By Violet LeVoit
Mother Carey's Chickens
Brief Synopsis
A widow with four children fights to keep her home.
Cast & Crew
Read More
Rowland V. Lee
Director
Anne Shirley
Nancy Carey
Ruby Keeler
Kitty Carey
James Ellison
Ralph Thurston
Fay Bainter
Mrs. [Margaret] Carey
Walter Brennan
Mr. [Ossian] Popham
Film Details
Genre
Drama
Adaptation
Release Date
Jul
29,
1938
Premiere Information
not available
Production Company
RKO Radio Pictures, Inc.
Distribution Company
RKO Radio Pictures, Inc.
Country
United States
Screenplay Information
Based on the novel Mother Carey's Chickens by Kate Douglas Wiggin (Boston, 1911) and the play of the same name by Kate Douglas Wiggin and Rachel Crothers (New York, 25 Sep 1917).
Technical Specs
Duration
1h 22m
Sound
Mono
Color
Black and White
Theatrical Aspect Ratio
1.37 : 1
Film Length
8 reels
Synopsis
Hours before his departure for the Spanish-American War, Captain John Carey, a career naval officer, invites his wife and four children to a picnic near Newport, Rhode Island. While driving in the country, the Careys, who are renting a nearby furnished house, discover an abandoned mansion and stop to investigate it. Enchanted by the once-splendid house, daughter Nancy fantasizes with her sister Kitty about having the money to buy the property. Several months later, during a birthday dinner given in Captain Carey's honor, Mrs. Carey receives word that her husband has been killed. To make ends meet on her husband's pension, Mrs. Carey takes work at a factory and is seriously injured on the job. In spite of offers from their rich aunt Bertha, the Carey children vow to find a way to restore their mother's health while staying together as a family. Consequently, when Nancy is out driving with Ralph Thurston, a Latin teacher with whom both she and Kitty are infatuated, she comes up with a scheme whereby the family will lease the still-empty mansion for a small yearly fee, restore and furnish it using her father's life insurance money, and transform it into a profitable boardinghouse for Ralph and his fellow teachers. With help from the Pophams, the local real estate agents and general store owners, the Careys turn the dilapidated mansion into an inviting residence. Unknown to them, however, Pauline Fuller and her henpecked husband Clarence are plotting with the mansion's Boston landlord, Thomas Hamilton, Sr., to buy the house for themselves. Before the Careys are able to open their doors to the boarders, they are visited by Dr. Tom Hamilton, Jr., who informs them that they must vacate the premises within two weeks. That same day, however, three-year-old Peter Carey falls ill, and Tom volunteers to treat him. After Tom saves Peter's life, he pledges to prevent the Fullers from moving in and, with the help of the Carey children, terrifies the Fullers into leaving by "haunting" the house with manufactured ghosts. Impressed by Tom's kindness, Nancy, who previously had lost Ralph to Kitty, agrees with her siblings that a doctor would be a good addition to the Carey family.
Director
Rowland V. Lee
Director
Cast
Anne Shirley
Nancy Carey
Ruby Keeler
Kitty Carey
James Ellison
Ralph Thurston
Fay Bainter
Mrs. [Margaret] Carey
Walter Brennan
Mr. [Ossian] Popham
Donnie Dunagan
Peter Carey
Frank Albertson
Tom Hamilton [Jr.]
Alma Kruger
Aunt Bertha
Jackie Moran
Gilbert Carey
Margaret Hamilton
Mrs. [Pauline] Fuller
Virginia Weidler
Lally Joy [Popham]
Ralph Morgan
Captain [John] Carey
Phyllis Kennedy
Annabelle
Harvey Clark
Mr. [Clarence] Fuller
Lucille Ward
Mrs. [Martha] Popham
George Irving
Mr. [Thomas] Hamilton [Sr.]
