School of Arts’ Head of School, Dr Tamar Jeffers McDonald, to give talk titled, ‘Doris Day, “the most everything girl in Hollywood”‘, on Wednesday 17 February at 18.30 – 19.30 GMT at an event hosted by the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Libraries.
At the event, Dr Jeffers McDonald will explore how Doris Days stardom, ‘stardom changed over time in Hollywood, from her first rapturous reception, through peaks and troughs of popularity, to a position where, by the end of her live film career, she was being viewed – by the media at least – in almost completely negative terms.’ From her first film in 1948, with the buzz and excitement about the new starlet, what happened to Doris Day’s life and career to make her “the most misunderstood girl in the world” by 1964?
Dr Tamar Jeffers McDonald’s monograph, Doris Day Confidential: Hollywood, Sex and Stardom (2013), looks into the assumption surrounding Doris Day’s virginity and how the idea was initiated and circulated which advanced and then froze Doris Day’s stardom.
Tamar has also recently appeared in two podcasts: We Didn’t Start the Fire and Nostalgia Interviews. Tamar’s interview on We Didn’t Start the Fire is the podcast’s second episode, also on the life, fame and virginity of Doris Day. The second podcast appearance is with Head of Department of Religious Studies, Dr Chris Deacy, and his podcast titled, ‘Nostalgia Interviews’.