Bachelor Mother

This article is about the 1939 romantic comedy film. For the 1932 action film, see Bachelor Mother (1932 film).

Bachelor Mother
Poster
Directed by	Garson Kanin
Screenplay by	Norman Krasna
Story by	Felix Jackson
Produced by	Buddy G. DeSylva
Starring	Ginger Rogers David Niven Charles Coburn
Cinematography	Robert De Grasse
Edited by	Henry Berman Robert Wise
Music by	Roy Webb
Distributed by	RKO Radio Pictures
Release date	June 30, 1939 (1939-06-30)
Running time	82 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$509,000
Box office	$1,975,000

Bachelor Mother (1939) is an American romantic comedy film directed by Garson Kanin, and starring Ginger Rogers, David Niven, and Charles Coburn. The screenplay was written by Norman Krasna from an Academy Award-nominated story by Felix Jackson (a.k.a. Felix Joachimson) written for the 1935 Austrian-Hungarian film Little Mother. With a plot full of mistaken identities, Bachelor Mother is a light-hearted treatment of the otherwise serious issues of child abandonment.

It was remade in 1956 as Bundle of Joy, starring Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher, and inspired the Bollywood film Kunwara Baap.

Plot

Polly Parrish moved to New York City to seek more opportunities and works as seasonal temporary help in a large department store, Merlin's. She receives notice that her position will be terminated after the Christmas season and she will not be kept on. Walking home, she sees a stranger leaving a baby on the steps of an orphanage. To protect the baby from the cold, Polly takes it inside. The orphanage staff offer Polly assistance and aid so she can keep the baby, because the immediate mutual fondness between Polly and the baby convinces the orphanage staff that Polly is the mother, despite her many protests. Polly leaves the baby in their care, but not before she gave them her name and informed them she was being laid off from Merlin's department store.

Supposing Polly was driven to abandon her child after losing her job, the orphanage director searches out David, the playboy son of the store's owner, J.B. Merlin, and requests that he re-hire Polly. David arranges for Polly to have a permanent position, a raise, and offers the company's full support. Polly's delight at keeping her job turns to baffled confusion when the orphanage attendants deliver the baby to her as part of her position.

Frustrated that no one is listening when she explains the baby is not hers, Polly takes the baby to David's home and leaves the child with his butler to sort out. Polly departs for a dance competition she entered with Freddie, a flirtatious stockboy at the store. An enraged David storms after her, baby in tow, only to be mistaken for a jealous husband and thrown out of the competition. In the height of fury over what he believes is a mother abandoning her baby to have fun in night clubs, David threatens Polly that she must take care of the child properly, or find herself fired, denied a recommendation, and blacklisted by every employer in the city.

Unable to convince anyone that she is not the mother, and threatened by David with persecution if she does not assume that role, Polly gives up, invents an abusive past lover, names the baby "John", and starts raising him.

Mrs. Weiss, Polly's landlady, provides baby equipment and offers to take care of the boy when Polly is working, and Polly quickly comes to love the child.

David increasingly finds himself reaching out to interact with Polly, bringing her and John gifts, stopping for visits, and talking together, growing genuinely fond of Polly's company and their compatible wit and enjoying sharing in John's care.

Freddie, who witnessed David's behavior at the dance competition, mistakenly believes Polly is David's mistress and John their child. This misconception of the situation between David and Polly is worsened when Freddie's own seniority warrants his promotion, which he mistakenly credits to Polly putting in a good word for him with David. Freddie later loses this promotion when he mistakes David for a shoplifter and attacks David in an overeager show of authority.

New Year's Eve arrives, and David has no date for a high society party. To save face, David turns to Polly. He orders luxurious clothes and mink furs to be sent from the store and takes Polly to the party, playing a prank on the other guests that she cannot speak English and David must act as her interpreter. The pair leave and have a romantic evening, dampened only by the recollection of John, whose existence makes David hesitate. David does not feel ready to commit to a woman with a baby, though he wants to keep seeing them.

Embittered by his lost promotion, Freddie attempts to blackmail David by sending an anonymous note to J.B., saying that David has a secret child. J.B. is delighted with this news. He had despaired of playboy David ever settling down and providing him with grandchildren. J.B. stalks David and sees him meet up with Polly and John in a park.

