Billy Rose's Jumbo

JUMBO [1962 / 2013] [Warner Archive Collection] [Blu-ray] Jump For Joy It’s Jumbo! The Wonderful Songs of Richard Rodgers & Lorenz Hart!Billy Rose's ‘JUMBO’ is a mighty talented elephant. It's also the ideal word to describe this big-time, big-top extravaganza bursting with laughter and love, sang and dance, circus stunts and star power.Radiant Doris Day as Kitty Wonder sings beloved Richard Rodgers & Lorenz Hart tunes and does her own horseback riding tricks in a razzle-dazzle musical based on Billy Rose's original stage production spectacular and featuring circus sequences directed by Busby Berkeley. The story revolves around a circus owner Jimmy Durante as Anthony 'Pop' Wonder, who was the star of the 1935 Broadway original show and with only two real attractions, his daughter Kitty Wonder [Doris Day] and the popular pachyderm Jumbo the elephant. Three-ring pandemonium breaks out when a handsome rival Sam Rawlins [Stephen Boyd] infiltrates the circus, and father, daughter and Dad's wise-cracking fiancé Lulu [Martha Raye] are suddenly at risk of losing the greatest show on earth!FILM FACT No.1: 1963 Academy Awards®: Nomination: Best Music, Scoring of Music, Adaptation or Treatment for George Stoll. 1963 Golden Globes: Nomination: Best Motion Picture for a Musical. Nomination: Best Actress in a Comedy or Musical for Doris Day. Nomination: Best Actor in a Comedy or Musical for Stephen Boyd. Nomination: Best Actor in a Comedy or Musical for Jimmy Durante. Nomination: Best Supporting Actress for Martha Raye. 1963 Laurel Awards: Nomination: Top Musical [4th place]. Nomination: Top Male Musical Performance for Jimmy Durante [5th place]. 1963 Writers Guild of America: Nomination: Best Written American Musical for Sidney Sheldon.FILM FACT No.2: Stephen Boyd's singing voice was dubbed by James Joyce. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer bought the rights to the musical soon after it reached the stage. In 1947 Charles Waters requested he make the film of the musical as his first assignment; the studio agreed. In 1950 it was announced Arthur Freed would produce and Howard Keel and Jimmy Durante would star. Production was held up due to litigation. Years later Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer made the film. The film ‘JUMBO’ was based on a musical play by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur and produced by Billy Rose and was performed at The New York Hippodrome in 1933.Cast: Doris Day, Stephen Boyd, Jimmy Durante, Martha Raye, Dean Jagger, Joseph Waring, Lynn Wood, Charles Watts, James Chandler, Robert Burton, Wilson Wood, Norman Leavitt, Grady Sutton, Sydney (Jumbo the Elephant) (uncredited), Jimmy Ames (uncredited), John Astin (uncredited), Billy Barty (uncredited), Herman Belmonte (uncredited), Nesdon Booth (uncredited), Danny Borzage (uncredited), Jack Boyle (uncredited), Chet Brandenburg (uncredited), George Bruggeman (uncredited), John Burnside (uncredited), Sue Casey (uncredited), James J. Casino (uncredited), Fred Coby (uncredited), Gene Coogan (uncredited), Chuck Couch (uncredited), Walt Davis (uncredited), Roy Engel (uncredited), Wesley Gale (uncredited), Joseph Glick (uncredited), Christian Haren (uncredited), John Hart (uncredited), Bill Hines (uncredited), Shep Houghton (uncredited), Michael Kostrick (uncredited), Frank Kreig (uncredited), Ralph Lee (uncredited), C.J. Madison (uncredited), Kermit Maynard (uncredited), Mike Morelli (uncredited), Paul Power (uncredited), Paul Ravel (uncredited), Otto Reichow (uncredited), Churchill Ross (uncredited), Jerry Schumacher (uncredited), J. Lewis Smith (uncredited), Olan Soule (uncredited), Paul Wexler Robert B. Williams (uncredited) and Harry Wilson (uncredited)The Circus Performers: Ron Henon, The Carlisles, The Pedrolas, The Wazzan Troupe, The Hannefords, Billy Barton, Corky Cristiani, Victor Julian, Richard Berg, Joe Monahan, Miss Lani, Adolph Dubsky, Pat Anthony, Janos Prohaska and The BarbettesDirector: Charles WaltersProducers: Joe Pasternak, Roger Edens and Martin MelcherScreenplay: Sidney Sheldon (screenplay), Ben Hecht (book) and Charles MacArthur (book)Lyrics: Richard Rodgers & Lorenz HartMusic: Alexander Courage (uncredited), Conrad Salinger (uncredited), George Stoll (uncredited), Leo Arnaud (uncredited), Robert Franklyn (uncredited), Robert Van Eps (uncredited) and Roger Edens (uncredited)Cinematography: William H. Daniels, A.S.C. (Director of Photography)Image Resolution: 1080p [Metrocolor]Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1 [Panavision]Audio: English: 