Mike mentions the film by name.

The Killing Floor
 (2007)
Title of movie seen in videostore towards the end of the movie.


From TCM:

"Fans of the TV series, My Three Sons (1960), will recognize Stanley Livingston, who played Chip Douglas on the sitcom. "Mack the Knife" fans, keep your eyes peeled: in an uncredited role, crooner Bobby Darin pops up briefly."



The television show Please Don't Eat the Daisies was based on this movie and ran from 1965-1967.




Movie Images

 

Movie/Song Clips

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  • Home
  • Magic Blog
  • Remembering Doris
    • Sentimental Journey Personal Tributes to the Magic of Doris Day
    • Doris Day was more complicated, and more forward-thinking, than she ever got credit for
    • Lifelong friend, business partner remembers Hollywood legend Doris Day
    • Doris Day, America's box-office sweetheart of the '50s and '60s, is dead at 97
    • Legendary actress and singer Doris Day has died
    • How Doris Day’s Movie Roles Challenged Stereotypes
    • Doris Day 'Died Peacefully' Surrounded by Her 'Loved Ones,' Says Manager
    • Secret love’s no secret anymore
    • The Matchless Presence of Doris Day
    • Doris Day's death mourned in Carmel, where icon lived
    • Remembering Doris Day
    • Dream a little dream of Doris Day
    • Inside Doris Day's Final Birthday Party at Her Home Near Carmel-by-the-Sea: 'It Was Idyllic'
    • Hollywood Pays Tribute to Doris Day
    • Doris Day, Cincinnati's girl next door, dead at 97
    • RIP Doris Day
    • R.I.P. Doris Day Decades
    • TCM Remembers Doris Day
    • Doris Day mourned by celebrities following her death: 'She was the world’s sweetheart'
    • Pine Cone Tribute
    • Doris Day rejected Lifetime Achievement Award about six times
    • Hollywood Remembers Doris Day: Paul McCartney, Tony Bennett, Goldie Hawn Sing Icon’s PraisesPage
    • Paul McCartney Remembers Doris Day: ‘She Was a True Star’
    • Doris Day Appreciation: Why Did Oscar Elude A Shining Star Of So Many Talents?Link Page
    • Paul Batura: Doris Day’s life was more than ‘Que Sera, Sera’ -- Because our ultimate future is ours to see
    • A Hip Sex Goddess Disguised as the Girl Next Doore
    • In Memoriam
  • Happy Birthday Doris!
    • 2020 Doris Tribute
    • Doris Day's 97th Birthday Celebration
    • Doris Day's 96th Birthday
    • Doris Day 95th Birthday in Carmel
    • Doris Day 92nd Birthday in Carmel
    • Doris Day 91st Birthday in Carmel
    • 90th Birthday Celebration
  • Tributes to an American Icon
    • A Tribute
    • Beneath wholesome image, Doris Day was an actor of depth
    • Doris Day Changed Us Forever
    • Why Doris Day reigns as one of the great jazz singers
    • Lucky Me
    • 60th Anniversary of “It Happened to Jane”
    • A Letter to an American Icon
    • What Singers Can Learn from Doris Day
    • Meeting My Idol
    • Doris Paved the Way for Women through Her Roles
    • Uptown Pluck
    • Reel Revival Doris Day
    • Not the Girl Next Door: Doris Day Reconsidered
    • Blonde and Blameless: Why I Love Doris Day Movies
    • A Tribute to Alma Sophia Welz Kappelhoff Day
    • Celebrity Memories
    • No More Que Será Será: Give Day Her Due
    • Doris Day Photo Gallery
  • Doris and Pets (It's Her Passion)
  • Magic Store
  • Music - Early Years
    • The Peak Years for Doris Music and Hits
    • 1957 and Beyond
    • The Studio Albums
    • Top 100 Hit Single Records
    • Doris Day Jukebox
    • Some Rare Recordings >
      • Rare Recordings, Part Two
    • Doris and Les "Those Were the Good Old Days"
    • Sheet Music Covers
  • Movies
    • Doris Day Co-Stars
    • Romance on the High Seas
    • My Dream Is Yours
    • It's a Great Feeling
    • Young Man with a Horn
    • Tea for Two
    • The West Point Story
    • Storm Warning
    • Lullaby of Broadway
    • On Moonlight Bay
    • I'll See You in My Dreams
    • Starlift
    • The Winning Team
    • April in Paris
    • By the Light of the Silvery Moon
    • Calamity Jane
    • Lucky Me
    • Young at Heart
    • Love Me or Leave Me
    • The Man Who Knew Too Much
    • Julie
    • The Pajama Game
    • Teacher's Pet
    • The Tunnel of Love
    • It Happened to Jane
    • Pillow Talk
    • Please Don't Eat the Daisies
    • Midnight Lace
    • Lover Come Back
    • That Touch of Mink
    • Billy Rose's Jumbo
    • The Thrill of It All
    • Move Over Darling
    • Send Me No Flowers
    • Do Not Disturb
    • The Glass Bottom Boat
    • The Ballad of Josie
    • Caprice
    • Where Were You When the Lights Went Out
    • With Six You Get Eggroll
    • Top 20 Girls Next Door in Movies
    • Press Books
    • Movie Memorabilia
  • Radio
  • Television
    • Doris Day Show Season 1
    • Doris Day Show Season 2
    • Doris Day Show Season 3
    • Doris Day Show Season 4
    • Doris Day Show Season 5
    • Doris Day Show Photo Gallery
    • Doris Day Specials
    • Doris Day's Best Friends
  • Interviews, Appearances on TV and Radio
    • 40's & 50's
    • 60's
    • 70's
    • 80's
    • 90's
    • 2000's & 10's
    • Radio Calls on Doris' Birthday
  • Latest News
    • 4-Legger News
  • Awards
    • Doris Day rejected Lifetime Achievement Award about six times
  • Doris Day Fashion
    • Doris Day in Pillow Talk: Couture Allure
  • Doris in Carmel
    • DayDreamers
  • Doris through the Years
    • Cover Girl (Magazine Covers)
  • Quotes by and about Doris
  • Doris Talks to Her Fans (Fan Club Tapes)
    • Fans Talk To Doris
  • Who Knows What Might Have Been
    • Who Knows What Might Have Been, PART 2
  • Creative Video Collection
  • Doris Day Collector
  • And a few rounds of applause...
  • Contact Us