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Pleasant, light headed nonsense still has its pleasures. Chief among them is Gordon MacRae singing beautifully and so handsome. He really should have been at MGM with the Freed unit to take advantage of his gifts, Warners never had the quality productions his talent deserved.

Even though made on loan-out to Warners this was made at the height of 20th Century Fox's big push to make June Haver the new Betty Grable. June had a pleasing way about her, sang and danced adequately but didn't have the punch of Grable nor the vulnerability or flesh impact of the girl who would replace her within a couple of years, Marilyn Monroe. She's serviceable in the lead but not memorable.

Debbie Reynolds in her first featured part is pert and bursting with her special brand of energy. Her role is small but even with that she registers on screen in a way Haver never does. A good illustration of star quality and the lack of it in one film. Gene Nelson stands out in the dance department although he is made to look ridiculous in some awful costumes but his footwork compensates.

The rest of the cast all perform well and the film is loaded with color but it's all a bunch of malarkey.

When GORDON MacRAE and JUNE HAVER are kicking up their heels in song and dance or GENE NELSON is demonstrating his talent as a hoofer, THE DAUGHTER OF ROSIE O'GRADY comes alive as musical entertainment of the fluffiest kind. But not too much plot-wise differentiates this one from a strong of Hollywood musicals with a backstage plot. Indeed the wisp of a plot is just about forgettable once the film is over.

Despite this, there's a good performance from JAMES BARTON, as the father of three girls (June, Debbie Reynolds and Marcia Mae Jones), an Irisman who doesn't want his girls to have anything to do with show business. Of course, the irony is that daughter June is such a natural talent that it would be criminal neglect to keep her away from a stage door and prevent her from performing.

JUNE HAVER demonstrates a talent for song and dance that has rarely been shown to such advantage in even some of her better known films (as, for example, the Marilyn Miller role in LOOK FOR THE SILVER LINING). She keeps up with GENE NELSON step for step with professional poise and ease and has a pleasant way with a song, too. She retired from films much too soon once she married Fred MacMurray.

Some old-fashioned tunes get nice treatments from the cast and David Butler's direction keeps things moving at a fairly good pace. A little too much time is given to the fumbling shenanigans of S.Z. SAKALL in one of his stereotyped roles as a Warner contract player.

Passes the time pleasantly although it's strictly a routine backstage musical, the kind done a zillion times during the '40s and '50s.

After Look For The Silver Lining Gordon MacRae and June Haver were teamed again for The Daughter Of Rosie O'Grady another period musical. This one is set in 1898 the year of the Spanish-American War and MacRae plays the real life vaudeville entertainer and impresario Tony Pastor who falls for one of the daughters of Rosie O'Grady.

MacRae looked remarkably well I have to say because in 1898 the real Tony Pastor was 61 years old and the objections of James Barton the husband and father of the daughters of Rosie O'Grady might well have been understood as cradle robbing.

June is only one of the daughters, but she's the one with the stage ambitions. Marcia Mae Jones is the oldest and is secretly married to returning Spanish American War veteran and policeman Sean McClory. But they're keeping it a secret from Barton though something is on the way that will blow the secret wide open.

Barton plays your blustering Irish American father, the part usually reserved for Barry Fitzgerald. He's got some objection to McClory so Jones and McClory are trying to work up nerve to tell him. Barton and his late wife were a vaudeville team back in the day, but her early death has soured him on show business. He has forbidden his daughters to even think about the stage and wants them to make marriages to men of substance.

The youngest daughter is Debbie Reynolds who is her usual perky self, but really hasn't a whole lot to do in this film. It might have been nice to team her with Gene Nelson who is one of the performers at Tony Pastor's. Nelson of course shows again why he came along just a tad too late to musicals.

Nothing special in The Daughter Of Rosie O'Grady, but the cast performs well and there's a nice Christmas finale to the film.

Nobody can sing a song like Gordon MacRae. If you like nothing else about the movie it is worth the time just to hear him sing. I think the movie was really good. It takes you back to a time that no longer exist and it has a good story line too. June Haver is beautiful and one of the best for song and dance. She and Gene Nelson trip the light fantastic in several numbers. I think they are just fun to watch. I may be a little over the top for some of you but one of my passions are the old musicals. Then you add in Debbie Reynolds as the cute innocent little sister and the movie just keeps getting better.

