“I don’t care WHO the father is! I’m the grandfather!”

Drake’s rating: Quack. Quackquackquack.

Drake’s review: When Justin brought up the idea of doing Culty Christmas movies, I’m pretty sure he was assuming that I’d get around to reviewing a light comedy from 1939. [Editor: Obviously.] I mean, if you’ve read any of my previous reviews of exploitation movies, biker flicks, and horror cinema, then a Ginger Rogers motion picture from the thirties is just a natural fit, right?

Although she was best known at the time for her onscreen partnership with Fred Astaire, Rogers was a film veteran when she starred in Bachelor Mother, having made her cinematic debut in 1929. Even before that, she had been a professional dancer since her teen years, working the vaudeville circuit before going on Broadway in a Gershwin Brothers production (which is where, coincidentally, she met Astaire when he was hired as a choreographer).

So while her name is often linked to Astaire, Rogers was very much in charge of her own career. Even as she was becoming a household name thanks to co-starring in movies such as Top Hat and Swing Time, Rogers was taking roles in non-musical films, wisely broadening her audience appeal.

In Bachelor Mother, Rogers plays Polly Parrish, an alliterative name that no doubt had a young Stan Lee taking note. Polly is on her last day at John B. Merlin & Son, a huge department store where she had worked a temporary job during the holiday season. Walking home from the store, Polly finds a woman leaving a baby on the doorstep of the orphanage. When it cries, Polly picks it up even as the door to the orphanage opens and the mistaken identities begin.

Believing Polly to be the mother, the director of the orphanage goes to the store and, believing she needs the job to raise the baby, implores the “Son” in Merlin & Son, David Merlin (David Niven) to rehire her, which he does. They also “return” the baby, which she had left at the orphanage, to her apartment. Unhappy about keeping a baby that’s not even hers but desperately needing the job, Polly nevertheless starts to grow attached to the infant, even as David takes a more-than-professional interest in her.

Then John B. Merlin (Charles Coburn) himself catches wind of the baby and, believing it to be the result of one of his playboy son’s dalliances, becomes determined to raise his supposed grandson, no matter what…

Bachelor Mother was a success for RKO Pictures, bringing in nearly $2 million at a time when admission to the theater cost a dime. Then in 1941, Rogers would win an Oscar for her titular role in Kitty Foyle, which sent her rocketing to the top of Hollywood’s A-list. Bachelor Mother is a great example of her burgeoning skill in front of the camera. Polly has been getting the short end of the stick for some time, but Rogers instills the character with confidence and wit, and she more than holds her own against the natural charm of Niven and the boisterousness of Coburn.

Some of the themes of Bachelor Mother are still relevant today as well. David, for instance, haughtily mansplains the process of feeding an infant, reading instructions from a book and getting it wrong, much to the wry amusement of Polly. And John B. Merlin is quite ready to use his wealth and connections to get whatever he wants, including the baby, regardless of whether Polly agrees or not. None of this is heavy-handed, of course, since this is a comedy, but the filmmakers were quite aware of the problems of social division and male chauvinism and take a few light jabs at the subjects.

I do have to say that it’s interesting to see a Disney character, in the form of a Donald Duck wind-up toy, in a non-Disney film. Donald is his usual complaintive self here, quacking up a storm on the sales floor and breaking at inopportune moments. I have no idea if there was a licensing fee involved, or if Disney was just happy to get the exposure, but I’m betting those toys sold like hotcakes that year. I’d look them up to see what they’re going for on eBay, but I’m particularly prone to sticker shock.

Intermission!

• Dance contest, because, yeah, you’ve got Ginger Rogers in the movie.
• Dude. You broke her duck. Uncool.
• David needs a New Year’s Eve date, and who can he call? Hmmm….
• All the men want to dance with her. Again, Ginger Rogers.
• Bachelor Mother was a remake of a Hungarian film called Little Mother. It was remade again in 1956 as Bundle of Joy with Debbie Reynolds.
• “Troublemaker. Keep an eye on ‘im.”
• “Imagine winning first place. Of all the tough breaks.”
• “Is it yours?” “I got it for Christmas.”
• “Keep those ducks in motion, Miss Parrish.”
• “You just put the food in the baby’s mouth and he swallows it. From there on he’s on his own.”
• “…and pretty soon it’s nine o’clock and you’re winding ducks.”
• “You just say no to the men. The girls probably won’t talk to you anyway.”
• “You’ve disgraced the toy department!”
• “So this is the modern generation! This is the 20th century!”