Please Don't Eat the Daisies

"You act as if we were monsters or something."

"Well, you are. You're just lucky that I happen to be peculiar and love monsters."

Larry MacKay (Niven) is an esteemed theater professor turned powerful theater critic.  His first review is of his friend Alfred North's (Haydn) new play, which he hates.  His review angers Alfred and causes the leading lady, Deborah Vaughn (Paige), to slap his face in public.  The slap is captured by a photographer and published in the paper, making Larry big news.

Larry and his family, wife Kate (Day), and four mischievous sons, live in a cramped apartment in the city and dream of a home in the country.  That dream comes true as Larry's star continues to rise.  With the demands for Larry's job in the city, along with the deadlines for his new book, and revitalizing the run-down mansion they purchased, can they really have it all?


The story is based on the 1957 book "Please Don't Eat the Daisies" by Jean Kerr.  Kerr was a successful playwright and wrote a series of essays about her life and raising four sons, which became her first book.  After the success of "Please Don't Eat the Daisies", she wrote two additional books: "The Snake Has All the Lines" and "Penny Candy."  The book and this film were popular enough to also inspire a TV series in 1965, also called Please Don't Eat the Daisies, that starred Patricia Crowley and Mark Miller.

It is an entertaining, if outdated, film.  Doris Day is charming as Kate.  She is the main focus of the film and even gets to sing a few songs, including the cute title song.  She has good chemistry with David Niven, who plays her husband Larry.  The boys that play their sons (Charles Herbert, Stanley Livingston, Flip Mark, and Baby Gellert) are believable hellions.  Each of the boys went on to star/appear in TV shows and other films.  Janis Paige was a Broadway star, who rose to stardom in The Pajama Game on Broadway (Doris Day starred in the film adaptation).  She had a film career, but is better known for her Broadway credits.  The supporting cast are strong character actors.

A good, rainy day comedy.

Please Don't Eat the Daisies (1960) 112 minutes
Director: Charles Walters
Starring: Doris Day as Kate Robinson MacKay
David Niven as Larry MacKay
Janis Paige as Deborah Vaughn
Spring Byington as Suzie Robinson
Richard Haydn as Alfred North
Patsy Kelly as Maggie
Jack Weston as Joe Positano
Charles Herbert as David MacKay
Stanley Livingston as Gabriel MacKay
Flip Mark as George MacKay
Baby Gellert as Adam MacKay