Doris Day - Day By Day LP 1956 Digital remastered, at Audio Design Studio made 2012.

Day by Day was a Doris Day album released by Columbia Records on December 17, 1956. The title is an obvious pun, both meaning "on a daily basis" (as implied in the song title) and "(Doris) Day, in the daytime" (and thus leading to a later album entitled Day by Night).

All tracks have vocals by Day accompanied by Paul Weston's orchestra.

1956  Columbia records_DATA


01 - The Song Is You - (Jerome Kern/Oscar Hammerstein II)
02 - Hello, My Lover, Goodbye - (Johnny Green/Edward Heyman)
03 - But Not for Me - (George and Ira Gershwin)
04 - I Remember You - (Victor Schertzinger/Johnny Mercer)
05 - I Hadn't Anyone Till You - (Ray Noble)
06 - But Beautiful - (Jimmy Van Heusen/Johnny Burke)
07 - Autumn Leaves - (Joseph Kosma/Jacques Prévert/Johnny Mercer)
08 - Don't Take Your Love from Me - (Henry Nemo)
09 - There Will Never Be Another You - (Harry Warren/Mack Gordon)
10 - Gone with the Wind - (Herbert Magidson/Allie Wrubel)
11 - The Gypsy in My Soul - (Clay Boland/Moe Jaffe)
12 - Day by Day - (Axel Stordahl/Paul Weston/Sammy Cahn)

About Doris

Doris Day, the quintessential all-American girl, continues to be revered by her fans, while the media still celebrate her as an actress and singer with a legendary Hollywood "girl next door" image.

However, Doris Day's personal life, faced with steely resolve, was the very antithesis of how most fans perceived her super-stardom.  The studios promoted her in screen roles highlighting her wholesome, vivacious blonde personality. However, in hindsight, this concentration on her image belied her great acting and musical talents; a full retrospective appraisal of her career in recent years has brought her fans a fuller appreciation of her gifts.  Of her 39 films, Calamity Jane, Love Me or Leave Me and Pillow Talk remain popular favorites, and still run frequently on cable television.  Paralleling her success in big-screen entertainment, a series of excellent albums recorded between 1956 and 1968 expanded her popularity, and are as relevant today as when they were first released.

The Singer | The Actress | Notable Achievements | The TV Personality | Challenges & Honors | More Recently...

The Singer

Born Doris Mary Ann von Kappelhoff on April 3, 1924, in Cincinnati, Ohio, her parents came from German stock.  Her father, Frederick Wilhelm Von Kappelhoff, was a music teacher, choir master and church organist and loved classical music.  Her mother, Alma Sophia Welz, on the other hand, was an outgoing woman who enjoyed "hillbilly music."  Doris was the youngest of three: she had two brothers, Richard, who died before she was born, and Paul who was a few years older. She was named after silent movie actress Doris Kenyon, whom her mother admired. Growing up in the 1930s Doris was attracted to music and dance, eventually forming part of a dance duo which performed locally until a car she was riding in was struck by a train, crushing her right leg, a severe injury that curtailed her ambition to become a professional dancer.

However, while recovering, Doris gained a vocal education by listening to the radio, becoming a fan of the embryonic records of upcoming Ella Fitzgerald. Her mother encouraged her to take singing lessons. Alma took Doris to see vocal coach Grace Raine, who was so impressed with Doris' natural talent that she offered her three lessons for the price of one.  Doris credits Raine with impressing upon her the importance of delivering a lyric, and today Doris says that Raine had the greatest impact on her singing career. 

At age 15, Doris began performing locally and while working with local bandleader Barney Rapp, she adopted the stage name "Day" after Rapp suggested "Kappelhoff" was too long and cumbersome for marquee appeal. After leaving Rapp, Doris worked with a number of other band leaders including Bob Crosby, and was eventually hired by Les Brown.  She had two stints with Brown's band, with marriage to trombonist Al Jordan, birth of her son Terry and subsequent divorce in between. Her 1945 hit "Sentimental Journey," co-written by Brown and recorded with his band, was made at the ideal time, as it reflected the thoughts of weary troops as they returned home from service in Europe and the Pacific.

