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99-523: In March 1953, Thomas first signed the contract for the show with ABC and chose Desilu Studios to film it using its three-camera method . Two proposed titles during pre-production were The Children's Hour and Here Comes Daddy . Thomas played the role of Danny Williams, a successful comedian and nightclub entertainer at the Copa Club, based on the iconic New York City nightclub the Copacabana . In

198-575: A back-door pilot aired as an episode of The Danny Thomas Show titled "Everything Happens to Me", aired on March 27, 1961. Though Bishop's show went through a series of changes, the characters of Danny and Rusty appeared in several Joey Bishop Show episodes over its four-year run, with Rusty appearing on the show for a three-episode arc in early 1965, about a year after The Danny Thomas Show itself had wound down. Kathy and Charlie Halper also appeared in one episode of The Joey Bishop Show . The series also crossed over to The Lucy–Desi Comedy Hour In

297-522: A codefendant, describing her as an "unwilling, involuntary plaintiff whose consent cannot be obtained." Rosenthal claimed that much of the money that Day had lost was the result of the unwise advice of other attorneys who had suggested that she sell three hotels at a loss, as well as some oil leases in Kentucky and Ohio . He claimed that he had made the investments under a long-term plan and did not intend to sell them until they appreciated in value. Two of

396-474: A few other women and nearly got engaged to a widowed singer until he found out she did not like children. By season's end, the ratings had suffered and it was decided that a wife and mother was needed to complete the family unit. In a four-part story arc that began airing in April 1957, son Rusty fell ill with the measles and Danny hired Kathy O'Hara ( Marjorie Lord ), a young Irish nurse, to look after him. Kathy

495-530: A film actress with a series of romantic comedies beginning with Pillow Talk (1959), costarring Rock Hudson , who became a lifelong friend, and Tony Randall . Day received a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Actress , her only career Oscar nomination. Day, Hudson and Randall appeared in two more films together, Lover Come Back (1961) and Send Me No Flowers (1964). Along with David Niven and Janis Paige , Day starred in Please Don't Eat

594-576: A great time. She and I were best buddies; she was my only friend from the Make Room for Daddy cast. What made me specifically want to leave the show? I had a five-year contract, Jean had a three-year contract. Jean was thoroughly fed up with the series and made it clear that she didn't want to come back. When she left, I was devastated. I didn't want to continue, either. I wanted to break my contract. They wouldn't let me leave, but gave me less to do; that's why I'm in fewer shows from ages 14–16. In Season 7,

693-412: A larger brand-new apartment and, with the change of network, the producers also changed Kathy's daughter. Leilani Sorenson was dropped from the cast and replaced by Angela Cartwright as Linda. Linda then was adopted by Danny, and the show's ratings dramatically increased. At the end of its fifth season, The Danny Thomas Show posted its highest rating, ranking at No. 2. During this season, Amanda Randolph

792-550: A musical-comedy actress, Day began to accept more dramatic roles in order to broaden her range. Her dramatic star turn as singer Ruth Etting in Love Me or Leave Me (1955), with top billing above James Cagney , received critical and commercial success, becoming Day's greatest film success to that point. Cagney said that she had "the ability to project the simple, direct statement of a simple, direct idea without cluttering it," comparing her performance to that of Laurette Taylor in

891-416: A role in the creation of another long-running sitcom, The Andy Griffith Show . In the seventh season, Danny Thomas is arrested by Sheriff Andy Taylor (Andy Griffith) and detained in the small town of Mayberry in an episode titled "Danny Meets Andy Griffith". The episode aired on February 15, 1960, and The Andy Griffith Show premiered later that year on October 3. The Joey Bishop Show originated as

990-499: A settlement was reached in 1979. Day also learned to her displeasure that Melcher had committed her to a television series that became The Doris Day Show . It was awful. I was really, really not very well when Marty [Melcher] passed away, and the thought of going into TV was overpowering. But he'd signed me up for a series. And then my son Terry [Melcher] took me walking in Beverly Hills and explained that it wasn't nearly

1089-466: A singer in three Soundies with the Les Brown band. While working with Brown, Day recorded her first hit recording, " Sentimental Journey ", released in early 1945. It soon became an anthem for World War II servicemen. The song continues to be associated with Day, and she rerecorded it on several occasions, including a version for her 1971 television special. During 1945–46, Day (as vocalist with

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1188-417: A sound stage, but he worked with Freund to design sets that accommodated audiences, allowed filming, and adhered to fire, health, and safety codes. Network executives considered the use of film an unnecessary extravagance. Arnaz persuaded them to allow Desilu to cover all additional costs associated with filming, rather than broadcasting live, under the stipulation that Desilu owned and controlled all rights to

1287-481: A successful five-year run, although it may be best remembered for its abrupt season-to-season changes in casting and premise. After the end of the television show's run in 1973, Day largely retired from acting but completed two television specials, The Doris Mary Anne Kappelhoff Special (1971) and Doris Day Today (1975), and she was a guest on various shows in the 1970s. In the 1985–86 season, Day hosted her own television talk show, Doris Day's Best Friends , on

