Doris Day is one of the last of a vanishing breed: A bona fide Movie Star of Hollywood's glistening era. A lot of folks probably don't know she's still alive because after she completed her TV series (1968-1973), she did a couple of TV specials and then retired. She has spent the time since working for causes that help animals and declining a stream of offers to act or accept awards. She will not appear on camera. She will not fly on an airplane. She has reportedly discouraged talk of an honorary Oscar (she never won a regular one) for the former reason and turned down a Kennedy Center recognition for both reasons. And for the last quarter-century, she has been interviewed infrequently enough to make J.D. Salinger look overexposed by comparison. She does about one — audio only — about every ten years.
This decade's is coming up this weekend. An hour (plus) long conversation about her singing career and her friendship with Frank Sinatra was recorded by phone in September by Jonathan Schwartz, host of the radio show, High Standards. He'll be playing it around 1:30 on his show which airs from Noon until 4 PM on Saturday and Sunday on WNYC in New York and at the same time on Sunday on Channel 73 on Sirius Satellite Radio, their Sinatra channel. If you don't have Sirius, you can hear it streaming on the WNYC website.
I was going to recommend her 1976 "autobiography" (clearly written by her co-author, A.E. Hotchner) but I see it's out of print. You can pick up a second-hand "collectible" copy for a hundred bucks or so…or a cheap reading copy for under five bucks if you search eBay or Amazon. It really is a remarkable life story of tragedy and triumph, with a lot more of the first. If you're ever in the mood for a Hollywood memoir by someone who really had a story to tell, this is the one. Or you could just wait to see if she talks more about herself in her next interview some time around the year 2020.