    "She was every bandleader's dream, a vocalist who had natural talent, a keen regard for the lyrics and an attractive appearance." - Les Brown

Following her second hit record with Brown, "My Dreams Are Getting Better All The Time," Doris went solo with a contract from Columbia Records in 1947.   Her radio work (with Bob Hope and later Frank Sinatra) lead to separation (and eventually divorce) from second husband George Weidler. Weidler could see that Doris was becoming a notable personality, and he did not want to be known as Mr. Doris Day. His request for a divorce came via letter while she was performing at the Little Club in New York.

The Actress

    "I'll remember this to my grave.  We all walked into a room to see the screen tests.  The first screen test was Marion Hutton's. Then came Janis Paige [who ended up with a part in the film].  Then on the screen came Doris Day.  I can only tell you, the screen just exploded. There was absolutely no question.  A great star was born and the rest is history." - Sammy Cahn

Still despondent over her divorce, Doris reluctantly accepted an invitation to sing at a Hollywood party attended by songwriters Jule Styne and Sammy Cahn. She was asked to sing and gave a tearful, emotionally charged rendition of "Embraceable You." So impressed was Styne that he arranged for a screen test.  This lead to her first movie, Romance on the High Seas (1948), with director Michael Curtiz, who placed Doris under a personal contract for further films at Warner Brothers. Tea for Two (1950), Lullaby of Broadway (1951), On Moonlight Bay (1951), By the Light of the Silvery Moon (1953) and Calamity Jane (1953) were among the popular musicals that helped Doris sell hit records like "It's Magic" and "Secret Love." The occasional dramatic role, such as in the dark Storm Warning (1950) and musical melodrama Young Man with a Horn (1950), proved Doris had natural acting talent.

On a personal level, Doris married her agent, Marty Melcher, in 1951.  He subsequently handled her career as her producer, and decided not renew her contract with Warner Brothers after the completion of Young At Heart in 1954. As a freelance actress, Doris' range of roles increased. She made the bio-pic Love Me Or Leave Me, based on the life of ‘20s singer Ruth Etting, in 1955 for MGM; it was hailed as a triumph for both her singing and acting.  She followed this with Alfred Hitchcock's The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956), which teamed her with James Stewart and included location work in Morocco and London. On set, Doris asked Hitch why he wasn't giving her any direction.  His response was simple: "Because you are doing everything just right," he said.

Doris' recording of "Que Sera, Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be)" was used as an innocuous plot device in the film, and won an Oscar for Best Song. When Doris later recorded "Que Sera Sera" for Columbia, it became such a massive hit, it was henceforth perceived as her signature number.  Today, Doris casually admits to initially disliking the song.

Doris returned to Warner Brothers for the film version of Broadway hit The Pajama Game in 1957.  She was ideally cast as a feisty union shop-steward in a pajama factory, and the film included great songs that kept the action buoyant. Doris starred in comedies with Clark Gable, Jack Lemmon, Richard Widmark and David Niven. Then, in 1959, Doris paired with Rock Hudson in Pillow Talk for Universal.  This role gained her a Best Actress Oscar nomination and a Golden Globe Award and began a run of sophisticated romantic comedies. The onscreen chemistry between Doris and Hudson led to two more films, Lover Come Back and Send Me No Flowers. That Touch of Mink (1962) with Cary Grant lacked the same screen chemistry that was so apparent with Hudson, but the glow was back when she teamed up with James Garner in The Thrill of It All (1963) and Move Over Darling (1963). The dramatic Midnight Lace (1960) with Rex Harrison was an emotionally draining role for Doris. As for musicals, Jumbo gave Doris the lovely Rodgers & Hart score to sing, but the circus story based on a ‘30s Broadway spectacle was too old-fashioned to make any impression in 1962.

