MovieChat Forums > Calamity Jane (1953) Discussion > I ask you, does THIS look anything like ...

I ask you, does THIS look anything like Doris Day?


www.legendsofamerica.com/photos-oldwest/CalimityJane1895-2-500.jpg



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Yappee: "For country!"
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No. However I don't think that was the point

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Pretty much everyone knows that the real Calamity Jane looked like a man. An ugly man. But this is a Hollywood musical, not a documentary.

FWIW, Doris Day played the popular torch singer Ruth Etting in LOVE ME OR LEAVE ME (1955). She didn't look like Ruth Etting, or sing like her either.




"All the universe or nothingness. Which shall it be, Passworthy? Which shall it be?"

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It's the same thing with Belle Starr. Every movie I've seen about Starr always had her played by gorgeous women (most notably Gene Tierney) when she was the very definition of someone having a "hatchet face". "Deadwood", on the other hand, had an actress who looked like Calamity.


"I'm in such bad shape, I'm wearing prescription underwear." Phyllis Diller 1917-2012

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Calamity Jane, the movie, was neither a biography nor a documentary.

It was a concocted romantic story loosely based on real people, but as a musical entertainment.

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I'm currently watching the HBO series Deadwood. Calamity Jane is portrayed quite authentically there! Not prettied up at all.

This movie is a fun musical, and Doris Day and Howard Keel were very big stars then. I thought Day looked cute in this.

I tried to find more photos of Allyn Ann McLerie (Katie) and failed. She did many movies, according to her filmography. Very odd there aren't more pics of her on the Internet.

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Google her name, then click on images... There are lots of pics of her.

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As an amateur historian I say- it wasn't like this but it should have been. They should still make movies in Technicolor too.

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