''Her First Beau'' is a 1941

comedy Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has b ...

directed by

Theodore Reed Theodore Reed (June 18, 1887 – February 22, 1959) was an American film director, producer and former president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Selected filmography * '' Say! Young Fellow'' (1918) * ''Arizona'' (1918) * '' ...

and starring

Jane Withers Jane Withers (April 12, 1926 – August 7, 2021) was an American actress and children's radio show host. She became one of the most popular child stars in Hollywood in the 1930s and early 1940s, with her films ranking in the top ten list for ...

and Jackie Cooper. The film was produced by

Columbia Pictures Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production studio that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which is one of the Big Five studios and a subsidiary of the mu ...

, and the screenplay was written by Gladys Lehman and Karen DeWolf based on the 1939 play ''June Mad'' by

Florence Ryerson Florence Ryerson (September 20, 1892 – June 8, 1965) was an American playwright, screenwriter, and co-author of the script for the 1939 film ''The Wizard of Oz''.'' Between 1915 and 1927 she published more than 30 short stories and then joined ...

and Colin Clements, which was adapted in turn from their 1930 novel ''This Awful Age''.

Plot

Fifteen-year-old Penelope "Penny" Woods dreams of being a writer, only she's concerned that she needs more life experience to work into her stories. She takes a liking to her uncle's friend Roger, a dashing but conceited college student who seems to have it all, and dreams of a big grown-up romance, but eventually his true colors are revealed. In the end, she realizes she'd rather spend time with her longtime friend Chuck, who's following his dream of being an aeronautical engineer.

Cast

as Penny Wood * Jackie Cooper as Chuck Harris *

Edith Fellows Edith Marilyn Fellows (May 20, 1923 – June 26, 2011) was an American actress who became a child star in the 1930s. Best known for playing orphans and street urchins, Fellows was an expressive actress with a good singing voice. She made her ...

as Milly Lou *

Josephine Hutchinson Josephine Hutchinson (October 12, 1903 – June 4, 1998) was an American actress. She acted in several theater plays and films. Early years Hutchinson was born in Seattle, Washington. Her mother, Leona Roberts, was an actress best known for ...

as Mrs. Wood *

William Tracy William Tracy (December 1, 1917 – June 18, 1967) was an American character actor. Early life and career Tracy was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He is perhaps best known for the role of Pepi Katona, the delivery boy, in ''The Shop ...

as Mervyn Roberts *

Martha O'Driscoll Martha O'Driscoll (March 4, 1922 – November 3, 1998) was an American film actress from 1937 until 1947. She retired from the screen in 1947 after marrying her second husband, Arthur I. Appleton, president of Appleton Electric Company in Chic ...

as Julie Harris *

Edgar Buchanan William Edgar Buchanan II (March 20, 1903 – April 4, 1979) was an American actor with a long career in both film and television. He is most familiar today as Uncle Joe Carson from the ''Petticoat Junction'', ''Green Acres'', and ''The ...

as Elmer Tuttle * Una O'Connor as Effie * Jonathan Hale as Mr. Harris * Kenneth Howell as Roger Van Vleck * Addison Richards as Tom Wood

References

External links

* * * 1940s American films 1940s coming-of-age comedy-drama films 1940s English-language films 1941 films 1941 comedy-drama films American black-and-white films American comedy-drama films American coming-of-age comedy-drama films American films based on plays American teen romance films Columbia Pictures films Films based on adaptations Films directed by Theodore Reed Films with screenplays by Florence Ryerson {{1940s-comedy-drama-film-stub