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio and English: 2.0 Dolby Digital Stereo AudioSubtitles: English SDHRunning Time: 124 minutesRegion: All RegionsNumber of discs: 1Studio: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer / Warner Archive CollectionAndrew’s Blu-ray Review: Billy Rose’s ‘JUMBO’ [1962] film is set in the early 1900s, and the Wonder Circus is run by Anthony 'Pop' Wonder [Jimmy Durante] and his daughter Kitty Wonder [Doris Day] with their main attraction Jumbo the Elephant. The circus is floundering financially and unpaid performers are quitting in droves to join other circus shows. Kitty Wonder hires a drifter Sam Rawlins [Stephen Boyd] who does odd jobs and various performances. Kitty Wonder falls for Sam Rawlins, but does he have the circus’s best interest in mind?The original musical play “Jumbo” had produced three hit songs: "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World," "Little Girl Blue" and "My Romance." To those and other songs from the original score, Doris Day added another Richard Rodgers & Lorenz Hart standard, "This Can't Be Love." The numbers were filmed impeccably, with Busby Berkeley staging an impressive array of circus stunts to accompany Doris Day's first song, "Over and Over Again," and director Charles Walters making the camera dance with the performers as he had in his earlier films. This wonderfully warm-hearted Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer musical about circus rivalries is based on showman Billy Rose's Broadway extravaganza that actually featured an elephant on the stage.The film ‘JUMBO’ is a wonderful film, artistically and technically and Doris Day was the perfect choice to play the lovely Kitty Wonder, co-owner of the Wonder Circus. The circus is near bankruptcy, due to the compulsive gambling by her father, Anthony 'Pop' Wonder and a threatened takeover by the rival Noble Circus is planned. Owner, John Noble [Dean Jaggar], plants his son, Sam Rawlins, among the Wonder Circus clan to obtain inside information in order to hasten the proposed coup. Sam Rawlins reluctantly falls in love with the beautiful young co-owner Kitty Wonder, later feels guilty about his dad’s underhanded tactics and decides to break with the John Noble plan.John Noble [Dean Jaggar] is successful in his efforts and the Wonder Circus is shut down with all of its assets, including its star attraction, the incredible elephant, Jumbo, confiscated. Heartbroken and defeated, Kitty Wonder, her father and his fiancée, Lulu, decide to rebuild the business from the ground level starting with two sticks and a blanket which is equivalent to dancing for pennies on a street corner. They receive an unexpected visit from Sam Rawlins who miraculously produces Jumbo and together, the four performers, with renewed confidence and ambition, roll up their sleeves and embark on a new journey.To play Jimmy Durante's lovelorn girlfriend, Martha Raye returned to the screen after a 15-year absence during which she had become a top television star. The circus routines gave Martha Raye a chance to show off her still shapely legs, while she also shared a lyrical duet with Doris Day that reminded fans she was one of the best singers in the business. Martha Raye was so thrilled with the role that she re-located to the West Coast, hoping her part would lead to other film offers.Throughout the ‘JUMBO’ original film run, Billy Rose was besieged with claims that the plot had been stolen from a variety of sources, though nobody could make enough of a case to get even a token settlement out of him. When he was negotiating the sale of film rights to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, however, Ben Hecht, who was angry at Billy Rose for re-writing his script at the last minute, told studio executives that he had, indeed, borrowed the plot from another play. As a result, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer dropped its offer from $200,000 to $50,000. Desperate to break even on the show, Rose had to accept. Then the studio sat on the property for almost three decades.JUMBO MUSIC TRACK LISTWHY CAN’T I (Music by Richard Rodgers and Lyrics by Lorenz Hart)OVER AND OVER AGAIN (Music by Richard Rodgers and Lyrics by Lorenz Hart) [Performed by Doris Day]THIS CAN’T BE LOVE (Music by Richard Rodgers and Lyrics by Lorenz Hart) [Performed by Doris Day]CIRCUS ON PARADE (Music by Richard Rodgers and Lyrics by Lorenz Hart) [Performed by Jimmy Durante, Martha Raye, Doris Day and Chorus]MY ROMANCE (Music by Richard Rodgers and Lyrics by Lorenz