The 1910's may have not had the comforts of today, but they sure had an innocent sense of fun. In the days before World War I got the United States involved, there certainly were plenty of issues, but what appears to be the truth is that an innocent sense of living had society in the thought that hard work and clean living lead to a decent life. A naive view to be sure, but it is a nice fantasy.
The team of Doris Day and Gordan MacRae were the 1950's answer to Mickey and Judy, and the lovely innocence of their films still holds a promise for happiness and joy. Day is a sweet but tomboyish teenage girl, falling in love with the boy next door and dealing with family issues no more serious than a misunderstanding caused by the prankish younger brother, Billy Gray, who is actually very well meaning if still immature. The stories are loosely based on Booth Tarkington's "Penrod" series, the title character of which Gray's kid was based upon.
Leon Ames, Judy's father in MGM's "Meet Me in St. Louis" and Rosemary DeCamp, Cagney's mother in "Yankee Doodle Dandy", are typical classic American parents, while Mary Wickes is delightfully funny as the wise- cracking housekeeper. She got so much praise for this film that her role in the sequel "By the Light of the Silvery Moon" was greatly expanded. Esther Dale has an amusing cameo as Ames' imperious aunt who has a surprising zest for life, and Ellen Corby is equally memorable as Gray's teacher who becomes an unwitting victim of Gray's tall tales, reminding me of the school teacher years later in "A Christmas Story", especially in Gray's hysterical daydream. To top it off, there is a beautiful winter sequence with opulent snowmen which leads to Day getting into a hysterical snowball fight and then leads to the film's own Christmas scene where all of Gray's antics are forgiven because of his innate sweetness.
Certainly by the early 1950's these simple stories had been done over and over, but some of them were too good to be dismissed. With Doris Day having taken over Bette Davis's spot as queen of Warner Brothers, she seemed to be able to do no wrong. As top female box office champ for 15 years, she had a career on film that often seemed to follow the same formula, but her continued popularity has not dwindled.
The team of Doris Day and Gordan MacRae were the 1950's answer to Mickey and Judy, and the lovely innocence of their films still holds a promise for happiness and joy. Day is a sweet but tomboyish teenage girl, falling in love with the boy next door and dealing with family issues no more serious than a misunderstanding caused by the prankish younger brother, Billy Gray, who is actually very well meaning if still immature. The stories are loosely based on Booth Tarkington's "Penrod" series, the title character of which Gray's kid was based upon.
Leon Ames, Judy's father in MGM's "Meet Me in St. Louis" and Rosemary DeCamp, Cagney's mother in "Yankee Doodle Dandy", are typical classic American parents, while Mary Wickes is delightfully funny as the wise- cracking housekeeper. She got so much praise for this film that her role in the sequel "By the Light of the Silvery Moon" was greatly expanded. Esther Dale has an amusing cameo as Ames' imperious aunt who has a surprising zest for life, and Ellen Corby is equally memorable as Gray's teacher who becomes an unwitting victim of Gray's tall tales, reminding me of the school teacher years later in "A Christmas Story", especially in Gray's hysterical daydream. To top it off, there is a beautiful winter sequence with opulent snowmen which leads to Day getting into a hysterical snowball fight and then leads to the film's own Christmas scene where all of Gray's antics are forgiven because of his innate sweetness.
Certainly by the early 1950's these simple stories had been done over and over, but some of them were too good to be dismissed. With Doris Day having taken over Bette Davis's spot as queen of Warner Brothers, she seemed to be able to do no wrong. As top female box office champ for 15 years, she had a career on film that often seemed to follow the same formula, but her continued popularity has not dwindled.