Mother Wore Tights (1947)

In this chronicle of a vaudeville family, Myrtle McKinley (class of 1900) goes to San Francisco to attend business school, but ends up in a chorus line. Soon, star Frank Burt notices her ... See full summary »

Director:

Walter Lang

Writers:

Lamar Trotti (screenplay), Miriam Young (book) (as Mariam Young)

Stars:

Betty Grable, Dan Dailey, Mona Freeman

Won 1 Oscar. Another 2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Betty Grable	...	Myrtle McKinley
Dan Dailey	...	Frank Burt
Mona Freeman	...	Iris
Connie Marshall	...	Mikie
Vanessa Brown	...	Bessie
Robert Arthur	...	Bob Clarkman
Sara Allgood	...	Grandmother McKinley
William Frawley	...	Mr. Schneider
Ruth Nelson	...	Miss Ridgeway
Anabel Shaw	...	Alice Flemmerhammer
Stephen Dunne	...	Roy Bivins (as Michael Dunne)
George Cleveland	...	Grandfather McKinley
Veda Ann Borg	...	Rosemary Olcott
Sig Ruman	...	Papa
Lee Patrick	...	Lil

Storyline

In this chronicle of a vaudeville family, Myrtle McKinley (class of 1900) goes to San Francisco to attend business school, but ends up in a chorus line. Soon, star Frank Burt notices her talent, hires her for a "two-act", then marries her. Incidents of the marriage and the growing pains of eldest daughter Iris are followed, interspersed with nostalgic musical numbers.

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Plot Keywords:

blockbuster | camp | vaudeville | family relationships | based on novel | 

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Taglines:

In our family dad wore the pants but . . . Mother Wore Tights [Australia Theatrical]

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Genres:

Drama | Musical

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Did You Know?

Trivia

"Lux Radio Theater" broadcast a 60 minute radio adaptation of the movie on January 4, 1954 with Dan Dailey again reprising his film role.

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Connections

Edited into My Blue Heaven (1950)

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Soundtracks

M-O-T-H-E-R (A Word That Means the World to Me)
(uncredited)
Music by Theodore Morse
Lyrics by Howard Johnson
Sung in part by chorus

User Reviews

Partners On Stage And Life

In what turned out to be his first film since his discharge from the Navy after World War II, Dan Dailey gets to co-star with Betty Grable in the first of four films they did together. Lucky break for Dailey as Grable was at the top of her pinup girl popularity.

Mother Wore Tights is based on a book my Miriam Young whose character is the youngest of the two sisters of this vaudeville family and played at her oldest in the film by Connie Marshall. The story is her family memoir and takes us back to Grable and Dailey as young high school graduate and young vaudevillian song and dance man.

It takes a while, but Grable manages to make the act a double on stage and in life. Grable's not terribly convincing as a teenager, she was a little long in the tooth, but really I don't think the audience cared.

Dan Dailey is always been a marvel to me, a fine dramatic actor as well as a great song and dance man. I did love those spiffy and goofy costumes he wore when in stage character.

Mother Wore Tights earned three Academy Award nominations, color cinematography, musical scoring, and for Best Song, You Do one of the original songs written by Josef Myrow and Mack Gordon. You can get bootleg recordings off the soundtrack of Mother Wore Tights and most of Grable's films as she never made too many trips to the recording studios as per Darryl Zanuck's edict to his musical stars.

Mother Wore Tights is a fine piece of nostalgic cinema, so typical of the color musicals 20th Century Fox did with their players. Very charming and exhibits the talents of its leads very well.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

September 1947 (USA)

Also Known As:

Mother Wore Tights

Filming Locations:

Stage 3, 20th Century Fox Studios - 10201 Pico Blvd., Century City, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$2,727,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Twentieth Century Fox

Technical Specs

Runtime:

107 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1