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15 out of 15 people found the following comment useful :-
The First CinemaScope Musical, 25 November 1998
Author: Ralph McKnight from New York, New York

"Lucky Me" was the first musical to be shot in the then, new process, CinemaScope. It was also a picture that Doris Day, Hollywood's Golden Girl, did NOT want to make.

Because of contractual obligations, she decided to do the film and to give it 110% of herself in the role of 'Candy Williams'. Her co-star was Robert Cummings, long-time Hollywood leading man and television star. In support, she had Phil Silvers, Nancy Walker, who later gained fame as Ida Morgenstern in "Rhoda", and Eddie Foy, Jr.

It was reported that Martha Hyer, a blond, was forced to dye her hair red so as not to conflict with the star, Miss Day.

This film is famous for another reason. Judy Garland was on the Warner Brothers lot filming "A Star is Born". She and Miss Day visited each other's sets and became friends.

"Lucky Me" is a fun musical which opens with Doris Day's dynamite opening number, "The Superstition Song," which she sings while bouncing down the streets of Miami! A TRUE STAR PERFORMANCE! Only Doris could have gotten away with this, and she was brilliant.

She played Candy Williams, a singer/actress who was appearing in a travelling show, "Parisian Pretties" which bombed in Miami. Standed, she meets a New York songwriter, Cummings, who is casting a new Broadway show. He pretends to be someone else to court Candy, but falls in love with her.

During the proceedings, Doris Day sings most of the numbers including her chart hit, "I Speak to the Stars". The highlight is "I Wanna Sing Like an Angel" and "Love You, Dearly," a lovely ballad which should have been a hit.

Phil Sivers was wonderful and had a great number with Day called "Men!" The other actors gave Miss Day able support and everyone seemed to work well with each other.

Angie Dickinson made her film debut in a walk-on scene at the big party, but you probably won't recognize her (she had black hair). Bill Goodwin played the same role he played in many a film at various studios.

Again, Doris Day fans will just love seeing their favorite star do ANYthing. Even though Miss Day didn't like the picture, her fans seem to love every minute of it. I must admit, I liked it!

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6 out of 6 people found the following comment useful :-
Backing For The Show, 16 June 2007
5/10
Author: bkoganbing from Buffalo, New York

For the film Lucky Me, Doris Day was reunited with composers Sammy Fain and Paul Francis Webster who wrote the score for Calamity Jane and gave Doris one of her biggest hits, Secret Love in one of her biggest film successes. Unfortunately none of the songs from Lucky Me was ever any kind of hit for Day and the film is a very ordinary backstage story.

With some establishing shots in Miami Beach done in Cinemascope, Lucky Me is also the name of the show composer Robert Cummings is writing the score for. Doris is part of a quartet act that consists of Phil Silvers, Eddie Foy, Jr., and Nancy Walker. Through some of the usual Phil Silvers shenanigans, the group has to work to pay off a debt to restaurant owner Marcel Dalio.

Cummings is staying at the hotel that Dalio's restaurant is at and again through shenanigans, Day and Cummings meet. Day thinks he's garage mechanic and Cummings keeps up the pretense as has been done in more movies I can remember. That's because he's romancing daughter of bankroll, Bill Goodwin in the person of Martha Hyer.

If you can't tell where this is all going you haven't seen too many films let alone musicals. It would have been nice if Doris and the gang had been given some hit songs from this film, but Fain and Webster who won Academy Awards for Secret Love and Love Is A Many Splendored Thing came up short in the score for Lucky Me.

Eddie Foy, Jr. and Nancy Walker came up short in footage as well. Especially Nancy Walker who is one of the funniest people around. I believe there is some moments for her in the Warner Brothers vaults if anyone wants to do a director's cut for Lucky Me. Oddly enough Phil Silvers and Nancy Walker within the next 10 years would co-star on Broadway in Do-Re-Mi which was a big success, but never made it to Hollywood.

Doris's fans will like Lucky Me, others can take or leave it and be considered lucky either way.

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2 out of 2 people found the following comment useful :-
Lucky Us!, 2 March 2008
9/10
Author: Brent Trafton from Long Beach, CA

"Lucky Me" gives you everything you want in a musical and more. All the songs are catchy; the banter is quick and witty; there are some big dance productions; and of course, the one and only Doris Day.

Most films from Doris Day leave me wishing there were more musical numbers, but "Lucky Me" has just the right amount. The plot is thin and the romance does not start until about halfway through, but who cares? This film is a whole lot of fun.

If you are a Doris Day fan, this is a must. If not, then this is a good a place as any to find out about one of the greatest entertainers of all time. She can sing. She can dance. She can be really funny.

If you like upbeat, colorful musicals, then check out "Lucky Me."

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3 out of 4 people found the following comment useful :-
This certainly WAS the first CinemaScope movie., 20 May 2007
5/10
Author: JETTCO48 from United Kingdom

With regard to the earlier contributor to this thread, "LUCKY ME" most certainly WAS the FIRST MUSICAL in CinemaScope to be released.