1386-485: A two-hour-long "reunion" special on NBC , The Danny Thomas TV Family Reunion , considered the first TV reunion show, and Make More Room for Daddy , which aired as an episode of The Danny Thomas Hour in November 1967. Shortly after filming the second special in 1967, Randolph died suddenly of a stroke at the age of 70. A CBS reunion special, Make Room for Granddaddy , was aired in 1969. The special did so well that it

1485-460: A weekly variety show that lasted 11 seasons. In truth, Here's Agnes was offered to Burnett by CBS executives who attempted to dissuade her from having a variety show because they felt that men were better suited for them. Burnett and Ball, however, remained close friends, often guest-starring in each other's series. In 1967, Ball agreed to sell her television company to Gulf+Western , which had only recently acquired Paramount Pictures. The company

1584-433: A young up-and-coming singer, as did Bobby Rydell . Zsa Zsa Gabor played a nightclub performer. Tennessee Ernie Ford portrayed a singer named Kentucky Cal. Brenda Lee plays Danny's maid, whom he hires as a singer. For its first four years, Make Room for Daddy on ABC (retitled The Danny Thomas Show starting with season four) and garnered decent ratings, but failed to make the list of the top 30 programs. Shortly after

1683-559: Is a street named after Desilu in San Antonio, Texas . Desilu Productions was founded in 1950 using the combined names of the husband and wife production team of "Desi Arnaz" and "Lucille Ball". It was created to produce Lucy and Desi's vaudeville act as a television series and sell it to Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) executives. Arnaz and Ball wanted to adapt Ball's CBS radio series My Favorite Husband to television. The television project eventually became I Love Lucy . During

1782-519: Is best known for shows such as I Love Lucy , The Lucy Show , Mannix , The Untouchables , Mission: Impossible and Star Trek . Until 1962, Desilu was the second-largest independent television production company in the United States, behind MCA 's Revue Studios , until MCA bought Universal Pictures and Desilu became and remained the number-one independent production company, until Ball sold it to Gulf and Western Industries (then

1881-400: Is part of CBS Media Ventures (formerly CBS Television Distribution). During Ball's time as sole owner, Desilu developed popular series such as Mission: Impossible (1966), Mannix (1967), and Star Trek (1966). It has been falsely rumored that a Desilu loss during this time was Carol Burnett , who declined to star in a sitcom for the studio in favor of The Carol Burnett Show ,

1980-565: The Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN). The network canceled the show after 26 episodes despite the worldwide publicity that it had received. One episode featured Rock Hudson , who was showing the first public symptoms of AIDS , including severe weight loss and fatigue. He died from the disease later that year. Day later said, "He was very sick. But I just brushed that off and I came out and put my arms around him and said, 'Am I glad to see you'." In October 1985,

2079-649: The I Love Lucy episodes were produced there. In late 1957, the company bought the RKO Pictures production facilities for $ 6 million from General Tire and Rubber , including RKO's main facilities on Gower Street in Hollywood and the RKO-Pathé lot (now Culver Studios ) in Culver City . This purchase included Forty Acres , the backlot where exteriors for Mayberry were filmed. These acquisitions gave

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2178-550: The Los Angeles Film Critics Association presented Day with a Lifetime Achievement Award. In April 2014, Day made an unexpected public appearance to attend the annual Doris Day Animal Foundation benefit. Clint Eastwood offered Day a role in a film that he was planning to direct in 2015, but she eventually declined. Day granted ABC a telephone interview on her birthday in 2016 that was accompanied by photos of her life and career. During

2277-585: The Supreme Court of California rejected Rosenthal's appeal of the multimillion-dollar judgment awarded to Day in her suit against him for legal malpractice and upheld the conclusions of a trial court and an appeals court that Rosenthal had acted improperly. In April 1986, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to review the lower court's judgment. In June 1987, Rosenthal filed a $ 30 million lawsuit against lawyers who he claimed had cheated him out of millions of dollars in real-estate investments. He named Day as

2376-616: The 1950s and 1960s. Her film career began with Romance on the High Seas (1948). She starred in films of many genres, including musicals, comedies, dramas and thrillers. She played the title role in Calamity Jane (1953) and starred in Alfred Hitchcock 's The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956) with James Stewart . She costarred with Rock Hudson in three successful comedies including Pillow Talk (1959), for which she

2475-616: The 1958 Lucy–Desi episode "Lucy Makes Room for Danny", the Williams (Danny Thomas, Marjorie Lord, Rusty Hamer and Angela Cartwright) rent Lucy and Ricky Ricardo's house. Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz subsequently appeared as the Ricardos on an episode of The Danny Thomas Show ("Lucy Upsets the Williams Household") which aired on January 5, 1959. Morey Amsterdam guest-starred as Buddy Sorrell of The Dick Van Dyke Show in