Hart) [Performed by Doris Day]LITTLE GIRL BLUE (Music by Richard Rodgers and Lyrics by Lorenz Hart) [Performed by Doris Day]THE MOST BEAUTIFUL GIRL IN THE WORLD (Music by Richard Rodgers and Lyrics by Lorenz Hart) [Performed by Stephen Boyd, but dubbed by James Joyce]SAWDUST AND SPANGLES AND DREAMS (Music and Lyrics by Richard Rodgers and Roger Edens) [Performed by Stephen Boyd, Doris Day, Jimmy Durante and Martha Raye]Blu-ray Image Quality – Warner Archive Collection has once again brought us this wonderful brilliant Blu-ray disc with a stunning 1080p Metrocolor image presentation and is helped with an equally impressive 2.40:1 aspect ratio. This Blu-ray disc also brings home all the rich detail and beautiful lush colours for which Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer musicals were noted in a film-like presentation that confirms that the Warner Archive Collections commitment to top quality. The meticulously crafted sets and costumes of the Wonder Circus are visible in all their amazing colours. The rich primary colours are as well represented as the pastels of the butterfly costumes used for a particular act, and the deep black colour of Jumbo's cloaks and the costumes of the high-wire performer known as "Mantino" are deep, silky and very solid that really gives you that magical experience of both the Wonder Circus and of course this wonderful Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer musical.Blu-ray Audio Quality – Warner Archive Collection brings us just one standard 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio track, and of course has brought this audio track up-to-date, to give you a wonderful experience and all the joys of the Circus World. The opening orchestral overture has a lushly harmonious presence, but the real magic begins with the opening chorus of circus workers hammering tent poles rhythmically into the ground, with the percussion instruments that represent the hammering are tight and precise. The overall presentation has clarity and precision beyond anything available on the live stage, even with today's sophisticated audio systems, but overall the sound tends to be with the three front speakers, but now and again you do get dramatic background sounds in the two rear speakers. Rarely have this circus film been accompanied by an orchestra of such depth and versatility. The vocal performances have been mixed very well enough and the transition from dialogue to studio-recorded singing does sound really good. So all in all Warner Archive Collection has done a superb job and brought this film bang up-to-date for new audiences to enjoy.Blu-ray Special Features and Extras:Special Feature: Jerry and Jumbo [1953] [1080p] [1.37:1] [7:05] A baby elephant rolls off the circus train and right into Tom's bed. He quickly allies himself with Jerry, and with a rolled-up trunk and some paint, passes himself off as a giant mouse. The two then keep trading places to the bafflement of Tom. This was a Tom and Jerry 74th one reel animated cartoon short, and the characters were originally created in 1951. The animated cartoon is directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera and produced by Fred Quimby with music by Scott Bradley. It was animated by Kenneth Muse, Irven Spence and Ed Barge with backgrounds by Robert Gentle and was released to theatres on February 21, 1953 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.Special Feature: Yours Sincerely [Musical Short] [1933] [1080i] [1.37:1] [19:35] The film ‘Yours Sincerely’ is an abbreviated version of the Rodgers & Hart Broadway show “Spring Is Here.” Betty Braley [Nancy Welford] is being courted by several men. Although she seems to favour Terry Clayton [Richard Keene], a seemingly carefree but poor man, her independent hotelier father Peter Braley [Dudley Clements] wants her to marry a millionaire, namely Steve Alden [Lanny Ross]. Betty Braley goes along with her father's wishes and focuses her attentions on Steve Alden's romantic advances. Betty Braley's sister, Mary Jane Braley [Pearl Osgood], wants to help Terry Clayton court Betty Braley, by showing Betty Braley what she is missing in Terry Clayton by making Betty Braley jealous. In the process of Steve courting Betty Braley, and Terry pretending to court Mary Jane Braley, Steve Alden and Betty Braley do fall in love, and Terry Clayton and Mary Jane Braley also fall in love. But Steve Alden, Terry Clayton and Peter Braley aren't all that they appear on the surface. Overall it is okay, but the acting is a little stilted and as to the audio presentation, it