294. Doris Day and Her Trashy Divorces

It is a special double length bonus today as we explore the life and the loves of Doris Day in this Trashy Divorces crossover! Actress and singer Doris Day built a giant career in Hollywood on the image of the All-American Girl, a perfectly relatable Girl Next Door, virtuous and funny. It was pure spin, with Groucho Marx once quipping, “I’ve been around so long, I knew Doris Day before she was a virgin.” Doris herself chafed at the limitations of the typecasting and how utterly at odds it was to the life she was actually living. In this first part of her story, Alicia takes us through her start in show business, her first two husbands, and a whole lotta playing the field in 1950s Hollywood. In this second half, Alicia tracks Doris Day’s disastrous marriage to Martin Melcher, and the enormous financial hole he left her in when he died at the young age of 52. There was still one more husband to go before Doris would decide she’d had enough of matrimony and turned her focus to a more deserving cause: rescuing animals. More spiderwebs to come in tomorrow’s episode, bringing it all together! Sources and Recommended Reading can be found on doneanddunne.com. Continue your investigation with ad-free and bonus episodes on ⁠⁠⁠Patreon⁠⁠⁠! To advertise on Done & Dunne, please reach out to ⁠⁠⁠info@amplitudemediapartners.com⁠⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices