|
| Doris Day: The Untold Story of the Girl Next Door | 
 enlarge | Author: David Kaufman
Publisher: Virgin Books
Category: Book
List Price: $29.95
Buy New: $14.97
You Save: $14.98 (50%)
New (32) Used (10) from $14.97
Avg. Customer Rating:  24 reviews
Sales Rank: 6468
Media: Hardcover
Edition: USA Only
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 512
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2.3
Dimensions (in): 9.6 x 6.4 x 1.7
ISBN: 1905264305
Dewey Decimal Number: 791.43028092
EAN: 9781905264308
ASIN: 1905264305
Publication Date: June 10, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Brand New. 100% money back guarantee. All books shipped from Strand Bookstore, New York City, USA.
|
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
David Kaufman has now written the long-awaited, definitive biography of Doris Day. By telling Day’s incredible, previously untold story, Kaufman takes the reader to the epicenter of American popular culture— a roller-coaster saga, from the 1940s to the 1980s. While Day symbolized virtuous America to the rest of the world—especially in her heyday, the 1950s and early 1960s—both she and that era are still perceived as being far more innocent and carefree than they really were. Indeed, what makes Day’s story so richly fascinating is the fact that she was in many ways the opposite of her image as “the girl next door.” She was also a real-life Cinderella who regretted having gone to the ball and who found a series of princes who proved far less than charming. Thanks to Kaufman’s dogged diligence in tracking down countless colleagues and intimates, he gives us: Scintillating tales of fame, beauty, money, tragedy, sexual ambiguity, and sexual conquests. Anecdotes about a vast array of major subsidiary players in Day’s life, including Ronald Reagan, Frank Sinatra, Alfred Hitchcock, Jimmy Stewart, Cary Grant, Charles Manson, Mickey Mantle, Candice Bergen, and Rock Hudson. Kaufman reveals Day’s demons while emphasizing the extraordinary credit she deserves as an artist. In the tradition of great biographies, Kaufman’s detailed work not only reveals the surprising story of one of America’s most beloved icons, but also compels us to rush back and see her best films—including The Man Who Knew Too Much, Pillow Talk, Love Me or Leave Me—and to listen to her unforgettable songs—“Sentimental Journey,” “Secret Love,” “Que Sera, Sera.” Though she made more than 550 recordings and starred in 39 movies—not to mention her own TV show for five years—the epic story of Doris Day’s life has never been told . . . until now.
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 19 more reviews...
 Not much untold here June 12, 2008
65 out of 77 found this review helpful
While I totally understand the zeal with which Mr. Brogan and Mr. Green embrace this book, since both are major contributors to it, I think a more objective critical analysis might be valuable as well.
There is a certain amount to like in Mr. Kaufman's "version" of Doris Day's life. It's a quick read, despite the length, and does touch on some interesting pop-culture of the 50's, 60's and 70's, and how Doris Day related to, and was related to by, that culture.
But too frequently, the negatives far out weigh the positives:
Too much of the book is lifted directly from Day's autobiography, as well as some other celebrity autobios, as opposed to new interviews. We're told many were conducted, but they didn't seem to yield much of anything that hadn't been told before. Many are also gleaned from DVD interviews and liner notes from the 1990's Bear Family boxed sets of Day's Columbia recordings.
There is much repeating of old movie fan magazine "interviews," the sort of which the authors seldom left their offices to compose, let alone always meet their subjects at all. They are frequently reported as fact, and often to discredit statements by Day and (frequently) her husband, Marty Melcher, made at other times.
There is not as much reportage here as there is supposition in many instances. For instance he hypothesizes that Day may actually have never remembered her young son playing with water balloons, but instead may have "inspired the memory" after playing a similar scene in one of her movies. No proof or reason is offered. He also maintains that Doris' marriage to Marty Melcher was entirely a business relationship from the beginning, and presents as proof their smiling wedding and honeymoon pictures: proof that since the photographs exist, and since the parties are smiling, it was obviously all done for publicity. It's a nice trick, presenting potential proof that might disprove a supposition as the very proof that the supposition is accurate. But it's still a supposition, and not a fact. For all his direct quoting of the Melcher-haters from Day's own autobio, any Melcher-supporters are summarily ignored or dismissed.
While he is quick to analyze anything and everything that Doris or her husband Marty Melcher might say (and frequently tries to prove that they seldom were ever telling the truth publicly on almost any subject from benign to important), he gives others a pass with no editorial checking or further interviewing of others to confirm what he then reports as hard facts. An ex-employee maintains that Day turned on him when he claimed that his co-workers had "poisoned her mind against" him, and he had been reduced to "a nothing." His version is portrayed as gospel, with no corroborating or refuting interviews done with the co-workers or anyone else. No examination of the possibly paranoid or narcissistic elements of the employee's statements is undertaken either. (There may have actually been none in the statements, but the phrasing does cry out for analysis, which is solely reserved for Day's and Melcher's statements.)
He depends heavily on the views of four particular fans who got to know Doris later in life: two as friends and 2 as employees. While their stories are indeed interesting, and add a welcome and unique slant, the major dependence on them in the last 3rd of the book bespeaks either a lack of access to more major players in Day's life, or a lack of information from major players that could be played up as "controversy."
Much space is also devoted to film budgets, grosses and reviews, Very interesting if you love Hollywood, but again, it smacks of filler.
Similarly, Mr. Kaufman spends paragraphs describing the contents of the pressbooks of most of Doris' films. While they can be mildly amusing for an old-time Hollywood buff or Day fan, their excessive appearance again indicates a lack of more major information to impart on his titular subject.
Sadly, this book also dwells on all the old 1960's carping fodder: Doris' insecurity over her looks and photographic filters, etc. Just when these were being forgotten about and new generations were discovering Doris without any of those old preconceptions, this book seeks to make them a permanent and integral part of her legacy.
