Fide sed cui vide
Friday, April 10, 2026

Where Were You When The Lights Went Out (1968)

Director Hy Averback
Rating Rating
MPAA PG
Run Time 89 min
Color Color
Aspect Ratio 2.35 : 1
Sound Mono
Producer Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Country: USA
Genre: Comedy
Plot Synopsis

When the Great Northeast Blackout of 1965 hit, millions of people were left in the dark, including Waldo Zane, a New York executive in the process of stealing a fortune from his company; and two people whose paths he's destined to cross: Broadway actress Margaret Garrison and her husband Peter.

Tagline

At exactly 5:27 P.M. New York went out like a light. This is the story of what happened in the dark. Only the names have been changed to protect the people who didn't get home to sleep.

Quotes

Margaret Garrison: Hello, Peter, so you're here!

Filming Locations

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios - 10202 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA
(Studio)

New York City, New York, USA

There appears to be a rights issue tied up with the issuing of this film. While it was a television staple for many years and was released on videocassette several decades ago, it has not been televised or released in digital format since that time. As of 2018, the film has been out of circulation for nearly 25 years.

Doris Day wrote in her 1975 autobiography that this was one of the films she did not want to do, but was forced to because her husband and manager, Martin Melcher, had power of attorney and signed her up for it without her knowledge or consent. She called this "an alleged comedy", of which she didn't remember very much, because she was in severe pain, on medication, and spent all of her off-camera time in traction.

Doris Day's character in this film, Margaret (Maggie) Garrison is an actress constantly being typecast as a virginal heroine (the title of her current Broadway show is "The Constant Virgin"), and was meant to be a parody of Day's own squeaky-clean screen image.

In her autobiography, Doris Day wrote that this was one of her least favorite films, also citing The Ballad of Josie (1967), Caprice (1967), and Do Not Disturb (1965)--all films, to which her husband, Martin Melcher, signed her without her consent.

Along with "Remains to Be Seen" (1953), "The Flame and the Flesh" (1954), and "The Subterraneans" (1960), this is one of very few films from the mid-century MGM library that appears to be lost--outside of privately-circulated, poorly-reproduced bootleg copies.

Continuity

When Margaret is sitting on the couch during her interview, the yellow cushions beside her keep moving.

When the man walks past the subway station in the beginning, there is a noticeable jump in the film, before the lion emerges from the subway.