Doris Day Gone @ 97: RIP

Doris Mary Ann Kappelhoff
1922-2019 aged 97

Condolences to Ms. Doris Day's family.

I was still very young when I watched Doris Day's On Moonlight Bay and By The Light Of The Silvery Moon, about 11 or 12 years old? But most of us remember the lyrics:

We were sailing along
On moonlight bay
We could hear the voices singing
They seem to say...

Easy, down the lazy river lyrics; it was some years after World War Two and human beings were relaxed. Entertainment was an entity everyone wanted to devour. And she came on the silver screen.

Doris Day was the simple, pretty lady whose long list of songs and movies was very popular even in little Singapore. She went on to become one of Hollywood's great icons from the 1950s. She had short-clipped blonde hair and dressed simply, the typical school marm every student would want to have in the classroom. And yes, she was a Teacher's Pet, when both movie and song became just as popular.

She was no Susan Hayward, Za Za Gabor or Gina Lollobrigida but attracted the world just as much with her Ms. Goody-Two-Shoes charm and a cheerful, sparkling voice. I learned one of my first few songs from her and to this day sing, Sentimental Journey without forgetting the lyrics. And Secret Love (from Calamity Jane), was another big hit.

But then she could act and starred in a thriller, The Man Who Knew Too Much, an Alfred Hitchcock movie, where she sang her most famous Que Sera Sera. Even Mrs. Lee Kuan Yew, the wife of our first Prime Minister knew this song, rare indeed.

Lots to write about her but then, most who followed her career know about her so well. So Ms. Doris Day, rest in peace.

You are truly one of the greatest stars when you were on earth and definitely the brightest in the sky at night now. 

Nancy Renjaan won the Doris Day of Singapore Contest at the Cathay Cinema in November 1958 (Straits Times).

Doris Day Connections on this blog:

Singapore's Doris Day Contest:
https://singapore60smusic.blogspot.com/2014/05/singapores-first-female-pop-singer.html

Teacher's Pet Movie:
https://singapore60smusic.blogspot.com/2012/01/heres-dd-from-ll-doris-day-at-87-sings.html

Doris Day with Lulu:
https://singapore60smusic.blogspot.com/2012/09/a-happy-teachers-day-with-lulu-and.html

Doris Day tells us to Enjoy Yourself before it's too late. We should take her advice seriously. Life is too short to worry, worry... The years go by as quickly as a wink.

Images: Google.