I have never seen a movie that S.Z. Sakall was in that wasn't very funny. He is without a doubt one of my very favorite actors. He made appearances in so many of the old musicals and as always was great. He and James Barton who played Dennis O'Grady were really good together. All in all if you like old musicals you should love this one. I just wish they would blow off the dust and get this one out on DVD, soon!

"The Daughter of Rosie O'Grady" is a musical with many of the usual cliches. It also has some nice music and performances as well as some nice actors (such as the always enjoyable Cuddles Sakal in support). But it also suffers from perhaps a song or two too many and a plot that seemed to drag as the film progressed.

The story is about an ex-vaudevillian who has not only given up on performing but who has become rabidly against acting and singing and dancing. Why? Mostly the stage reminds him of his pain, as he and his wife were a famous singing and dancing team long ago....and he doesn't want to think about this past life. This means that when his middle daughter (June Haver) and her falling in love with a song and dance man (Gordon MacRae), the father goes nuts! He also can't handle that his oldest has secretly become married and his 'little girl' (Debbie Reynolds) isn't so little any more. Can dad get over all his hang-ups and accept the daughters for who they are?

The main appeal of 'The Daughter of Rosie O'Grady' is the cast, my main reason for seeing it in the first place and after watching it was the main reason why it is as worthwhile as it is. Gordon McRae and Debbie Reynolds were major talents that lifted any film they were in with their presence, June Haver was also very talented but is pretty underrated now and SZ Sakall has proved numerous times that he can be a cuddly and amusing scene-stealer.

Luckily, the cast don't disappoint. Haver is poised and charming throughout, while Reynolds is her usual peppy, adorable and spunky self. McRae sings a dream as always and acquits himself well in the acting stakes, while solid support also comes from Gene Nelson and a touching James Barton in a rare screen appearance.

Only Sakall disappoints somewhat, with his fumbling schtick gradually coming over as annoying and overdone. Jane Darwell also doesn't register particularly strongly in a role that gives her little to do.

Handsomely mounted production values and quaint photography are further things to like, as well as more than able direction and pleasant and beautifully performed music and songs. The dancing is suitably energetic and poised, and 'The Daughter of Rosie O'Grady' has its amusing and poignant moments. The film moves quickly with very rare a dull stretch.

Really, Sakall, some at times rather insipid dialogue that really comes over as corny and sometimes stilted and a story that has great atmosphere but is also very slight to non-existence and with one too many routine parts are the only real issues here in 'The Daughter of Rosie O'Grady'.

All in all, a charming and easy to like film that isn't great but doesn't try to be or do any more than needed. 7/10 Bethany Cox

A pleasure to see such a great team as Gordon McRae and June Haver on the big screen together. Debbie Reynolds, as her little sister, added a delightful touch (her first speaking role, I believe). June and Debbie's Irish Dad, Barton McLane, did a great nostalgic song and dance ("My Own True Love And I") that would break any Irish person's heart. Gordon played the part of Tony Pastor in his own bright inimitable way. His singing was particularly terrific. Always liked the man. No one else I can think of sang the gay nineties songs as well as he. June and Gene Nelson's (whom I can usually do without) presentation of the title song "The Daughter Of Rosie O'Grady", was a gem, and added much to the show. You came out of the theater humming this tune.

Any time the movie appears on TV, I will try very hard not to miss it. It is a 'feel good about the world' musical and one of the great "escape" pieces of it's day. In my opinion, no MGM musical (including "Singing In The Rain") can make it take a back seat. My lord, how I envied that man (Gordon). He could fall off a shelf and come up singing right on the beat. Strangely enough, I cannot remember S.Z. Sakall's part in the movie; although he appears on the credits. When I track down the video (and I will track it down) I'll come back and update this. Of course, he was a street car conductor.

Irish James Barton is a widower with three daughters: Marcia Mae Jones, who is secretly married to a cop and expecting twins, June Haver, who wants to go on the stage with singer/impressario Gordon MacRae, and Debbie Reynolds. Barton used to be a big noise on the vaudeville stage in a singing act with his wife (played in flashbacks by Miss Haver), but she died, and he now hates show business.

