We have a spooky wedding gown for today. Sebastian Cabot brings his dead fiancé back to life with a potion, that he himself also takes to become younger. Unfortunately it doesn't last long...
Bringing her wedding gown down from the attic.
The dress is cream satin with a scoop neck, puffed sleeves with attached lace long sleeves, and an empire waist adorned with a large flat-laying bow.
Here you can see the lace applique on the bust as well as the pleating on the skirt. The veil is a floral crown with floor length tulle attached. Notice below the shorter piece that would go over the head to cover the bride's face.
As you can see, the potion wears off very quickly lol.
Since the Star of the Month for July on Turner Classic Movies is Elvis Presley, I thought it would be fun to highlight a wedding scene from one of his films: Spinout (1966). The brides are Shelley Fabares, Diane McBain, and Deborah Walley. None of the grooms are Elvis but, in true Elvis fashion, he kisses all of the brides ;)
From left to right: Faberes, McBain, and Walley.
All three girls are wearing identical shoulder-length tulle veils. The base is donut shaped and rests on a circle of tiny white floral sprigs. Tiny white petals are scattered over the tulle as well.
We only get glimpses of their dresses. Fabares wears a lace gown with a wide neckline, flutter sleeves, and a fitted bodice that seamlessly moves into a medium-full skirt.
Diane McBain wears a gown made of plain white fabric with a lace shawl/cape-like piece attached to the front of the bodice and going down into a point in the back, also creating the lace "sleeves." The nipped in waist goes into a full skirt with a substantial train. There are also sheer sleeve pieces that go from the wrist to the elbow, lending to a long-sleeve effect (You can see it better in this photo). The groom is Carl Betz, who played Faberes' father both here and on The Donna Reed Show.
Deborah Walley has the prettiest gown, in my opinion. Floral applique over a sheer white fabric with short sleeves and an empire waist. All three brides wear short white gloves and white heels.
Yesterday I watched Ride the Wild Surf (1964) starring Fabian, Tab Hunter, Barbara Eden, and Shelley Fabares - among others. I was pleasantly surprised to find a surfing movie that, though it had its clichés, was not corny and actually had a story-line, not unlike my beloved Gidget (1959).
The film tells the story of three college age guys (though only one's actually in college) - Jody Wallis (Fabian), Steamer Lane (Tab Hunter), and Chase Colton (Peter Brown) - who love to surf and are spending the Christmas holiday on the Hawaiian island of Oahu at Waimea Bay, where the waves are at their biggest.
Shirts on...
Shirts off ;)
Once the boys land in Hawaii they learn of a competition that is held every year where the last surfer to successfully ride the mammoth waves becomes "King of Wiamea" and gets his name on a surf board. Last years champ was Eskimo (James Mitchum) and he's back to retain his title.
When their not surfing however, the boys also find love on the island and the film traces their individual relationships in between the magnificent surfing scenes that spend more time on showing actual surfing than the actors faces.
Fun Fact: From late 1962 to March of 1963, the waves in Hawaii were especially large due to certain weather conditions. Jo and Art Napoleon shot footage of actual surfers and then wrote a script to go with it.
Jody is the beach bum of the group, who gave up on the idea of being an oceanographer when college proved too hard. He meets the (surprisingly sexy) Brie Matthews (Shelley Fabares of The Donna Reed Show). At first she thinks he's reckless, but then she discovers another side. She helps him see that he shouldn't give up on his dreams when he hits a snag.
Chase is the college student, and according to Augie Poole (Barbara Eden), a square. She tries to get him to loosen up, then worries when he actually does. Their meeting is the most memorable, as tomboy Augie challenges Chase to wrestle and quickly throws him on his back (she's a black belt).
Steamer is the hardworking orphan who falls in love with the lovely Hawaiian native Lily Kilua (Susan Hart). Their troubles stem from her mother's hatred of surfers - Lily's father ran out on them to chase the waves in Bora Bora ten years earlier and hasn't been heard from since. Love triumphs however when Mrs. Kilua realizes she had a hand in driving away her husband with her strong views against too much fun.
