''Seven Sweethearts'' is a 1942 musical film directed by Frank Borzage and starring

Kathryn Grayson Kathryn Grayson (born Zelma Kathryn Elisabeth Hedrick; February 9, 1922 – February 17, 2010) was an American actress and coloratura soprano. Ronald Berganbr>Obituary '' London Guardian'', February 19, 2010. From the age of twelve, Grayson trai ...

, Marsha Hunt and

Van Heflin Emmett Evan "Van" Heflin Jr. (December 13, 1908 – July 23, 1971) was an American theatre, radio and film actor. He played mostly character parts over the course of his film career, but during the 1940s had a string of roles as a leading man. H ...

. ''Seven Sweethearts'' generated legal trouble seven years later. In 1949, Hungarian playwright

Ferenc Herczeg Ferenc Herczeg (born ''Franz Herzog'', 22 September 1863 in Versec, Kingdom of Hungary, Austrian Empire – 24 February 1954 in Budapest, Hungary) was a Hungarian playwright and author who promoted conservative nationalist opinion in his coun ...

sued

MGM Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 a ...

, producer

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 ...

and screenwriters

Walter Reisch Walter Reisch (May 23, 1903 – March 28, 1983) was an Austrian-born director and screenwriter. He also wrote lyrics to several songs featured in his films, one popular title is "Flieger, grüß mir die Sonne". He was married to the dancer and a ...

and Leo Townsend for $200,000, claiming they had plagiarized his play ''Seven Sisters'', which he had written in 1903 and which Paramount Pictures had adapted into '' The Seven Sisters'' a 1915 movie starring

Madge Evans Madge Evans (born Margherita Evans; July 1, 1909 – April 26, 1981) was an American stage and film actress.Obituary ''Variety'', April 29, 1981. She began her career as a child performer and model. Biography Child model and stage actress B ...

. Kathryn Grayson's real-life sister, Frances Raeburn, played "Cornelius."

Plot summary

Mr. Van Maaster ( S.Z. Sakall) is a hotelier in Little Delft, Michigan. By family tradition, the oldest of his seven daughters must marry first. But Regina ( Marsha Hunt) wants to go to New York, to become an actress. The youngest, Billie (

), has the sweetest singing voice, and she ends up marrying Henry Taggart (

) while the other sisters including Regina also get married at the same time, so all sisters marry in the same ceremony. Although sometimes tagged as a musical, all the songs in the film are

diegetic Diegesis (; from the Greek from , "to narrate") is a style of fiction storytelling that presents an interior view of a world in which: # Details about the world itself and the experiences of its characters are revealed explicitly through narra ...

, i.e. there is no unheard accompaniment to the songs, and all with Billie as soloist. They include an English-lyric ("There is a Dreamboat on High") version of a ''berceuse'' (''Wiegenlied''/lullaby), long attributed (and in the film) to Mozart but in fact composed by

Friedrich Fleischmann Johann Friedrich Anton Fleischmann (19 July 1766 – 30 November 1798) was a German composer.Some sources give his first name as Josef rather than Johann. Life and career Born at Marktheidenfeld, Fleischmann studied at Mannheim with Ignaz Holz ...

('' Schlafe, mein Prinzchen, schlaf ein'', 1799) Interestingly, a scene where a pianist-lodger plays a melody intended to lull the father/hotelier to sleep features

Rock-a-bye Baby "Rock-a-bye baby in the tree top" (sometimes "Hush-a-bye baby in the tree top") is a nursery rhyme and lullaby. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 2768. Words First publication The rhyme is believed to have first appeared in print in ...

, derived from the often-retexted English ballad

Lillibullero "Lillibullero" (also spelled Lillibulero, Lilliburlero, or Lilli Burlero) is a march attributed to Henry Purcell that became popular in England at the time of the Glorious Revolution of 1688. Background Henry Purcell is alleged to have c ...

, itself derived from the quickstep section of a

march March is the third month of the year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. It is the second of seven months to have a length of 31 days. In the Northern Hemisphere, the meteorological beginning of spring occurs on the first day of March ...

by Henry Purcell. At a climactic moment in the tulip festival, she sings the beginning of the aria, "Je suis Titania" (polonaise, from Act II, Scene 2 of the French opera ''

Mignon ''Mignon'' is an 1866 ''opéra comique'' (or opera in its second version) in three acts by Ambroise Thomas. The original French libretto was by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré, based on Goethe's 1795-96 novel '' Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre''. ...

