Kitty Hollywood - Pillow Talk - 1959

When I was putting together the review of this film, I was having a bit of a Steam Out Of The Ears experience. I could only type so fast, and there was only so much I could say in the limited amount of time I had and I wanted to say so much more. Like this.

1. You can happily watch Doris Day's outfits and work out which one you would pick if you got the choice. The cream evening wiggle. No, the blue suit. No, the cream wear on a dirty weekend away knit dress...

2. Tony Randall. "She was an exotic dancer. With trained doves....".

 
3. Thelma Ritter. "I'm one of your biggest fans...."

4. Somewhere, sometime, there was a club where the cool thing to do was sit around a piano, eat dip and sing 'Yaya Roly, Poly'. I want a club like that NOW. Hipsters, take note.

5. Because even though Rock Hudson was gay and so by Kitty Hollywood Rules is off limits (I never thought there was much point in having a crush on someone with whom you had no chance in real life) he is just so delightful to watch. What a man....

6. Doris Day can eye-roll like nobody's business.

7. You can see Doris Day and Rock Hudson actually cracking each other up in a number of scenes

8. Doris and Rock's scene by the fire is SEXY.

9. Jan Morrow has a monogrammed shower curtain and bath towels.

10. Jan Morrow seems to keep her bread in the second drawer down in the kitchen - usually the drawer filled with all the slightly less important utensils. It has always fascinated me.

I love that Ross Hunter took two actors and convinced them to transform themselves. That he convinced Doris Day he was going to turn her into a sex symbol and she jumped on board. There's an interesting book 'I'll Have What She's Having:Behind the Scenes of the Great Romantic Comedies" by Daniel Kimmel, which talks at length about Pillow Talk. Basically, it says that Doris Day was seen as an achieveable sex goddess. Marilyn was out of reach and Sophia Loren even more unthinkable to most suburban American Women - but Doris Day - if she could be sexy, anyone could.

Rock Hudson had not made a comedy before this, and he was a bit terrified. He has credited Doris Day many times with giving him the confidence to turn in such a fantastic performance. Director Michael Gordon also advised him never to play it for laughs - something that would have stood Neil Patrick Harris in good stead at this year's Oscars. In any event, both Rock and Doris do the most marvellous job of transforming themselves. Doris Day was nominated for a Best Actress Oscar that year - pretty remarkable really, given the light-heartedness of this comedy. She didn't win, of course, I couldn't really imagine her winning an Oscar for this (it was Simone Signoret for Room at the Top) but Points to her anyhow.

There was talk of a sequel in the 80's starring Kirsty McNichol and Gregory Harrison as well as Day, Hudson and Randall. It never happened. Some things should never be messed with (take that, Down With Love) and this is one of those Things.

One more thing - Michael Gordon, the director, is Joseph Gordon-Hewitt's grandfather. Cop that.

And now for that nightclub. The Hidden Door. That was it.