French
DeutschPlease Don't Eat the Daisies
Please Don't Eat the Daisies (New York: Doubleday, 1957) is a best-selling collection of humorous essays by American humorist and playwright Jean Kerr about suburban living and raising four boys. The essays do not have a plot or through-storyline, but the book sold so well it was adapted into a 1960 film starring Doris Day and David Niven. The film was later adapted into a 1965-1967 television series starring Patricia Crowley and Mark Miller. Kerr followed up this book with two later best-selling collections, The Snake Has All the Lines and Penny Candy.
Contents[edit]
Introduction[edit]
The introduction serves as yet another humorous essay, as Kerr describes how she came to be a writer.
Please Don’t Eat the Daisies[edit]
Kerr begins the book with her take on parenting four small boys.
How To Be a Collector’s Item[edit]
The trials and tribulations of an author who hopes her letters are being collected for future publication.
Greenwich, Anyone?[edit]
Kerr's take on the popular trend of writers moving to the country to reconnect with nature.
How To Decorate in One Easy Breakdown[edit]
Kerr gives her own helpful hints on how to redecorate on a budget.
Dogs That Have Known Me[edit]
The author's experiences with dogs, large and small, through the years.
The Kerr-Hilton[edit]
One of the principal sources for the later film, this essay tells how Kerr and her husband acquired their house in Larchmont, New York, complete with gargoyles, secret panels, and a 24-bell carillon that played the duet from Carmen at noon.
The Care and Feeding of Producers[edit]
How to survive getting a play produced.
One Half of Two on the Aisle[edit]
Musings from the self-proclaimed most experienced audience member in America.
Don Brown’s Body[edit]
A parody of Stephen Vincent Benét's "John Brown's Body", which mixes in Mike Hammer and gangsters.
Toujours Tristesse[edit]
A take-off of Francoise Sagan's A Certain Smile.
Snowflaketime[edit]
Kerr muses on the state of school productions of holiday shows through the years.
How to Get the Best of Your Children[edit]
Another essay on the joys of parenting.
Where Did You Put the Aspirin?[edit]
Again, Kerr muses on coping with children.
Aunt Jean’s Marshmallow Fudge Diet[edit]
One of many essays Kerr wrote on the subject of diets and dieting.
Operation Operation[edit]
Kerr's take on hospital stays, doctors, nurses, and the need to insist on patients' rights.
Index[edit]
In yet another satirical jab, Kerr included an index in the book, but with only the page numbers from the original magazines in which the pieces appeared.
Reception[edit]
The book achieved the number one spot on The New York Times bestseller list in February, 1958.[1] Kerr's "wryly observant style" reminded Washington Post critic Richard L. Coe of James Thurber, E. B. White, and Cornelia Otis Skinner.[2]
Kirkus Reviews noted
Funny and refreshing, her maternal moments will find a sympathetic hysteria among others bedeviled by strident striplings and a perfect antidote toward accepted currently child raising programs: her take-offs, of Sagan, in Don Brown's Body, and her incisive words on writers (like E. B. White – leve majesti indeed) who move to the country – these are gifted and good.
Each short piece, from the introduction to the index, is loaded with laugh-out-loud-remarks, situations and ideas.[3]
Adaptations[edit]
In 1960, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer released a film adapted from the book, directed by Charles Walters with a screenplay by Isobel Lennart. It starred Doris Day, David Niven, Janis Paige, Spring Byington, Richard Haydn, Patsy Kelly, and Jack Weston.[4] A storyline was created for the film, involving Day as a housewife married to a newly hired New York drama critic (Niven). In his first assignment, he must review a new show produced by his best friend, and he is forced to pan it. Meanwhile, a search for a new home for the family leaves Day dealing with the kids, carpenters, decorators, and the new neighbors by herself.
The film was in turn adapted as a television series that ran from 1965 to 1967 (58 half-hour episodes) starring Patricia Crowley and Mark Miller.
References[edit]
- ^ "The New York Times Best Seller List February 2, 1958" (PDF). hawes.com.
- ^ "Jean Kerr". Libraries. bios. Pennsylvania State University. Archived from the original on 2013-05-15. Retrieved 2015-06-30.
- ^ "Book Reviews, Sites, Romance, Fantasy, Fiction". Kirkus Reviews.
- ^ "Please Don't Eat the Daisies". Turner Classic Movies. Atlanta: Turner Broadcasting System (Time Warner). Retrieved August 20, 2016.
