Heard the news that Doris Day might have a comeback in Clint Eastwood's at the age of 93, after her full retirement from showbiz in 1973 (which later have been dismissed as a rumour), timely reminds that I have never watched any of her films, so the introduction piece is this family-friendly comedy inspired by Jean Kerr's 1957 best-selling collection about her mode of living in suburb while raising four boys.Doris Day plays Kate, married to a professor-turned-drama-critic Lawrence Mackay (Niven), they live in a small apartment in NYC with four young boys, their lease is going to expire, so Kate is planning to move to the countryside, where they can afford to buy a larger house, good for their boys too. But Lawrence's new career requires him to be near theatres in the city, and he also enjoys the urban life and what it entails. Basically, the plot perfunctorily resolves around a series of lighthearted marital disagreements with four kids frolicking around and a scare-easy Spinone named Hobo.Day is given the superstar-treatment, apart from a dashing wardrobe, her Kate, is portrayed as a perfect housewife, obliging and graceful, with a good heart, whom one can take to social parties and back at home she can single-handedly manage four mischievous kids. She doesn't need to bother her husband while being in charge of the renovation of a rundown mansion and being maximal understanding when her husband is under stress or in a bad mood. During her leisure time, she volunteers to direct and star in an amateurish play for the local school, which mainly prepares a stage for Day to perform her singing and dancing routines.Niven, stays gentlemanlike in his comfort zone, his Lawrence is Kate's perfect match, as a theatre savant, whose influence is so puissant that he can close an entire play if he badmouths it, he struggles between his professional conscience and obligation for his friend Alfred North (Haydn), and incredibly levelheaded when a seductress Deborah Vaughn (a flashy Janis Paige) proposes an indecent suggestion. Also this film is Spring Byington's silver-screen curtain call, who plays Kate's mother and inculcates some rather olde worlde marital advices.Frankly speaking, PLEASE DON'T EAT THE DAISIES is a lukewarm comedy, no more than a time- killer in a lackadaisical evening, for die-hard fans of two leads only.

... unless you are a fan of the main players. This is not the film to MAKE you a fan of Doris Day or David Niven. That's the rub. Ms. Day is in a situation comedy which was much more suitable as a TV show. The comedy and performances in this film are very slight. Day's musical performance with the children is very poorly choreographed.The scenes featuring the family moving into the mansion would have been more successful in a "Three Stooges" film. The children should have been kept in the cage for the entire lenght of the film. Some of the sets are nice. Janis Paige and Mr. Niven are good - they should have hooked up... **** Please Don't Eat the Daisies (1960) Charles Walters ~ Doris Day, David Niven, Janis Paige

Based on the best-selling novel by Jean Kerr, "Please Don't Eat the Daisies" is the story of a New York City family, the Mackays - four boys, a wife Kate (Doris Day) and her husband Larry (David Niven). Suddenly, Larry finds success as a powerful theater critic, and Kate wants to move out to the country, which was always their dream. However, it's not really Larry's dream any longer. He's heady on New York success and wants to be near Theater Row. Conflict comes with his changing values.This is a nice story co-starring Spring Byington as Kate's mother and Patsy Kelly as the family housekeeper. It doesn't compare with the sparkling Doris-Rock comedies. I happen to like David Niven in the role - he's what you would expect from a New York critic - above it all, sophisticated, egotistical, well-educated but ultimately likable.Day is very good as always and gets to sing, but the whole thing is a little too much. There aren't enough laughs to make it really funny. The brightest part of the movie for me was Janis Paige as Deborah Vaughn, an actress/singer decimated by Mackay in a review who then becomes attracted to him. She looks gorgeous, she's sexy, and she supplies the bite that the story needed more of. If the writers had built up that part of the story, the movie might have turned out better. The other part they could have built up is the awful play that Larry wrote that ends up being produced by the local community theater. Some scenes from that with Doris would have been great.Day, as it turned out, was at her best when Ross Hunter made her over into a glamorous, sophisticated woman herself and teamed her up with Rock Hudson and gave her glossy productions and great clothes. This film was made was right at that transition. Day is a very vibrant presence but she can't elevate this material to more than what it was - a pleasant family comedy.

Although made in 1960, this classic sampling of Doris Day fluff is more a product of the 50s than the coming decade of the 60s. As ever, Miss Day is gorgeous and perfectly turned out, this time the mother of four small boys, an aspiring playwright overshadowed by her theater critic husband, coping with a series of domestic crises while she attempts to move her family from a city apartment to an improbably ramshackle English-style country house. 'Improbable' is indeed the word for the entire plot of this movie, but then probability was seldom the reason we went to the movies in the 50s. Bouyed along by the bright force of Miss Day's personality, the light touch and easy charm of David Niven, and ably supported by Janice Paige, Spring Byington, and Richard Haydn, this pic has all the bouncy sweetness and escapism her fans so appreciate in Miss Day's work. So, if you are looking for a 2-hour time trip to what seems like a kinder and gentler time, don't mind bumping your nose against a few cultural idiosyncrasies of the 50s (and no Day fan can avoid that), enjoy discovering some charming but forgotten musical numbers, appreciate really great vintage clothes, and generally believe it is hard for Miss Day to do any wrong, this seldom-mentioned film is just the ticket!