Of the two examples he quotes, firstly: "How to Marry a Millionaire" was NOT a musical. Can he name any songs from it, or tell me who sang them? I think not!

Secondly: "A Star is Born" was not released in the States until September, 1954. "Lucky Me" was released in April, 1954.

Twentieth Century Fox's own musical entry in the CinemaScope stakes - "There's No Business Like Show Business" was not released until December, 1954.

Therefore, "LUCKY ME" was most definitely the first musical in CinemaScope.

What a pity this one didn't go into production before "Calamity Jane", then we might have had a much worthier movie as the first!

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Lucky to be blessed with Doris Day...otherwise, a wheezing, old-fogey musical, 26 September 2009
4/10
Author: moonspinner55 from redlands, ca

Warner Bros. certainly skimped when it came down to choosing the latest leading man for a Doris Day movie. Didn't they have any handsome, charismatic actors on the payroll besides Robert Cummings? There are no sparks between Day and Cummings in what amounts to nothing more than a staid and stale musical romance with corny comedy asides. A superstitious chorine down Miami way gets stuck washing dishes while waiting for her big break; she happens to meet a popular songwriter while dodging black cats and sidewalk cracks, but he's courting her under an alias as a car mechanic (!). Comic deceptions are always good material for a Day picture--and when she finds out the truth, her slow-burn is something to behold--but Cummings really has no reason to be deceiving this girl, and the plot falls apart before the picture even gets started. Doris is supported by a vaudeville-styled trio who travel together (Phil Silvers, Nancy Walker, and Eddie Foy, Jr.), and they seem just a bit mature and stodgy for her, which weakens the musical numbers. Sammy Fain and Paul Francis Webster are responsible for the lackluster song score (they must have used up all their natural resources on "Calamity Jane" the year before--there's not a "Secret Love" in the bunch). Some color and frivolity, much of it forced. *1/2 from ****

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Not her best..., 7 September 2009
4/10
Author: ryancm from United States

LUCKY ME is part of a Doris Day collection so I'm glad it's included, but this not her best film. She does what she can with the lame material, as does the rest of the cast, but to no avail. Could have been a cute story, but somehow things go screwed up. Very messy screenplay or maybe too many cuts. Doris is sure bouncy and breezy as usual, and she "saves the day" so to speak. Now working in a Hotel as kitchen workers, where does she get those elegant cloths? Must be working the streets as a side job!! Same for the her three other friends, played by Eddie Foy, Jr, Nancy Walker and the nauseating Phil Silvers. It's a shame all of Doris Day's early films at Warner's are all studio bound. This one calls for location in Miami itself, as did ROMANCE ON THE HIGH SEAS which should have had location work in Rio. Another help to APRIL IN Paris would have if they had actually gone to Paris.

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3 out of 9 people found the following comment useful :-
Bad Day on DVD, 8 May 2007
5/10
Author: ptb-8 from Australia

I thought LUCKY ME from Warner Bros in 1954 was not the first Cinemascope musical as some comment says.. possibly the 1953 FOX musical ? HOW TO MARRY A MILLIONAIRE. Fox patented Cinemascope and hired the process to other studios. The first WBs musical was A STAR IS BORN. But I might be wrong... anyone?

On my Australian market DVD this really silly Doris Day musical has opening credits in cinemascope and the rest of he film in ..horror of horrors! pan and scan TV presentation. On the box it says hooray for Cinemascope but the film itself is not in Cinemascope if anyone from WB DVD office bothers to check. The color and art design is terrific, the musical numbers well staged (as I could tell, as I only saw half of the image), the 50s style and modernity snazzy and Doris Day was beautiful. Its trite script is embarrassing ... a bit like any of the Columbia musicals with Jack Lemmon or Betty Grable of the same year. I was keen to enjoy but the badly presented cropping, down to TV from cinemascope ruined the experience... so I took the DVD back to the store, complained to the bemused 19 year old goth chick behind the counter and got a refund. She seemed to spark to life when I pretended to be interested in a box set of BUFFY Vampire Slayer, but I tricked her and took the money instead.

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2 out of 12 people found the following comment useful :-
Nothing Special, 14 March 2005
Author: dencar_1 from United States

LUCKY ME is one of those class "C" musicals of interest to those who need to compile either Doris Day credits or simply want to view the benign concerns spinning in the era's forgettable musicals. Bob Cummings just does not fill the bill in this one for reasons that are unclear and one wonders why he was cast in the production at all. He looks as if the project was done as an intermission from DIALING M FOR MURDER, probably the best thing Cummings ever did. Bill Goodwin and the ensemble are pleasant enough, but really no one including Doris can redeem this second-rate, predictable caper.

If only we had a nickel for every musical that was about producing a musical! Among musicals, LUCKY ME is one.

Dennis Caracciolo

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