is a very scratchy audio presentation.Theatrical Trailer [1962] [1080i] [2.40:1] [3:19] This is the Original Theatrical Trailer of the film ‘JUMBO’ and unfortunately the image presentation is not the best looking presentation, and a crying shame they could not of upgraded the print quality.BONUS: The Original Overture has now been restored to its proper place at the start of the film, and now can be seen for the first time in more than 40 years. So what you get to view is exactly 3:45 minutes of the OVERTURE that precedes the feature film and you get to view an “OVERTURE” title card instead of just the usual black screen and you get to hear a compilation of the main songs in the film, with just the composed music score, so enjoy.Finally, the film ‘JUMBO’ is counted among the greatest circus film ever to come out of Hollywood and is compared to such films as ‘The Greatest Show on Earth,’ ‘Trapeze,’ ‘Carnival Story’ and ‘Circus World.’ Charles Walters directed the picture with Joe Pasternak and Martin Melcher producing. Doris Day was nominated as “Best actress in a musical or comedy” at the Hollywood Foreign Press Awards but lost to Rosalind Russell for ‘Gypsy.’ However, Doris Day walked away with the evening’s coveted World’s Most Popular Film Actress accolade again. Meanwhile, Billy Rose's ‘JUMBO’ film is highly recommended as a superior Blu-ray presentation of a well-crafted Hollywood musical that will bring so much joy to a new generation.Andrew C. Miller – Your Ultimate No.1 Film AficionadoLe Cinema ParadisoUnited Kingdom

THE DORIS DAY COLLECTION: VOLUME ONE is huge and includes some of the lady's greatest, and most underrated, movies. Let us examine them in chronological order.LULLABY OF BROADWAY (1950) is a dreamy Technicolor musical that takes place all over a studio-set Manhattan, including a Greenwich Village nightclub and a Washington Square townhouse. Doris Day has an off-again, on-again romance with Gene Nelson, but sings the Oscar-winning title song with him at the end. Doris and alcoholic singer Gladys George (superb performance) have a mother-daughter relationship. George does a memorable "An Old Shanty in Old Shanty Town." Nelson has a solo of "Zing Went the Strings of My Heart." There are literally ten songs in 92 minutes of running time. Doris has a solo of "You're Getting to be a Habit With Me." Providing fun support are S. Z. Sakall as a beer tycoon and Florence Bates as his wife. S. Z. keeps running into debt bankrolling actresses and shows. The ending is a happy show-stopper with the exhilarating title song. David Butler directed. Minimal bonuses include a Doris Day trailer camp for six of her early movies.Though it is in a Doris Day DVD boxed set, Michael Curtiz' YOUNG MAN WITH A HORN (1950) is really one of Kirk Douglas' best early films. It is narrated by Hoagy Carmichael at a piano and goes back to Douglas' Rick Martin as a child addicted to jazz music and a school runaway. He grows up to be a man obsessed with playing the trumpet (dubbed by Harry James) better than anyone else in the world. Worldly intellectual Amy (Lauren Bacall) cannot stand that, but likeable singer Jo Jordan (Doris) can and becomes his friend for singer/trumpet duets. Juano Hernandez is unforgettable as a likeable black musician Kirk idolizes. Gorgeously photographed in high gloss B&W by Ted McCord (TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE, THE SOUND OF MUSIC) and directed with his usual authority by Curtiz, the movie includes smoky jazz renditions of "Too Marvelous For Words," "Someone to Watch Over Me," "With a Song in My Heart" and a dozen more. This is a jazz lover's paradise, and I think Doris' fans will love it as much as Kirk's fan club. The only bonus is a theatrical trailer.I believe CALAMITY JANE (1953) is one of Doris Day's personal favorites among her movies. She gets to do an old-fashioned western, wear cowboy duds and no makeup, and sing exuberant songs like "I Just Blew In From the Windy City" and the Oscar-winning "Secret Love." We are in the Old West and the so-called Windy City is Chicago. Howard Keel is Wild Bill Hickok, Allyn McLerie plays a saloon singer named Katie Brown, and Philip Carey makes it a foursome for romance. This is a colorful and tuneful western/romantic musical with songs by Sammy Fain and Paul Francis Webster. For a comparison, rent Cecil B. DeMille's THE PLAINSMAN (1936), with Gary Cooper as Wild Bill and Jean Arthur as Calamity. It is even better than CALAMITY JANE.LOVE ME OR LEAVE ME (1955) is a curious film in the Doris Day filmography. She is