Considering Doris Day by Tom Santopietro Summary and Reviews
|
List Price: Our Price: $4.98 You Save: $9.97 (67%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $1.55 (click here) Category: Book See more book details and other editions |
|---|
Book Reviews of Considering Doris Day
Book Review: A fantastic read
Summary: 5 Stars
A really fun read - very informative as well. Tom Santopietro examines the music, film and television career of this true legend and convinces even the most skeptical critic of what a great artist she was. His style is amusing. His insights are spot on. He calls her recording career second only to Ella Fitzgerald's and actually made me want to go out and buy a number of the recordings. His anaylsis of her movies was objective yet complmentary. Highly recommended -- entertaining, informative and makes you realize how great Doris Day actually was.Book Review: DAY'S STAR GETS ADDED LUSTRE BY REAPPRISAL
Summary: 4 Stars
Tom Santopietro's new book, "Considering Doris Day" is a sincere, thoughtful and relatively concise look at the career of the lady who is the top-ranked female box-office star of all-time.
For years pundits have had a field day mocking Day or belittling her tremendous contributions to the entertainment industry. Most of them have probably never seen a Day film or listened to one of her hundreds of recordings. Had they, they would be forced to reevaluate their insipid remarks.
Throughout the years there have been many books written about Doris Day. Some have been entertaining and enjoyable while others have been either re-hashes, promoting falsehoods and misconceptions or just plain bad. A few have read like extended versions of stories from a bygone era that might have appeared in Photoplay, Modern Screen or Motion Picture. Thankfully Mr. Santopietro's book is a nice opening act for what promises to be the definitive book about Miss Day, the long-awaited "But Not For Me" due out in 2008 and written by David Kaufmann.
Doris Day has had an astounding career by any definition.
From the early 40's when her professional career started, as a big band singer, through nearly 40 films between 1948 and 1968, through a hit series, some classy television specials and a warm-hearted talk show promoting animals in the mid 80's, she has excelled. Whether the story was a musical, comedy, biography, drama, suspense thriller, western - Miss Day was able to play every role with an effortlessness that defied convention. "Considering Doris Day" looks at the remarkable film career and the astounding popularity Miss Day achieved, topping the polls year after year and turning a profit with almost every title.
In the recording field she was, for a while, the "Queen of Columbia", turning out Gold Record after Gold Record and making even some titles that defy description seem enjoyable. One could only wish that she'd had the chance to work with some other musical talents that might have enabled her to deviate from the well-plowed rut that Columbia big-wig Mitch Miller seemed to place her in. Nevertheless, some of her 1960's recordings are masterworks and her phrasing, intonation, breath control and warmth are still like fresh air in an era when female singers in particular seem to feel that louder and more shrill is better.
Mr. Santopietro sheds some new light on Day's many accomplishments and while his book may not be the eye-opening tome that Kaufmann's promises to be, it is certain to open some eyes and force a reevaluation of Miss Day's durable career.
If nothing else, after reading the book, some of the naysayers may actually run out and rent a Day film or listen to a Day tune and find themself quite impressed with the lady's incredible talents.
There's a lot of "Day-light" contained on the pages of this book and I would venture to say that reading it is time well spent.