Mary Anne Barothy, our author of Day at a Time: An Indiana Girl’s Sentimental Journey to Doris Day’s Hollywood and Beyond
In the past three months since the passing of Doris Day on May 13, 2019, interest in this movie star among devoted fans has grown. Case in point—I recently spoke with Cindy Nevin, Administrator for the Doris Day Fan Club on Facebook, and asked her about the growing interest in membership.
Cindy, a DD fan since age 8, said when she first joined the Doris Day Fan Club on Facebook, in 2014, there were around 4,200 members worldwide. She was eager to step up and help “co-administer” the group when the then sole administrator, John McKenzie, put out a notice asking for someone to help. Cindy had been a big DD fan since seeing Doris in With Six You Get Eggroll in 1968. On September 9, 2015, Cindy became co-administrator for the Doris Day Fan Club and soon moved up to administrator, having full reign over the growing fan club.
Currently there are 14,877 members worldwide, an amazing growth since those first days. There are there are members from the USA, Philippines, the UK, Canada, Russia and some other places. Here are some stats on the international distribution:
Top countries:
United States: 10,632
United Kingdom: 1,371
Canada: 742
Australia: 496
Germany: 232
Top Cities:
New York: 336
Los Angeles: 177
London, England: 107
Sydney, Australia: 104
Toronto, Canada: 93
I asked Cindy if she was surprised that more members were joining after Doris’s passing. “Yes and No. It was shocking the amount of member requests we received. A constant flow the first few days after her death. There were 400 plus new members added during this time. I think interest piqued after her death. It didn’t surprise me that there was so much interest because of who Doris was. I am sure people were reading all over the internet and hearing on TV about her life. Doris is widely cherished and loved…no question about that.”
Cindy added membership is approximately 70% women, 30% men and with a growing interest of young people who are joining on a daily basis. If you would like to join this interesting group, go to Facebook and look up Doris Day Fan Club where you can request membership. Among some interesting members are Jackie Joseph Lawrence who starred with Doris on “The Doris Day Show”; Scott Drier who does the “Doris and Me” shows; and Paul Peterson from “The Donna Reed Show.” Over the years I have had the privilege of getting to know several members of the original Doris Day Society, several of whom came here to live here in the USA. I have also made friends with some of the members on Cindy’s DD Facebook page. We all share a deep love for Doris Day! I remember when I first joined the Doris Day Society, as that particular group was called in those days, in the late 1950s in London England, we had to wait for the quarterly DD Journal which was sent out via regular mail. How wonderful that today you get the news and stories instantly. My, how times have changed!!!!!
You can order Mary Anne’s Hawthorne Best-seller Day at a Time: An Indiana Girl’s Sentimental Journey to Doris Day’s Hollywood and Beyond by clicking back to the website, softcover.