The Winning Team

[webmaster]

What do you think of "The Winning Team"?

http://dorisday.net/the_winning_team.html

[Ken]

I didn't care for this movie very much. This is one I watch very seldom.

[Jas1]

I cannot comment on this one as I have never seen it.

[Peter Flapper]

Don't like this pic. The song "Old saint Nicolas" sung by Doris and fam. is nice.

Peter

[Debbi Austen]

I just watched this film recently and I had to come back and change my opinion of it. I thought this was one of Ronald Reagan's best performances. I thought when GCA was having his "spells". I thought the spell looked like seizures. Later I read that the real Grover Cleveland Alexander, when he got beamed in the head developed epilepsy. GCA 's widow was on the set and so you get this this wonderful, supportive, image of her. THe turth is the event in GCA life were switched around. Winning the world series happened in the middle of his career, and then it went down hill from there. He died alone in a flop house. I thought Doris and RR were both very good in this bio pic. It wasn't all sunshine and singing, and Doris got to do some dramatic scenes. My favorite part of course was Doris' acting as Amy and Amy cheering on Alexander from the stands.

[Natalier]

I have never seen this movie before. What was it about?

[John M]

Natalier, it's about baseball legend Grover Cleveland Alexander, and how his wife helped him recover from his illness and resume his career when everyone else counted him out.

Not a great film, but not the worst Doris made, by a LONG shot.

The song, "Old St. Nicholas" is cute, and much better than the DREADFUL "Christmas Story" from On Moonlight Bay.

[Natalier]

yeah I have seen moonlight bay iis an ok film. I must get the winning team to see whats its like Thankyou John

[dayniac]

Not one of my favorite Doris movies. I've only watched it a few times - I should probably watch it again just to see if I still feel the same way about it. It just seemed to be more of a Reagan movie - and I'm not that crazy about Reagan as an actor. Wish Doris could have had more screen time.

[Haymarketaddict]

I watched that yesterday - have to say it was kinda hard to get through it. Kinda .. well ... boring I'm not carzy about Baseball and i'm not crazy about Ronald Reagen (he was a rather limited actor wasn't he???) - guess it was well not exactly bad ... but really not my kinda movie... voted avarage.

[suzie]

As in all of doris day movies I thought she did a great job,however was it just me or did this movie seem kind of slow moving ? I think both ronnie and doris did a fine acting job, its just the movie itself that as some on here have said it can be a little boaring. Not the best vehicle for doris...

[Johnny]

This film is a product of its' time when people were less cynical and were thriving economically in the fifties. The film is full of optimism and good will, thanks to Doris' performance. Ronald Reagan gave a good performance.

It is important that we look at film work being done in the context of the times so we can be fair to the performers.

Johnny

[mikeydv]

[/The song, "Old St. Nicholas" is cute, and much better than the DREADFUL "Christmas Story" from On Moonlight Bay.b]

I am surprised at you, John. How could you call ANYTHING by Doris "dreadful"? I happened to like "Christmas Story" and MOONLIGHT BAY was a DELIGHTFUL FILM, as was most of the music.

Some people, I guess, are fans. AND SOME PEOPLE ARE REAL FANS. I like everything Doris ever did, and I would never rate ANY of her films less than VERY GOOD. Yes, I agree that some were better than others, but NONE of them was truly awful. If Doris was in them, she made them good. Even WHERE WERE YOU WHEN THE LIGHTS WENT OUT was pretty good in some spots (when Doris was on screen), but most critics seem to agree that was by far her worst film.
AS FOR HER MUSIC, NOTHING she ever sang was DREADFUL. PLEASE!

[Doris Martin]

good morning...I agree with you...Doris Martin

[Johnny]

Going to a Doris Day film was always filled with anticipation by our family. I remember seeing this film (The Winning Team) when I was a little kid with my parents and brothers. We came out really happy and the only argument my parents had to settle was the one amongst me and my brothers about which one of us was going to marry Doris Day when we we grew up. Her beauty, great joy, good work, and good spirit brought everyone in my family much happiness. I am sure many other people feel the same way.

We contined to see most Doris Day films as a family and this is a treasured memory for my brothers and me.

Johnny

[BabeWilliams]

I really enjoyed this film. I'm not really sure what to say about it except that I liked it.

[TCMMovieFan]

This film is a product of its' time when people were less cynical and were thriving economically in the fifties. The film is full of optimism and good will, thanks to Doris' performance. Ronald Reagan gave a good performance.

It is important that we look at film work being done in the context of the times so we can be fair to the performers.

Johnny

I totally agree !
There is a tendency in 2010 for 'critics' to review old films using a current perspective. They tend to nitpick instead of viewing these films from an overall approach. These films were made during a very different--and less cynical time-----so it would not be fair to judge them by what is going on today.
Personally I think the best way to really enjoy and savor these movies is to just sit back and try not to crowd in too many details.
Admittedly this is not quite so easy to do-----as we are quite removed from those days.