Eskimo (James Mitchum)
The surfing competition at the end is exciting to watch and made credible by the extensive use of surfing shots. Altogether, this was a delightful movie and I definitely plan on purchasing it on dvd one day. The cast, storyline, and authentic setting make for a fun summer film that can be watched year after year.
Ride the Wild Surf will be airing again on TCM again on September 1st at 4am ET.
It is also currently available on Watch TCM until June 30th.
Doris was everybody's darling and I wish I could have done fifty more pictures with her.
~ James Garner
Doris Day (whose birthday is April 3rd) and James Garner (whose birthday is April 7th) made only two films together in 1963, but they remained friends until Garner's death in 2014. The films, The Thrill of It All and Move Over, Darling, are not as famous as Day's film pairings with Rock Hudson, but they were extremely successful at the box-office due to the wonderful on-screen chemistry between Day and Garner. This chemistry stemmed from their off-screen friendship and respect for the other's abilities as an actor.
In their autobiographies, both Day and Garner had only nice things to say about each other, despite the fact that Garner (accidently) broke Day's ribs during the filming of Move Over, Darling.
Jim and I worked together only twice, in Move Over, Darling and The Thrill of It All. He's so good at what he does... I felt married. We didn't see each other much over the following years, but we've stayed friends because we talk on the phone regularly. I don't know how, because Jim hates the telephone. I usually have to call him. "Can't you pick up a phone?" I say, but he just grumbles.
We had fun. He's a marvelous actor. He's very real when he talks to you. He's so funny and so nice, I just love him. Even though he broke two of my ribs. Jim, if we don't speak for a while, I forgive you for breaking my ribs. Both of them. Don't give it another thought.
~ Doris Day, The Garner Files.
Doris didn't play sexy, she didn't act sexy, she was sexy. And then she could take a sexy scene and make you laugh. Which is better in the bedroom than a lot of things. And Doris was a joy to work with. Everything she did seemed effortless. She's so sweet and so professional - she made everyone around her look good.
~ James Garner, The Garner Files.
Garner was also known to say that Doris had the "best tush in Hollywood." In an essay included in Day autobiography, Garner goes on in depth about his love and admiration for her, as well as her "girl next door" image:
I think Doris is a very sexy lady who doesn't know how sexy she is. That's an integral part of her charm... I don't think she could have had the success she's had if she didn't have this sexy whirlpool frothing around underneath her All-American-girl exterior.
I remember the first time I saw her on screen. I was just a regular moviegoer then, hadn't turned to acting yet, and here was this new girl, Doris Day, on a train with Dennis Morgan and Jack Carson [It's a Great Feeling (1949)], singing a song, and I looked at her and said to myself, "Oh, God, ain't that beautiful, and listen to that voice!"
I've had to play love scenes with a lot of screen ladies, but of all the women I've had to be intimate with on the screen, I'd rate two as sexiest by far - Doris and Julie Andrews, both of them notorious girls next door. Playing a love scene with either of them is duck soup because they communicate something sexy which means I also let myself go somewhat and that really makes a love scene work.
One other thing about acting with Doris - she was the Fred Astaire of comedy. You know the way Astaire used to change partners but the dancing was always uniformly spectacular because Astaire just did his thing and anybody who danced with him was swept up by it. Well, same thing about Doris. Whether is was Rock Hudson or Rod Taylor or me or whoever - we all looked good... I used to come to the set with a preconceived notion of how I was going to play a particular scene, but when I saw what Doris was doing in the scene, her tempo, her feel for the scene, 99.9 percent of the time I'd toss my pre-conception away and play it with her. Making a movie with Doris was a piece of cake - a sexy ride on her coattails all the way.
♥ ♥ ♥
The two films that Day made with Garner are very similar to the films she made with Rock Hudson. The main difference is that in both of them they are already married with children at the beginning of the film (Day's character is only married to Hudson's character in their third and final film together, Send Me Know Flowers, made the year after her films with Garner).
