In honor of Doris Day’s birthday, I wanted to write about one of her movies that I hadn’t watched in a while. Calamity Jane is definitely my favorite, but since I’ve already written about that one and love Frank Sinatra, I decided to go with Young at Heart.
Synopsis:
The musical Tuttle family enjoys playing together. The three daughters are incredibly close. When one of them becomes engaged, the other two make a pact to remain spinsters forever. That is until composer Alex Burke shows up and all 3 women fall for him. Things are further complicated by Barney Sloane {Frank Sinatra} and Laurie Tuttle {Doris Day} sets out to help him find the positive in life.
The Players
Doris Day
Doris is at her adorable best in this movie. She’s fun and her positive energy just shines though. It is most evident in this song, but it does seem a bit risque for the time period.
Frank Sinatra
Honestly, Frank is a bit hard to watch in this movie. His appearance is gaunt and his cheeks hollow. He looks super depressed and while that fits the character he plays, it is still a bit jarring. He is pretty fresh off his Academy Award win and working on his comeback. This movie was also made in the middle of his marriage to Ava.
The great thing that came out of this movie for him, was definitely this song, “One For My Baby and One More for the Road.” His saloon song persona was born.
Frank and Doris together though, is just magic:
Ethel Barrymore
Ethel is always fun to watch and this film is no exception. She is the spunky aunt of the Tuttle daughters and is able to put Barney in his place.
This post was written specifically for Love Letters to Old Hollywood’s Fifth Annual Doris Day Blogathon. Check out all the blog entries!
