Cheers for Miss Bishop (1941)

Dedicated Midwestern teacher Ella Bishop is distressed when her fiancé runs off with her vixenish cousin Amy. After Amy dies in childbirth, Ella is left to care for Amy's daughter Hope.

Director:

Tay Garnett

Writers:

Bess Streeter Aldrich (novel), Stephen Vincent Benet (screen adaptation)

Stars:

Martha Scott, William Gargan, Edmund Gwenn

Nominated for 1 Oscar.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Martha Scott	...	Ella Bishop
William Gargan	...	Sam Peters
Edmund Gwenn	...	President Corcoran
Sterling Holloway	...	Chris Jensen
Dorothy Peterson	...	Mrs. Bishop
Sidney Blackmer	...	John Stevens
Mary Anderson	...	Amy Saunders
Donald Douglas	...	Delbert Thompson
Marsha Hunt	...	Hope Thompson
John Archer	...	Richard Clark (as Ralph Bowman)
Lois Ranson	...	Gretchen Clark
Rosemary DeCamp	...	Minna Fields
Knox Manning	...	Anton Radcheck
John Arledge	...	'Snapper' MacRae
Jack Mulhall	...	Professor Carter

Storyline

Spinster septuagenarian Ella Bishop, on the brink of retirement from her fifty-two year career as the freshman English teacher at small town Midwestern University, her alma mater, wants to look toward the future, but can't help reflect upon her past, what brought her to this point. Although she always wanted to be a teacher and was both surprised and ecstatic when her mentor, Midwestern's then President James Corcoran, offered her the English teacher opening upon graduation, she only saw it as one short phase of her life until she got married and had a family, unlike her younger cousin, Amy Saunders, who solely needed romance and love to feel fulfilled. She thinks about the two men with who she was mutually in love and would have married if she could have if it not for one circumstance or another, and the one man whose love for her was and is unrequited, at least in the romantic sense, but who was and has always been there for her. Although never haven given birth to a child of her ...

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Plot Keywords:

schoolteacher | false accusation | unrequited love | social change | infidelity | 

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Taglines:

The WOMAN you'll never forget! The LOVE STORY you'll never forget! The PICTURE you'll never forget!

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Genres:

Drama | Romance

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Certificate:

Passed

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

21 February 1941 (USA)

Also Known As:

Dueña de su destino

Filming Locations:

University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebraska, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Richard A. Rowland Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

95 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This film received its first documented telecasts in New York City Thursday 7 August 1947 on the DuMont Television Network's WABD (Channel 5), in Washington DC Sunday 8 February 1948 on WNBW (Channel 4), in St. Louis Sunday 23 May 1948 on KSD (Channel 5), in both Philadelphia and Baltimore Tuesday 1 June 1948 on WPTZ (Channel 3) and WBAL (Channel 11), in Lowell MA (serving the Boston Area) Saturday 28 August 1948 on WBZ (Channel 4), in Los Angeles Saturday 12 March 1949 on KTTV (Channel 11), and in Cincinnati Monday 12 September 1949 on WKRC (Channel 11).

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Quotes

John Stevens: [Reading from J. M. Barrie's book, The Little Minister] The life of every man is a diary in which he means to write one story, and writes another.
Ella Bishop: [Interrupting] Would you mind reading that again? Just the last sentence.
John Stevens: The life of every man is a diary in which he means to write one story... and writes another.
Ella Bishop: I suppose that's true, isn't it? We dream dreams and... Do go on.

User Reviews

Three Cheers for Miss Bishop

I just saw this movie for the first time today. Martha Scott did a superb job playing a mid-western teacher who put her career and love for people above her own personal happiness. I really enjoyed this sentimental piece. The supporting cast was excellent too.