''Bundle of Joy'' is a 1956
Technicolor
Technicolor is a series of Color motion picture film, color motion picture processes, the first version dating back to 1916, and followed by improved versions over several decades.
Definitive Technicolor movies using three black and white films ...
musical remake of the comedy film ''
Bachelor Mother
''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 Jac ...
'' (1939), which starred
Ginger Rogers
Ginger Rogers (born Virginia Katherine McMath; July 16, 1911 – April 25, 1995) was an American actress, dancer and singer during the Classical Hollywood cinema, Golden Age of Hollywood. She won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her starri ...
and
David Niven
James David Graham Niven (; 1 March 1910 – 29 July 1983) was a British actor, soldier, memoirist, and novelist. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance as Major Pollock in ''Separate Tables'' (1958). Niven's other roles ...
. It stars
Eddie Fisher
Edwin Jack Fisher (August 10, 1928 – September 22, 2010) was an American singer and actor. He was one of the most popular artists during the 1950s, selling millions of records and hosting his own TV show, ''The Eddie Fisher Show''. Actress Eli ...
and
Debbie Reynolds
Mary Frances "Debbie" Reynolds (April 1, 1932 – December 28, 2016) was an American actress, singer, and businesswoman. Her career spanned almost 70 years. She was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Newcomer for her portra ...
(who were married in real-life at the time), and
Adolphe Menjou
Adolphe Jean Menjou (February 18, 1890 – October 29, 1963) was an American actor. His career spanned both silent films and talkies. He appeared in such films as Charlie Chaplin's ''A Woman of Paris'', where he played the lead role; Stanley K ...
. An unmarried salesgirl at a department store finds and takes care of an abandoned baby. Much confusion results when her co-workers assume the child is hers and that the father is the son of the store owner.
Plot
Polly Parish (Reynolds) works in the Millinery Department at J.B. Merlin & Son's department store on the
Upper East Side
The Upper East Side, sometimes abbreviated UES, is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 96th Street to the north, the East River to the east, 59th Street to the south, and Central Park/Fifth Avenue to the wes ...
of
Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
. She is summoned to the office of the store manager, who informs her that she is fired because she is overselling hats, which creates too many returns and too much work for the accounting department. After work, Polly walks home and wonders what she will do to make ends meet.
On a step, she finds an abandoned baby in a blanket and instinctively picks it up to comfort it. As she bends over, the door behind the step opens and a woman ushers Polly and the baby inside. Polly has not noticed the sign that indicates the door belongs to an orphanage. When she denies the baby is hers inside, the staff disbelieve her, having experienced countless women reluctant to admit that they bore a child out of wedlock. Polly explains that she has just lost her job at J.B Merlin & Son's and insists there is no way that she will care for a baby that is not hers.
After she leaves, the head of the orphanage decides to intervene on her behalf, knowing the Merlins to be charitable. He convinces the firm to hire Polly back, and she is summoned to a meeting with Dan Merlin (Fisher) the son of the eponymous owner. Dan informs her that she will be hired back at $10 more per week and that a gift will be delivered to her apartment later that night. When the baby arrives, Polly is flabbergasted. She convinces a friend to help her deliver the baby back to Dan at his home on East 63rd Street.
They leave the baby in the care of Dan's butler, whom Dan enlists to help him return the baby to Polly. They track her down to a dance hall where she is hoping to win a prize. Dan gets into a scuffle and gets thrown out. So he goes to Polly's apartment and waits for her there with the baby. Forced to care for the baby, Polly makes do and grows fond of him. She names the child John, and Dan checks in on her from time to time.
On
New Year's Eve
In the Gregorian calendar, New Year's Eve, also known as Old Year's Day or Saint Sylvester's Day in many countries, is the evening or the entire day of the last day of the year, on 31 December. The last day of the year is commonly referred to ...
, Dan is stood up by his date, because he had forgotten to call her earlier. He arranges for Polly's landlady to watch John while they go out together. He takes her to the department store to get an outfit for a night out on the town. When he drops her off back at home, he jokes that she is fired so that he can kiss her.
Meanwhile, J.B. Merlin has been misinformed that he is a grandfather, mistaking John to be Dan's son. He begins to make arrangements for Dan to have full custody of the child. Polly panics at the thought of losing John. So she pretends that her landlady's nephew, who is visiting from Harvard, is John's real father. Dan produces a store employee to pretend he is the father. The ensuing confusion leads to a full confession of love from Dan and a happy union for the new family, and J.B. is convinced the boy is his grandson.