'' by

Ambroise Thomas Charles Louis Ambroise Thomas (; 5 August 1811 – 12 February 1896) was a French composer and teacher, best known for his operas '' Mignon'' (1866) and ''Hamlet'' (1868). Born into a musical family, Thomas was a student at the Conservatoire de ...

, lyrics by

Jules Barbier Paul Jules Barbier (8 March 182516 January 1901) was a French poet, writer and opera librettist who often wrote in collaboration with Michel Carré. He was a noted Parisian bon vivant and man of letters.Kathryn Grayson Kathryn Grayson (born Zelma Kathryn Elisabeth Hedrick; February 9, 1922 – February 17, 2010) was an American actress and coloratura soprano. Ronald Berganbr>Obituary '' London Guardian'', February 19, 2010. From the age of twelve, Grayson trai ...

as soloist, by the songwriting team of Walter Jurmann (music) and Paul Francis Webster (lyrics), include "You and the Waltz and I", "Little Tingle Tangle Toes", and "Tulip Time".

Cast

as Billie Van Maaster * Marsha Hunt as Regina 'Reggie' Van Maaster *

Cecilia Parker Cecilia Parker (April 26, 1914 – July 25, 1993) was a Canadian-born American film actress. She was best known for portraying Marian Hardy, the sister of Andy Hardy in eleven of the Andy Hardy film series. Early life and career Cecilia ...

as Victor Van Maaster * Peggy Moran as Albert 'Al' Van Maaster *

Dorothy Morris Dorothy Ruth Morris (February 23, 1922 – November 20, 2011) was an American film and television actress known for her "girl next door" persona. Early life Dorothy Ruth Morris was born and raised in Hollywood. She attended Hollywood High Sc ...

as Peter Van Maaster *

Frances Rafferty Frances is a French and English given name of Latin origin. In Latin the meaning of the name Frances is 'from France' or 'free one.' The male version of the name in English is Francis. The original Franciscus, meaning "Frenchman", comes from the F ...

as George Van Maaster * Frances Raeburn as Cornelius Van Maaster *

as Henry Taggart * Carl Esmond as Carl Randall * Michael Butler as Bernard Groton, Peter's Beau * Cliff Danielson as Martin Leyden, Victor's Beau * William Roberts as Anthony Vreeland, Cornelius's Beau * James Warren as Theodore Vaney, Albert's Beau *

Dick Simmons Richard Simmons (August 19, 1913 – January 11, 2003) was an American actor. Early life Simmons was born in Saint Paul, Minnesota, and his family later moved across the Mississippi River to Minneapolis. There, he attended West Side High Sc ...

as Paul Brandt, George's Beau * S. Z. Sakall as Mr. Van Maaster, the Father *

Diana Lewis Diana Lewis (September 18, 1919 – January 18, 1997) was an American film actress and a Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer contract player. Early years The daughter of vaudeville performers, Lewis was born in Asbury Park, New Jersey. She attended Fairfa ...

as Mrs. Nugent * Lewis Howard as Mr. Nugent * Donald Meek as Reverend Howgan *

Louise Beavers Louise Beavers (March 8, 1902 – October 26, 1962) was an American film and television actress. From the 1920s until 1960, she appeared in dozens of films and two hit television shows. She was most often cast in the roles of a maid, servant ...

as Petunia

Reception

According to MGM records the film made $638,000 in the US and Canada and $1,048,000 elsewhere (a rarity for MGM, as most movies earned more money domestically until after WWII);Kyle W. J. Tabbernor, "'Subbed-Titles': Hollywood, the Art House Market and the Best Foreign Language Film Category at the Oscars" (Ph.D. diss., University of Western Ontario, 2013), 16-17. See also Richard Shale, ''The Academy Awards Index: The Complete Categorical and Chronological Record'' (Westport CT: Greenwood Press, 1993), 277. this gave the studio a profit of $364,000.

References

External links

* * * * {{AFI film, id=27453, title=Seven Sweethearts 1942 films American black-and-white films 1940s romantic musical films American romantic musical films Films scored by Franz Waxman American films based on plays Films based on works by Ferenc Herczeg Films directed by Frank Borzage Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films Films produced by Frank Borzage Films produced by Joe Pasternak 1940s English-language films 1940s American films