''Mother Wore Tights'' is a 1947

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 film starring

Betty Grable Elizabeth Ruth Grable (December 18, 1916 – July 2, 1973) was an American actress, pin-up girl, dancer, model, and singer. Her 42 films during the 1930s and 1940s grossed more than $100 million; for 10 consecutive years (1942–1951) she reign ...

and

Dan Dailey Daniel James Dailey Jr. (December 14, 1915 – October 16, 1978) was an American dancer and actor. He is best remembered for a series of popular musicals he made at 20th Century Fox such as '' Mother Wore Tights'' (1947). Biography Early life D ...

as married

vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic composition ...

performers, directed by

Walter Lang Walter Lang (August 10, 1896 – February 7, 1972) was an American film director. Early life Walter Lang was born in Tennessee. As a young man he went to New York City where he found clerical work at a movie studio, film production company. The ...

. This was Grable and Dailey's first film together, based on a book of the same name by

Miriam Young Miriam Young (died September 12, 1974) was an American writer best known for children's books. She also wrote ''Mother Wore Tights'', a memoir about growing up in a vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment b ...

. It was the highest grossing film of Grable's career up to this time, earning more than $5 million at the box office. It was also

20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Dis ...

's most successful film of 1947. Alfred Newman won the Academy Award for Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture.

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 ...

(music) and

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 ...

(lyrics) were nominated for Original Song ("You Do"), while Harry Jackson was nominated for Color Cinematography.

Plot

In turn-of-the-century

Oakland, California Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...

, the teenaged Myrtle McKinley (

) is expected to follow high school by attending a

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

business college. Instead, she takes a job performing with a traveling

troupe, where she meets and falls in love with singer-dancer Frank Burt (

). Frank proposes they marry and also entertain on stage together as an act, which proves very popular. Myrtle retires from show business after giving birth to daughters Iris (

Mona Freeman Monica Elizabeth "Mona" Freeman (June 9, 1926 – May 23, 2014) was an American actress and painter. Early years Freeman was born in Baltimore, Maryland, and grew up in Pelham, New York. A lumberman's daughter, she was a model while in hig ...

) and Mikie (Connie Marshall), while her husband goes on tour with another partner. A few years later, less successful now, Frank persuades his wife to return to the stage. The girls are cared for by their grandmother as their parents leave town for months at a time. Iris and Mikie are school girls when they are given a trip to Boston to see their parents. Iris meets a well-to-do young man, Bob Clarkman ( Robert Arthur), and is permitted to attend an exclusive boarding school there. She is embarrassed by her parents' profession, however, and mortified at what the reaction will be from Bob and all of her new school friends when they learn that her parents are performing nearby. Myrtle and Frank take matters into their own hands, arranging with the school to have all of the students attend a show. To her great relief, Iris is delighted when her classmates adore her parents' sophisticated act. By the time she's out of school and ready to marry, Iris wants to go into show business herself.

Cast

as Myrtle McKinley Burt *

as Frank Burt *

as Iris Burt * Connie Marshall as Miriam Burt *

Vanessa Brown Vanessa Brown (born Smylla Brind, March 24, 1928 – May 21, 1999) was an Austrian-born American actress who worked in radio, film, theater, and television. Early life Born in Vienna, Austria, to Jewish parents (Nah Brind, a language teacher, a ...

as Bessie * Robert Arthur as Bob Clarkman *

Sara Allgood Sarah Ellen Allgood (30 October 1880 – 13 September 1950), known as Sara Allgood, was an Irish-American actress. She first studied drama with the Irish nationalist Daughters of Ireland and was at the opening of the Irish National Theatre Soc ...

as Grandmother McKinley *

William Frawley William Clement Frawley (February 26, 1887 – March 3, 1966) was an American vaudevillian and actor best remembered for playing landlord Fred Mertz in the American television sitcom '' I Love Lucy'', "Bub" O'Casey in the television comedy ser ...

