Editing Doris Day (section)

===Early film career (1948–1954)===
[[File:Starlift DorisDay and GordonMacRae.jpg|thumb|[[Gordon MacRae]] and Day in ''[[Starlift]]'' (1951)]]
While singing with the Les Brown band and for nearly two years on [[Bob Hope]]'s weekly radio program,<ref name="BrowneBrowne2001" /> Day toured extensively across the United States as the era of big bands had given way to solo pop singers.

Her performance of the song "[[Embraceable You]]" impressed songwriter [[Jule Styne]] and his partner [[Sammy Cahn]], and they recommended her for a role in ''[[Romance on the High Seas]]'' (1948). Day was cast for the role after auditioning for director [[Michael Curtiz]].{{Sfn|Hotchner|1975|p=91}}<ref name="Gentry2008">{{Cite book|last=Gentry|first=Philip Max|title=The Age of Anxiety: Music, Politics, and McCarthyism, 1948–1954|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=heSoiBmyRUQC&pg=PA104|access-date=August 8, 2013|year=2008|isbn=978-0-549-90073-3|page=104|archive-date=January 3, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140103010517/http://books.google.com/books?id=heSoiBmyRUQC&pg=PA104|url-status=dead}}</ref> She was shocked to receive the offer and admitted to Curtiz that she was a singer without acting experience but he appreciated her honesty and felt that "her [[freckle]]s made her look like the All-American Girl."<ref name=Tennessee>{{Cite news|title=Michael Curtiz Services Set|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/10047302/the_tennessean/|access-date=April 4, 2017|work=[[The Tennessean]]|agency=Associated Press|via=[[Ancestry.com#Newspapers.com|Newspapers.com]]|date=April 12, 1962|page=58}} {{Free access}}</ref>

The film provided her with a No. 2 hit recording as a soloist, "[[It's Magic]]", which occurred two months after her hit "[[Love Somebody (1947 song)|Love Somebody]]", a duet with [[Buddy Clark]] and they would have another hit shortly after that with a cover of Patti Page's "Confess."<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Whitburn|first1=Joel|title=Joel Whitburn's Pop Memories 1890–1954|date=1986|publisher=Record Research Inc|location=Wisconsin|isbn=978-0-89820-083-6|page=[https://archive.org/details/joelwpopmemories00whit/page/122 122]|url=https://archive.org/details/joelwpopmemories00whit/page/122}}</ref> Her first solo hit was "[[Sentimental Journey (song)|Sentimental Journey]]" in 1945. Day recorded "Someone Like You" before the film ''[[My Dream Is Yours]]'' (1949), which featured the song.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8BYEAAAAMBAJ&q=%22Someone+like+You%22+%22Doris+Day%22+-adele+-wikipedia&pg=PA35|title=Billboard|page=35|date=January 15, 1949|access-date=October 19, 2015}}</ref> In 1950, she collaborated as a singer with the [[Slovenian-style polka|polka]] musician [[Frankie Yankovic]],<ref>{{cite web |url=https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=2495167960495392&id=210557938956417 |title=The Polka Hall of Fame Remembers |date=May 20, 2019 |publisher=National Cleveland-Style Polka Hall of Fame Museum}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |url=http://isn.zrc-sazu.si/files/file/Traditiones/Traditiones%2043_2%20separati/97_pdfsam_Traditiones_43_2_txt%20web.pdf |last=Debevec |first=Charles F. |title=Slovenian Recordings Made in America Prior to World War II |journal=Traditiones |volume=42 |issue=2 |year=2014 |publisher=Slovenian Academy of Arts and Sciences |doi=10.3986/traditio2014430205 |page=113}}</ref> and the U.S. servicemen in Korea voted her their favorite star.

Her heyday as a hitmaker was from 1948 to 1951 when she placed 15 songs on the Billboard Hot 30 list and was one of the top female pop vocalists, competing with rivals such as [[Dinah Shore]], [[Jo Stafford]], and [[Patti Page]].