Doris was voted Top Box-Office Female Star for four straight years during the early ‘60s, and was among the Top 10 for 10 straight years.  Her record has never been matched, but fickle tastes eventually rejected such frothy fun for Hollywood's more explicit sex and darker themes. By mid-decade her box-office appeal had slipped a few notches, but Melcher continued to star Doris in light-weight fare with Move Over Darling and The Glass Bottom Boat (1966), the best of the bunch thanks to Doris' personable appeal. Ironically, her final movie, With Six You Get Egg-Roll (1968), gave an indication that roles nearer her actual age might be the way forward.

Notable Achievements

The title song from Move Over Darling gave Doris a major Top 20 hit in 1964. Produced and co-written by her son Terry, the song's success encouraged Doris to focus on more contemporary numbers.  But when her Columbia Records contract ended, a 1967 independent album project entitled The Love Album not only concluded her recording career but was ironically unissued for more than 27 years, with its belated 1994 UK issue preceding a much more recent U.S. release. It is widely agreed that when she recorded The Love Album she was at the peak of her vocal prowess, with many critics and fans considering this her finest album.  This fact is especially gratifying for Doris, since she personally selected the songs.

Despite numerous hit singles throughout her career, Doris' recording achievements are best celebrated by 16 superb concept albums.  Among these, Duet recorded in 1962 with the Andre Previn Trio, embodied all that is great about Doris' vocal style.  The album features minimal jazz accompaniment, which highlights her up-close-and-personal approach to the lyrics and melodic vocal strength. I Have Dreamed (1961) was dedicated to softly reflective numbers, and naturally displayed an intimate appeal, shot through with sensitivity. Cuttin' Capers (1959) proved to be a knock-out, up-and-at-‘em swinger that hit its mark with a mix of brilliantly orchestrated standards and newer numbers. The extended chart success of the Love Me or Leave Me soundtrack was joined by similar souvenirs from The Pajama Game and Billy Rose's Jumbo. Thankfully all these albums are still available, together with various compilations that feature her many singles.

    "When I recorded for Columbia, I could usually do anything in one take...I would invariably want to use the first take because that would be the one that was spontaneous and fresh." - Doris Day

The Television Personality

The sudden death of Marty Melcher in 1968 was catalyst to Doris' discovering he and business partner Jerry Rosenthal had squandered her earnings, leaving her deeply in debt. Years were taken up suing Rosenthal in the courts, with a large civil judgment eventually awarding Doris $20 million dollars.  After legal fees, she received only a fraction of that amount. Doris also discovered Melcher had committed her to a television sitcom series. Despite grave misgivings, and a dislike of television, the ultimate need to clear her debts convinced Doris to go ahead with "The Doris Day Show," netting her a Golden Globe (1969) for Best Actress in a Television Series. With annual changes in formula, she successfully steered the series for five years (1968-1973) as co-executive producer with son Terry.  Her contract completed, she left the grueling schedule on her own terms. Additionally, two television specials, "The Doris Mary Anne Kappelhoff Special" (1971) and "Doris Day Today" (1975), gave Doris a chance to sing with friends Perry Como and John Denver as guests. A cable television series, "Doris Day and Friends," had limited coverage during 1985-86 and featured a talk-show format, with topics mainly dedicated to animal welfare.

Publication of her autobiography, Doris Day - Her Own Story, in 1976 was a surprisingly honest account, as related to A. E. Hotchner. The book revealed much of the painful trauma in her private life and three marriages, which had been masked by her sunny on-screen and recording  image. Television interviews ensured the book became a best seller.

Challenges and Honors

    "I always felt that making a living wasn't the easiest thing in the world, and I decided I was going straight ahead and try to be as uncomplicated as possible. The important thing in life is just living and loving." - Doris Day

The 2004 death of Doris' beloved son Terry was a major blow. They weren't just mother and son, but considered one another buddies.  Terry was there for Doris when Marty died and helped guide her through the endless legal battles, financial difficulties and launch of her new television series.  During the same year, Doris was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President George W. Bush.  At the time, she said, "I am deeply grateful to the President and to my country. ... To come from Cincinnati, Ohio, for God's sake, then to go to Hollywood, and to get this kind of tribute from my country. ... I love this country so much."   Unfortunately, a gripping fear of flying caused Doris to miss attending the award ceremony personally.

