By Violet LeVoit
The Mating of Millie
Brief Synopsis
A businesswoman who wants to adopt a child must find a husband.
Cast & Crew
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Henry Levin
Director
Glenn Ford
Doug Andrews
Evelyn Keyes
Millie McGonigle
Ron Randell
Ralph Galloway
Willard Parker
Phil Gowan
Jimmy Hunt
Tommy Bassett
Film Details
Also Known As
The Mating of Millie McGonigle
Genre
Comedy
Romance
Release Date
Apr
29,
1948
Premiere Information
not available
Production Company
Columbia Pictures Corp.
Distribution Company
Columbia Pictures Corp.
Country
United States
Technical Specs
Duration
1h 27m
Sound
Mono
Color
Black and White
Theatrical Aspect Ratio
1.37 : 1
Synopsis
Having just been reprimanded by his boss for being impolite to his passengers, bus driver and part-time author Doug Andrews takes to his route with greater restraint on his temper. Not long into his route, however, Doug completely loses his self-control and abandons his bus, leaving his passengers stranded. One of the passengers, department store personnel director Millie McGonigle, is impressed with Doug's hard-headedness and offers him a job at her store. Later, when she returns to her apartment complex, Millie finds herself babysitting her next-door-neighbor's young son, Tommy Bassett, whose mother has left him unattended for the night. Millie rescues the crying Tommy with the help of her dashing playboy neighbor Phil Gowan, who pulls Tommy out through the window of his apartment. The next day, Millie learns that Tommy's mother died in an automobile accident and that Tommy has been placed in a foundling home. Millie is opposed to Tommy's placement in the institution and asks the overseer, Ralph Galloway, for permission to adopt the boy. Galloway grants Millie an adoption interview but Millie is caught off-guard by his question that assumes she has a husband. Millie, who is single, realizes that she cannot provide Galloway with a satisfactory answer, so she lies to him, telling him that her husband cannot be contacted because he is in Alaska. Galloway remains firm in his insistence that Millie's husband be interviewed and tells her that she must arrange for his interview within sixty days, the length of the waiting period in which Tommy is required to remain in the state's custody. Desperate to find a husband in short order, Millie returns to her office and searches through her files for eligible bachelors. When Doug enters her office and mentions that he once lived in Alaska, Millie believes that she has found her instant groom. Despite her best attempts to coax him, though, Millie soon realizes that Doug, a self-avowed life-long bachelor, will never marry her. Instead, Doug offers to help her find a husband and begins instructing her on how to be more alluring. The lessons have an immediate effect, as Millie succeeds in catching Phil's eye. Doug, however, disapproves of Phil and prefers that Millie pursue Ralph, who soon learns that Millie had been lying about having a husband. When the end of the sixty-day waiting period arrives, Ralph proposes to Millie, but she refuses. Although she has fallen in love with Doug, Millie is still certain that he will never marry her, so she announces her intention to marry Phil. She eventually realizes that she cannot go through with the ruse, though, and turns down Phil's proposal. Returning defeated to the orphanage, Millie tells Ralph that she is giving up her attempt to adopt Tommy. Ralph only adds to Millie's misery when he tells her that Tommy was adopted one hour before she arrived. Heartbroken, Millie returns to her apartment and finds Doug there waiting for her. After they kiss, Doug presents Millie with a surprise--her newly adopted son Tommy.
