BACHELOR MOTHER

April 28, 1949

The Screen Guild Theater (aka The Screen Guild Players), was one of the most popular drama anthology series during the Golden Age of Radio. At this point it is being sponsored by Gulf Oil. From its first broadcast in 1939, up to its farewell in 1952, it showcased radio adaptations of popular Hollywood films. Many Hollywood names became part of the show, including Bette Davis, Bing Crosby, Clark Gable, Judy Garland, Frank Sinatra, and many more. The actors’ fees were all donated to the Motion Picture Relief Fund, an organization that provides aid to retired actors. Screen Guild Theater was heard on different radio networks, beginning with CBS from 1939 to 1948, NBC from 1948 to 1950, ABC from 1950 to 1951, and back to CBS until its last episode on June 29, 1952. Throughout its run, a total of 527 episodes were produced.

“Bachelor Mother” was sponsored by Camel cigarettes and heard on NBC radio. It was directed by Bill Lawrence. 

Bachelor Mother (1939) is an RKO romantic comedy film directed by Garson Kanin, and starring Ginger Rogers, David Niven and Charles Coburn. The screenplay was written by Norman Krasna based on an Academy Award-nominated story by Felix Jackson written for the 1935 Austrian-Hungarian film Little Mother. It was included among the American Film Institute’s 2000 list of the 500 movies nominated for the Top 100 Funniest American Movies. The film featured future “Lucy” actors Barbara Pepper, Irving Bacon, Jack Chefe, Florence Lake, Nestor Paiva, Harold Miller, and Amzie Strickland.

It was remade as Bundle of Joy starring Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher in 1952. The original film was re-released in 1945 and made its television debut in 1964.

RKO disliked the title Little Mother and tried out Nobody’s Wife and She Said I Do before settling on Bachelor Mother. In Denmark it was known as Polly’s Baby.

Bachelor Mother was adapted for radio on nine occasions between 1940 and 1952:

1. January 22, 1940 ~ “Lux Radio Theater” starring *Ginger Rogers, Frederic March, and *Frank Albertson
2. February 1, 1942 ~ “Screen Guild Theater” starring Laraine Day, Henry Fonda, and *Charles Coburn
3. November 23, 1942 ~ “Screen Guild Theater” starring Ann Sothern, Fred MacMurray, and *Charles Coburn
4. November 21, 1944 ~ “Theatre of Romance” starring Shirley Booth, Richard Kollmar, and Jack McBride
5. December 24, 1944 ~ “Old Gold Comedy Theater” starring Brenda Marshall, Louis Haywood and Jack McBride
6. May 6, 1946 ~ “Screen Guild Theater” starring *Ginger Rogers, *David Niven, and Francis X. Bushman
7. April 28, 1949 ~ “Screen Guild Theater” starring Lucille Ball, Joseph Cotton, and *Charles Coburn
8. March 8, 1951 – “Screen Director’s Playhouse” starring Lucille Ball,  Robert Cummings, and Arthur Q. Bryan
9. April 20, 1952 ~ “Screen Guild Theater” starring Ann Sothern and Robert Stack  

* = original film cast repeating their roles

Synopsis ~ 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.

CAST

Lucille Ball (Polly Parrish, Toy Department Clerk at Merlin & Son and Bachelor Mother) later appeared for Screen Directors Playhouse in “Her Husband’s Affairs” (May 22, 1949), “Miss Grant Takes Richmond” (May 19, 1950), both films she had appeared in on screen, and “A Foreign Affair” (March 1, 1951), the previous week.

On screen, the role was played by Ginger Rogers.

Joseph Cotten (David Merlin) had worked with Orson Welles on Citizen Kane (1941) and The Magnificent Ambersons (1942). This is his only time acting with Lucille Ball. 

On screen, the role was played by David Niven.

Charles Coburn (J.B. Merlin) appeared with Lucille Ball in Lured (1947). He won an Oscar for The More The Merrier in 1943 and was nominated in 1941 and 1946.  

Coburn played the same role in the feature film. 

The characters of Freddy Miller, Orphanage Matron, Mrs. Weiss, Phillips the Butler, and Jerome Weiss, are played by uncredited and unidentified performers. 

EPISODE

After acknowledging their sponsors, Camel Cigarettes, the announcer introduces “Bachelor Mother”.

The day before Christmas, Polly Parrish is let go from her job at Merlin & Son Department Store. Job hunting on her lunch hour, Polly notices an crying baby on the doorstep of the orphanage. When the door opens, the matron assumes that the baby is Polly’s and she was about to leave it with them. She is unable to change the Matron’s assumption.  She rushes back to work to finish her last day. 

At the store, David Merlin (James Cotten) mysteriously tells her that they have taken pity on her and re-hired her with a $5 a week raise. After she leaves, David tells his secretary that he is anxious to see her face when she gets his real present!  

