By Mary Anne Barothy, author of Day at a Time: An Indiana Girl’s Sentimental Journey to Doris Day’s Hollywood and Beyond
April 3rd has always been a special day for me since I was a young teen. Why, you ask? Because it was Doris Day’s birthday. I idolized her as a teenager and would send her a card every year with a letter. In my late teens I became friends with other DD fans through the Doris Day Society in London. We would pool our money to buy her something for her birthday. Little did I ever dream that one day I would be celebrating her birthday with her!
I was a young star-stuck girl from St. Agnes Academy in Indianapolis who traveled to Hollywood and ended up through some marvelous circumstances in Doris Day’s home as her personal secretary.
When I became her secretary in the early ‘70s, I lived with her and had the opportunity to plan a surprise birthday party for her on a couple of occasions. The photo with this blog shows the cake we had made for her. See the large daisy on the cake? In each petal was the name of one of her eleven —yes, I said 11—dogs. She loved the cake and fun time with her mother, Alma, and a few close friends. That year I gave her a matching broom and dust pan painted with daisies all over. “Nora Neat” as she often called herself loved and used them often on her leaf-laden patio.
Doris wasn’t big into birthdays and often said she never counted them and just enjoyed each day. Sometimes I think we enjoyed her birthdays more than she, but these are wonderful memories I will always cherish.
This April 3rd she is officially celebrating her “90th” Birthday and there are many events planned at her Cypress Inn in Carmel, CA, to raise money for the Doris Day Animal Foundation.
In closing, I just want to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY DORIS!!!!!
Click back to Hawthornepub.com and order the book and receive a refund on shipping and one of Doris’s favorite recipes: Lemon Chicken.