Wandering Along the Path: Right Speech

Last night, after watching two episodes of "The Expanse" (our daughter gave us Season Two a couple of weeks ago and boy does my husband love scify) he went downstairs to play cards by himself, and I trolled the TV offerings and landed on TCM and watched the last half of a Rock Hudson/Doris Day movie. I was lured in by Day's amazing outfits, all pastels and hats and so adorable on her, and then the preposterousness of the plot got me hooked. Hudson is pretty good in these films, and evidently Day showed him the ropes about how to do comedy. Throughout the film a couple of middle aged businessmen keep seeing Hudson with various women looking like he is the new Cassanova, and when, near the end, he comes in the hotel lobby wearing nothing but a mink coat, they exclaim about how they'd never have thought... The big joke is they decide he's gay, and the bigger joke is of course he really was, but nobody knew it. In the absurd end, having gotten drunk and married each other, Day has it annulled, but nine months later Hudson flies back from San Francisco and finds a minister to marry them as she's about to go in the delivery room. Saved by the bell! These movies were my mother's era, but I've seen some of them on TV since, and they are not any different that the Hallmark movies so popular now. Escapism. Logic need not apply. I have a soft spot for Day, especially in "Calamity Jane" and "The Man Who Knew Too Much". She had more skills than she was given credit for, and she had an incredible jazz voice that was silenced by all the pop tunes. She died recently, and after the movie, Mankowitz said she remained friends with Hudson the rest of his life. He credited her with guiding his acting, and I believe it.