Crew
James Anderson
Assistant Director
Pandro S. Berman
Company
John L. Cass
Recording
Perry Ferguson
Art Director Associate
George Hively
Editing
J. Roy Hunt
Photography
S. K. Lauren
Screenwriter
Van Nest Polglase
Art Director
Gertrude Purcell
Screenwriter
Darrell Silvera
Set Dresser
Edward Stevenson
Gowns
Frank Tours
Music Director
Vernon L. Walker
Special Effects
Film Details
Genre
Drama
Adaptation
Release Date
Jul
29,
1938
Premiere Information
not available
Production Company
RKO Radio Pictures, Inc.
Distribution Company
RKO Radio Pictures, Inc.
Country
United States
Screenplay Information
Based on the novel Mother Carey's Chickens by Kate Douglas Wiggin (Boston, 1911) and the play of the same name by Kate Douglas Wiggin and Rachel Crothers (New York, 25 Sep 1917).
Technical Specs
Duration
1h 22m
Sound
Mono
Color
Black and White
Theatrical Aspect Ratio
1.37 : 1
Film Length
8 reels
Articles
Mother Carey's Chickens
Ruby Keeler had just left her contract at Warners under a cloud -- her last picture Ready Willing and Able(1937) had tanked with the critics, her husband Al Jolson had also been released from his contract with the studio both called home, and her last co-star Ross Alexander committed suicide. When her contract lapsed (Warner let her go because she passed on every so-so script they sent her), she jumped to RKO, where, rumors buzzed, they were looking to pair her with Astaire. In any case, RKO signed her to a $40,000, two-picture contract but strangely only made one movie with her. The "homespun comedy" about a war widow (Fay Bainter) trying to provide for her brood of four children (including Anne Shirley and Keeler) by turning a derelict mansion into a boarding house was Keeler's only film without music. The role Keeler played, as one of two sisters vying for the attention of local schoolteacher Ralph Thurston (James Ellison), had been originally intended for Katharine Hepburn, but Keeler rose to the challenge even without song and dance. Critics loved it, but Keeler never fulfilled her two picture deal with RKO because she hated the idea of getting second billing to Anne Shirley.
By Violet LeVoit
By Violet LeVoit
Mother Carey's Chickens
Ruby Keeler had just left her contract at Warners under a cloud -- her last picture Ready Willing and Able(1937) had tanked with the critics, her husband Al Jolson had also been released from his contract with the studio both called home, and her last co-star Ross Alexander committed suicide. When her contract lapsed (Warner let her go because she passed on every so-so script they sent her), she jumped to RKO, where, rumors buzzed, they were looking to pair her with Astaire. In any case, RKO signed her to a $40,000, two-picture contract but strangely only made one movie with her. The "homespun comedy" about a war widow (Fay Bainter) trying to provide for her brood of four children (including Anne Shirley and Keeler) by turning a derelict mansion into a boarding house was Keeler's only film without music. The role Keeler played, as one of two sisters vying for the attention of local schoolteacher Ralph Thurston (James Ellison), had been originally intended for Katharine Hepburn, but Keeler rose to the challenge even without song and dance. Critics loved it, but Keeler never fulfilled her two picture deal with RKO because she hated the idea of getting second billing to Anne Shirley.
By Violet LeVoit
Quotes
Trivia
Originally, RKO slated Katharine Hepburn to star in this picture. She refused to do it, and bought out her contract so that she wouldn't have to.
Notes
In the film, the character "Lally Joy" recites "Norval," a 1762 poem by the Scottish author John Home. According to modern sources, RKO asked Katharine Hepburn to play the part of "Kitty Carey" in this film. Hepburn, who had just been declared a "box office deterrent" by the Independent Theater Owners Association, refused the role and consequently bought out her contract from RKO. RKO executives then brought in Ginger Rogers, who wanted to play a wholesome type, for the role of "Nancy Carey," but replaced her with Anne Shirley before shooting began. In 1963, Disney Productions made a version of Wiggin's story called Summer Magic, starring Hayley Mills and Burl Ives and directed by James Neilson (see AFI Catalog of Feature Films, 1961-70; F6.4771).