as Mr. Schneider * Ruth Nelson as Miss Ridgeway *

Anabel Shaw Anabel Shaw (born Marjorie Henshaw; June 24, 1921 – April 16, 2010) was an American film actress. Active during the 1940s and 1950s in a mixture of lead and supporting roles, she then made a few appearances on television. Biography Shaw was ...

as Alice Flemmerhammer *

George Cleveland George Alan Cleveland (September 17, 1885 – July 15, 1957) was a Canadian film actor. He appeared in more than 180 films between 1930 and 1954. Career Cleveland was born in Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada. His first appearance on the stage ...

as Grandfather McKinley *

Veda Ann Borg Veda Ann Borg (January 11, 1915 – August 16, 1973) was an American film and television actress. Early years Born in Boston, Massachusetts, to Gottfried Borg, a Swedish immigrant, and Minna Noble, Borg became a model in 1936 before winni ...

as Rosemary Olcott *

Sig Ruman Siegfried Carl Alban Rumann (October 11, 1884 – February 14, 1967), billed as Sig Ruman and Sig Rumann, was a German-American character actor known for his portrayals of pompous and often stereotypically Teutonic officials or villains i ...

as Papa * Lee Patrick as Lil * Senor Wences as himself * Anne Baxter as Narrator * Chick Chandler as Ed *

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 Minister *

Ruth Clifford Ruth Clifford (February 17, 1900 – November 30, 1998) was an American actress of leading roles in silent films, whose career lasted from that era into the television era. Early years Clifford was born in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, the daughter ...

as Resort Guest * George Davis as Waiter *

Maude Eburne Maude Eburne (born Maud Eburne Riggs, November 10, 1875 – October 15, 1960) was a Canadian character actress of stage and screen, known for playing eccentric roles. Early years Eburne was born the daughter of John and Mary Riggs, in Bronte-o ...

as Mrs. Muggins * William Forrest as Mr. Clarkman * Anne Kimbell as Iris's friend *

Kathleen Lockhart Kathleen Lockhart (née Arthur; 9 August 1894 – 18 February 1978) was a prolific English-American actress during the early-mid 20th century. Early life Kathleen Arthur was born on August 9, 1894 in Southsea, Hampshire, England. Caree ...

as Mrs. Clarkman *

Mae Marsh Mae Marsh (born Mary Wayne Marsh; November 9, 1894U.S. Census records for 1900, El Paso, Texas, Sheet No. 6 – February 13, 1968) was an American film actress with a career spanning over 50 years. Early life Mae Marsh was born Mary Wayne M ...

as Resort Guest * Tom Moore as Man *

Frank Orth Frank Orth (February 21, 1880 – March 17, 1962) was an American actor born in Philadelphia. He is probably best remembered for his portrayal of Inspector Faraday in the 1951-1953 television series '' Boston Blackie''. Career By 1897, Ort ...

as Stage Doorman *

Lotte Stein Lotte Stein (1894–1982) was a German actress of the stage and screen. Of Jewish descent, she fled to the United States via Czechoslovakia and Portugal, and arrived at the Port of New York on board the S/S ''Mouzinho'' in June 1941. Selected fi ...

as Mama * Will Wright as Withers

Accolades

The film was nominated for the

American Film Institute The American Film Institute (AFI) is an American nonprofit film organization that educates filmmakers and honors the heritage of the motion picture arts in the United States. AFI is supported by private funding and public membership fees. Leade ...

's 2006 list

AFI's Greatest Movie Musicals Part of the AFI 100 Years… series, AFI's Greatest Movie Musicals is a list of the top musicals in American cinema. The list was unveiled by the American Film Institute at the Hollywood Bowl The Hollywood Bowl is an amphitheatre in the Holl ...

References

External links

* * * * {{Walter Lang 1947 films 20th Century Fox films Films directed by Walter Lang 1947 musical films Films that won the Best Original Score Academy Award Films set in California Films scored by Alfred Newman Films with screenplays by Lamar Trotti American musical films 1940s English-language films 1940s American films