Send Me No Flowers (Universal Pictures) (1964)

the story (Not For Publication) George Palmerton Kimball (ROCK HUDSON), an executive of a small electronics firm, lives contentedly with his wife of eight years, Judy (DORIS DAY), in a fashionable slice of suburbia near San Francisco. Judy is a most remarkable woman. She remains happily wed in spite of the fact that her husband is perhaps one of the worst hypochondriacs that ever ran up an unnecessary doctor bill. On this particular day, George is featuring an imaginary chest pain that he promptly escorts to the office of Dr. Ralph Morrisey (EDWARD ANDREWS). Eavesdropping while Dr. Morrisey is discussing another patient on the telephone, George mistakenly thinks they are talking about him. He leaves with the conviction that his failing heart affords him only a few weeks more of life. Enroute home that evening on the commuter train with his neighbor and best friend, Arnold Nash (TONY RANDALL), a lawyer, he reveals his imagined plight. Over too many drinks in the club car, they decide Judy must not be told. Arnold, whose wife is away visiting relatives, is joined in his backyard by George in a further talk about Judy’s future. George decides they must find another husband for Judy, the right man to look after her when George is gone. Next morning George goes to Evergreen Gardens, a cemetery and discusses burial plots with Mr. Akins (PAUL LYNDE). George gives him $1000 down on three plots — for himself, Judy, and her next husband. Later, George and Arnold begin scouting potential husbands at the country club. Out on the golf course, Judy’s golf cart suffers a brake failure and takes off on a furious runaway ride down the fairway slopes with George and Arnold, in another cart, pursuing. However, she’s rescued western-style by a tall, handsome Texan out for a canter along the bridal paths — wealthy oilman Bert Power (CLINT WALKER), her college sweatheart. Although their warm renuion bugs George, he is convinced by Arnold that Bert’s the answer to their husband search. Somewhat reluctantly, George purposely throws them together at the club dance. At the club, bachelor Winston Burr (HAL MARCH), the suburban lecher who preys on unhappy wives and widows, has moved in on recently-separated Linda Bullard (PATRICIA BARRY). George tells Arnold, that he plans another good deed before his demise. He’s going to open Linda Bullard’s eyes to the evil machinations of Winnie Burr. He does so in the cloak room and Linda, deeply appreciative, kisses him. Unfortunately, Judy witnesses the embrace. This, she decides with wifely logic, is why George is pushing her off on Bert Power. Furiously, she goes home, followed by George. There’s only one way he can straighten out the mess — he tells Judy about his fatal future. Shattered by the news, Judy tries to reach Doc Morrisey, but he’s gone fishing. While George goes to sleep, Judy gets a visit from Doc Morrisey, who’s trying to unload the fish he caught. He tells her George is the healthiest man in West Bay. Now Judy is convinced of George’s illicit relationship with Linda Bullard. With machiavellian ingenuity, she gets her revenge by locking George out of the house in his pajamas. He’s forced to spend the night with Arnold. A milkman (DAVE WILLOCK), who loves to gossip, spreads the news of the George and Judy bustup and Winnie Burr is quickly on the phone to Judy. Accepting Arnold’s somewhat alcoholic advice, George agrees to plead guilty to an affair that never happened. Arnold is positive wives never divorce when they’ve got a sword like that to dangle above a husband’s head. George and Arnold race to the railway station where they inter It Could Happen To Any Suburbanite — And Does To Doris Day *SEND ME NO FLOWERS” {4.4} In an hilarious sequence that could happen to any suburbanite—and does to Doris Day in Universal’s zany comedy “Send Me No Flowers,” (1) she finds the front door blows shut catching her robe when she stoops to pick up the milkman’s delivery: (2) she steps on the eggs as she tries to figure out what to do; (3) she tries to hide from a nosey passer-by; (4) leaves cling to her egg-soaked slippers as she heads towards an open rear window; (5) the passer-by still is nosey as she prepares to climb into the house. Photographed in Technicolor, “‘Send Me No Flowers”, for the third time teams Rock Hudson, Miss Day and Tony Randall in a comedy. the east George Kimball... ROCK HUDSON Judy Kimball............ DORIS DAY Arnold Nash........ TONY RANDALL Dr. Ralph Morrisey........-...-----------. EDWARD ANDREWS Bert Power........-CLINT WALKER Linda Bullard.. PATRICIA BARRY Winston Burr......-..-.HAL MARCH MraAkinss 23 PAUL LYNDE VitOe ee CLIVE CLERK Milkman......-..--DAVE WILLOCK the staff Director of Photography, Daniel Fapp, A.S.C.; Art Directors, Alexander Golitzen and Robert Clatworthy; Set Decorations, John McCarthy, Oliver Emert, John Austin; Sound, Waldon O. Watson, Joe Lapis; Unit Production Manager, Norman Deming; Film Editor, J. Terry Williams; Make-up, Bud Westmore; Hair Stylist, Larry Germain, Barbara Lampson; Assistant Director, Douglas Green; Gowns Designed by Jean Louis; Choreography by David Winters; Song — “Send Me No Flowers,’ Lyrics by Hal David, Music by Burt Bacharach, Recorded by Doris Day; Music by De Vol, Music Supervision by Joseph Gershenson. cept Judy, and George tries to confess. When Judy reveals she has talked to Linda and knows the truth, George invents a girl named Dolores Yellowstone. They broke up, George insists, and he gave gave her $1000 to send her to New York. As proof, he displays the check stub, made out to