2574-632: The 1970s Joe Cocker hit " You Are So Beautiful ", the Beach Boys ' " Disney Girls " and jazz standards such as " My Buddy ", which Day originally sang in the film I'll See You in My Dreams (1951). In the U.S., the album reached No. 12 on Amazon 's bestseller list and helped raise funds for the Doris Day Animal League . Day became the oldest artist to score a UK Top 10 with an album featuring new material. In January 2012,

2673-494: The Ball-Arnaz TV empire a total of 33 sound stages — four more than Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and eleven more than Twentieth Century-Fox had in 1957. The studio's initial attempt to become involved in film production was the film Forever, Darling (1956), Arnaz and Ball's followup to their highly successful MGM release The Long, Long Trailer (1954), but it was a box-office failure. It was produced at Desilu, but under

2772-666: The British charts. Her cover of " Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps " was included in the soundtrack of the Australian film Strictly Ballroom . Day participated in celebrations of her birthday with an annual Doris Day music marathon. She declined tribute offers from the American Film Institute and the Kennedy Center Honors because they both require that recipients attend in person. In 2004, she

2871-598: The Broadway production The Glass Menagerie (1945). Day felt that it was her best film performance. The film's producer Joe Pasternak said, "I was stunned that Doris did not get an Oscar nomination." The film's soundtrack album became a No. 1 hit. Day starred in Alfred Hitchcock 's suspense film The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956 film) opposite James Stewart. She sang two songs in the film, " Que Sera, Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be) ", which won an Academy Award for Best Original Song , and "We'll Love Again". The film

2970-547: The CBS episodes were then syndicated in the fall of 1967 and offered to local stations. The first four seasons from ABC were not put into syndication. From February 1, 1987 to 1991, the show's fifth through ninth seasons were shown on Nick at Nite . TV Land and GoodLife Television aired the majority of the episodes from the fourth season through the seventh season (and select episodes from seasons eight and nine). The show aired on Lifestyle until its 1993 shutdown. MeTV aired

3069-540: The CBS library. In November 2019 CBS Studios registered the DESILU trademark again to protect its previous Common Law trademark usage. Syndication rights for Here's Lucy were sold by Ball to Telepictures , which later merged with Lorimar Television and ultimately was folded into Warner Bros. Television . Warner Bros. Television is the show's current distributor, although MPI now holds home video rights under license from Lucille Ball Productions and Desilu Too. Desilu began

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3168-661: The Daisies (1960) and with Cary Grant in the comedy That Touch of Mink (1962). During 1960 and the 1962-1964 period, she ranked No. 1 at the box office, the second woman to be No. 1 four times, an accomplishment equaled by no other actress except Shirley Temple . She set a record that has yet to be matched by receiving seven consecutive Laurel Awards as the top female box-office star. Day teamed with James Garner starting with The Thrill of It All , followed by Move Over, Darling (both 1963). The film's theme song " Move Over Darling ", cowritten by her son, reached No. 8 in

3267-608: The Hit Parade Hall of Fame in 2007, and in 2010 received the first Legend Award presented by the Society of Singers. At the age of 89, Day released My Heart in the United Kingdom on September 5, 2011, her first new album since the 1994 release of The Love Album , which had been recorded in 1967. The album is a compilation of previously unreleased recordings produced by Day's son Terry Melcher. Tracks include

3366-732: The Les Brown Band) had six other top ten hits on the Billboard chart : " My Dreams Are Getting Better All the Time ", " 'Tain't Me", " Till the End of Time ", " You Won't Be Satisfied (Until You Break My Heart) ", "The Whole World Is Singing My Song" and "I Got the Sun in the Mornin ' " . Les Brown said, "As a singer Doris belongs in the company of Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra." While singing with

3465-455: The Les Brown band and for nearly two years on Bob Hope 's weekly radio program, Day toured extensively across the United States. Her performance of the song " Embraceable You " impressed songwriter Jule Styne and his partner Sammy Cahn , and they recommended her for a role in Romance on the High Seas (1948). Day was cast for the role after auditioning for director Michael Curtiz . She

3564-527: The National Broadcasting Company ( NBC ). Arnaz attempted to sell other television pilots, including a comedy with Carol Channing and an adventure series with Rory Calhoun . Neither series sold. Arnaz also tried to create a law drama called Without Consent , with Spencer Tracy as a defense attorney, but after several attempts at developing a suitable script failed and because of insurance concerns regarding Tracy's heavy drinking,

3663-479: The UK. Between these comedic film appearances, Day costarred with Rex Harrison in the thriller Midnight Lace (1960), an update of the stage thriller Gaslight . Day's next film Do Not Disturb (1965) was popular with audiences, but her popularity soon waned. By the late 1960s, in the period of the emerging sexual revolution , some critics and comics dubbed Day "The World's Oldest Virgin," and she slipped from

3762-507: The United States. Between 1950 and 1953, the albums from six of her film musicals charted in the Top 10, including three that reached No. 1. After filming Lucky Me (1954) with Bob Cummings and Young at Heart (1955) with Frank Sinatra , Day elected to not renew her contract with Warner Brothers. During this period, Day also had her own radio program, The Doris Day Show . It was broadcast on CBS in 1952–1953. Primarily recognized as

