Did you know that Doris Day was a Far Rockaway girl? Actually, not. But, she played one in her screen debut back in 1948. The film is titled “Romance On the High Seas” which also starred, Janis Paige and Jack Carson. Also, in the cast are the very recognizable faces of Don DeFore (remember him from his role on “Ozzie and Harriet” playing their neighbor, Thorny) and S.Z. Sakall who played such ingratiating characters in the movies Casablanca, and Yankee Doodle Dandy.

So, you ask, how did I discover all this? Well, about two weeks ago, during a drab weekday afternoon in Bayside, Queens, I had the TV tuned to the Turner Classic Movie Channel. The sound and dialogue emanating from the set were providing little more than background noise as I sauntered in and out of the room attending to other things. Then, a bolt out of the blue! I thought I heard the words “Far Rockaway”. How could this be? I was not watching the news. It couldn’t possibly be another story about Bernie Madoff, this time examining his formative years, or, another small plane crash landing on the beach, or a major cocaine bust in the projects. No, this had to be words coming from a ridiculous, practically unwatchable farce of a 1948 film and being uttered by no less than the beloved Doris Day.

I said to myself, “Marty don’t panic. Think carefully how you are going to get to listen to this scene again to confirm what you heard and that you are not losing your mind!” Thanks to the power of modern technology and the foresight of having a cable box with a built in DVR, I quickly realized that I was able to rewind the movie and replay it over and over and over. It seemed so bizarre and incongruous for me to hear Doris Day, who hails from Cincinnati, Ohio, saying “Far Rockaway”.

Romance on the High Seas" centers on Georgia Garrett, (Day) a talented young singer who has dreams of success in show business. In this ridiculous farce she is hired by the wife (Janis Paige) of a rich businessman (Don DeFore) to spy on him aboard a cruise ship bound for Rio De Janeiro. In this scene she is singing the great Sammy Cahn song "It's Magic" to her love interest played by Jack Carson.

Consequently, I was moved to do some quick research and discovered that the film “Romance On the High Seas” was written by Julius Epstein and his twin brother Philip. Julius and Philip hold the distinction of being the only twins to ever win an Academy award. This was for their screenplay of “Casablanca" (1942). They were born in Manhattan. But, I could not confirm if the twins had ever lived in Far Rockaway or spent a summer there.

Another twist about the Rockaway connection in this movie is that Judy Garland was originally supposed to star in it. However, she withdrew because of personal reasons. Ironically, Judy Garland lived in a house in Neponsit a short ten year later during the tail end of her sadly declining career.

Here is a YouTube clip of the relevant scene.

 

The film is available from Netflix.

You can read much more about Doris Day and her film debut by clicking here.