Cast
*
Eddie Fisher
Edwin Jack Fisher (August 10, 1928 – September 22, 2010) was an American singer and actor. He was one of the most popular artists during the 1950s, selling millions of records and hosting his own TV show, ''The Eddie Fisher Show''. Actress Eli ...
as Dan Merlin
*
Debbie Reynolds
Mary Frances "Debbie" Reynolds (April 1, 1932 – December 28, 2016) was an American actress, singer, and businesswoman. Her career spanned almost 70 years. She was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Newcomer for her portra ...
as Polly Parish
*
Adolphe Menjou
Adolphe Jean Menjou (February 18, 1890 – October 29, 1963) was an American actor. His career spanned both silent films and talkies. He appeared in such films as Charlie Chaplin's ''A Woman of Paris'', where he played the lead role; Stanley K ...
as J. B. Merlin, Dan's father and Polly's ultimate boss
*
Tommy Noonan
Tommy Noonan (born Thomas Noone; April 29, 1921 – April 24, 1968) was a comedy genre film performer, screenwriter and producer. He acted in a number of high-profile films as well as B movies from the 1940s through the 1960s, and he is best ...
as Freddie Miller
*
Nita Talbot
Nita Talbot (born Anita Sokol) (born August 8, 1930) is an American actress. She received an Emmy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for the 1967–68 season of '' Hogan's Heroes''.
Film
Born in New York City on Au ...
as Mary
*
Una Merkel
Una Merkel (December 10, 1903 – January 2, 1986) was an American stage, film, radio, and television actress.
Merkel was born in Kentucky and acted on stage in New York in the 1920s. She went to Hollywood in 1930 and became a popular film ...
as Mrs. Dugan
*
Melville Cooper
George Melville Cooper (15 October 1896 – 13 March 1973) was an English actor. His many notable screen roles include the High Sheriff of Nottingham in ''The Adventures of Robin Hood'' (1938), Mr. Collins in ''Pride and Prejudice'' (1940) and ...
as Adams
*
Gil Stratton
Gil Stratton Jr. (June 2, 1922 – October 11, 2008) was an actor and sportscaster who was born in Brooklyn, New York. He most recently resided in Toluca Lake, California, until his death from congestive heart failure.
Early life
Stratton was ...
as Mike Clancy
*
as Mr. Creely
*
Howard McNear
Howard Terbell McNear (January 27, 1905 – January 3, 1969) was an American stage, screen, and radio character actor. McNear is best remembered as the original voice of Doc Adams in the radio version of ''Gunsmoke'' and as Floyd Lawson, the ...
as Mr. Appleby
*
Robert H. Harris
Robert H. Harris (born Robert H. Hurwitz; July 15, 1911 – November 30, 1981) was an American character actor.
Stage
A veteran of the Yiddish Art Theater from his teens, Harris made his first Broadway appearance in 1937 in ''Schoolhouse on the ...
as Mr. Hargraves
*
Mary Treen
Mary Treen (born Mary Louise Summers, March 27, 1907 – July 20, 1989) was an American film and television actress. A minor actress for much of her career, she managed to secure a plain, unassuming niche for herself in the Hollywood of the 1 ...
as Matron
*
Edward Brophy as Dance Contest Judge (as Edward S. Brophy)
* Scott Douglas as Bill Rand
Soundtrack
Music by
Josef Myrow Josef Myrow (February 18, 1910 – December 24, 1987 in Los Angeles, California) was a Russian Empire-born composer, known for his work in film scores in the 1940s and 1950s. He was twice nominated for an Academy Award: in 1947 for the song "You Do ...
and lyrics by
Mack Gordon
Mack Gordon (born Morris Gittler; June 21, 1904 – February 28, 1959) was an American composer and lyricist for the stage and film. He was nominated for the best original song Oscar nine times in 11 years, including five consecutive years betwee ...
;
* ''Bundle of Joy''
* ''All About Love''
* ''Some Day Soon''
* ''I Never Felt This Way Before''
* ''Worry About Tomorrow''
* ''Lullaby in Blue''
Production
Development
The original narrative of ''Bundle of Joy'' was produced by
Joe Pasternak
Joseph Herman Pasternak (born József Paszternák; September 19, 1901 – September 13, 1991) was a Hungarian-American film producer in Hollywood. Pasternak spent the Hollywood "Golden Age" of musicals at MGM Studios, producing many successfu ...
who had developed a winning formula in Universal Picture's Berlin division. His second picture with
Henry Koster
Henry Koster (born Hermann Kosterlitz, May 1, 1905 – September 21, 1988) was a German-born film director. He was the husband of actress Peggy Moran.
Early life
Koster was born to Jewish parents in Berlin, Germany. He was introduced to cin ...
(director),
Felix Jackson
Felix Jackson (born Felix Joachimson; June 5, 1902 – December 7, 1992) was a German-born American screenwriter and film producer.
Biography
Jackson was born in Hamburg. He was a city editor in Germany at 21, then a dramatic and music critic, ...
(writer), and
Franciska Gaal
Franciska Gaal (born Franciska Silberspitz, 1 February 1903 – 13 August 1972) was a Hungarian cabaret artist and film actress of Jewish heritage. Gaal starred in a popular series of European romantic comedies during the 1930s. After attracting ...
(actress) was ''Kleine Mutti'' (
Little Mother, 1935) about the orphan Marie who raises a foundling and ends up marrying a banker. The German-language film was remade in English as ''
Bachelor Mother
''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 Jac ...