3861-509: The absence of Sheldon Leonard as producer/director to control Thomas and improve the quality of the scripts, and the fact that ABC switched the time slot of the show from Wednesday nights at 8:00 pm to Thursday nights at 9:00 pm. As a result, the ratings went from mediocre to poor. Desilu Productions Desilu Productions, Inc. ( / ˈ d ɛ s i l uː / ) was an American television production company founded and co-owned by husband and wife Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball . The company

3960-466: The academy had offered her the honorary Oscar multiple times, but she declined as she saw the film industry as a part of her past life. Day received a Grammy for Lifetime Achievement in Music in 2008, albeit again in absentia. Day received Grammy Hall of Fame Awards in 1998, 1999 and 2012 for her recordings of "Sentimental Journey", "Secret Love" and "Que Sera, Sera", respectively. She was inducted into

4059-514: The banner of Zanra Productions (Arnaz spelled backward). Most subsequent attempts to bring projects to the big screen were aborted until Yours, Mine and Ours (1968) with Ball and Henry Fonda . This film was a critical and financial success. In 1960, Desi Arnaz sold the pre-1960s shows to CBS. Desilu Productions retained ownership of those shows that premiered after 1960, and were still in production. Ball and Arnaz divorced in 1960. In November 1962, Arnaz resigned as president when his holdings in

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4158-403: The cameraman on I Love Lucy , and Arnaz himself have been credited with the development of the linked multifilm camera setup using adjacent sets in front of a live audience that became the standard production method for situation comedy . The use of film enabled every station around the country to broadcast high-quality images of the show. Arnaz was told it was impossible to allow an audience onto

4257-540: The character of Terry was brought back, but recast with Penney Parker. Terry was featured in a seven-episode story arc that had her engaged and eventually married to Pat Hannigan ( Pat Harrington, Jr. ), a nightclub friend of Danny's. After the wedding, the Hannigans moved to California and Terry was rarely mentioned, never to be seen on the show again. In the last two seasons, with Thomas and Lord tired of their roles, Danny and Kathy both regularly traveled, and for much of

4356-446: The company were bought out by Ball, who succeeded him as president. Ball served as president and chief executive officer of Desilu while at the same time starring in her own weekly series. This made her the first woman to head a major studio and one of the most powerful women in Hollywood at the time. Ball founded Desilu Sales, Inc., for syndication which distributed Jay Ward Productions ' Fractured Flickers in 1964. Today, Desilu Sales

4455-511: The costs incurred by the production into the first episode of a season rather than spreading them across the projected number of episodes in the year. As a result, by the end of the season, episodes were nearly entirely paid for, at preposterously low figures. At that time, most television programs were broadcast live, and as the largest markets were in New York, the rest of the country received only images derived from kinescopes . Karl Freund ,

4554-411: The course of the show, was based of the traditional Irish song " Danny Boy ". Reruns of the show (using the original title, "Make Room for Daddy") were aired weekdays on NBC from October 4, 1960, to March 26, 1965. The episodes shown were from season one through season nine. CBS aired primetime repeats April 19 through September 6, 1965, on Monday nights at 9:30 p.m ( Eastern time ). Subsequently, most of

4653-537: The creation of its productions using conventional film studio materials, production, and processing techniques. The use of these materials and techniques meant that the 35 mm negatives (the source material for copyright purposes) were immediately available for production and distribution of prints when the Lucy series went into syndication at local stations around the country. As such, no "lost" episodes of programs occurred, and no programs were recorded by kinescope from

4752-517: The daughter of German-American parents Alma Sophia ( née Welz; 1895–1976) and William Joseph Kappelhoff (1892–1967). She was named after actress Doris Kenyon . Her mother was a homemaker , and her father was a music teacher and choirmaster . Her paternal grandfather Franz Joseph Wilhelm Kappelhoff immigrated to the United States in 1875 and settled within the large German community in Cincinnati. For most of her life, Day stated that she

4851-495: The end of it. I had also been signed up for a bunch of TV specials, all without anyone ever asking me. Day hated the idea of performing on television but felt obligated to forge ahead with the series. The first episode of The Doris Day Show aired on September 24, 1968, and featured a rerecorded version of "Que Sera, Sera" as its theme song. Day persevered with the show, needing to work to repay her debts, but only after CBS ceded creative control to her and her son. The show enjoyed

4950-626: The episode "The Trumpet Player", child pianist Ginny Tiu playing Li Chow in "The Chinese Doll" and Jimmy Durante , who appeared as himself in the episode "Danny and Durante". Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz appeared in one episode together as their characters from I Love Lucy , and appearing as themselves in various episodes were Bob Hope , Jack Benny , Milton Berle , Max Baer , Sammy Davis Jr. , Dinah Shore , and Dean Martin . Tony Bennett made his television acting debut in 1959 as Danny's singing cousin Stephen from Toledo, and Paul Anka played

