PILLOW TALK
and THE ALLEY –
1 Nostalgic Night
Kicking off my ‘Deal A Day’ in the new vernacular, that is …Doing /Experience Something of Note Each Day… and what a way to kick things off seeing one great, fun, nostalgic movie from the 50s , PILLOW TALK with Doris Day and Rock Hudson at the great deco movie palace in Oakland, the Paramount and then checking out my favorite and THE BEST Piano Bar, the Alley with Rod Dibble at the Keyboard Pillow Talk has everything going for it, in this writers opinion… a fun story line, as described below, great visuals form the Fabulous fifties – the 50s ‘Googie’ architecture, the cars, the fashions. Hudson is good and Tony Randall adds a colorful element as Day steals the
show, acting and singing at her best, or one of her best. Some suprisingly off-color material for its time (but nothing compared to today) …
PILLOW TALK – BEST MOVIES, NOSTALGIA MOVIES, FIFTIES
Just a fun, fun techincolor blockbuster from 1959 for which the mixed audience gave several ovations . And what a place to see it at… Oakland’s own restored Paramount theater, which shows retro movies once a month along with 
wurlitzer organ playing before and after show. If you live int he the Bay Area what a fun nostalgic night one can have for $5 – not much more than you would have paid back then – and see it on the same big screen you may have seen it on in 1959!!! What a difference from today’s movies, when , if the audience even applauds you can’t hear it with all the noice… Synopsis PILLOW TALK Jan Morrow (Doris Day) is a successful, content, self-reliant interior decorator who lives in New York City. She lives alone and claims to be quite happy, when More Pillow Talk and oldies
PILLOW TALK MOVIE and BEST PIANO BAR – THE ALLEY
questioned on that subject by her drunken housekeeper, Alma (Thelma Ritter). Due to the state of the telephone company’s development, she has to use a party line, which she shares with Brad Allen (Rock Hudson), a talented, creative Broadway composer and playboy. 
Jan and Brad, who have never met, develop a feud over the use of the party line, as Brad is constantly using the phone to chat with one young woman after another, singing to each of them an “original” love song supposedly written just for them, though he only changes the name or language he sings in. Jan and Brad bicker over the party line, with Brad suggesting that the single Jan is jealous of his popularity. One of Jan’s clients is millionaire Jonathan Forbes (Tony Randall), who repeatedly throws himself at her to no avail. Unknown to Jan, Jonathan is Brad’s old college buddy and current Broadway benefactor. One evening in a nightclub, Brad finally sees Jan dancing. Attracted to her, he fakes a Texan accent and invents a new persona: Rex Stetson, wealthy rancher from Texas. He succeeds in wooing Jan, and the pair begin seeing each other regularly. Jan cannot resist bragging about new beau on the phone to Brad Allen, while Brad teases Jan by suggesting that “Rex” is not all he appears to be. When Jonathan finds out what Brad has done, he forces Brad to leave New York City and go to Jonathan’s cabin in Connecticut to complete his new songs. Brad uses the opportunity to secretly ask Jan to go away with him, and she does. Once there, romance is in the air until Jan stumbles upon a copy of Rex’s sheet music. She plunks the melody on the nearby piano and recognizes the tune as Brad’s popular party line playboy serenade. She confronts Brad angrily and ignores his attempts at explanation, leaving with Jonathan who has arrived just in time to expose Rex as Brad and who takes her back to New York City. Once Brad returns to New York, Jonathan is pleased to learn that the mighty oak of a playboy has finally fallen in love, while conversely Jan will have nothing to do with him for deceiving her. Not ready to give up, Brad turns to Jan’s maid, Alma, for advice, who suggests he hire Jan to decorate his apartment so they will be forced to collaborate. Jan only concedes so that her employer will not lose the account. Little does he know her employer is also in on the scheme. Still quite angry however, Jan completely redoes Brad’s apartment in the most gaudy, ghastly, hideous decor she can muster. Horrified by what he finds, Brad angrily storms into Jan’s apartment and carries her in her pajamas through the street back to his apartment, where he asks her how it feels to return to the scene of the crime. In his frustration he tells her of all the changes he’s made to end his bachelor lifestyle because he thought he was getting married. Her face lights up from his admission but he’s so angry he attempts to leave. She quickly reaches for one of the tacky remote control switches he installed to accommodate his “purposes” which immediately locks the door. He turns around in defeat, their eyes meet, each smiles, and they lovingly embrace. THE ALLEY, in Oakland is, by far, the BEST piano bar in the Bay Area if not California and beyond – and it is ORIGINAL. Unlike other fine local piano baras, Marcello’s in Danville and Lefty Odoul’s in San Francisco, THE ALLEY is 100% original even with the original, or one of the original piano players, ROD DIBBLE still tickling the ivories after 50 years! He only plays on the weekends , to our knowledge, so check him out after your night at the Parmount for one great nostalgic experience that can’t be beat. You’ll have more fun that you had in years… For more on Dibble and the Alley click HERE
