She’s the author of Day at a Time: An Indiana Girl’s Sentimental Journey to Doris Day’s Hollywood and Beyond.
Believe me, I really missed getting out and about sharing my “Dream Come True” with Doris Day, serving as her secretary in her home. We need POSITIVE stories now, more than ever, and I sure have one. Thank God places are opening up and welcoming people to come in to entertain.
It’s been an incredible journey since my book first came out in late 2007. It tells the story which people seem to love to hear of my time with Doris Day as her secretary in her home. And it’s not always just more mature people who come to hear about my book. Once in a while a teen accompanies a member of the audience. Doris has a universal appeal.
It’s amazing how you never know who you might meet at my DD events. One of the all-time most memorable special people I met thanks to Doris, was Marian Bonekamp Collins. Shortly after my book came out, I was invited to be the guest speaker for a luncheon at Deaconess Hospital in Cincinnati. A friend of mine and I drove to Cincinnati in February on a cold and snowy day. Before my talk, I met several of the guests. One in particular was Mary Beth. She came up to me and said, “I wanted to bring a friend of mine to hear your story, but she is up in years and was hesitant about coming out in this snowy, icy weather. “
I could identify with her hesitation as we had just driven to Cincy in snowy, icy conditions. But the rest of the story was that Marian had been in the well known car/train wreck which had incapacitated the young Doris Day on October 12, 1937. I was so touched and immediately gave Mary Beth a copy of my book to give to Marian. I never dreamed I would ever hear from Marian.
To my great surprise about two months later, I had a call from Nancy Baxter, my publisher, saying I had a letter that was sent to their office. I drove there and retrieved the letter. It was from Marian, the girlfriend of Doris, who was in that 1937 train wreck! She thanked me for giving her my book, and suggested we get together sometime. I was thrilled beyond belief and couldn’t wait to set a date to meet this lovely lady from Doris Day’s teen days.
Within a few weeks I and my friend and mutual DD admirer Diane, who came from Baltimore, made the trip down to Cincinnati to meet dear Marian in person, along with Mary Beth, Marian’s daughter-in-law, Pam, and Elaine. We had an awesome time and Marian took us on a personal tour of Doris Day’s Cincinnati —we saw so many places Doris spent time, including the railroad crossing where her horrific car/train wreck took place.
There is a lot of Doris Day history in Cincinnati. It was a wonderful time to be shown around to several locations where Doris spent time in her early pre- Hollywood days by a lovely lady from my favorite star’s youth!
Yes, I am more than ready to get back out in public with my magical Doris Day Story. I have several talks lined up and looking forward to many more….glad to be back “on the road again.”
Order Day at a Time by clicking back to the website!
To contact Mary Anne Barothy for a program via email or her website: https://www.dayatatimesentimentaljourney.com