Doris Day's Birthday (April 3, 1922)

[texas gonzalo]

Did not know where to post this topic. If it needs to be elsewhere please feel free to shift it. Today in anticipation of Doris Day birthday, the Associated Press posted on the Entertainment Section of the Yahoo news lead page an article about the discovery of Doris's birth certificate. According to the article Doris's true birthday is April 3, 1922. The article was about eight paragraphs long and included comments from Doris herself and her publicist commeting on the veracity of the claim, even to the point of Doris, in so many words, saying it was nice that the subject had been finally cleared. There were well over 200 comments following the article, mostly praising Doris for the joy she has brought to the world, and calling her a national treasure. The article did not stay long on the internet. Hope somebody was able to make a copy, so others can see it. Happy Days, Texas Gonzalo

[Jas1]

I saw it and the recent pic- she looks great, I have long since believed DD was born in 1922- it doesn't matter, but it just makes it all the more amazing how well she is doing. Many many happy returns and many more.

[Peter Flapper]

Hi Texas,

Came across this website:
http://deredactie.be/cm/vrtnieuws/cultu ... /1.2941392


P

[Musiclover]

I've seen images of the U.S. 1930 federal census and Doris's 1951 marriage license, which have contradictory age information. The census shows her birth year as "about 1922," and the marriage license shows her age as 27. Now that the correct date has been proven, maybe the news media can focus on more important elements of her life!

[doris-day-fan]

I just hope Doris had a wonderful birthday yesterday and that her new year will be filled with great health and much happiness...the disturbing thing to me, however, is I received at least 20+ Google Alerts saying Doris is really 95, not 93 and that it was a surprise to her. I had seen several documents with her real birth date in 1922 when I was working for her. It was always interesting when people would argue about her real birthday. The more I read each one coming in, the more I thought this makes Doris sound a little silly (which of course, she is NOT), but the way they were all worded, to me, it made her sound a little out of touch which was very unfortunate. I was sad to read one after one after one...You know darn well she knew how old she was (yes, the press cut 2 years off and that fact stuck for years) but I feel sorry for the way that Birthday/Age story has been publicized so much. Her 'surprise age' story really made the rounds yesterday.
Doris looks fabulous for her age - she is one very special lady in my life as I know she is also in all of yours - there will NEVER be another DORIS DAY...God bless and keep her.
Have a great day!
Mary Anne

[Jas1]

MA- I didn't see a negative at all in how the age story was portrayed - I thought it was done with great respect and humour - from Doris/those around her- making that off the cuff remark about age and not caring. I think Doris [and again those around her] are at a stage now where they can embrace the real age and what a wonderful achievement that is - even though 93 is remarkable, 95 is just something else. I agree of course Doris knew her true age, however, for whatever reason, it was not something she wanted to embrace before - the Kauffman book interestingly tells a story how Terry had a time encouraging Doris to accept when she turned [65 I think] as it entitled her to some benefits- she was having none of it [then] and stuck to 63 - he even [supposedly] tried to sneak the papers into other documents for DD to sign and made the comment that for someone so frugal [counting every token at the grocery store] he could not understand why she would not embrace her age [then] in order to avail of whatever the benefit was. Age is a funny old thing, those 2 years obviously meant something to DD for a long time.

[webmaster]

The story that I heard was that Warner Bros knocked two years off her age when they signed her in 1948 -
a practice not uncommon in those days. I think it was something she was persuaded to do and then had to stick to it, so it became a bit embarrassing to have to admit it wasn't true after so many years.

[Musiclover]

Bryan, that seems to be correct on all points. They probably could've shaved off 5 years and gotten away with it, because she's always looked younger than her true age. As the saying goes, "Age is just mind over matter; if you don't mind, it doesn't matter!"

[webmaster]

I think where it became slightly messy were things that happened to her at say aged 18 that had to become 16 to fit the story and didn't quite add up.

David Thomson wrote that Doris had quit the movies aged 44, with the comment, 'that's not so old, Meryl Streep is... (whatever age she was at the time, around 50). I guess Meryl is a good example of someone you don't wonder how old she is because she plays such a variety of parts. Doris' later parts were mostly, as the song goes, 'keep young and beautiful, if you want to be loved'. The object of men's desire where it's better to be 38 than 40. But there's really no advantage in saying you're 93 if you're 95, is there?

[JMoore]

She's not the only one. Miriam Nelson who graciously attended this weekend and is such a lovely person is listed as being born in 1922, she is 97. She also related a story about June Allyson who was 2 years older than published, common practice in Hollywood.

[Jas1]

Miriam is 97? Wow! Assuming she was 95 [or in her 95th year] i was in awe at her health, style, etc etc. Fabulous.

[Renie]

http://heckyeahdorisday.tumblr.com/tagged/song When you get to this site, click onto the second spot and listen to Doris talk about her age with regard to first being hired by a band in Cincinnati. This was a while before she signed on with Warner Bros. Comments?

Renie

[texas gonzalo]

Renie, where do you find all these gems? The NPR interview was absolutely fabulous. Hope everybody listens to both interviews. Thank you for posting them and Happy Days, Texas Gonzalo

[Renie]

I'm glad to know you're enjoying reading or listening to the gems I find. I'm an older person and one of those who was dragged kicking and screaming into the computer age. I had to learn to use one for my last 5 years on my job and really hated it. When I retired I got a part time job and had to use a computer for it. And I still hated it. When I completely retired in 2010, I began to learn that a computer could actually be a good thing to have. No more looking things up in a dictionary or encyclopedia. No more looking all over for Doris Day pictures, CD's, DVD's etc. No more buying maps. And on and on. In more recent years, I've learned how to ask obscure questions, as Bryan would say, and get the obscure answers. A good example is that I have been wondering where the beginning of the Pajama Game was filmed. You know, where John Raitt arrives and is going in to apply for the superintendent job. It looks like a real factory and definitely not a back lot. So, I typed this all in for google and found out it was a real pajama factory in Dubuque, Iowa. I was thinking of using this for a quiz question but I have to admit that it would be obscure.

If you're interested, I also found out that the man who wrote a book called "7 Cents", on which the Pajama Game is based, just happened to have been a superintendent at this same pajama factory in Dubuque. Small world.

As you can see, I now enjoy going on these computer journeys and finding gems.

Renie

[Jas1]

Great story Renie.

[Kitty]

I am really glad that all of this birthday business is finally out in the open. For years I tried to to work out how did she possibly do all of that work when she was supposedly only 16 starting out singing with different bands and then hooking up with Les Brown for quite a while and then getting married?? - It just didn't make sense - she just had to be born in 1922. What a great trouper she is and at 95 she really is amazing!!!
Kitty

[Jas1]

Great find Renie- hadn't heard that 2010 interview- though it explains adding 2 years on - not taking them off lol! Doris sounds great. Lovely to hear her talk about how Rock would just phone up and ask "are you two down there, can i come"? - talking about Doris and Marty and the Milibu beach house. True friends.