5049-529: The episode "The Woman Behind the Jokes", season 11, episode 4. Eight episodes of The Danny Thomas Show (in seasons 8-10) featured Bill Dana as José Jiménez . This led to the spin-off series The Bill Dana Show , starring Dana as Jiménez. Danny Thomas played himself in one episode of The Bill Dana Show . The show ended in 1964, but Danny Thomas, Marjorie Lord, Angela Cartwright, Rusty Hamer, Sherry Jackson, Amanda Randolph and Hans Conried returned in 1965 for

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5148-609: The film My Dream Is Yours (1949), which featured the song. In 1950, she collaborated as a singer with the polka musician Frankie Yankovic , and the U.S. servicemen in Korea voted her their favorite star. Day continued to appear in light musicals such as On Moonlight Bay (1951), By the Light of the Silvery Moon (1953) and Tea For Two (1950) for Warner Bros . Her most commercially successful film for Warner Bros.

5247-484: The film prints and negatives. Arnaz's unprecedented arrangement is widely considered to be one of the shrewdest deals in television history. As a result of his foresight, Desilu reaped the profits from all reruns of the series. Desilu soon outgrew its first space and in 1954 bought its own studio, the Motion Picture Center on Cahuenga Boulevard in Hollywood, what is now Red Studios Hollywood . Most of

5346-552: The fourth-season finale, "Danny's Proposal", and the pilot for The Andy Griffith Show . The complete sixth season on DVD was released on January 22. 2008. It was released by a different company than the one that had handled the fifth-season package, and contained uncut episodes with vintage second-run opening titles from the early 1960s NBC network daytime reruns. Several of the early episodes with Jean Hagen can be purchased on discount DVDs, as these episodes have entered public domain because of lapsed copyright. The series played

5445-809: The height of her popularity, she starred in her own television sitcom The Doris Day Show (1968–1973). In 1989, Day was awarded the Golden Globe and the Cecil B. DeMille Award for Lifetime Achievement in Motion Pictures. In 2004, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom . In 2008, she received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award as well as a Legend Award from the Society of Singers . In 2011, she

5544-677: The hotels sold in 1970 for about $ 7 million, and their estimated worth in 1986 was $ 50 million. Terry Melcher stated that his father's premature death saved Day from financial ruin. It was not known whether Martin Melcher had himself been duped by Rosenthal, and Day stated publicly that she believed him to be innocent of any deliberate wrongdoing, stating that he "simply trusted the wrong person." Author David Kaufman asserts that Day's former costar Louis Jourdan , maintained that Day disliked her husband, but Day's public statements regarding Melcher appear to contradict that assertion. Day

5643-605: The list of top box-office stars, last appearing in the top ten with the hit film The Glass Bottom Boat (1966). Among the roles that she declined was that of Mrs. Robinson in The Graduate , a role that eventually went to Anne Bancroft . In her memoirs, Day said that she had rejected the part on moral grounds, finding the script "vulgar and offensive." Day starred in the Western film The Ballad of Josie in 1967. That same year, Day recorded The Love Album , although it

5742-457: The one radio voice I listened to above others belonged to Ella Fitzgerald . There was a quality to her voice that fascinated me, and I'd sing along with her, trying to catch the subtle ways she shaded her voice, the casual yet clean way she sang the words." Day's mother Alma arranged for Doris to receive singing lessons from Grace Raine. After three lessons, Raine told Alma that Day had "tremendous potential" and gave her three lessons per week for

5841-488: The parent company of Paramount Pictures ) in 1968. Ball and Arnaz jointly owned the majority stake in Desilu from its inception until 1962, when Ball bought out Arnaz and ran the company by herself for several years. Ball had succeeded in making Desilu profitable again by 1968, when she sold her shares of Desilu to Gulf+Western for $ 17 million (valued at $ 155 million in 2023). Gulf+Western then transformed Desilu into

5940-481: The price of one. Years later, Day said that Raine had a greater effect on her singing style and career than had anyone else. During the eight months when she was receiving singing lessons, Day secured her first professional jobs as a vocalist on the WLW radio program Carlin's Carnival and in a local restaurant, Charlie Yee's Shanghai Inn. During her radio performances, she first caught the attention of Barney Rapp , who

6039-403: The project was abandoned. After selling Desilu, Ball established her own new production company, Lucille Ball Productions (LBP), in 1968. The company went to work on her new series Here's Lucy that year. The program ran until 1974 and enjoyed several years of ratings success. Ball returned to network television in 1986 with the short-lived Life with Lucy . It lasted eight episodes before it

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6138-781: The public would enjoy them and their potential for long-term success. This led to continued profits from the programs through reruns , which would recover their high development and production costs. Even decades after the absorption of Desilu Productions and the production end of all original series Desilu approved for development, some series have achieved enduring success and, in some cases, redevelopment into feature-length movie franchises in their own right. Examples are The Untouchables , Star Trek and Mission Impossible . Much of Desilu Productions' early success can be traced to Arnaz's unusual business style in his role as producer of I Love Lucy . For example, lacking formal business training, he knew nothing of amortization and often included all

