CHEAPER BY THE DOZEN, a family comedy about a true (and large) tribe, the Gilbreths. It stars Clifton Webb, Myrna Loy and Jeanne Crain and was directed by Walter Lang. Lamar Trotti wrote the screenplay (and also produced) off the semi-autobiographical novel written by Ernestine Gilbreth Carey and Frank Bunker Gilbreth Jr., respectively the third and fifth of the Gilbreth offspring produced by Frank Gilbreth (1868-1924) and his wife Lillian (1878-1972). Frank and Lillian were remarkably smart, successful and influential people—renowned industrial engineers, efficiency experts and authors (she was also a psychologist). Ernestine and Frank Jr. thought enough of their parents to write the 1948 bestseller that was scooped up for filming by 20th Century Fox. *

In the 1920’s Frank (Webb, 60) and Lillian (Loy, 45) raise twelve children in their homes in Providence, Rhode Island and Montclair, New Jersey. Jeanne Crain (25, playing 17) is eldest daughter Ann. The only other kids with much screen time are played by Barbara Bates (24, playing 15), Jimmy Hunt (10, of Invaders From Mars fame), Norman Ollestad (14, he became an FBI agent) and Carol Nugent (12, she married Nick Adams).

Breezy nostalgia is about as lightweight and inoffensive as you can get; not a lot happens, and the humor rarely rises above the smile line. Made for amusing family entertainment it’s popularity—the 4th most-seen movie of 1950—seems to rest less on any inherent quality (it’s polished, professional and kinda dull) than one of those instances where everyone gets taken by an idea in the air and lines up to see what everybody else is doing there: Easy Rider, Willard, Porky’s, Forrest Gump, The Blair Witch Project, ad infina.

Instead of his usual acerbic disdain, Webb displays heartiness this time out (he’d also do that later, as John Philip Sousa in Stars And Stripes Forever) while Loy, consigned by then to droll wife/nice mom roles, walks thru with casual aplomb. Crain, who’d just had major dramatic parts in/as Pinky and A Letter To Three Wives, wasn’t thrilled with being contractually squeezed into this, but she delivers brightly. The younger players don’t overdue cuteness, credit veteran director Lang with keeping them from squeaking to distraction.

Made for $1,700,000, grossing $12,600,000, the 86 pleasant minutes has other adults peeking in here and there: Edgar Buchanan, Mildred Natwick, Sara Allgood, Evelyn Varden, Craig Hill and Jeff Richards. It was followed two years later by the sequel Belles On Their Toes, with Loy, Crain, Bates, Hunt and Nugent reprising their roles. Though not a big hit, it did fairly well. A fully fictional remake came along in 2003 (with a sequel two years later), then there was another remake in 2022, also just using the title as an excuse. Might as well run the idea into the ground.

* The list of the Gilbreth accomplishments is a mile long, and with Lillian outliving Frank by 47 years, extraordinary. Besides what they did for making businesses run smoother, and raising an apparently happy family, thank Lillian for inventing the foot-pedal trashcan, wall light switches and adding inside shelves to your fridge. After meritorious service in the Pacific in WW2, Frank Jr. (1911-2001) wrote thirteen books. Ernestine (1908-2006) wrote five books and was active in promoting anti-censorship.

The Brood