''Please Don't Eat the Daisies '' is a 1960

Metrocolor Metrocolor is the trade name used by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) for films processed at their laboratory. Virtually all of these films were shot on Kodak's Eastmancolor film. Although MGM used Kodak film products, MGM did not use all of Kodak's proc ...

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...

CinemaScope CinemaScope is an anamorphic lens series used, from 1953 to 1967, and less often later, for shooting widescreen films that, crucially, could be screened in theatres using existing equipment, albeit with a lens adapter. Its creation in 1953 by ...

starring

Doris Day Doris Day (born Doris Mary Kappelhoff; April 3, 1922 – May 13, 2019) was an American actress, singer, and activist. She began her career as a big band singer in 1939, achieving commercial success in 1945 with two No. 1 recordings, " Sent ...

and

David Niven James David Graham Niven (; 1 March 1910 – 29 July 1983) was a British actor, soldier, memoirist, and novelist. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance as Major Pollock in ''Separate Tables'' (1958). Niven's other roles ...

, made by Euterpe Inc., and distributed by

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by amazon (company), Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded o ...

. The movie was directed by

Charles Walters Charles Powell Walters (November 17, 1911 – August 13, 1982) was an American Hollywood director and choreographer most noted for his work in MGM musicals and comedies from the 1940s to the 1960s. Early years Charles Walters was born in Pasad ...

and produced by

Joe Pasternak Joseph Herman Pasternak (born József Paszternák; September 19, 1901 – September 13, 1991) was a Hungarian-American film producer in Hollywood. Pasternak spent the Hollywood "Golden Age" of musicals at MGM Studios, producing many successfu ...

, with

Martin Melcher Martin Melcher (August 1, 1915 – April 20, 1968) was an American motion picture and music executive. He was married to popular singer and actress Doris Day, with whom he owned a series of business ventures named Arwin. Melcher produced severa ...

(Day's husband) as associate producer. The screenplay, partly inspired by the 1957 book of the same name by

Jean Kerr Jean Kerr (born Bridget Jean Collins, July 10, 1922 – January 5, 2003) was an Irish-American author and playwright born in Scranton, Pennsylvania, who authored the 1957 bestseller ''Please Don't Eat the Daisies'' and the plays ''King of Hea ...

, a collection of humorous essays, was by

Isobel Lennart Isobel Lennart (May 18, 1915 – January 25, 1971) was an award-winning American screenwriter and playwright. She is best known for writing the book for the Broadway musical '' Funny Girl'' which premiered in 1964, although she also wrote scripts ...

. The film also features

Janis Paige Janis Paige (born Donna Mae Tjaden; September 16, 1922) is an American retired actress and singer. Born in Tacoma, Washington, she began singing in local amateur shows at the age of five. After high school, she moved to Los Angeles, where she b ...

Spring Byington Spring Dell Byington (October 17, 1886 – September 7, 1971) was an American actress. Her career included a seven-year run on radio and television as the star of ''December Bride''. She was a Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer contract player who appeared in ...

Richard Haydn Richard Haydn (born George Richard Haydon, 10 March 1905 – 25 April 1985) was a British-American comedy actor. Some of his better known performances include his roles as Professor Oddley in ''Ball of Fire'' (1941), Roger in '' No Time for Lov ...

Patsy Kelly Patsy Kelly (born Sarah Veronica Rose Kelly; January 12, 1910 – September 24, 1981) was an American actress. She is known for her role as the brash, wisecracking sidekick to Thelma Todd in a series of short comedy films produced by Hal Ro ...

, and

Jack Weston Jack Weston (born Morris Weinstein; August 21, 1924 – May 3, 1996) was an American actor. He was nominated for a Golden Globe Award in 1976 and a Tony Award in 1981. Career Weston, a native of Cleveland, Ohio, usually played comic roles in fi ...

made her final film appearance in this film, but appeared in TV shows later. A

television series A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite television, satellite, or cable television, cable, excluding breaking news, television adverti ...

starring

Patricia Crowley Patricia Crowley (born September 17, 1933) is an American actress. She was also frequently billed as Pat Crowley. Early life Crowley was born in Olyphant, Pennsylvania, the daughter of Helen (''née'' Swartz) and coal mining foreman Vincent Cr ...

and Mark Miller premiered five years later and ran for 58 episodes.

Plot

Professor Lawrence "Larry" Mackay and his wife Kate are struggling with four young sons in a tiny two-bedroom apartment in New York City. Months before, they had announced their intention to move to a larger apartment, but have not been able to find one. Meanwhile, their lease has expired and the landlord has rented out their apartment to someone who insists they vacate immediately. They decide to look for a house in the country, but the only thing they can afford is a run-down mansion complete with secret panels and trap doors, 70 miles away by train in fictional Hooton. They have no choice but to move in and start fixing it up. In the midst of the moving chaos, Larry has left his professorship at the university to become a drama critic for a major New York newspaper. His first assignment is to review the new show produced by his best friend, Alfred North. The show is awful, and Larry's review is especially hard on the show's star, Deborah Vaughn, who gets her revenge by hiring a press photographer to capture her slapping Larry's face at

Sardi's Sardi's is a Continental food, continental restaurant located at 234 West 44th Street, between Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway and Eighth Avenue (Manhattan), Eighth Avenue, in the Theater District, Manhattan, Theater District of Manhattan, New Yo ...