downright brilliant as Jazz Age torch singer Ruth Etting, dynamically singing song after wonderful song in reprocessed stereo. But the movie itself, nominated for six Oscars and a winner for Original Story, is so unpleasant because Oscar nominee James Cagney is so vicious and loathsome as her boyfriend/manager/later husband Marty Snyder. I love Cagney, but not here. There is so little to like about Marty that I kept threatening to turn off my DVD. But then Doris came back on stage to sing a good dozen era songs, including "It All Depends on You," "You Made Me Love You," "Shaking the Blues Away," "My Blue Heaven," 10 Cents a Dance," the Oscar-nominated "I'll Never Stop Loving You," and the title song as the film's finale. Something doesn't ring true about early feminist Ruthie letting a violent gangster control every step of her life and even being willing to marry him. The restored color is beautiful, the CinemaScope compositions are outstanding, and the Oscar-nominated soundtrack is enthralling. But Cagney's unredeemed viciousness derailed the movie for me. Excellent bonuses include 1955 at the (MGM) Movies and two Vitaphone shorts featuring the real Ruth Etting.THE PAJAMA GAME (1957) is a neglected musical masterpiece about labor conditions in the Sleep Tite pajama factory. Labor wants a 7 ½ cent raise, and management refuses to budge. Representing labor is Doris Day at her best as Babe Williams; for management there is John Raitt as Sid Sirokin. They fall in love, of course. The costume design is some of the most colorful of the entire 1950's and should have won the Oscar; a young Bob Fosse did the choreography; and this sparkler of a musical was co-directed by Stanley Donen and George Abbott. The stupendous songs include "Hernando's Hideaway," "There Once Was a Man," "Small Talk," "Hey There," and especially the exuberant "Once a Year Day." Doris is at her very best, Raitt burns a hole through celluloid with a dynamic performance, and the supporting cast includes Carol Haney and Eddie Foy, Jr. This film is as good as film musicals get and should have a much stronger reputation. Maybe its inclusion in this huge boxed set can help.PLEASE DON'T EAT THE DAISIES (1959) has Doris Day as a Connecticut interior decorator married to fussy, cynical Broadway drama critic David Niven, who never met a play he liked. It's a good comedy that should have been a great one, and I'm not sure why. Niven keeps trying to stay friends with actors and writers, particularly Janis Paige, whose work he keeps panning in print. Richard Haydn has a great supporting role as a playwright whose work Niven pans. This critic reminds me of vicious critic John Simon, whose drama reviews could open or close a play. Directed in CineaScope by Charles Walters (BILLY ROSE'S JUMBO upcoming), the source here is a book by playwright Jean Kerr. Doris even gets to sing two songs, including the title number, and the final scene is uproarious. I still remember the wonderful mid-1960's TV sitcom version of this, starring Patricia Crowley, with great fondness from my adolescent years. It would be lovely to have it on home video also. Bonuses are skimpy, just a theatrical trailer.BILLY ROSE'S JUMBO (1962) is a most pleasant and nostalgic trip to the circus, based on the 1935 show that Mr. Rose staged at the long-demolished Hippodrome in New York City. Starring in the movie are Doris Day and Stephen Boyd as circus performers (and one can only hope they did not do their own stunts), with Jimmy Durante (from the 1935 show) and Martha Raye for comic relief. The wonderful songs, by Rodgers and Hart, include "My Romance," "Stardust, Spangles, and Dreams" and the incomparable "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World". In fact, I like the musical numbers more than the circus acts. Director Charles Walters and screenwriter Sidney Sheldon collaborated earlier on EASTER PARADE (1948), and the circus action was choreographed by Busby Berkeley. This Panavision production restores the original roadshow overture and also includes a hysterically funny "Tom and Jerry" cartoon and a 1933 Vitaphone romantic short.Finally, THE GLASS BOTTOM BOAT (1966) is an unexpectedly uproarious blend of romantic comedy, mistaken identity, and mid-1960s spy spoof from Looney Toons cartoon genius director Frank Tashlin. Doris Day plays a NASA employee (the movie was filmed all over Cape Canaveral) who is pursued amorously by her boss, Rod Taylor. (I think he's her boss.) Doris' father is Arthur Godfrey, who runs a glass bottom boat tourist attraction in Catalina Island