6237-520: The romantic comedy film The Tunnel of Love (1958) and with Jack Lemmon in It Happened to Jane (1959). Billboard 's annual nationwide poll of disc jockeys had ranked Day as the No. 1 female vocalist nine times in ten years (1949 through 1958), but her success and popularity as a singer was now being overshadowed by her box-office appeal. In 1959, Day entered her most successful phase as

6336-451: The show can be seen on TVS Nostalgia Network.Com. Season 5 (only) is available on Hulu . Amazon Prime and Filmrise are streaming the show currently (April 2024). The Catchy Comedy network currently airs two episodes every weekday as of spring 2024. George Carlin referred to the reruns as "Daddy has had room made for". On September 28, 2004, Questar released the complete fifth season on Region 1 DVD. The set includes two special episodes:

6435-418: The show from Labor Day of 2012 to December 31, 2014. In 2014, the series joined the weekday line up of Cozi TV, where it has as of 2021 stopped airing but did broadcast all the 1956–1964 episodes which includes the season after Jean Hagen left the show (1956–1957). Cozi-TV also added the final two seasons of the show (Seasons 10 and 11) that had not been shown in any package of reruns since 1965. Episodes of

6534-482: The show's first few years, Desilu rented space at General Service Studios (now the Sunset Las Palmas Studios ) at Santa Monica Boulevard and North Las Palmas Avenue. They used Stage Two, which was named Desilu Playhouse. Later, a special entrance was added at 6633 Romaine Street, on the south side of the lot, to allow direct access to it. Ball's contribution was more on the artistic side. She

6633-438: The show's first iteration as Make Room for Daddy , Jean Hagen played Thomas' serious and loving wife Margaret. Their daughter Terry was played by Sherry Jackson and their son Rusty by Rusty Hamer. The show's premise involved Danny rarely having time to spend with his family and Margaret having to deal with the children virtually on her own. She often felt neglected by Danny, and on several occasions felt like leaving him. Margaret

6732-787: The television broadcast. Through the use of film-studio production techniques, the content and quality of Desilu productions displayed a high standard relative to peers in television of the 1950s and '60s. Moreover, they were readily adaptable to both comedy and drama formats and were able to handle special effects or feature interior or exterior sets and locations with equal ease. Some of these programs were created and owned by Desilu; others were other production companies' programs that Desilu filmed or to which Desilu rented production space. 34°05′23″N 118°20′05″W  /  34.089777°N 118.334722°W  / 34.089777; -118.334722 Doris Day Doris Day (born Doris Mary Anne Kappelhoff ; April 3, 1922 – May 13, 2019)

6831-474: The television production arm of Paramount Pictures , rebranding the company as the original Paramount Television . Desilu's entire library is owned by Paramount Global through two of its subsidiaries. The CBS unit owns all Desilu properties that were produced and concluded before 1960, which were sold to CBS by Desilu itself. Its CBS Studios unit owns the rights to everything Desilu produced after 1960 as successor in interest to Paramount Television. There

6930-485: The tenth season they toured Europe (with a handful of episodes featuring location footage). Rusty and Linda were looked after by Danny's manager, Charlie Halper ( Sid Melton ) and his wife Bunny ( Pat Carroll ). During the 11th and final season, Thomas decided to retire from the show and the program ended in the spring of 1964, finishing as still one of the most popular television programs and ranking at number nine. The theme music, which went through various arrangements over

7029-558: The third season finished filming, Jean Hagen left the show over dissatisfaction with her role and frequent clashes with Danny Thomas. Thomas was upset with her for leaving, and felt the show would not last without her. However, he decided to push on. At the start of the fourth season, both Thomas and producer Sheldon Leonard were faced with a serious dilemma—how to explain Hagen's absence. To have "Danny" and "Margaret" divorce in that era would have been unacceptable to television audiences, so it

7128-466: Was I'll See You in My Dreams (1951), a musical biography of lyricist Gus Kahn that broke box-office records of 20 years. It was Day's fourth film directed by Curtiz. She appeared as the title character in the comedic western-themed musical Calamity Jane (1953). A song from the film, " Secret Love ", won the Academy Award for Best Original Song and became Day's fourth No. 1 hit single in

7227-604: Was Day's 10th to reach the top 10 at the box office. She played the title role in the film noir thriller Julie (1956) with Louis Jourdan . After three successive dramatic films, Day returned to her musical/comedic roots in The Pajama Game (1957) with John Raitt , based on the Broadway play of the same name . She appeared in the Paramount comedy Teacher's Pet (1958) alongside Clark Gable and Gig Young . She costarred with Richard Widmark and Gig Young in

7326-479: Was a good day for America when Doris Marianne von Kappelhoff (sic) of Evanston, Ohio decided to become an entertainer. It was a good day for our fellow creatures when she gave her good heart to the cause of animal welfare. Doris Day is one of the greats, and America will always love its sweetheart. Columnist Liz Smith and film critic Rex Reed mounted vigorous campaigns to gather support for an Academy Honorary Award for Day. According to The Hollywood Reporter ,

