Summer Magic (1963)

A Bostonian widow moves with her kids to the country.

Director:

James Neilson

Writers:

Sally Benson (screenplay), Kate Douglas Wiggin (book)

Stars:

Hayley Mills, Burl Ives, Dorothy McGuire

Nominated for 1 Golden Globe.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Hayley Mills	...	Nancy Carey
Burl Ives	...	Osh Popham
Dorothy McGuire	...	Margaret Carey
Deborah Walley	...	Julia Carey
Una Merkel	...	Mariah Popham
Eddie Hodges	...	Gilly Carey
Michael J. Pollard	...	Digby Popham
Peter Brown	...	Tom Hamilton
James Stacy	...	Charles Bryant
Jimmy Mathers	...	Peter Carey
O.Z. Whitehead	...	Mr. Perkins
Wendy Turner	...	Lallie Joy Popham
Harry Holcombe	...	Henry Lord
Hilda Plowright	...	Mary

Storyline

Disney musical about Mother Carey, a Bostonian widow and her three children who move to Maine. Postmaster Osh Popham helps them move into a run-down old house and fixes it up for them. It's not entirely uninhabited, though; the owner, a Mr. Hamilton, is a mysterious character away in Europe, but Osh assures them he won't mind their living there, since he won't be coming home for a long time yet. The children and a cousin who comes to live with them have various adventures before an unexpected visitor shows up.

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Plot Keywords:

widow | chicken | summer | postmaster | maine | 

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Taglines:

THAT WONDERFUL HAYLEY! a-flitterin' in a romantic whirl of her own!

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Genres:

Comedy | Family | Musical

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Certificate:

G

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

7 July 1963 (USA)

Also Known As:

Doce Verão dos Meus Sonhos

Filming Locations:

Walt Disney Studios, 500 South Buena Vista Street, Burbank, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Walt Disney Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

110 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound Recording)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.75 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Originally planned as a vehicle for Annette Funicello.

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Quotes

Gilly Carey: We're out in the sticks, all right.
Nancy Carey: The sticks? It's lovely! Land of promise, land of opportunity!
Gilly Carey: Opportunity for what?
Digby Popham: Well, you got something there. You're the first folks to move into Beulah in more than five years. Most people move away to the city. That's where I'm gonna get as soon as I can.

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Connections

Edited into Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color: Summer Magic: Part 2 (1965)

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Soundtracks

"Flitterin'"
(uncredited)
Written by Robert B. Sherman and Richard M. Sherman
Sung by Hayley Mills, Eddie Hodges, and Dorothy McGuire (dubbed by Marilyn Hooven)

User Reviews

This being a Disney comedy of the '60s, naturally there's a turn-of-the-century hot-rodder--named Digby!

As the 1960s progressed, the Disney company got more and more desperate for a hipness factor in their family comedies, bringing in modern artifices to jazz up their relics (here it's Michael J. Pollard playing a hot-rodder). Considering everything else is so archaic, Pollard's appearance is rather odd...the presence of Burl Ives alone should tell you what you're in for. Advertised as a vehicle for sixteen-year-old Hayley Mills, the movie is actually an ensemble piece set during the ragtime era, and the cumbersome outfits and hairdos Hayley wears fail to suit her well; still youthful and spirited, she's heavier here and doesn't have much of a character to work with. Dorothy McGuire glows on cue as the (rather mature) widowed mother of three youngsters forced to move from Boston to a hick-town in Maine. Some of this is pleasant and it's all quite well-scrubbed (featuring yet another Shaggy Dog, and two nature-montages which aren't so much misplaced as they are artistically suspect). Definitely not the best place for one to introduce themselves to Hayley Mills' versatile talents, but as a corny Disney pic for the family it isn't too bad. ** from ****