harbor, where Doris spends her summers as a mermaid. (Could I make this up?) She and Godfrey and Taylor sing the catchy theme song over tropical drinks. Anyway, Day is mistaken for a Russian spy because she has a dog named Vladimir, whom she keeps calling on the phone. ("She you tonight, Vladimir. I love you.") The dream comedy supporting cast pursuing our heroine includes John McGiver, Paul Lynde, Dom De Luise, Edward Andrews, Eric Fleming, and Dick Martin. Watch for a wild party scene where one of them plants an electronic phone bug inside an hors d'ouvre that someone eats; Lynde in drag to bug the ladies' room; and conservative Andrews and Martin at sex objects in bed together. Watch what sweet and hilarious revenge Doris plays on all of them when she realizes they falsely think she is a spy. The legendary Leon Shamroy (the 1945 STATE FAIR, THE KING AND I) photographed in Panavision; the script is by Everett Freeman, who also produced. Everyone looks as if they had a wonderful time making THE GLASS BOTTOM BOAT, and you will have a wonderful time watching it. DVD bonuses are generous: a tour of NASA, a travelogue on Catalina Island, a 1966 beauty contest winner tours 1966 MGM studios, there is the Oscar-winning cartoon "The Dot and the Line", and finally the theatrical trailer.THE DORIS DAY COLLECTION: VOLUME ONE is a must rental and a feast to invest in on DVD if you have the money and love the lady's work as much as I do.

... but Stephen Boyd must've had a looooong talk with his agent after this. Sure is colorful, kids might like the musical parts, but also has serious overtones. Has a circus movie ever been made where the business isn't in danger of failing? In this case it's because of Jimmy Durante's gambing addiction. Kind of depressing.There's one delightful scene of Durante clowning around on a tightrope, that LOOKS like it's not a stand-in, but actually Jimmy Durante. If so, kudos to his masterful physical schtick.Oh, and Doris Day's in it, too.DO NOT watch this movie if you have coulrophobia. You will not survive. This thing's got some of the most horrifying clowns I've ever seen, and that's saying ALOT.

Thank You so much.

Lots of Music, dance, circus hyjinks and theres Doris Day looking great and Stephen Boyd looking oh so handsome...Jimmy Durante in a rare movie performance is amusing.. The is not The Greatest Show on Earth movie, nothing could top that but if you like circus movies of olden days on by, you will enjoy this..

Entrega perfecta, sobretodo en consideracion que es un paquete que viaja desde Espan^a a Italia. La pelicula me la recordaba distinta...el tiempo no ha sido generoso con Jumbo.

If you like Doris Day and want an example of the wide range of her movie career, you will appreciate this collection. Of the eight movies in this set, my five favourites are the all-out musicals: Pajama Game, Jumbo, Calamity Jane, Lullaby of Broadway and Love Me or Leave Me. Jumbo, Calamity Jane, Lullaby of Broadway, star Doris at her singing best with her male co-stars also in fine form. Pajama Game has the distinction of being comedian/singer/dancer Carol Haney's starring vehicle on Broadway and in film and also one of the few Hollywood musicals that kept all of its original Broadway cast (Doris Day being the exception). Love Me or Leave Me is a real departure for Doris and wasn't very well received when it originally came out because it's definitely not the bouncy girl-next-door picture audiences expected. Doris plays Ruth Etting, a 20s singer in an abusive relationship with her manager. It's a wonderful vehicle for featuring Doris' acting skills, her amazing vocal stylings and the wonderful songs from that era. Jimmy Gagney as the manager puts in a "blow your socks off" performance in Love Me or Leave Me. Please Don't Eat the Daisies features a satisfying and fun pairing of David Niven and Doris Day. The Glass Bottom Boat is a sixties-type spoof of the spy movie genre. The last two movies mentioned are definitely fun enough to watch but... they just don't have enough musical content to satisfy my own personal Doris Day taste! I guess my own favourite Doris Day Collection would be an "all-musical" collection. Young Man with a Horn is definitely the "odd-man out" in this set as it is a Kirk Douglas movie with Doris in a supporting singing player role. But in whatever vehicle she starred, there is something about this actress/singer/dancer that was never matched by others in the "glowing sincerity" department.

Took a bit longer than originally quoted. But it arrived and as presented. Great DVD