''Child of Divorce'' is a 1946 American film directed by Richard O. Fleischer. It was the first film that he directed. RKO had adapted the play to film before as the 1934 film '' Wednesday's Child''.

Plot summary

Young Roberta "Bobby" Carter, only eight years old, catches her mother Joan as she kisses a man who isn't her father in a park. She is especially embarrassed, since her friends are present and recognize her mother. Bobby's father Ray is away on a business trip, as he so often is, but comes home all of a sudden, bringing a small toy piano as a gift to Bobby. Joan tries to collect enough courage to tell her husband about her affair, but backs out in the last second. Bobby is bullied for her mother's antics and romantics and ends up asking God to make her parents fall back in love. Unaware of her daughter's discovery, Joan continues to see her lover, Michael Benton. Soon Ray becomes suspicious because of Joan's frequent absence from their home and asks her about it. Joan confesses that she is seeing another man and that she wants a divorce. Bobby watches from a hidden position how her parents talk, and how her father slaps her mother in the face. Joan flees the house and is followed by the desperate Bobby. Joan tells her daughter that she is leaving the house and her father immediately and that she is taking Bobby with her. Bobby is crushed. Months later, Bobby is asked to the stand in her parents' divorce trial, as a witness of her mother's infidelity, but she refuses to leave any information. Her parents divorce and a judge grants Joan custody of Bobby for all year except summer. Later, Joan marries Michael but Bobby refuses to accept Michael as her stepfather. Michael grows tired of Bobby's behavior and tells Joan that the girl is breaking their marriage apart. When Bobby returns to her father in the summer, she is introduced to his new fiancée, Louise Norman, and gets even more upset. A psychiatrist tells Joan and Ray that Bobby needs stability and continuity in her life to cope, and strongly suggests that only one of them should have sole custody over her. None of the parents feels up to this task, and instead Bobby is sent away to a boarding school. Bobby is eventually visited by her parents, one at a time, and one of her schoolmates tells her that she will be used to being alone. To the sound of church bells playing the same tune as on her toy piano, Bobby vows to herself that she will never leave her own children when she grows up, and tuck them to bed every night.

Cast

Sharyn Moffett Patricia Sharyn Moffett (September 12, 1936 – December 23, 2021) was an American child actress who appeared in films during the 1940s. Life and career Moffett was born in Alameda, California on September 12, 1936, to a show business family. He ...

as Bobby *

Regis Toomey John Francis Regis Toomey (August 13, 1898October 12, 1991) was an American film and television actor. Early life Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, he was one of four children of Francis X. and Mary Ellen Toomey, and attended Peabody High Sc ...

as Ray *

Madge Meredith Madge Meredith (born Marjorie May Massow; July 15, 1921 – September 16, 2017) was an American film actress who appeared in numerous films and television series between 1944 and 1964. However, she may have been best known for her wrongful convi ...

as Joan *

Walter Reed Walter Reed (September 13, 1851 – November 22, 1902) was a U.S. Army physician who in 1901 led the team that confirmed the theory of Cuban doctor Carlos Finlay that yellow fever is transmitted by a particular mosquito species rather than b ...

as Michael * Una O'Connor as Nora *

Doris Merrick Doris Roberta Merrick (nee Simpson, June 6, 1919 – November 30, 2019) was an American film actress and model. Biography Merrick was born in June 1919, to Joseph Simpson and Nellie Weber, and had five brothers and four sisters. She attended ...

as Louise *

Harry Cheshire Harry V. Cheshire (August 16, 1891 – June 16, 1968), originally from Emporia, Kansas, was an American character actor who appeared in over 100 films, mostly playing small roles. He was also a stage actor and performed on a St. Louis radio ...

as Judge *

Selmer Jackson Selmer Adolf Jackson (May 7, 1888 – March 30, 1971) was an American stage film and television actor. He appeared in nearly 400 films between 1921 and 1963. His name was sometimes spelled Selmar Jackson. Jackson was born in Lake Mills, Iowa an ...

as Dr. Sterling *

Lillian Randolph Lillian Randolph (December 14, 1898 – September 12, 1980) was an American actress and singer, a veteran of radio, film, and television. She worked in entertainment from the 1930s until shortly before her death. She appeared in hundreds of radi ...

as Carrie * Pat Prest as Linda * Gregory Muradian as Freddie * George McDonald as Donnie * Patsy Converse as Betty *

Ann Carter Ann Carter (June 16, 1936 – January 27, 2014) was an American child actress, who worked with dozens of film stars, compiling an "unimaginably distinguished résumé" despite an acting career which lasted only slightly more than a decade.Luca ...

as Peggy ;Uncredited *

Arthur Space Charles Arthur Space (October 12, 1908 – January 13, 1983) was an American film, television and stage actor. He was best known as Doc Weaver, the veterinarian, in thirty-nine episodes of the CBS television series ''Lassie''. Early years Born ...

as Joan's attorney * William Forrest as Proctor

Production

The film was the first feature directed by Richard Fleischer (credited as Richard O. Fleischer), who had directed the ''This is America'' documentary series and been signed to a long term contract with RKO. Fleischer says the film was conceived as a vehicle for Sharyn Moffett, "a ten year old actress that the studio hoped would turn into a

Shirley Temple Shirley Temple Black (born Shirley Jane Temple;While Temple occasionally used "Jane" as a middle name, her birth certificate reads "Shirley Temple". Her birth certificate was altered to prolong her babyhood shortly after she signed with Fox in ...

or a

Margaret O'Brien Angela Maxine O'Brien (born January 15, 1937) is an American film, radio, television, and stage actress, and is one of the last surviving stars from the Golden Age of Hollywood cinema. Beginning a prolific career as a child actress in feature f ...

, a metamorphosis devoutly to be wished. Actually she was a good little actress, better than most of the adults around her. The chrysalis, however, stubbornly refused to turn into a butterfly. She never did fly." Fleischer was assigned the job in August 1945.Of Local Origin New York Times 7 Sep 1945: 21

Release

According to Fleischer, "the movie turned out remarkably well." He was then assigned to another Moffett vehicle, ''

Banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and usually made of plastic, or occasionally animal skin. Early forms of the instrument were fashi ...

'', which did less well.

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Child Of Divorce 1946 films 1946 drama films American drama films American black-and-white films 1940s English-language films American films based on plays Films directed by Richard Fleischer RKO Pictures films Films scored by Leigh Harline Films about divorce 1946 directorial debut films 1940s American films