In The Thrill of It All (1963), Day plays a normal housewife who is offered a job as the spokesperson of a soap company after she is overheard telling a story about how their soap, Happy Soap, saved her life. Her doctor husband (Garner) is less than thrilled when she signs a one-year contract that keeps her away from the home and her wifely duties. Here's a good synopsis of the film.
In Move Over, Darling (1963), a remake of the 1940 Cary Grant/Irene Dunne classic My Favorite Wife, Day plays a wife who has been lost at sea for five years and been declared legally dead. Upon arriving home, she discovers that her husband, Garner, has remarried just that morning. She heads to the hotel where he is going to be staying with his new wife (which happens to be the same hotel THEY stayed at on THIER honeymoon) to try to stop him before he makes the marriage "official." You can read more about the two films in the post I wrote for my Remakes blogathon.
I highly recommend both films. Not only are they fun to watch but Day and Garner are very convincing as a married couple and evenly matched as comedians.
If Doris Day was the national symbol for the All-American girl, then Jim was her male counterpart - somewhere between a steelworker and a Saturday afternoon football hero.
~ Raymond Strait.
~ Sources ~
Considering Doris Day. Tom Santopietro. 2007.
Doris Day: Her Own Story. Doris Day and A. E. Hotchner. 1975.
The Garner Files: A Memoir. James Garner and Jon Winokur. 2011. James Garner: A Biography. Raymond Strait. 1985.
This post is part of The Doris Day Blogathon hosted by Love Letters to Old Hollywood in honor of Day's birthday on April 3rd. Be sure to read all of the other posts celebrating this icon of Classic Hollywood!
Today's gown is one of those unique gowns that could only come out of the swinging sixties and Natalie Wood is the one who wears it.
Designed by Edith Head, the dress features a strapless sheath covered with a shift dress made of sheer, decorative, windowpane fabric. The front of the dress falls to the knee with the shift extending in the back to a small train. The gown also features a square neck and three-quarter length sleeves.
Natalie catches the groom with one of the guests.
The veil is a typical 1960s style with a small dome-shaped head piece covered with flowers. The short attached tulle veil also has flowers sprinkled over it.
The film is in color and this lobby card shows the detail of the fabric.
This photo shows the bridesmaids in pale pink with bouffant hair-styles.
The bride and groom cutting the cake.
The dress today. Note the empire waist of the shift.
There comes a point and time in a man or woman's life (especially the cinema life) that he or she wishes they hadn't gotten that divorce after all and try to win their ex back. The Parent Trap (1961) is a film that lays the steps out for us perfectly and clearly.
1. Get yourself a stylish haircut and wardrobe. You certainly don't want him to see you as a matronly woman, especially a "proper" one from Boston. Let him know you still have allure! Show off that fabulous figure! You will want to look your best next to his new, younger fiancé!
Before and after
2. Leave your lingerie in his bathroom. Make him realize what he's missing. Sure, he might get confused and think it's his daughters (did she grow up that fast?) but in his state of confusion he will have less energy to send you away or get involved in a fight between you or your daughters and his fiancé.
3. Recreate your first date (especially if it was romantic). Nothing will get a man in the mood better than good food, soft candlelight, and music. It will make him reminiscent and give him a glimpse of how his life could be if he goes back to you.
4. Reveal his fiancé's true colors. Send her on that camping trip instead. He will almost immediately see that she won't be a good companion for him and that she must just be after him for his money.
5. Make him your special stew when he gets back. Barefeet and a soft, clingy top in a color that goes well with your hair helps. Make an excuse to get him close to you (like get your apron knot too tight). He will really start to crave the home life he used to/could have. If you don't have him by then, see the next step.
6. If you need to, a good sock in the eye may help him see straight, no pun intended. That's right, let him know you don't need him. He'll come around.
7. And lastly, get help from your teenage daughter's. They can be immensely helpful in this sort of thing, especially if they are twins separated at birth ;)
And, in the words of Miss Inch, they "will all be one big, happy family."