7425-475: Was a society woman and strict with the children, but loved her family. Louise Beavers made several appearances during this era as the Williams' maid, Louise Evans, and often was at odds with Danny and sided with Margaret in most of the couple's arguments. Nana Bryant often appeared as Margaret's kind mother Julia, of whom Danny and the children were fond, but Margaret, who had been raised by her aunt and uncle because of her mother often being away on stage tours,

7524-588: Was a soldier. In this episode, Terry left her son, six-year-old Michael (played by Michael Hughes), in the care of grandparents Danny and Kathy so she could join Bill, who was stationed overseas. In addition to Lord, Hamer and Cartwright, the only other returning regulars were Sid Melton as Charley Halper and Hans Conried as Uncle Tonoose. During that season, new characters were played by Stanley Myron Handelman and former football player Roosevelt Grier . Pat Carroll did not reprise her role of Bunny Halper and her character

7623-401: Was a widow with a little girl (played by Leilani Sorenson). Danny and Kathy became fast friends and, not surprisingly, Danny quickly fell in love with her, as did the kids. In the season finale, the two became engaged. In a curious twist, ABC at this point canceled the series. In the spring of 1957, I Love Lucy , which had reigned as the top-rated show for almost all of its six-year run on CBS,

7722-416: Was an American actress and singer. She began her career as a big band singer in 1939, achieving commercial success in 1945 with two No. 1 recordings, " Sentimental Journey " and " My Dreams Are Getting Better All the Time " with Les Brown and His Band of Renown . She left Brown to embark on a solo career and recorded more than 650 songs from 1947 to 1967. Day was one of the leading Hollywood film stars of

7821-468: Was awarded the Los Angeles Film Critics Association's Career Achievement Award . In 2011, Day released her 29th studio album, My Heart , which contained new material and became a UK Top 10 album. As of 2020 , she was one of eight recording artists to have been the top box-office earner in the United States four times. Day was born Doris Mary Anne Kappelhoff on April 3, 1922, in Cincinnati , Ohio,

7920-416: Was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President George W. Bush for her achievements in the entertainment industry and for her work on behalf of animals. President Bush stated: In the years since, she has kept her fans and shown the breadth of her talent in television and the movies. She starred on screen with leading men from Jimmy Stewart to Ronald Reagan, from Rock Hudson to James Garner. It

8019-570: Was born in 1924, but on the occasion of her 95th birthday, the Associated Press found her birth certificate that showed a 1922 year of birth. Day had two older brothers: Richard (1917–1919), who died before her birth, and Paul (1919–1957). Her father's infidelity caused her parents to separate in 1932 when she was 10. She developed an early interest in dance, and in the mid-1930s formed a dance duo with Jerry Doherty that performed in nationwide competitions. On October 13, 1937, while Day

8118-472: Was cancelled—a first for Ball—because of poor ratings. LBP continues to exist, and its primary purpose is residual sales of license rights for Here's Lucy . Desilu-Paramount TV's holdings are owned by Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS), the owner of the pre-1960s shows. Desilu Productions Inc. was reincorporated in Delaware in 1967, by Paramount Pictures and still exists as a legal entity. Desilu Too LLC

8217-412: Was cast in the recurring role of Liz O'Neill, Danny Williams's no-nonsense press agent. Wickes remained with the show until 1958. During the show's fourth season, it was Liz, along with Louise and Danny's friends, who often looked after the children while he was touring. He decided to move them to a boarding school, but later relented and the family moved into a new apartment. Also in that year, Danny dated

8316-405: Was ending production. When CBS heard that ABC was cancelling the series, CBS picked it up as part of its 1957-58 schedule. The Danny Thomas Show made its CBS debut on Monday, October 7, 1957, at 9:00 inheriting the time slot vacated by I Love Lucy . The fifth-season premiere episode, "Lose Me In Las Vegas", had Danny and Kathy already married and on their honeymoon. The Williams family moved into

8415-449: Was explained that Margaret had died suddenly off-screen. It was a risky move because until this time, no character on a TV situation comedy had died. Danny was now a widower juggling a performing career while raising two children on his own. With the absence of Jean Hagen, character actress-comedienne Mary Wickes (who had worked with Thomas and singer-actress Doris Day in the 1952 Warner Bros. musical film I'll See You in My Dreams )

8514-528: Was later created by Lucie Arnaz mostly as a licensee for I Love Lucy -related merchandise. Desilu Too also partners with MPI Home Video and Lucille Ball Productions (formed by Ball and second husband Gary Morton ) on the video releases of Here's Lucy and other material Ball and Arnaz made independently of each other. Desilu Too officials have worked with MPI Home Video for the home video reissue of The Mothers-In-Law . Paramount Home Entertainment (through CBS DVD ) continues to hold DVD distribution rights to

8613-415: Was never mentioned on this series. The show lasted only one year, producing 24 episodes; its cancellation came at a time when the networks were purging content favoring older, rural and other less affluent viewers after the loss of a half-hour of daily program time in 1971. According to Lord, the series faced many obstacles, including the unprofessionalism and inexperience of the child actor Michael Hughes,

