Listen to the opening music from "On Moonlight Bay"
"Take a sail on Moonlight Bay and you'll be surprised
at how much
you enjoy the trip"
By 1951 Doris Day had become one of the most valuable
assets at Warner Brothers. She was their number one female box-office
draw and as a follow-up to her hugely popular 1950 musical with Gordon
MacRae, "Tea for Two" the
pair were teamed up again (their 3rd teaming in fact) in the technicolor "On
Moonlight Bay". Loosely based on the "Penrod" tales by Booth
Tarkington, "Bay" is a nostalgic,
lovingly created look at small town Americana, a world that might not have
existed quite as it is depicted but a place we'd like to believe really
was.
Doris Day is a tomboy, more at home on the baseball field
or fixing a car than in a dress. The arrival of the boy next door changes
some of that, though not all. Her precocious brother Wesley is the devil
incarnate. Mom and Dad spend a lot of time scratching their heads in bemused
wonderment at their youngsters antics, and the family maid is erascible
but likeable. It's all tied up with gorgeous technicolor photography and
a lot of lovely music.
Some critics have carped that it's Warners version of "Meet Me in St.
Louis" but "On Moonlight Bay" can stand on its own merits thanks to a great
cast and some genuinely sweet and funny moments.
Doris is perfect as Marjorie, effectively balancing the tomboy and blossoming
young lady elements of her character and singing in that gorgeous voice
that is distinctly her own. Gordon MacRae is stalwart as the object of
her affection and it's obvious that the two have a genuine feeling for
one another. They remained good friends until his untimely passing. Their
rendition of "Till We Meet Again" is outstanding.
It's easy to believe that the cast is really a family. Leon Ames and Rosemary
DeCamp as the parents are warmly winning. In 1984 I had the pleasure of
joining Miss DeCamp and her husband, a retired California Judge at an awards
dinner and we talked about this film among others and she glowed as she
discussed the on-set atmosphere and interactions of the cast.
Bill Gray (of "Father Knows best" fame) is delightful and
funny as Wesley, and who could have played the family maid better than
Mary Wickes. This was the 1st of 4 on-screen roles opposite Day who was
a lifelong friend. In addition Wickes did a very funny guest shot on Day's
CBS Television series in 1969.
"On Moonlight Bay" was such a huge success for Warners that
two years later they reteamed most of the cast for an equally popular sequel, "By
the Light of the Silvery Moon".
Take a sail on Moonlight Bay and you'll be surprised at how much you enjoy
the trip. Paul Brogan, December 2001
Listen to Doris sing "On Moonlight Bay"
Doris Day had this to say: “… This
succession of cheerful, period musicals, plus Oscar Levant’s widely
publicized remark about my virginity, that contributed to what has been
called my ‘image,’ which
is a word that baffles me. There never was any intent on my part either
in my acting or in my private life to create any such thing as an image,
but I suppose that whatever there is of me that shines through on the screen
looks wholesome and virginy… We put ourselves into the guise of
a role we are called upon to play, and we perform it as honestly as we
can; but we have no control over whatever the result of that acting projects
upon an audience - if we did try to exercise this kind of control, the
result, I am sure, would be artificial. I never think about what the public
expects of me; I am only concerned with what I expect of myself.” Doris Day, Her Own Story
More Reviews:
The familiar combination of song and sentiment is given a
shiny production polish to make Warner Bros. Technicolor package “On
Moonlight Bay” an attractive package. The mood is nostalgic, the
setting the comparatively unsophisticated small town American of World
War I and the characters wholly uncomplicated. The formula is simple and
every ingredient is used-young love, the happy middle class family, the
mischievous younger brother, the salty but faithful family maid, moonlight
and song, and patriotism and the flag.
The result is close to what the arty critics might call corn but it is
a prime example of the family picture exhibitors have been asking for.
If simple and enduring values are corn, then this is it. But it’s
also proven box office. Outstanding performances by Doris Day and Gordon
MacRae as the boy and girl, Leon Ames as the father and Billy Gray as the
irrepressible 12-year-old, keep the somewhat episodic plot moving. The
story is based partly on Booth Tarkington’s “Penrod” stories.
It is concerned principally with the young girl’s emergence to womanhood
with her first beau, the college lad from across the street, obstacles
to the romance, including father and younger brother, and the final triumph
of young love when the boy goes off to war.
Festooned around the simple story are a series of episodes, which create
authentic pictures of small town family life of the era. The mood and the
authenticity are maintained by Roy del Ruth’s direction and in particular
by the careful and completely detailed settings. Production was by William
Jacobs.
(Motion Picture Herald Review) Reviewer’s Rating: VERY GOOD - James
D. Ivers
Release date, July 28, 1951. Running time, 95 minutes.
“Casting is nigh perfect. Miss Day and MacRae blend well in the
romantic leads, both performance and song-wise. .Moonlight Bay makes no
pretense at being anything other than good, soundly-valued entertainment
with popular appeal.” (Variety)
“Day’s third film that year, On Moonlight Bay, is one of the
movies for which she is most fondly remembered. Extremely successful at
the time of its release, it confirmed Day’s popularity with moviegoers.
She won the Photoplay Gold Medal Award for her role in the film, an award
bestowed at that time by the readers of Photoplay magazine who would cast
their votes annually for their favorite male and female star performances…
“This passage from carefree tomboy to boy-crazy young girl connected
with female adolescents in the audience. Day may have been the girl next
door, but even the girl next door had to group up, leave home, and get
married. There is a kernel of truth in the romanticized puberty rites Day
undergoes in On Moonlight Bay. The very fact that she suffered through
this transitional period in a girl’s life separates her immediately
from the sex goddesses with whom she was contemporaneous.”
(George
Morris, Dons Day