[melancholy]

lovely picture,now the movie to see,Dorine

[DayDreamer]

Not one of my favorite Doris movies. I've only watched it a few times [...].

How many times have you watched your favorite Doris Day movies?

[Jas1]

This should probably be a separate thread - but I couldn't count the times I watched my fav (Pillow Talk) in the past - a lot, let's just say that!

[webmaster]

I'd say the same about "Calamity Jane", Jas.

Does anyone find that they're all 'watched out' on certain Doris films? There are a few I can no longer watch because I've seen them so often; Calamity, Lucky Me, and Jumbo being the main ones. It would be good if you could just wipe that memory and start afresh! Maybe in a few years time I can watch them again.

[howard]

I feel the same way Bryan. I wait a number of years,
and then I'll watch an old favorite!

[DayDreamer]

I'd say the same about "Calamity Jane", Jas.

Does anyone find that they're all 'watched out' on certain Doris films? There are a few I can no longer watch because I've seen them so often; Calamity, Lucky Me, and Jumbo being the main ones. It would be good if you could just wipe that memory and start afresh! Maybe in a few years time I can watch them again.

But if you have seen a certain movie before and then watch it again, you can start paying attention to details that you missed the first time. But I prefer to wait a few years as well before I watch a movie for the second (or third) time. So I consider myself "lucky" that I still have to watch about fifteen Doris Day movies.

By the way, sorry for derailing this thread.

[webmaster]

Email exchange, posted with permission;

From Greg to me:

Just a note, spurred by a new album release by Doris Day
I happened to catch the article this am about Doris Day releasing a new album. Rather exciting. While searching, I found your site with your email on it, and I'm guessing the pictures of the lobby cards were furnished by you.

The last lobby card shown on the "Winning Team" section shows Ronald Regan lying down in a bathrobe and Doris Day holding a Newspaper, sitting alongside him. Mine however, while the side on the bottom left still shows Warner Brothers Trademark info from 1952, The right side however was stamped by the Bureau of Censorship in the Prov. of Quebec.

I own that same lobby card, as well as another from the same movie. It show's Regan slumping forward in a chair with Doris crouched down in front of him, a sofa in the background.

A little trivia about those lobby cards. I purchased them in a public tv auction in Detroit, in 1985 for 110.00. President Regan was coming to Detroit for a GOP convention in the near future, and I was hoping to get his autograph on them. His staff advised that they wouldn't be able to allow me to have access, and suggested I mail them to the White House and they would make sure he saw them. I did that in the spring of 1986, filling him in that I wished them signed as I intended them to go to my first daughter, Sarah, born during his first term of office. A title like "Winning Team" signed by both actor and sitting President, during his bid for re-election. I received both back in May of 1986, both personalized and signed. The card with him slumped in the chair, was personalized with "To Mr & Mrs Greg Haller, with best regards, Ronald Regan, 05-06-86, and the lobby card with him lying on the sofa states " To Sarah & Greg Haller, with very best wishes, Ronald Regan 05/06/86. As Sarah is my daughter, rather than my wife, I thought he'd just made a mistake. Now, knowing about his memory problems, I wonder if that wasn't a sign of things to come.

I still have those lobby cards, and they've hung in my house since receiving them back. I've watched that movie a number of times and still find it was one of the strongest acting roles Doris ever did. I had always hoped that she would come to the Mpls/St. Paul area at some time, and I would have made the attempt to get her to autograph them also. What a legacy of history that would make for my daughter. It's still a very historical legacy as it stands.

Anyway, thanks for bringing all those memories back to me, especially now.

Sincerely,

Greg Haller
Coon Rapids, MN

My reply:

That's a lovely story, Greg,

It makes me want to watch the film again, having only seen it once on TV many years ago and it just kind of passed me by - not being a sports fan and wondering when Doris was going to break into one of her musical numbers

Yes, poor old Ronnie, I didn't like his politics but it all seemed to work out well for him as President and he turned into a kind of folksy elder statesman who was hard to dislike.

I'm sure Doris would be happy to counter-autograph one if you were willing to risk letting it out of your sight.

Do you mind if I share your story with people on the Doris Day forum?

Kind regards

Bryan

Greg to me:

You're more than welcome to share it on the Doris Day forum. Everything Doris Day ever did, was more than just time spent watching, it was living it with her. Even that movie, The Winning Team. But there was no movie she could have ever made, that I would have found not worth watching. One of my favorites was "Please Don't Eat the Daisies". But please feel free to share it.

[DorisIsTerrific]

Watchin this now it's good I guess I still like her other movies better.