8712-428: Was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress . She also worked with James Garner on both Move Over, Darling (1963) and The Thrill of It All (1963) and starred alongside Clark Gable , Cary Grant , James Cagney , David Niven , Ginger Rogers , Jack Lemmon , Frank Sinatra , Kirk Douglas , Lauren Bacall , and Rod Taylor in various films. After ending her film career in 1968, only briefly removed from

8811-626: Was not as warm to her mother. (Bryant died in late 1955, and rather than the character being recast, she simply disappeared. When Louise Beavers became ill in 1955, Amanda Randolph assumed the role of Louise.) The supporting cast included: Hans Conried had nineteen guest appearances as Danny's eccentric Lebanese "Uncle Tonoose". Other frequent guests included Bill Dana as José Jiménez , Annette Funicello as an Italian exchange student named Gina Manelli, and Thomas' protégée Italian teenaged singer Piccola Pupa. Other notable guest stars included band leader and musician Harry James , who appeared in

8910-781: Was not released until 1994. In 1968, she starred in the comedy film Where Were You When the Lights Went Out? about the Northeast blackout of November 9, 1965 . Her final feature, the comedy With Six You Get Eggroll , was released in 1968. From 1959 to 1970, Day received nine Laurel Award nominations (and won four times) for best female performance in eight comedies and one drama. From 1959 through 1969, she received six Golden Globe nominations for best female performance in three comedies, one drama ( Midnight Lace ), one musical ( Jumbo ) and her television series. After her third husband Martin Melcher died on April 20, 1968, Day

9009-409: Was picked up as a series by CBS, but Thomas considered its assigned time slot to be too quiet and pulled the show. ABC brought it back on a weekly basis in 1970, in Make Room for Granddaddy . For the series premiere, Sherry Jackson reprised her role of oldest daughter Terry. No mention was made of her husband Pat Hannigan. Instead, for this new version of the series, Terry's husband was named Bill, who

9108-624: Was renamed Paramount Television, and the former RKO main lot on Gower Street was absorbed into the adjacent Paramount lot. The old RKO globe logo is still in place. The company is now called CBS Studios (formerly CBS Television Studios). Perfect Film purchased Desilu Studios' other lot in Culver City in 1968. Arnaz left television production for a few years but returned in 1966 when he formed his own company, Desi Arnaz Productions, based at Desilu. Desi Arnaz Productions, along with United Artists Television , co-produced The Mothers-in-Law for

9207-481: Was riding with friends, their car collided with a freight train, and she broke her right leg, curtailing her prospects as a professional dancer. While recovering from her car accident, Day sang along with the radio and discovered her singing talent. She later said: "During this long, boring period, I used to while away a lot of time listening to the radio, sometimes singing along with the likes of Benny Goodman , Duke Ellington , Tommy Dorsey , and Glenn Miller . But

9306-635: Was scheduled to present, along with Patrick Swayze and Marvin Hamlisch , the award for Best Original Score Oscar at the 61st Academy Awards in March 1989, but she suffered a deep leg cut from a sprinkler and was unable to attend. Day was inducted into the Ohio Women's Hall of Fame in 1981 and received the Cecil B. DeMille Award for career achievement in 1989. In 1994, Day's Greatest Hits album entered

9405-484: Was seeking a female vocalist and asked her to audition for the job. According to Rapp, he had auditioned about 200 other singers. In 1939, Rapp suggested the stage name Doris Day because the Kappelhoff surname was too long for marquees and he admired her rendition of the song "Day After Day". After working with Rapp, Day worked with bandleaders Jimmy James, Bob Crosby and Les Brown . In 1941, Day appeared as

9504-510: Was shocked to discover that Melcher and his business partner and advisor Jerome Bernard Rosenthal had squandered her earnings, leaving her deeply in debt. Rosenthal had been her attorney since 1949 when he had represented her in her uncontested divorce action against her second husband, saxophonist George W. Weidler . Day filed suit against Rosenthal in February 1969 and won a successful decision in 1974, but she did not receive compensation until

9603-496: Was shocked to receive the offer and admitted to Curtiz that she was a singer without acting experience. but he appreciated her honesty and felt that "her freckles made her look like the All-American Girl." The film provided her with a No. 2 hit recording as a soloist, " It's Magic ", which occurred two months after her first No. 1 hit " Love Somebody ", a duet with Buddy Clark . Day recorded "Someone Like You" before

9702-463: Was sick and rarely appeared as Louise, who was said to be recovering from the flu, with Kathy doing most of the housework. In the early part of the sixth season, Sherry Jackson left the show and the character of Terry was said to have gone to a girls school in Paris. Jackson commented on her close friendship with Jean Hagen and why she left the series: The major perk was Jean Hagen. I adored her. We had

9801-414: Was skilled at proposing new programs that were popular to broad audiences and successful in both their original broadcasts and syndication reruns. Before starring in I Love Lucy, she starred in many B movies , and had a good idea of what television audiences wanted. She approved original production concepts (such as The Untouchables and Star Trek ) for development into broadcast series, assessing how

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