Day continued to appear in light musicals such as ''[[On Moonlight Bay (film)|On Moonlight Bay]]'' (1951), ''[[By the Light of the Silvery Moon (film)|By the Light of the Silvery Moon]]'' (1953) and ''[[Tea for Two (film)|Tea For Two]]'' (1950) for [[Warner Bros.|Warner Bros]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.postbulletin.com/gallery/photos-today-in-history-may/collection_d560d728-5bb0-11e9-abc4-ff386a0fde34.html|title=Photos: Today in History: May 2|website=PostBulletin.com|access-date=May 13, 2019|archive-date=May 7, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190507160319/https://www.postbulletin.com/gallery/photos-today-in-history-may/collection_d560d728-5bb0-11e9-abc4-ff386a0fde34.html|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U3rJxPYT32MC&pg=PA221|title=The Guide to United States Popular Culture|last1=Labov|first1=William|last2=Browne|first2=Ray Broadus|last3=Browne|first3=Pat|date=2001|publisher=Popular Press|isbn=9780879728212|pages=221|language=en}}</ref>
[[File:Calamity Jane trailer.jpg|thumb|left|220px|Day with [[Howard Keel]] in ''[[Calamity Jane (film)|Calamity Jane]]'' (1953)]]
Her most commercially successful film for Warner Bros. was ''[[I'll See You in My Dreams (1951 film)|I'll See You in My Dreams]]'' (1951), a musical biography of lyricist [[Gus Kahn]] that broke box-office records of 20 years. It was Day's fourth film directed by Curtiz.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://cometoverhollywood.com/2014/02/24/musical-monday-ill-see-you-in-my-dreams-1951/|title=Musical Monday: I'll See You in My Dreams (1951)|last=Jnpickens|date=February 24, 2014|publisher=cometoverhollywood.com|access-date=May 13, 2019}}</ref> She appeared as the title character in the comedic western-themed musical ''[[Calamity Jane (film)|Calamity Jane]]'' (1953).<ref>{{Cite news|title=Doris Day Learned How to Flick Bull Whip for Tough Western Role in 'Calamity Jane'|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/21285782/the_brooklyn_daily_eagle/|access-date=June 26, 2018|work=[[Brooklyn Eagle|The Brooklyn Daily Eagle]]|date=November 8, 1953|page=31|via=Newspapers.com}} {{Free access}}</ref> A song from the film, "[[Secret Love (Doris Day song)|Secret Love]]", won the [[Academy Award for Best Original Song]] and became Day's fourth No. 1 hit single in the United States.<ref name="Tyler2008">{{Cite book|last=Tyler|first=Don|title=Music of the Postwar Era|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2dgJVseZAlsC&pg=PA110|access-date=August 9, 2013|year=2008|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-0-313-34191-5|page=110}}</ref>

Between 1950 and 1953, the albums from six of her film musicals charted in the Top 10, including three that reached No. 1. After filming ''[[Lucky Me (film)|Lucky Me]]'' (1954) with [[Robert Cummings|Bob Cummings]] and ''[[Young at Heart (1955 film)|Young at Heart]]'' (1955) with [[Frank Sinatra]], Day elected to not renew her contract with Warner Brothers.<ref name="Palmer2010">{{Cite book|last=Palmer|first=R. Barton|title=Larger Than Life: Movie Stars of the 1950s|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=23l_vDGkyoYC&pg=PA154|access-date=August 9, 2013|date=2010|publisher=Rutgers University Press|isbn=978-0-8135-4994-1|page=154}}</ref>

During this period, Day also had her own radio program, ''[[The Doris Day Show (radio program)|The Doris Day Show]]''. It was broadcast on CBS in 1952–1953.<ref name="dunningota">{{cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=EwtRbXNca0oC&dq=%22The+Doris+Day+show,%22&pg=PA207 |last=Dunning |first=John |author-link=John Dunning (detective fiction author) |title=On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio |date=1998 |section=The Doris Day Show |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York, NY |isbn=978-0-19-507678-3 |page=207|edition=Revised |access-date=September 21, 2019}}</ref>