Unlike the earlier reviewers, I don't think the book is for everybody. It's not simply "dishy" enough to appeal to the Enquirer crowd, nor is it the journalistic examination of this Superstar and the culture that the author intended or that would appeal to the more thoughtful reader, especially if they weren't already a major Day fan.
 A "DAY" TO REMEMBER June 10, 2008
24 out of 39 found this review helpful
"Doris Day, The Untold Story of the Girl Next Door" is an amazing book written by an author who clearly knows his subject.
David Kaufman has crafted a book that is impossible to put down once you start reading it. While he has drawn a portion of his information from other sources including books, press releases, film reviews, etc. Mr. Kaufman has interviewed scores of individuals who knew Miss Day and here share, in many instances, their recollections for the first time.
It is never less than compelling and the reader will come away from this enormous 600 plus page read with a great deal of respect and admiration for the subject, Doris Day and probably a new viewpoint about this woman who remains to this "Day" the number one female box-office star of all-time.
Anyone whose opinion of Miss Day is based upon the song "Que Sera Sera" or the mistaken notion that she was a cardboard cut-out or Pollyanna-revisited will have those notions shaken and replaced by the reality that Doris Day is a courageous, sometimes insecure, very funny, sexy and quite determined lady. You'll discover why, after dozens of hugely popular movies, a television series that ran for years and hundreds of recordings, she walked away without a backward glance.
David Kaufman is a highly respected writer and his talents and skills clearly provide a balanced portrait of Doris Day. It's not, however, just a book for fans of Doris Day. It is, in fact, an eye-opening account of a woman's journey through life and through Hollywood. There is something that everyone can identify with in the journey and Kaufman has walked that fine line with being an admirer and a writer and delivered the goods.
This book is certain to top the best-seller lists and be one of the year's best reads. A fascinating story of a great star told with detail that never seems intrusive to the subject. Mr. Kaufman reveals the person behind the freckles and the Hollywood gloss and its a wonderful revelation.
what a disappoinment June 16, 2008
16 out of 21 found this review helpful
i've loved doris day movies over the years and pajama game is one of my all-time favorite musicals. i was eager to read her "untold story", i wish i hadn't, it was soooo boring.
i don't think that's doris day's fault, i totally put the blame on the author. there are too many quotes from her die-hard fans describing what she was like rather than the stars she acted with. a lot of uninteresting details, such as what she once ate for lunch at a deli with one of her fans.
one of the most tedious biographies i've ever read.
 Another research paper but not an authentic biography June 24, 2008
16 out of 24 found this review helpful
I think writing a biography of Doris Day is hopeless, even if she would consent to be interviewed. Her own official biography was extraordinarily reported and written with her full participation, and approached in an original way, but even it never told the full story or got deeper than a certain level. For any author to try to tell Day's story from the outside is highly limiting. First of all, what Day says of herself (she never wanted to be a star, she never wanted a movie career) and what her life shows are usually contradictory (she was in fact ambitious for stardom at a very young age and poured everything she had to give first into her big band career and then singing and film careers). Second of all, Day has always been in show business but never of show business. She rode her bike to the studios, she always lived in nice but hardly grandiose homes, her mother lived with her even after she married Marty Melcher, she honestly preferred ice cream sodas to liquor. Her scrubbed clean image was accurate to a point, but she did curse and she was nobody's fool. Her bright and shiny image also didn't reflect the fact in that in real life she was intelligent, savvy, discerning and strong. The real person is even more interesting than the star, but Day has always protected that star with great smarts. This book misses the mark but I don't see how, under the circumstances, it could hope to make the mark. Day says she didn't plan to read this book or a similar book in England (both books have the same cover shot, strangely). Makes sense to me.
Very Little New in Disappointing Biography July 11, 2008
10 out of 12 found this review helpful
Liz Smith, on the book's back cover, says, "There's never been a truly great biography of Doris Day." Well, that statement is still true because this book is not a great biography. It's basically an updating of a 30-year-old autobiography that the star wrote, with very little new information. It certainly doesn't have many "untold stories" as the subtitle claims--it's mostly stuff that is told in Day's own book or a more recent book that analyzes her films.
Whether you like the book will depend on whether you have read other books about her, including her autobiography. If this is your first exposure to the star on paper, then you may enjoy it as it quickly glides through her life, starting at birth and going year-by-year through her career as singer and actress.
If you have read the other books about her, then this is a waste of time. It's almost 600 pages and still contains little that hasn't been stated before.
The author focuses mostly on her films, but makes unusual choices in spending more space on some of her worst films (Midnight Lace, Julie, That Touch of Mink, Jumbo) and short-changing her big hits (Man Who Knew Too Much, Pillow Talk). He just skims the surface and too often quotes her autobiography or Variety articles. He is very subjective in claiming what was her best work and he favors Rock Hudson while skewering Cary Grant. At times it almost feels like a biography of Rock & Doris since so much subjective passion is stated about Hudson. That would be fine if the author spent more time disecting why the relationship worked on screen and devoted more pages to the movies they made together. But as it is written, there is very little behind the scenes insight into her work with her co-stars.
The author does point out that she (like Hudson) was the opposite of her on-screen image. And that she had terrible husbands. But we knew all that before this book.
He also admits that he is unable to answer some of the conflicting information that comes when different people tell stories about the star. In a number of places he doesn't seem to have done enough research to come to solid conclusions, so instead he throws in all the perspectives and leaves it all up in the air.
So whether you like the book will be based on your expectation going into it--if you believe you'll hear some "untold stories" you will be disappointed. If you want a long, laborious map of the star's career with few inside stories, then you may enjoy it.
|
|
|
Powered by Associate-O-Matic
| |