She has also turned down an honorary Academy Award and Kennedy Center Honors Award because flying to accept these in person would be impossible. However, she did receive a Grammy for Lifetime Achievement in February 2008 and in her absence, Tony Bennett and Natalie Cole were on hand for the tribute, accepting the honor on Doris' behalf. Her last appearance at such a public event was to pick up her Golden Globe in 1989, which was presented by her Carmel, California, neighbor and friend Clint Eastwood.

Her birthdays are always celebrated by her fans, and this year was no exception. Fans and celebrity friends alike phoned in their best wishes to the local Carmel radio station, "Magic 63," which played her recordings all day long. Doris was interviewed over the phone on-air, and despite having lost four of her beloved four-leggers a few months prior, she was chirpy and just as we remember in her films and on records. She sent her love to all her fans and is still astounded she is so well remembered after all these years.

In June 2010, Doris was honored to receive the Legend Award from the Society of Singers in Los Angeles, in recognition for her lifetime achievement in the recording industry.

    "I just feel so fortunate and so blessed to have been able to entertain people in the theatres and on record, it's just an amazing life that I've experienced." - Doris Day

More Recently...

When Doris left the Hollywood spotlight more than 30 years ago, she never looked back. Rather, she moved forward in her second career with the same enthusiasm and energy that put her at the top of the entertainment profession. This time her focus would be on her true passion, the welfare of animals. She worked tirelessly, rescuing, healing and placing literally thousands of abused or neglected animals. When she joined the grassroots organization "Actors and Others for Animals" in the ‘70s, she literally went door to door to rescue pets in distress. She then started her own organization, the Doris Day Animal League, and later the Doris Day Animal Foundation.  The League became a lobbying group on behalf of animal rights, and is now a part of the Humane Society of the United States. Doris had no idea it would grow into one of the largest animal welfare organizations in the world. The Doris Day Animal Foundation, a hands-on animal welfare charity, continues to operate under Doris' guidance.

Doris has always had a passionate love of animals and an innate connection with them. Animals relate to her almost instantly and sense her recognition of their gentle souls. She thinks of them as spiritual creatures, unique in their capacity for unconditional love.

Today Doris enjoys a quiet life at her home in Carmel Valley, California.  She prefers to stay out of the spotlight, but is in no way the recluse that the tabloids would make her out to be. There is a steady stream of friends who visit her at her home.  She keeps busy caring for her animals and her beautiful home and grounds (in that order), reading and answering the hundreds of pieces of fan mail she receives each month.  She tends to the affairs of the Doris Day Animal Foundation, and has projects ranging from the release of a new CD, this new website, a paper doll book ... and she promises more new ventures are in the works.

Her Foundation work continues to keep her very busy. In 2009 she funded the Doris Day Animal Horse Rescue facility at the Cleveland Amory Black Beauty Horse Ranch in Texas.  More than 250 abused and neglected horses from Western Nebraska were rescued and placed at the ranch. Closer to home and near and dear to her heart is a special horse, Mocha, who was rescued by the SPCA of Monterey, California. After his rescue, Doris saw to it that her Foundation contributed to Mocha's upkeep. Doris recently visited him at the SPCA and was pleased to see he had almost recovered fully. Mocha and other horses at the SPCA took to Doris as though she were a long-lost friend.  The staff there said they had never seen the horses so affectionate with anyone -- but then Doris always seems to form an instant bond with animals, large and small.

Most recently, a new little cat, Angel, became part of Doris' household. Angel's owner had passed away and a local welfare group had rescued the kitty. When Doris heard this news, she just knew this little "Angel" would make a great pal for her other cat "Roller."  Doris continues to keep her finger on the pulse of animal welfare in the Monterey area  - and across country.

Doris has experienced great loss, but through her faith and a determined will to pick herself up and go on, she still leads a rewarding and fulfilling life. She is still offered scripts and "gigs" and who knows, maybe one day she'll surprise us all with a new film.

Credit: Allen Pollock and T.R. Bashara  For more information about Doris, click on http://www.dorisdaytribute.com