This St. Patrick’s Day we are taking a quick little sojourn to the early 1960’s. Advertising is beginning to ramp up its volume and reach. The increase in prescription drugs and therapists is also beginning to touch the masses. How one feels or the evaluation of one’s emotions is starting to appear in younger people’s conversations. We must remember pre WWII the idea of therapy and even prescription drugs for any ailment other than one that was life threatening was almost un-heard of for the general public. In the more cosmopolitan cities, such as New York, having a therapist or taking ‘drugs’ (that is prescriptions drugs) for ailments of the mind may have begun, but in Middletown USA, such concepts were quite foreign.
So, on the theme of the changes coming out of the 1950’s into the 1960’s I thought today’s Movie Sunday would be Doris Day and Rock Hudson’s film: Send Me no more Flowers.. It has the farcical comedy misunderstandings of a late 1950’s movies, but with some of the new themes coming to the decade of the 1960’s in Drugs and therapy and dreams. Even the concept of hypochondria, as the Rock Hudson character feels in today’s film, is a very 1960’s sort of problem. If one were expressing illness when there was none in the 1940’s, they would not have been given a pill, but told to “buck up and go outside and get some fresh air”. Time, it seem, are a changing.Another interesting point is in the beginning portion of the film we see the milkman deliver the daily offerings to Doris Day. They include yogurt, low fat, fertile eggs, and organic honey. These sound very Today and we see the beginnings of the change in the American diet beginning to be shown on the screen, TV and in print to include such terminology.
On a purely visual scale, it is shot lovely and the interior design sets are a dreamy mix of chic suburbia.The colors and fantasy of the movie as well as the endless capers are still enjoyable due to the wonderful chemistry between Day, Hudson, and Randall. This was the third and final film that starred this wonderful trio.
Now, before we begin our Sunday picture I thought it’d be fun to share this home movie found on YouTube. It is of a senior skip day here in the USA on St. Patrick’s Day. It seems to be the late 1950’s so very fitting with today’s movie. I like the thought that these seniors did a myriad of outdoor activities while today one might wonder if a group of teens wouldn’t simply go to the mall all the while texting. Enjoy both the home movie and the film and as always, Happy Homemaking.
Enjoy your Movie: Send Me No More Flowers: Doris Day, Rock Hudson, and Tony Randall.
I love Send Me No Flowers, or any Doris Day movie for that matter.
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The observations in your first paragraph were so interesting to me. Do you think they had as many mental health issues as we seem to today? I'm wondering if evaluation our emotions as much as we do is such a good thing or not.
ReplyDeleteThis was my mother's favorite movie. She needed to watch it at least once a year, sometime more.
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