cash, which he actually wrote for the cemetery plots. It doesn’t work. Judy, who had forgotten about divorce, now goes home to pack. While she’s packing Judy is visited by Mr. Akins, who stopped by to deliver a receipt for the $1000 down payment. Once more, the facts reveal George’s latest lie. George rushes in with a subservient request to drive her to the station. He learns that Judy has decided to forgive and forget. In return for her promise not to mention the “affair” again, George promises to forget, once and for all, his hypochondria. Their makeup clinch is interrupted by another caller — lecherous Winnie Burr, arms filled with roses for Judy. George takes the bouquet and repays Burr with a right to the jaw. Without interrupting their kiss, George cracks open a bottle of champagne — just as he did on their wedding night eight years ago. HIT COMEDY TEAM (Current) One of the most successful comedy teams at the boxoffice— Rock Hudson, Doris Day and Tony Randall — can be seen currently Gib the ns :-< see ee Theatre in Universal’s “Send Me No Flowers,” photographed in Technicolor. Their previous two pictures brought in $25 million at the boxoffice. Universal Presents ROCK HUDSON DORIS DAY TONY RANDALL in “SEND ME NO FLOWERS” TECHNICOLOR co-starring HAL MARCH PAUL LYNDE EDWARD ANDREWS PATRICIA BARRY and CLINT WALKER as Bert Screenplay by JULIUS EPSTEIN Based upon the play by Norman Barasch and Carroll Moore Directed by NORMAN JEWISON Produced by HARRY KELLER Executive Producer MARTIN MELCHER A Martin Melcher Production A Universal Picture For 6th Picture In A Row, Rock Hudson Is Seen In Pajamas (Current) Rock Hudson is beginning to wonder whether he’s making movies or doing commercial modelling for a pajama company. Hudson can be seen in his new Universal comedy in Technicolor, “Send Me No Flowers,” now at CRG recs Theatre, which also stars Doris Day, Tony Randall and Clint Walker, For his first scene, he wore bedroom attire — the sixth straight Universal movie in which this has happened. “No matter what the movie,” says Rock, “I always get up, get dressed, drive to the studio, get undressed and go to work.”’ In his last comedy, ‘‘Man’s Favorite Sport?” Rock began in pajamas for a scene involving Paula Prentiss and a mountain cabin. In ‘‘A Gathering of Eagles,” he debuted as a SAC wing commander leaping out of bed to answer a Red Alert phone call from command headquarters. In “The Spiral Road” he was a Dutch doctor in the jungles, sweating out an attack of malaria in a tent bunk. In “Lover Come Back,’ Hudson and Miss Day were newlyweds in a motel. In “Come September,” he stood in pajamas on the balcony of an Italian villa, cracking open a bottle of champagne. “Send Me No Flowers,” adapted for the screen from the 1960 Broadway stage hit, is a comedy in which Hudson, a hypochondriac, tries to find a husband for the girl he loves. Norman Jewison directed for producers Martin Melcher and Harry Keller. Page 5 (Still Nos. 1940-3, -4, -5, -6, -8) Rock Hudson ardently greets his wife, Doris Day, at the commuter train as pal Tony Randall looks on in Universal’s newest comedy starring the three, ‘“‘SSend Me No Flowers.”’ Hypochondriac Hudson has just revealed to Randall that he believes he has a terminal heart condition, and the two have spent the trip in the cocktail lounge. Clint Walker Gets Different Type Role, In ‘Send No Flowers” (Advance) Clint Walker’s determination to get away from cowboy roles and into modern-dress screen characterizations is beginning to pay off —almost. The giant-sized western hero of TV’s long popular ‘“Cheyenne’”’ series sat around for almost a year before he got his chance to do some non-western acting as a co-star with Rock Hudson, Doris Day and Tony Randall in the UniversalMartin Melcher Technicolor comedy, “Send Me No Blowers; -COmIng:23 a to the aI ee ee ne Theatre. In the story he portrays a western millionaire who rekindles a college romance with Miss Day. In his introductory scene, Walker gallops a horse along a bridlepath and makes a daring rescue of Miss Day from a runaway golf cart. And even though the cut of his clothes is strictly Madison Avenue, a pair of matching cowboy boots go with each outfit. “Anyway,” philosophized Walker, “I got rid of that Stetson and all those villains hiding behind rocks.” 34 TO ONE (Current) For the Rock Hudson-Doris Day-Tony Randall comedy, “Send Me No Flowers,” Universal art director Robert Clatworthy designed 34 sets, including two complete homes, to match with four locations chosen in San Francisco, Menlo Park, Washington, D.C., and a golf course in Southern California. When ‘Send Me No Flowers” opened in 1960 on Broadway, it was a one-set play. Starring, Rock Hudson, Doris Day and Tony Randall, the hilarious comedy now is at the Theatre. (Still No. 1940-23) Grow Real Grass On Stage For Mower (Current) Nine hundred square feet of artificial grass used in a backyard set for Universal’s ‘Send Me No Flowers” had to be covered by the real stuff in order for director Norman Jewison to complete a scene with co-stars Rock Hudson, Doris Day and Tony Randall. In the action Randall was to grab a lawn mower and cut the lawn. Real sod, complete with grass, had to be transplanted over the ersatz greenery so the mower blades would have something to cut. The hilarious comedy, in Technicolor, now iS Ab thé<nc-2ens-eee Theatre. “SEND ME NO FLOWERS” {1-F} Hal March plays the role of the man about town who comforts divorcees in the hilarious Universal comedy which co-stars Rock Hudson, Doris Day and Tony Randall, “Send Me No Flowers.” It’s in Technicolor. (Still No. 1940-94)