Bachelor Mother
Bachelor Mother, a comedy of errors, stars Ginger Rogers, David Niven and Charles Coburn. Ms. Rogers plays a sales clerk who performs a good deed, only to be mistaken for someone who has abandoned her responsibilities.
As luck would have it, she is surrounded by concerned but misguided people who rush to help her. This sets up a chain of events making it impossible for her to deny the misconception.
Polly Parrish (Rogers) has been working at a department store for three weeks, and on Christmas Eve she receives a notice that her employment will be terminated at the close of the day.
She leaves the store on her lunch hour to visit the employment agency and while passing the Atkins Foundling Home she sees an elderly lady deposit a baby at the top doorstep.
Fearing the baby will roll down the steps Polly rushes to pick it up. Just as she cradles the baby in her arms and smiles at the sight of its lovely, plump face, the door opens.
Still engaged with the baby she absentmindedly answers the staff’s questions about herself, but when she hands the baby over he begins to cry. The kindhearted people of the foundling home have seen many reluctant mothers and will not believe that the baby isn’t Polly’s.
Meanwhile back at the store, a tall and handsome son, the younger partner of John B. Merlin and Son, arrives at work. David (Niven) is greeted by his father (Coburn) with a familiar reprimand about his late arrival and foot-loose lifestyle. Mr. Merlin wants his son to settle down and become more responsible.
That afternoon David receives a visit from the foundling home representative. Learning that Polly will soon be unemployed, the man surmises that this is the reason she has forsaken her baby. Feeling merciful and being in a position to help, David offers to reinstate Polly.
He calls Polly to his office and explains that she received the termination notice in error, that she will receive a raise in pay and that a gift will be brought to her home that evening. Not knowing what brought about this stroke of good luck, a dazed Polly returns to her post in the toy department.
Hoping to win a cash prize, Polly had accepted an invitation from a coworker to be his date at a dance contest at the Pink Slipper that evening. But before Freddie (Frank Albertson) arrives at her apartment two staff members of the foundling home deliver her gift, a basket containing baby supplies and a bassinet containing the baby, compliments of John B. Merlin and Son.
Polly tells Freddie that she received the baby as a Christmas gift, to which Freddie replies, 'This Christmas or last Christmas?' Not wanting to miss the dance Polly has Freddie stop at the Merlin home where she hands the baby to the stunned butler and tells him that he is David’s responsibility.
Now two more people are under the false impression that Polly is a mother and, in addition, have the erroneous assumption that David is the father. David, the butler and the baby follow Polly and Freddie to the Pink Slipper.
In Bachelor Mother Ginger Rogers makes a change of costume from her recently completed seven-year run of movies with dancer/costar Fred Astaire. With Ms. Rogers dressed in evening gowns and Mr. Astaire in tails the handsome couple took center stage to perform graceful ballroom dances.
In this movie Ms. Rogers and Mr. Albertson wear street clothes to dance the jitterbug on a crowded dance floor. The jitterbug was popular from the early to mid-1900s, and dance contests were the latest rage among the younger set until the beginning of World War II.
David is appalled that Polly could so wantonly cut herself loose from her baby to continue this swinging lifestyle. While trying to talk to Polly on the dance floor David becomes unruly and is tossed out by the bouncers. Three hours later when Polly returns home she finds a furious David and the baby, who is wearing David’s scarf as a diaper.
In this scene we see how obstinate a person can become when he gets an idea into his head and refuses to consider that he may be wrong. Furious at Polly’s dismissive attitude toward her alleged baby and believing that his status gives him the authority, David wields his power over her livelihood, forcing Polly to accept the idea of herself as a mother. She names the baby John.
Following this turn of events the comedic errors begin to multiply. After a series of blunders at work Freddie tackles a disguised David for stealing a quacking toy duck, a gift for baby John, and is consequently denied a promotion.
In retaliation, Freddie informs Mr. Merlin of the blessed event. When Mr. Merlin sees the ready-made family together in the park and learns the baby’s name, he presumes his fondest wish has been fulfilled.
Now David learns what it’s like to be unjustly accused and to have to deal with the inevitable consequences. But is he thoughtful enough to remember Polly’s exact denial and deduce that she has also been the victim of unwarranted conclusions?
Each hoping to quash any further unwanted complications, Polly arrives at the Merlin home with a pseudo father followed by David with another pseudo father. To which Mr. Merlin, who is determined to become a grandfather, delivers the funniest line in this movie filled with funny lines.
In the end, a little quacking duck brings the right people together as this quick-paced movie draws to a close.
The screenplay for this comedy classic was adapted from the story written for an Austrian-Hungarian movie, Little Mother.
The story’s author, Felix Jackson, was nominated for an Oscar for Best Writing, Original Story. In 1956 Bachelor Mother was remade as a musical entitled Bundle of Joy starring Debbie Reynolds & Eddie Fisher.
How a comedic movie will address the case of bachelor motherhood in the year of this movie’s release, 1939, is intriguing from the beginning. With Ginger Rogers playing the mother we surely expect skillful dancing to be involved.
But it’s the missteps that keep us laughing and the kindness that warms our hearts in this one-of-kind movie classic.