'' three years later. ''Bundle of Joy'' is a musical adaptation of ''Bachelor Mother'', and Jackson retains story credit on both pictures.
RKO Studios had ceased production after Howard Hughes sold it. The new owners announced a program of 11 films costing $22,500,000; ''
The First Travelling Saleslady'', ''
Back from Eternity
''Back from Eternity'' is a 1956 American drama film about a planeload of people stranded in the South American jungle and subsequently menaced by headhunters. The film stars Robert Ryan, Rod Steiger, Anita Ekberg and Gene Barry. The film is a ...
'', ''
Tension at Table Rock
''Tension at Table Rock'' is a 1956 American Western (genre), Western Drama (genre), drama film directed by Charles Marquis Warren and starring Richard Egan (actor), Richard Egan and Dorothy Malone. Wes Tancred (Richard Egan (actor), Richard Eg ...
'', ''
Beyond a Reasonable Doubt
Beyond a reasonable doubt is a legal standard of proof required to validate a criminal conviction in most adversarial legal systems. It is a higher standard of proof than the balance of probabilities standard commonly used in civil cases, beca ...
'', ''Stage Struck'', ''Bundle of Joy'', ''
A Farewell to Arms'', ''
Cash McCall
''Cash McCall'' is a 1960 American romantic drama film in Technicolor from Warner Bros., produced by Henry Blanke, directed by Joseph Pevney, and starring James Garner and Natalie Wood. The film's screenplay by Lenore J. Coffee and Marion H ...
'', ''Misty'', ''The Syndicate'' and ''Is This Our Son?''. (Not all these films would be made by RKO and several were not made at all.)
Filming
Filming started in June 1956. It finished in August.
"I know I"m not an actor but I haven't had too much to worry about," said Fisher.
Carrie Fisher
Carrie Frances Fisher (October 21, 1956 – December 27, 2016) was an American actress and writer. She played Princess Leia in the ''Star Wars'' films (1977–1983). She reprised the role in'' Star Wars: The Force Awakens'' (2015), ''The Last ...
tells the story in her memoir and subsequent documentary film ''
Wishful Drinking'' (2010) that Reynolds was pregnant with her during production of this film as well as ''
Tammy and the Bachelor
''Tammy and the Bachelor'' is a 1957 romantic comedy film directed by Joseph Pevney and starring Debbie Reynolds as Tambrey "Tammy" Tyree, Walter Brennan as Grandpa Dinwitty and Leslie Nielsen as Peter Brent. It is the first of the four Tammy fi ...
''.
During production, director
Norman Taurog
Norman Rae Taurog (February 23, 1899 – April 7, 1981) was an American film director and screenwriter. From 1920 to 1968, Taurog directed 180 films. At the age of 32, he received the Academy Award for Best Director for '' Skippy'' (1931). He i ...
was in the early stages of
Alzheimer's disease
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegeneration, neurodegenerative disease that usually starts slowly and progressively worsens. It is the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in short-term me ...
. Very little was known about the illness at the time, so Debbie Reynolds and the rest of the cast and crew "just coped with" his unexplained memory losses and constant repeated instructions.
Release
The movie's premiere was given at the
Capitol Theatre in New York on December 19, 1956. The event doubled as a fundraiser for refugees of the
Hungarian Revolution, which had ended only a month earlier.
George Jessel was the master of ceremonies.
Archduke Leopold of Habsburg and his sister were notable guests along with other celebrities and executives of RKO pictures. The event raised $21,000 for
CARE and First Aid for Hungary, which was formed on October 29, 1956, in order to "bring aid to the hundreds of Hungarian Freedom Fighters who had been forced to seek refuge in neighboring Austria and had thus cast an enormous burden upon that country".
Eddie Fisher later wrote that he "tried my best to do a good job in" the film. "In fact, both Debbie and I worked so hard that we didn’t even go home during the last few weeks of shooting. We stayed in a bungalow on the lot." When he saw the final cut he said "As bad as I was, the picture was even worse, a bomb... ''Bundle of Joy'' laid a financial egg, the dishwater ordinary songs disappeared without a trace and Debbie’s was the only movie career that managed to survive".
See also
*
List of American films of 1956
A list of American films released in 1956
''Around the World in 80 Days'' won the Academy Award for Best Picture.
A-B
C-D
E-I
J-M
N-R
S-Z
See also
* 1956 in the United States
Sources Footnotes
References
*
*
External links
19 ...
References
External links
*
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bundle Of Joy
1956 films
1950s Christmas films
1950s Christmas comedy films
1956 musical comedy films
1956 romantic comedy films
American Christmas comedy films
American musical comedy films
American romantic comedy films
American romantic musical films
Films directed by Norman Taurog
Films set in department stores
Films set in New York City
Musical film remakes
Films set around New Year
RKO Pictures films
1950s English-language films
1950s American films