. This publicity stunt, along with Larry's published response, makes Larry the toast of the town. Kate and Larry are suddenly invited to society parties and hobnobbing with the rich and famous, which begins to go to Larry's head. With the hammering and builders at home, Larry decides to stay in a hotel in the city for a few weeks, leaving Kate to organize the new house. Back home, Kate tries her best to manage the four children and fit into their new community. When asked by the local dramatic society to find them an original play for their next production, Kate turns to Alfred. Alfred, seeing a chance for a bit of revenge of his own, gives them a terrible play written by a young Lawrence Mackay — with an altered title and fictitious playwright listed on the cover. Alfred then secretly invites all of the major New York critics to review the play. Larry finds out and has a huge fight with Kate, blaming her for his professional embarrassment. He refuses to allow the show to go on. Kate insists it is too late for the Hooton Holler Players to get another show ready, so Larry reluctantly allows them to proceed, publishing his own review of the show before opening night. Not to be left out, Deborah Vaughn decides to strike up a close, personal friendship with Larry, flattering him seductively. Kate's mother Suzie Robinson urges her to get Larry back before it is too late. Kate and Larry make up and return to their country home in time for one of the boys to drop a water bomb on them from an upstairs window.

Cast

as Kate Robinson Mackay *

as Lawrence "Larry" Mackay *

as Deborah Vaughn *

as Suzie Robinson *

as Alfred North *

as Maggie *

as Joe Positano * John Harding as Reverend Norman McQuarry *

Margaret Lindsay Margaret Lindsay (born Margaret Kies; September 19, 1910 – May 9, 1981) was an American film actress. Her time as a Warner Bros. contract player during the 1930s was particularly productive. She was noted for her supporting work in successf ...

as Mona James * Carmen Phillips as Mary Smith * Mary Patton as Mrs. Hunter *

Charles Herbert Charles Herbert Saperstein (December 23, 1948 – October 31, 2015), known as Charles Herbert, was an American child actor of the 1950s and 1960s. Before reaching his teens, Herbert was renowned by a generation of moviegoers for an on-screen ...

as David Mackay *

Stanley Livingston Stanley Bernard Livingston (born November 24, 1950) is an American actor, director, producer, editor and writer. Biography He is best known for playing Richard "Chip" Douglas, the third son of Steve Douglas (Fred MacMurray) on the television ...

as Gabriel MacKay *

Flip Mark Philip Mark Goldberg (born December 22, 1948) is an American film and television actor. He is known for playing the role of Brook Hooten in the American sitcom TV series ''Guestward, Ho!''. Life and career Mark was born in New York City. At th ...

as George MacKay * Baby Gellert as Adam McKay

Production

MGM acquired rights to the book for $75,000. Kerr stipulated that they had to fictionalize everything to avoid additional publicity for her family.

Reception

According to MGM records the film earned $5,150,000 in the US and Canada and $1.9 million elsewhere, resulting in a profit of $1,842,000.

Bosley Crowther Francis Bosley Crowther Jr. (July 13, 1905 – March 7, 1981) was an American journalist, writer, and film critic for ''The New York Times'' for 27 years. His work helped shape the careers of many actors, directors and screenwriters, though his ...

of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' found the characters "over-eager, over-witty and overwrought—and also undernourished with the substance of good solid farce." ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' declared, "Yarn launches with a couple of belly laughs, and this high degree of merriment is sustained more or less through its entire 111-minutes' running time, long for a comedy but so well turned out here that it's seldom in need of shearing." Philip K. Scheuer of the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

'' wrote that "any resemblance between Lawrence Mackay and any drama critic I ever heard of is purely coincidental. What resemblance remains between the essays and the movie I can't say—except that the movie certainly isn't very funny." ''

Harrison's Reports ''Harrison's Reports'' was a New York City-based motion picture trade journal published weekly from 1919 to 1962. The typical issue was four letter-size pages sent to subscribers under a second-class mail permit. Its founder, editor and publisher ...

'' declared, "Although the humor is more of the hearty chuckle than belly laugh variety, there is enough of it to give a merry effect which is delicately balanced against the seriousness of the problems of a professor turned drama critic."

John McCarten John McCarten (September 10, 1911, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – September 25, 1974, New York City) was an American writer who contributed about 1,000 pieces for ''The New Yorker'', serving as the magazine's film critic from 1945 to 1960 and B ...

of ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

'' wrote, "One and all try hard to amuse, but the screenplay defies them."McCarten, John (April 9, 1960). "The Current Cinema". ''

''. 108.

References in other media

"Please Don't Eat the Daisies" is played in the background of the beginning of the

Liam Kyle Sullivan Liam Kyle Sullivan (born July 17, 1973) is an American comedian, actor, director and video editor. Sullivan has made several guest appearances on television programs—including ''Gilmore Girls'', ''8 Simple Rules'', and ''Alias (TV series) ...

internet music videos "

Shoes A shoe is an item of footwear intended to protect and comfort the human foot. They are often worn with a sock. Shoes are also used as an item of decoration and fashion. The design of shoes has varied enormously through time and from culture t ...

" and " Text Message Break-up".

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Please Don't Eat The Daisies 1960 films American musical comedy films 1960 musical comedy films Films adapted into television shows Films based on non-fiction books Films directed by Charles Walters Films produced by Joe Pasternak Films scored by David Rose Films set in New York (state) Publicity stunts in fiction 1960s English-language films 1960s American films