By Mark Ambrogi
Mary Anne Barothy had been one of Doris Day’s biggest fans since she was little.
“I saw ‘Calamity Jane’ in the mid-‘50s and something about that struck me,” said Barothy, who grew up in Indianapolis. “I had a teacher at St. Agnes (Academy) say, ‘if you only spent as much time on your homework as you do on Doris Day, you’d be a fine student.’”
As fate would have it, the super fan became a personal secretary to Day for four years.
Barothy, 68, will discuss her book “A Day at a Time: An Indiana Girl’s Sentimental Journey to Doris Day’s Hollywood and Beyond” May 27 in the chapel at Zionsville Meadows, 675 S. Ford Road. Lunch will begin at noon with the program to follow at 12:30 p.m. The program is organized by Boone County Senior Services.
Barothy, who returned to Indianapolis in the late 1970s, had written a manuscript after her time with Day but never did anything with it, turning it into a book in 2007. Day, 92, lives in Carmel, Calif.
“I enjoy sharing my dream come true with people,” Barothy said.
Barothy took trips to visit a friend, another Day fan in Los Angeles, but never ran into Day. Finally on her third visit, they were at the bakery where Day visited often.
“She rode in on her bike and I just about passed out,” Barothy said. “At the time, I was working for The Indianapolis News so I went into full reporter mode, asking what is your next movie, what’s your next this and that.”
Barothy, then 24, decided to move to Los Angeles in 1968, to work in public relations with the May Department Stores Co.
“The Doris Day Show” made its debut in September 1968.
“I had a terrible car accident and broke both legs and my arm in early 1970,” Barothy said.
She was off work for 10 months and would run into Day at the bakery.
“Two days after I went back to work, Doris called and asked if I wanted to come work for her,” Barothy said.
Barothy worked for Day during the final two years of her show, which ended in March 1973. She did correspondence and took care of the three dogs Day would usually take to the studio.
“We had a wonderful time together. She was like a big sister to me,” Barothy said.
Barothy said it was hard for Day to find a housekeeper with 11 dogs. When a housekeeper left for home in then-Yugoslavia to be with her ill mother during one Christmas, Barothy moved in Day’s house to help.
“I moved in for what I thought was two weeks and it ended up being two years, because the housekeeper never came back,” Barothy said.
For more, call 317-873-8939 or email [email protected]. RSVP by May 25 to attend.