David ends up in the same position Polly was: J.B. thinks that John is David's baby and will not believe any protests to the contrary. J.B. demands that David marry Polly. If David refuses, J.B. threatens to seize John's custody through legal means. David rushes to warn Polly about the threat and insist that she produce John's real father (of whom he is jealous) so J.B. can understand what is going on. David ends up hurting and insulting Polly when he derides J.B.'s demand that he marry her as ridiculous. He regrets his words, but Polly makes him leave.

Polly is anxious over J.B.'s threat to bring in lawyers and investigate, since she has grown to love John and this will expose that she is not the mother. She decides to flee, but the landlady proposes an alternative solution. Polly visits J.B. with Mrs. Weiss's adult son posing as her husband. Crushed, J.B. is about to accept that he misunderstood the situation, when David appears, dragging Freddie. David has bribed Freddie into playing the role of John's father.

David attacks Mrs. Weiss's son in jealousy, Freddie breaks and declares David the father, and J.B. is now more convinced than ever that David is the father. In the chaos, Polly disappears and tries to flee with John. David becomes terrified that he lost Polly and John forever. When he finds her, David confesses his love and declares to J.B. that he is John's father, and that he intends to marry Polly.

Cast

Ginger Rogers, Garson Kanin (director) & Pandro S. Berman (executive producer) on the set

• Ginger Rogers as Polly Parrish
• David Niven as David Merlin
• Charles Coburn as J.B. Merlin
• Frank Albertson as Freddie Miller
• E. E. Clive as Butler
• Elbert Coplen Jr. as Johnnie
• Ferike Boros as Mrs. Weiss
• Ernest Truex as Investigator
• Leonard Penn as Jerome Weiss
• Paul Stanton as Hargraves
• Frank M. Thomas as Doctor
• Dennie Moore as Mary
• June Wilkins as Louise King
• Barbara Pepper as Dance-Hall Hostess (uncredited)
• Charlie Hall as Dance-Hall Bouncer (uncredited)

Production

The film was a remake of the 1935 Hungarian film Little Mother from Joe Pasternak and Henry Koster which was never screened in the US.

In November 1938 RKO announced Little Mother would star Ginger Rogers. It would be the first film produced at the studio by Buddy de Sylva. The film replaced Perfect Honeymoon and She Married for Money in Rogers' schedule at RKO.

Louis Hayward was originally announced as the male lead. Then RKO announced Cary Grant would play the role. A few days later RKO announced Grant was replaced by James Ellison. In January 1939 RKO announced Garson Kanin, who had impressed with A Man to Remember, would direct and Norman Krasna was writing the script. A few days later the studio said the male lead was played by Douglas Fairbanks Jr. In March RKO said Fairbanks Jr would make The Sun Never Sets at Universal instead and his role would be played by David Niven who had been borrowed from Sam Goldwyn.

The film had a number of titles. RKO disliked Little Mother and the Hays Office had objections to alternatives they proposed, Bachelor Mother and Baby Trouble. Garson Kanin wanted to call it Baby Makes Three but producer Buddy De Sylva overruled him.

Reception

Box office

The film was a big hit and earned RKO a profit of $827,000.

Adaptations to other media

Bachelor Mother was adapted as a radio play on several occasions, including five broadcasts of The Screen Guild Theater: the first starred Laraine Day, Henry Fonda and Charles Coburn (February 1, 1942); the second starred Ann Sothern and Fred MacMurray (November 23, 1942); the third starred Ginger Rogers, Francis X. Bushman and David Niven (May 6, 1946); the fourth starred Lucille Ball, Joseph Cotten and Charles Coburn (April 28, 1949); the fifth starred Ann Sothern and Robert Stack (April 20, 1952). It was also adapted as an hour-long play on Lux Radio Theater with Ginger Rogers and Fredric March (January 22, 1940) and on Screen Director's Playhouse with Lucille Ball and Robert Cummings (March 8, 1951).

See also

• List of films set around New Year

External links

• Bachelor Mother at IMDb
• Bachelor Mother at BFI
• Bachelor Mother at the TCM Movie Database
• Bachelor Mother at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films
• Review of film at Variety