That night, Polly opens the door to a messenger from David Merlin who presents her with the baby from the orphanage. Her boyfriend and co-worker Freddy knocks on the door for their date. Polly tells Freddy that before their date, they are going to bring the baby back to the man who gave it to her – David Merlin!  

Freddy and Polly arrive at the Merlin home and drop off the baby with the Phillips, the butler, before going out on their date. When they get back to Polly’s apartment at 2 A.M., David Merlin is there to return the baby to her, believing it is hers and that she is abandoning him. He threatens her with legal action.  She decides to go along with his misapprehension of her motherhood, and David agrees to try to help her out. 

Mrs. Weiss, the landlady, comes in. She thinks the baby is adorable and tells Polly she will help her take care of the baby so that she can go out to work. 

Next day at the store, Freddy notices that Polly is exhausted. He asks her to put in a good word with Mr. Merlin for him regarding a promotion, and she sleepily agrees. Freddy is under the impression that David Merlin is the father of the baby, and he’s going to use the information for his own purposes.   

At home Polly is trying to feed a fussy baby on New Year’s Eve when David Merlin shows up to take her out on the town. Freddy calls on the phone, and re-states that Polly better help him get a better job at Merlin and Sons. 

~ INTERMISSION ~

Polly and David return from their New Year’s Eve revels. They kiss. Mrs. Weiss tells them that she is excited that her son Jerome is coming home.  Polly reveals to David that there is someone who knows who the baby belongs to – Freddy – and warns David to expect a visit from him soon.  Just then, David’s father, J.B. Merlin (Charles Coburn) knocks on the door of Polly’s apartment asking to see his son.  J.B. asks if he can hold the baby. Polly tells him that the baby’s name is John. B, which pleases Mr. Merlin.  David is confused by his father’s behavior. After J.B. leaves, Polly tells David that Freddy has already told J.B. that David is the father. 

At home, J.B. is angry at David for not marrying Polly. David insists that it is not his baby!  J.B. has gotten a letter that insists it is!  As David goes off to find out who the baby’s real father is, J.B. smashes dishes. 

Confronting Polly, David reveals that his father want him to marry her, making it sound like an inconvenience. Polly’s feelings are hurt, and she promises David that by tomorrow, the baby will have a new father. 

At J.B.’s office, Polly presents Jerome Weiss as her husband. David bursts in with Freddy, who he introduces as the father of Polly’s baby!  Freddy and Jerome both contend to be the father! David assumes that Jerome is the REAL dad. They all accuse each other of fatherhood while J.B. asserts his grandparent’s rights!  

Back at home, Polly tearfully packs. As she is about to leave, David enters and says he is in love with her. They kiss, not noticing that J.B. has followed him there. David tells him that he is the father of the baby, and J.B. says that when they can come to him as a married couple, they would be welcome in his home.  David says he got the license on the way there. They kiss again. 

POLLY: “You know something, David? I bet this is the first time in history that a baby gave birth to a mother and father!”

The End

Lucille Ball, Joseph Cotten, and Charles Coburn, thank their sponsor Camels for sending complimentary cigarettes to men in uniform.  

LUCILLE BALL: “Happy smoking, fellows!” 

The announcer promotes next week’s program, “Undercurrent” starring Barbara Stanwyck and Robert Taylor.  

Taylor recreates his original 1946 film role, with Stanwyck playing the role originated by Katharine Hepburn. It was broadcast on May 5, 1949. 

‘BACHELOR’ TRIVIA

The film version of Bachelor Mother (1939), is mentioned in two episodes of “The RKO Story: Tales From Hollywood” as a film Ginger Rogers at first refused to do – until she was taken off payroll for three weeks and finally relented.  Although audiences loved it, Rogers continued to loathe the film calling it “a dog.”  Coincidentally, Lucille Ball is also interviewed in the same two episodes.

The wind-up ducks in the 1939 film were played by Disney’s Donald Duck, who even gets screen credit, although for this radio version, they are written out completely, likely to avoid the challenge of copyright, and to avoid visual gags. In other radio versions, the ducks are included, but not named. 

The original film was set around Christmas and New Years, with several reference to the holidays and a huge New Year’s Eve party scene. Lucille Ball’s 1951 radio version of the script omits any references to the holidays.  

The Lucy character worked at a department store in “Lucy Bags a Bargain” (TLS S4;E17) on January 17, 1966. In the original film, Polly works in the toy department, but this adaptation doesn’t mention her position at Merlin and Son.

Lucille Ball had done five films with the original Bachelor Mother Ginger Rogers, all of them before Rogers played Polly Parish for RKO.  Ball and Rogers finally reunited on a 1971 episode of “Here’s Lucy” with Rogers playing herself.

An October 1976 episode of “Laverne and Shirley” is titled “Bachelor Mothers” and has the girls looking after a baby.  Laverne and Shirley were often compared to Lucy and Ethel on “I Love Lucy.”