Director
Henry Levin
Director
Cast
Glenn Ford
Doug Andrews
Evelyn Keyes
Millie McGonigle
Ron Randell
Ralph Galloway
Willard Parker
Phil Gowan
Jimmy Hunt
Tommy Bassett
Mabel Paige
Mrs. Hanson
Virginia Hunter
Madge
Virginia Brissac
Mrs. Thomas
Patsy Creighton
Cookie
Tom Stevenson
Harvey Willoughby
Gay Nelson
Salesgirl
Hal K. Dawson
Davidson
Trevor Bardette
Mr. Wilson
Irene Tedrow
Receptionist
Isabel Withers
Receptionist
Dick Wessel
Bus driver
Victoria Horne
Nurse
Russell Hicks
Kirkland
Rita Gould
Miss Smythe
Ray Teal
Mike
Mary Mcleod
Sylvia
Mary Jo Ellis
Ruth
Wanda Perry
Elevator girl
Mary Emery
Customer
Marquita Olsen
Stenographer
Forrest Dickson
Stenographer
Mabel Smaney
Plump woman
Ottola Nesmith
Saleswoman
Jack Overman
Cab driver
Sally Corner
Mrs. Wilson
Bert Hanlon
Charlie
Alphonse Martell
Headwaiter
Nancy Saunders
Douglas D. Coppin
Jean Willes
Mary Newton
Helen Mowery
Donald Gordon
Kathleen O'malley
Crew
Fayte Browne
Camera Operator
Don Christie
Stills
Sidney Clifford
Set Decoration
Adele Comandini
Story
George Cooper
Sound Recording
Richard Fantl
Film Editor
Milton Feldman
Assistant Director
Stephen Goossón
Art Director
Harold Hanks
Makeup
Werner R. Heymann
Music Score
Walter Holscher
Art Director
Helen Hunt
Hairstylist
Newt Jones
Makeup
Rose Loewinger
Script Supervisor
Jean Louis
Gowns
Louella Macfarlane
Screenwriter
St. Clair Mckelway
Screenwriter
Wilbur Menefee
Set Decoration
Casey Robinson
Company
M. W. Stoloff
Music Director
Joseph Walker
Director of Photography
Videos
Movie Clip
Film Details
Also Known As
The Mating of Millie McGonigle
Genre
Comedy
Romance
Release Date
Apr
29,
1948
Premiere Information
not available
Production Company
Columbia Pictures Corp.
Distribution Company
Columbia Pictures Corp.
Country
United States
Technical Specs
Duration
1h 27m
Sound
Mono
Color
Black and White
Theatrical Aspect Ratio
1.37 : 1
Articles
The Mating of Millie -
Glenn Ford spent the '40s alternating between dark and light -- playing tormented noir anti-heroes, like Johnny Farrell against Rita Hayworth's Gilda (1946), or light comedic foils, like in this comedy about a single gal Millie McGonigle (Evelyn Keyes) who wants to adopt a child in need -- only to find out that unmarried women cannot adopt children. She enlists the help of lifelong bachelor pal Doug Andrews (Ford), who refuses to marry her but will help her find a suitable husband so the adoption can go through. Ford's typically understated acting style might have been further dampened by his lack of desire to make this movie -- he'd told Harry Cohn he'd rather take a suspension than sign on, but Cohn gently reminded him of his mortgage payments. Even Keyes (who liked Ford, and had worked with him four times before on pictures like The Lady in Question (1940)) remembered him being even more standoffish than usual off-camera. No matter - when the cameras rolled, Ford and Keyes brought their chemistry together for a comedy that's interesting to modern audiences for the time capsule of attitudes it presents about who's fit to be a parent.
By Violet LeVoit
By Violet LeVoit
The Mating of Millie -
Glenn Ford spent the '40s alternating between dark and light -- playing tormented noir anti-heroes, like Johnny Farrell against Rita Hayworth's Gilda (1946), or light comedic foils, like in this comedy about a single gal Millie McGonigle (Evelyn Keyes) who wants to adopt a child in need -- only to find out that unmarried women cannot adopt children. She enlists the help of lifelong bachelor pal Doug Andrews (Ford), who refuses to marry her but will help her find a suitable husband so the adoption can go through. Ford's typically understated acting style might have been further dampened by his lack of desire to make this movie -- he'd told Harry Cohn he'd rather take a suspension than sign on, but Cohn gently reminded him of his mortgage payments. Even Keyes (who liked Ford, and had worked with him four times before on pictures like The Lady in Question (1940)) remembered him being even more standoffish than usual off-camera. No matter - when the cameras rolled, Ford and Keyes brought their chemistry together for a comedy that's interesting to modern audiences for the time capsule of attitudes it presents about who's fit to be a parent.
By Violet LeVoit
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
The working title for this film was The Mating of Millie McGonigle. According to a June 1948 Hollywood Reporter news item, Columbia paid $50,000 for the film rights to Adele Comandini's original story, and initially assigned Frances Manson to produce it. Glenn Ford and Evelyn Keyes reprised their roles in a Lux Radio Theatre broadcast on January 3, 1949.
