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With a plot full of mistaken identities, Bachelor Mother is a light-hearted treatment of the otherwise serious issues of child abandonment. It was remade in 1956 as Bundle of Joy, starring Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher, and inspired the Bollywood film Kunwara Baap.
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"Bachelor Mother" is a 1939 American Christmas and New Year's 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 Jackson (a.k.a. Felix Joachimson) written for the 1935 Austrian-Hungarian film Little Mother. With a plot full of mistaken identities, Bachelor Mother is a light-hearted treatment of the otherwise serious issues of child abandonment.
It was remade in 1956 as Bundle of Joy, starring Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher, and inspired the Bollywood film Kunwara Baap.
Polly Parrish (Ginger Rogers) is a salesgirl at the department store John B. Merlin and Son in New York City. Hired as temporary help for the Christmas season, she receives her dismissal notice as the season comes to a close. On her way home, she sees a stranger leaving a baby on the steps of an orphanage. Fearing exposure to the cold will harm the baby, Polly fails to catch the mother and takes it inside. An attendant mistakenly believes that Polly is the baby's mother, and insists she keep it or be reported to the authorities.
David Merlin (David Niven), the playboy son of the store's owner J.B. Merlin (Charles Coburn), is sympathetic to the "unwed mother" and arranges for her to get her job back. Mrs. Weiss (Ferike Boros), Polly's landlady, offers to take care of the boy when Polly is at work. Unable to convince anyone that she is not the mother, and threatened by David with loss of her job if she doesn't assume that role, Polly gives up and starts raising the child.
David's involvement with Polly gradually turns into love, but he keeps the relationship a secret from his father, fearing his reaction. When he finds that New Year's Eve has arrived and he has no date, David turns to Polly. He orders clothes to be sent from the store and takes her to a party. Although David is falling for Polly, he does not relish the idea of a "ready-made family".
When J.B. learns about the child, he assumes that David is the father. His suspicions are reinforced when, in a bit of bad timing, Polly and David each produce a different man whom they claim is the father. To his son's surprise, J.B. is delighted (he had been impatiently waiting for David to settle down and provide him with a grandson). In the end, David decides that he is in love with Polly and baby John. He tells his father that he is the father of the child and plans to marry Polly, all the while believing Polly is the child's mother.
Bachelor Mother is a 1939 Screwball Comedy directed by Garson Kanin, starring Ginger Rogers, David Niven, and Charles Coburn. Polly Parish (Rogers) is a young single woman working as a salesclerk for John B. Merlin and Son, a large department store in New York City.
Mar 29, 2014 · Bachelor Mother is a delightful comedy of double mistaken identity. First, there’s the poor shop girl Polly (Ginger Rogers) who is inadvertently confused for the mother of an abandoned child when she rescues a baby from rolling down the steps of a home for children.
Bachelor Mother: Directed by Garson Kanin. With Ginger Rogers, David Niven, Charles Coburn, Frank Albertson. An unemployed woman discovers an abandoned baby on the steps of an orphanage, and accepts an offer to take responsibility for the child in return for a job.
- (4.7K)
- Comedy, Romance
- Garson Kanin
- 1939-08-04
Dec 29, 2017 · If the film was born on the steps of the orphanage, then it is solidified right here as a full-fledged screwball comedy of motherhood and misconstrued circumstance. Polly finds herself called into Mr. Merlin’s office and is offered her old post as long as she takes her child back.
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Dec 20, 2018 · 1939 film: Bachelor Mother (1939) Release date: June 30, 1939. Cast: Ginger Rogers, David Niven, Charles Coburn, Frank Albertson, E.E. Clive, Ferike Boros, Elbert Coplen Jr., Dennie Moore, June Wilkins. Studio: RKO Radio Pictures. Director: Garson Kanin.
