Thursday, October 20, 2016

doris & gig & shirley & dean

There are screen teams - and then there are screen teams.

My interest is in those teams who haven't been aknowledged as teams.

Per se.

Let's take Doris Day, as an example. She is most identified with Rock Hudson, Gordon MacRae, Gene Nelson and James Garner but she actually appeared in more films with ... Gig Young:

-Gordon Douglas's "Young at Heart" (1954)

-George Seaton's "Teacher's Pet" (1958)

-Gene Kelly's "The Tunnel of Love" (1958)

-Delbert Mann's "That Touch of Mink" (1962).

These four titles would make a nice, tidy Saturday-afternoon film festival.


Then there's Shirley MacLaine, most closely linked with Frank Sinatra and Jack Lemmon.

Her most frequent co-star, however, was Dean Martin who shared seven - count 'em - seven films with her:

-Frank Tashlin's "Artists and Models" (1955)

-Vincente Minnelli's "Some Came Running" (1958)

-Joseph Anthony's "Career" (1959)

-Lewis Milestone's "Ocean's Eleven" (1960)

-Joseph Anthony's "All in a Night's Work" (1961)

-J. Lee Thompson's "What a Way to Go!" (1964)

-Hal Needham's "Cannonball Run 2" (1984).

And, oh yes, Shirley and Gig teamed up in Charles Walters' "Ask Any Girl" (1959).

From top to bottom:
Doris Day and Clark Gable prop up Gig Young in George Seaton's "Teacher's Pet"; Young and Elisabeth Fraser surprise Day and Richard Widmark in Gene Kelly's "The Tunnel of Love"; Shirley and Dean team in "All in a Night's Work" and "Career," both directed by Joseph Anthony

7 comments:

fred h. said...

I'm lovin' this stuff! But are you sure that Day didn't make more movies with MacRae and Nelson?

joe baltake said...

I'm sure.

Mary Norton said...

Actually, I always wished that Doris and Shirley made a film together - like a movie version of Sondheim's "Follies," for example. Wouldn't that have been great?

joe baltake said...

Sounds good, Mary. I assume you mean Doris in the Alexis Smith role and Shirley in the Dorothy Collins part. But, you know, t one time, Fox reportedly was considering using Day and Debbie Reynolds in a film of "Follies." Another missed opportunity.

Brian Lucas said...

Mary- Just pointing out that at least Shirley got to do "I'm Still Here" from "Follies" when she was in "Postcards from the Edge."

joe baltake said...

Brian- I forgot about MacLaine doing that song from "Follies" in "Postcard." Great observation. Thanks!

Judy Tracy said...

Gig Young and Dean Martin may have been the perfect light-comedic leading men in the '60s. We have no one like them today, although Clooney could have that kind of career. But it seems he has more serious ambitions.