Hooray for Hollywood and Doris Day!
This Blog entry will be all about my trip to LA for the book signing of Que Sera, Sera: The magic of Doris Day, written by Pierre Patrick and Garry McGee.
I first heard about this event from Lauren through the Doris Day forum. I was intrigued enough to seriously think about going. Lauren, who is very practical and has loads of common sense, tried to dissuade me: too expensive, LA is a zoo to drive in, etc. All good advice and I took it . Then Howard sent an article written by Jackie Joseph, Doris’ co-star where she said who was going to be there and that there will be a surprise.
I threw caution to the wind and before I could change my mind asked my assisstant to buy a plane ticket and reserve a hotelroom near the airport. Most of my family and friends were encouraging when they heard where I was going. They know how much I love Doris Day and travelling.
When Lauren realized I was really going she was more than helpful, sending me loads of advice, tutorials on how to drive to the bookstore, etc. The best thing she did, however, was to send me my personal angel in the form of Antonette who chauffered me around and was a great companion in this adventure. Doris Day fans are great people and they’re fun , too.
On our way to the bookstore we stopped at Doris’ old house on Crescent Drive in Beverly Hills. We took pictures and filmed ourselves in front of the iron gates. We acted like two goofy Doris Day fans. The house is being renovated. Louis Jourdan used to have a house across the street from Doris. He and Doris, not only starred together in Julie, they were also good friends.
Other sites we saw: Rodeo Drive, The Beverly Hills Police Station ( a lovely building), the Hollywood Bowl, the Hollywood Hills with the famous sign and the Observatory next to it. The day was beautiful, sunny and warm and with clear blue skies, in los Angeles. A great day for the book signing.
A Portrait of a Bookstore is a tiny and quaint bookstore sharing space with the Aroma Cafe. The latter has great smoothies, which we tried, and fantastic looking cakes that we just looked at. Honest.
In the back is the courtyard where the event is to take place. Being 2 hours early we took the opportunity to get to know the friendly and helpful staff of the bookstore, buy the book before it gets sold out, which it later did and to set up our equipment: cameras, recording equipment and a handycam. We were prepared, just like Girl Scouts. Lauren told us; “The most important thing is to record Doris’ voice.” We took our task seriously.
We found a strategically placed table. Later Roberta and Dee joined us. We had a great conversation about all things Doris and about the present event.
Soon after Pierre Patrick, one of the authors, showed up. I took the opportunity to greet him and do a mini interview with him. We discovered that we were both from Montreal . In all we were 5 people from Montreal. Montreal represents!
Jackie Joseph as cute and gracious as ever agreed to answer a few questions. She was happy and beaming. She is newly married. She had nothing but the best to say about her one time co-star, co-animal activist and friend , Doris.
Rose Marie was accompanied by a handsome younger man. Both Antonette and I found him cute and were intrigued by his presence.
Rose Marie is as sharp as a whip and funny as ever entertaining us with stories about working with Doris. Rose Marie said Doris was underrated because she made everything look easy.
Listening to Rose Marie and Jackie talk about Doris we realize how much they loved, admired and appreciated her. Thank god Doris worked with those two wonderful women. They all worked hard , but there was also fun, laughter and great camaraderie.
This event was hosted by Jim Pierson whose efforts brought us the Doris Day show on DVD. Bravo Jim!
Jackie Joseph and Rose Marie answered many questions from the fans and graciously signed the books placed in front of them.
At around five o’clock Doris called in. Excitement was felt in the air. Initially, the sound was very bad, but then it came through and we could hear Doris clearly. There was a lot of going on in Doris’ house. The housekeeper had to be brought to the hospital and Doris was responsible for the dogs and cats and the house alone. She was so busy she had not yet peeked into the book that Pierre Patrick sent her. She was pleased about the book, though, and fully supported it and Pierre Patrick and Garry Mcgee. She had the highest praise for Pierre Patrick.
Doris was both surprised and pleased that both Jackie and Rose Marie were at the book signing. They both had a sweet reunion with Doris.
Doris was touched when Rose Marie and Jackie said that she had a lot of people who came from Germany, Canada and all over the States. A few times she sounded as thiugh she was all chocked up. She said that if she still lived in Beverly Hills she would have joined us. We sang Que Sera, Sera to her which she clearly enjoyed and would have chimed in if her voice were better. Her voice sounded great to me, her signature voice.
We said we loved her she said she loved us. There was definitely a wonderful atmosphere that afternoon. We all came for our own reasons but we all left satisfied. I know I did.
We stuck around for a bit more, schmoozed and exchanged with other DD fans and just enjoyed the rest of the evening. JIm Pierson auctioned off Season Four of the DD Show and some other articles to raise money for the animal charities.
We said good-bye to Rose Marie, to Jackie, to Roberta and Dee and eventually to Pierre Patrick and his friends.
Next to the Bookstore is an icecream parlour where we spotted 2 DD fans, Yoli and Dale, and joined them. Yoli is a Broadway and cabaret singer and has put together a Doris Day tribute called Que Sera, Sera. I interviewed her and will post the interview soon.
Later Antonette took me to a famous Italian restaurant and treated me to a delicious meal. We were serenaded by the staff who sang Broadway tunes. They are very talented.
We finished our evening on Hollywood Boulevard, searching for Doris’ prints in the cement and her stars, we found one. We took pictures and bid farewell to Hollywood.
On our way back to the hotel we got lost in a seedy part of LA and were very happy when we found the highway. All this at 1:30 AM!
The next day I went to Marina Del Rey. I took the bus to get there. Lots of beautiful boats there. That evening I flew back to Montreal. I took the red eye special so I have a bit of sleep deprivation. I should be sleeping now.
On the plane I read Pierre Patrick’s and Garry’s book. The book is a treat for any fan of Doris and her show. Each episode is fully described, as is Doris Day’s Best Friends. I’m looking forward to that coming out on DVD one day.
What made me chuckle in the plane was the Mad Magazine spoof called the Doris Daze Show. The cartoonist drew Doris very well, making her look cute, beautiful and sexy in a revealing black dress. He made Doris do what she would never do in her movies, or her show. Doris is also portrayed as a superhero in the end. Very funny.
Kudos to Pierre Patrick and Garry McGee for writing this book. It is definitely a labour of love and will be appreciated by all Doris Day fans. I read it cover to cover and I loved it.
This trip that was helped along by many people, my assisstant Nevena, Lauren the godmother who knows how to pull the strings from afar, Mary Ann the guardian angel , Howard the midwife to my decision to come to LA, Antonette who made this trip fun, fun, fun. It was great to meet Roberta, Dee, Pierre Patrick and the Montreal/ Conneticut contingent, Jim, Tomas from Germany, Ron and Katie, Yoli , Dale and Reno.
Good night and Good luck.