Doris & Cary’s Class Carries ‘That Touch of Mink’ 1962

Grant & Day were at the peak of movie stardom when they teamed. Cary retired in 1966 & Doris' last film was in '68.

Doris Day and Cary Grant are the opposite of Doris and Rock’s easygoing chemistry in their only movie teaming, 1962’s That Touch of Mink. Doris is sunny and outgoing; Cary is wry and remote. They “meet cute” when Phillip’s limo splashes Cathy’s outfit when he passes by her on a NYC street corner. He sends gofer Roger (Gig Young) over to the automat across the street to make amends. Roger, who comically resents Shayne’s charmed life, ends up bringing Cathy back to the office to give him a piece of her mind. Her waitress pal/roommate Connie (Audrey Meadows), full of sisterly advice, warns Cathy off. Spoiler alert—hardly! Instead of giving Philip what for, Cathy instantly goes gaga for him.

Day's career girl gets more than a cheap lunch from roommate pal Connie (Audrey Meadow.)

Doris’ Cathy Timberlake is written as agog of Grant’s Philip Shayne. And Cary’s millionaire goes to great lengths to win Cathy over. Today’s viewers may wonder why. That’s because the script—which somehow got an Oscar nomination—says so.

Cary Grant, nearly 60, aged far better than nearly all the male stars of his era.

While That Touch of Mink goes down smoothly, with its skilled stars and lavish production, it’s also beyond predictable and dated. The first problem is the stars’ collective age. Cary a rich playboy looking for a plaything. Grant was soon 60 shades of gray and this makes Phillip a bit creepy. Doris was 40 and she is playing a “career girl” hesitant to sleep with a man out of wedlock. Doris’ pal Connie constantly refers to herself as old; Audrey Meadows is the same age as Day! And Gig Young, as Grant’s insecure underling, is 50, just decade younger than Grant, though they look the same age. All are well-photographed, but cinematographer Russell Metty reserves for Doris Day that soft focus that makes viewers realize there is also Doris Day photography, as well as parking!

Doris Day positively glows in 'That Touch of Mink!'

That Touch of Mink has superbly attractive stars, beautifully styled, great clothes for both Day and Grant, lavish sets, locales—everything except content. I will say this: Back when studio era stars worked hard and played hard, they often looked rode hard and put away wet by the 1960s. However, Doris Day and Cary Grant both took great care of themselves and looked like a gorgeous, mature couple here. Doris Day had a better bod than most sex bombs, notably on display in a form-fitting black spaghetti strap evening dress. And when Grant leaves the NYC Athletic Club in nothing but a towel, Cary shows he could still carry that stuff off. But realistically, they are playing 20-something and 40-something, respectively, and it adds to this movie’s artificiality.

Cary was still a hard-body heart throb four years before Grant retired from film.

This is a one joke movie: Will she or won’t she? Okay, maybe a three or four joke movie! There are several running gags that would not fly in today’s movies, which I don’t take offense, because that was humor back in the ‘60s. And it’s not mean-spirited, just silly. After a point though, it also feels tiresome.

Doris Day, in fine form at 40!

 Doris’ Cathy is constantly worried that ‘everyone knows’ she’s on vacation with an unmarried man. There’s the subplot with Gig’s character talking to his shrink. Dr. Gruber has mistaken Roger’s obsession with Cathy’s romantic problems with the millionaire as his own. This leads the shrink to think Roger’s on romantic weekends, contemplating marriage, and so on, with Phillip. At the end, spotting Young with Grant and Day’s baby carriage, the shrink finds Roger bubbling over about babies and wedded bliss. This must have seemed hee-larious back in ‘62. Or maybe not, since this shtick was already done in Pillow Talk. Then there’s John Astin as the unemployment clerk who tries to weasel a sex date with Day’s Cathy by withholding her check. What a knee-slapper! What makes Day’s dated sex farces tolerable is that Doris is strong and outspoken, plus nobody’s fool.

A bit of jolt to realize Gig Young was nearly a decade younger than Cary Grant!

Also, PC movie watchers will not enjoy the fur coats flung around this movie in the name of luxury. This is back when animal lover Doris still loved fur. It is strange that Grant lavishes a full wardrobe on Cathy for a trip to Bermuda. But as any Day fan knows, Doris movies at this point were glorified fashion shows, there’s even a real one in an early scene. Also not PC today, but Doris’ drunk scene is pretty funny, with such nasal, loosey-goosey answers to an agog Grant: “Sure beats hot milk with butter!”

Day's Cathy steels her courage by chugging a bottle of Scotch! 

There are some sadly ironic plot points in That Touch of Mink. Gig Young again plays a comic drunk, something he had seriously become in real life by this time. Young attempted many forms of therapy to alleviate his deep-seated problems, so it’s a wince to see him playing therapy for laughs, considering his life ended in a murder-suicide. Then there’s a slapstick scene where drunken Doris falls out a hotel window and lands on a canopy. In an eerie coincidence, Irene, Doris’ dear designer friend, holed up at the Knickerbocker Hotel on Nov. 15, 1962, got drunk, left suicide notes, jumped out the hotel window, also landing on the canopy, to her death.

I love the automat scenes in this movie! Connie feeds Cathy a personal chicken pot pie,
 baked potato, carrots, jello salad, and cake ...for lunch!

Mink is a movie that shows the early‘60s at its most fun: the clothes and styles, the automat, and even cans of color-changing hairspray. Or that new innovation, charge cards, and how someday, people are going to charge everything! The movie’s attention to luxury also includes plugs for Bergdorf-Goodman, Cardinal Clothes, Pan Am, Grey Hound, and those boutiques who supplied the furs, jewels, etc. And there’s even a guest appearance by Mickey Mantle and the New York Yankees.

Movies like That Touch of Mink have fans who just want to watch charismatic stars in beautiful fashions and locations, that’s fun and has a happy ending. That Touch of Mink is the cinematic equivalent of cotton candy. Enjoy!

A pretty, pastel publicity photo of the stars of 'That Touch of Mink.'

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