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Iconic Singer and actress Doris Day has died at 97. I remember her most with her TV show from the late 60's or early 70's the best. It came on with her theme song "Whatever will be, will be". She was an extremely popular actress and singer. Her first hit, Sentimental Journey, came along at the perfect time when WWII was winding down in 1945 and served as the theme song for all of those guys coming home that year.
https://wtop.com/national/2019/05/le...ay-dead-at-97/
I was shocked to find out that she was still alive. That's a true legend gone. RIP
From Cincinnati.
I shared this on Facebook yesterday, a family story involving Doris Day. I was astounded at the number of folks who responded who had some similar family connection to her as well. I'll add some of those below.
My wife texted me a bit ago to tell me Doris Day had passed away at the age of 97 years old. Doris has always loomed large in our family's history, as we grew up hearing that mom's older sister, our Aunt Rita, had bested Doris (then Kappelhof) in a singing contest.
I asked Aunt Rita about it once late in her life and she told me that she hadn't actually beaten; that Doris & her cousin did a little sailor number ("everyone did sailor numbers back then," she said). Then she paused and said, "But it took two of them to beat me!"
I mentioned this to some of her kids and not one of them had ever heard that version the story. They had always been told what we had heard. I've now come to the conclusion that I think she wanted to tell me a good yarn and I stand with she won the contest (because we'd always heard it came with dance lessons and my mom was given those).
I came across a story once, either in Grandpa's obituary or in his brother Eddie's, that they had a small talent agency and represented both Doris and also Jimmy Dodd, who for folks my age will remember him as the adult host of the original Mickey Mouse Club TV show. Mom's story about Jimmy Dodd was that the last time she performed on stage was in an act with him and a chimpanzee. Her punch line telling about it was, "the chimpanzee was a gentleman."
So RIP, Doris Day - tell those melodious Donnellon kids hello and have another sing off.
Here's just what I got on my post:
One friend said her grandmother was in the same dance classes with Doris, another said her mother-in-law was in dance glasses with her too and Doris would visit their house and her father would play the piano while Doris sang.
A high school friend's dad dated her. I mentioned to him that the dad of another guy from our high school who was older than us was the driver of the car that was hit by the train in Hamilton (I've verified this with news accounts).
Another friend said his mother was also friends with Doris as kids. My 2nd cousin said her uncle on her mother's side played Vaudeville and knew her and they remained friends after he moved to California. Another friend said Doris was a distant cousin of her mother and finally someone else, a long ago neighbor, said that one of our neighbor's grandmother's was Doris's godmother.
Finally, when visiting my dad in the hospital last night (he'll be 91 next month), I mention that Day had passed away. Dad said, "oh, they lived across the street from us on Dale Avenue in Price Hill." I haven't been able to independently verify that, but that was the first I heard about that.
And finally, another cousin said she also asked our aunt about beating Doris Day and was told the same story I was. I did share a newspaper article that talks about Doris & her dance partner winning the top price of $100.00 in a contest sponsored by the Alms & Doepke department store and my aunt was named as one of the other winners (she took home $20 - equivalent to $350 today). So it would appear my aunt was fessing up to the truth late in life.
Tons and tons of connections with her hometown.
To this day, the #1 Box Office draw of any woman ever.
Doris Day didn't even take up singing until she broke her leg hitch-hiking to California with he brother when she was a young teenager. She was heading there determined to be a dancing Star. Since she couldn't dance anymore, she started singing along on the radio while rehabbing her leg. Discovering that she could sing, too, adults in her life steered her in that direction and she ran with it.
I have a Big Band show that was on PBS recorded on my DVR. I went back and watched the part in which Doris Day told of how she was discovered for the national scene. She was singing on a late night show on WLW. Les Brown was somewhere in middle America and heard her. He loved her voice. He found out who she was and was able to get her come along with his band. It wasn't long after that they recorded Sentimental Journey and then the entire nation knew who she was.
Was she really hitch-hiking? I had always heard it was a car accidentQuote:
Originally Posted by Kingspoint
It wasn't her or her brother's car, just one of the people along the way.Quote:
Originally Posted by Sea Ray
She and her dance partner, Jerry Doherty, were in Hamilton at a party for them just before they were to leave for Hollywood. She went for a drive with Jerry's brother, another young woman and a young guy named Albert Schroeder, who is the father of a friend of mine. Schroeder was driving and ran into the side of Pennsylvania RR train. I'm attaching the October, 1937 story to this post.Quote:
Originally Posted by Kingspoint
So it was your friend's Dad that caused this accident? Anyone else badly hurt? So she was NOT hitch-hiking...Quote:
Originally Posted by redsmetz
He was driving the car, so the answer to that would be yes. No idea if there were mitigating factors. They were not hitchhiking. They had all been at this going away party.Quote:
Originally Posted by Sea Ray