Life with Father

Life with Father
Directed by	Michael Curtiz
Produced by	Robert Buckner
Written by	Play: Howard Lindsay Russel Crouse Film:Donald Ogden Stewart
Starring	William Powell Elizabeth Taylor Irene Dunne
Music by	Max Steiner
Editing by	George Amy
Distributed by	Warner Bros.
Release date(s)	August 14, 1947, US
Running time	118 min.
Language	English
IMDb

Life with Father is the title of a humorous autobiographical book of stories compiled in 1935 by Clarence Day, Jr., which was adapted into a 1939 Broadway play by Lindsay and Crouse, which was, in turn, made into a 1947 movie and a television series.

Contents 1 The book 2 Broadway play 3 1947 film 4 Television series 5 Influence 6 References 7 External links

The book

Clarence Day wrote humorously about his family and life. The stories of his father, Clarence "Clare" Day, Senior, were first printed in the New Yorker magazine. They portray a rambunctious, overburdened Wall Street broker who demands that everything from his family should be just so. The more he rails against his staff, his cook, his wife, his horse, salesmen, holidays, his children and the inability of the world to live up to his impossible standards, the more comical and lovable he becomes to his own family who love him despite it all. First published in 1936, shortly after his death, Day's book is a picture of New York upper middle class family life in the 1890s. The stories are filled with affectionate irony. Day's understated, matter-of-fact style underlines the comedy in everyday situations.^[1]

Broadway play

The 1939 Broadway production ran for over seven years to become the longest-running non-musical play on Broadway, a record that it still holds.^[2] It opened at the Empire Theatre on November 8, 1939 and ran at that theatre until September 8, 1945. It then moved to the Bijou Theatre where it ran until June 15, 1947, and finished its run at the Alvin Theatre on July 12, 1947, closing after 3,224 performances. It starred Howard Lindsay, his wife Dorothy Stickney, and Teresa Wright.^[3]

1947 film

The 1947 comedy movie tells the true story of a stockbroker, Clarence Day, who wants to be master of his house, but finds his wife and his children ignoring him, until they start making demands for him to change his own life. In keeping with the autobiography, all the children in the family (all boys) are redheads. It stars William Powell, Irene Dunne, Elizabeth Taylor, Edmund Gwenn, Zasu Pitts, Jimmy Lydon and Martin Milner. A beautiful house guest with whom the character of Clarence Jr. becomes infatuated is portrayed by the teenage Elizabeth Taylor.^[4]

Due to the standards of the day, the play's last line (in response to a policeman asking Mr. Day where he is going), "I'm going to be baptized, dammit!" had to be rewritten for the film.

The movie was adapted by Donald Ogden Stewart from the play by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse, which was based on the book by Clarence Day, Jr..^[2] It was directed by Michael Curtiz. It was nominated for Academy Awards for Best Actor in a Leading Role (William Powell), Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color, Best Cinematography, Color and Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture.

Television series

Life With Father was made into a television series, starring Leon Ames and Lurene Tuttle. It ran from November 1953 until July 1955 on the CBS television network.^[5]

Influence

Bugs Bunny in the episode "What's Up Doc?" tells his life story to Disassociated Press over the phone. He describes how offers came pouring in. He picks up a script titled "Life with Father", glances at it, then tosses it over his shoulder saying, "Eehhh, it'll never be a hit."

References

• C. Otis Skinner, Life With Lindsay and Crouse (Boston: Houghton, Mifflin & Co., 1976).

External links

• Life with Father at the Internet Movie Database (motion picture)
• Life with Father at the Internet Movie Database (television series)
• Information about the Broadway production

v • d • e The films of Michael Curtiz 1910s The Last Bohemian • Today and Tomorrow • Captive Souls • My Husband's Getting Married • The Exile • The Borrowed Babies The Princess in a Nightrobe • Prisoner of the Night • Bánk Bán • Golddigger • One Who Is Loved By Two • Seven of Spades • The Strength of the Fatherland • The Karthauzer The Black Rainbow • The Wolf • The Medic • Mr. Doctor • Master Zoard • The Red Samson • The Last Dawn • Spring in Winter • Tartar Invasion Secret of St. Job Forest • Nobody's Son • The Charlatan • A Penny's History • The Fishing Bell • Earth's Man • The Colonel • Peace's Road Jean the Tenant • The Merry Widow • Magic Waltz • A Skorpió I. • The Devil • Lulu • Lu, the Coquette • Júdás • The Ugly Boy • Alraune (with Edmund Fritz) • 99 • The Sunflower Woman • Liliom • The Lady with the Black Gloves 1920s Boccaccio • The Star of Damascus • The Scourge of God • Miss Tutti Frutti • Good and Evil • Mrs. Dane's Confession • Labyrinth of Horror Sodom and Gomorrah • Young Medardus • Avalanche • Nameless • A Deadly Game • General Babka Harun al Raschid • Moon of Israel • Red Heels • Cab No. 13 • The Golden Butterfly • The Third Degree • A Million Bid • The Desired Woman Good Time Charley • Tenderloin • Noah's Ark • Glad Rag Doll • Madonna of Avenue A • The Gamblers • Hearts in Exile 1930s Mammy • Under a Texas Moon • The Matrimonial Bed • Bright Lights • A Soldier's Plaything • River's End • Demon of the Sea God's Gift to Women • The Mad Genius • The Woman from Monte Carlo • The Strange Love of Molly Louvain • Doctor X • The Cabin in the Cotton • 20,000 Years in Sing Sing • Mystery of the Wax Museum • The Keyhole • Private Detective 62 • Goodbye Again • The Kennel Murder Case • Female • Mandalay • Jimmy the Gent • The Key • British Agent • The Case of the Curious Bride • Black Fury • Front Page Woman • Little Big Shot • Captain Blood • The Walking Dead • The Charge of the Light Brigade • Stolen Holiday • Mountain Justice • Kid Galahad • The Perfect Specimen • Gold Is Where You Find It • The Adventures of Robin Hood (with William Keighley) • Four's a Crowd • Four Daughters • Angels with Dirty Faces • Dodge City • Daughters Courageous • The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex • Four Wives 1940s Virginia City • The Sea Hawk • Santa Fe Trail • The Sea Wolf • Dive Bomber • Captains of the Clouds • Yankee Doodle Dandy • Casablanca • Mission to Moscow • This Is the Army • Passage to Marseille • Janie • Roughly Speaking • Mildred Pierce • Night and Day • Life with Father The Unsuspected • Romance on the High Seas • My Dream Is Yours (with Friz Freleng) • Flamingo Road • The Lady Takes a Sailor 1950s Young Man with a Horn • Bright Leaf • The Breaking Point • Force of Arms • Jim Thorpe -- All-American • I'll See You in My Dreams The Story of Will Rogers • The Jazz Singer • Trouble Along the Way • The Boy from Oklahoma • The Egyptian • White Christmas • We're No Angels The Scarlet Hour • The Vagabond King • The Best Things in Life Are Free • The Helen Morgan Story • The Proud Rebel • King Creole • The Hangman • The Man in the Net 1960s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn • A Breath of Scandal • Francis of Assisi • The Comancheros Short films Jön az öcsém (1919) • Sons of Liberty (1939) Productions Bright Lights (1935)

Why are we here?
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License
This page is cache of Wikipedia. History