It's a pleasant movie, originally planned for Doris Day in the role played by Miss Haver. Like many of the Warner Brothers movies of the period, it uses the Warner Brothers song catalogue for Gay Nineties and Mauve Decade songs; Gene Nelson plays a dancer in MacRae's troupe, and S. Z. Sakall and Jane Darwell appear.

MacRae plays Tony Pastor, and as often happens, it's a very anhistorical performance. The real Tony Pastor was born in 1837 and died in 1908. He entered show business about 1846 as a singer, and became a producer about 1865, taking part in the evolution of vaudeville, and always pushed for his shows to be family-friendly. Even as the industry became centralized in various circuits, he remained through the end as a small player with usually a single theater.

Here is a delightful musical comedy movie that should be put out on DVD so everyone can enjoy viewing it during the Christmas holiday season. If nothing else, it should be released in a box set of Christmas movies. In our opinion this film is drastically underrated by other critics. This is June Haver's best movie and Gordon Macrae is also outstanding and in excellent voice. Debbie Reynolds, in her film debut, and Gene Nelson are also very good. All of the songs are well done and memorable and we would like to see a CD soundtrack release, also. It has a strong plot that takes place during the 1890's. Some of the characters may have come from real life, but the plot, I am sure, is pretty much fiction. This movie is very entertaining all the way through to the wonderful grand musical and comedy finale. We try to watch it every year around the holiday season.

The men are returning after the Spanish American War. Patricia O'Grady (June Haver) is the daughter of Irish Vaudeville performer Dennis O'Grady (James Barton). He fears that his wife legendary star Rosie was lost to the rigors of performing. He doesn't want any of his three daughters to follow in her footsteps. Despite that, Patricia falls for star performer Tony Pastor (Gordon MacRae). Debbie Reynolds plays younger sister Maureen O'Grady.

I'm only watching this to catch glimpses of Debbie Reynolds in one of her earliest roles. It's a side character, but it's still a main side. The movie itself is a rather standard musical. It's light drama and slightly charming. It's very harmless and perfectly nice. The dancing and songs are all fine if not excelling. This is fair for what it is.

Rosie O'Grady's daughters (Marsha Jones as Katie, June Haver as Patricia, Debbie Reynolds as Maureen) live with their father (James Barton), a former vaudevilian who is still in mourning for their mother and harbouring a grudge against the theatre.

Really the interest of the film is in the musical sequences, featuring Haver with co-stars Gordon MacRae and Gene Nelson, but the story, although entertaining in parts, is so slight as to be nonexistent. It is a pleasant enough way to pass the time, though.

Although color would not become the standard for all movies (except for a few BW for artistic purposes) until the mid-1960s, Hollywood musicals were a general exception. By 1950, the major studios were making most musicals in full color. As this 1950 Warner Brothers film shows, the brilliant colors of costumes especially added to the glamor and appeal of the song and dance of musicals.

"The Daughter of Rosie O'Grady" is a very good musical that is a combination of review and play. It's setting is the review format with numbers produced for the stage within the story. But, a couple of numbers happen also within the story. And, it has a very good plot. This also is one of the best films ever made about vaudeville and that has examples of the types of acts that played on the vaudeville stages of the late 19th and earth 20th centuries.

The core of this film is set around a vaudeville theater in New York, Tony Pastor's. There was a real Tony Pastor who was known for cleaning up the risqué nature of variety shows of the mid-19th century, to make them appealing to women as well. He became known as the king or dean of vaudeville. His theater changed locations three times, and was called Tony Pastors Opera House. MacRae's Pastor talks about his theater and profession as the "variety" stage. At the film's end he says his shows are for families. And so they were and are.

While singing and dancing acts were the usual headliners and core that theaters operated with, a variety show on any given night or place would include just that - a variety of types of acts. Indeed, the term, "act," was what those in the vaudeville circuit used to describe the various talent or entertainment skits and performances. Most shows would include one or more acrobatic acts and one or more comedy routines. Then, there may be animal acts, magicians, and any number of things one might see in carnivals - knife throwing, snake charming, etc.

Only those vaudeville theaters in larger populated areas might have their own chorus lines for performances and working with singers and dancers. The latter, of course, were called hoofers, and the former sometimes were called crooners - if they were male.

Well, this film has a decent plot with a splendid portrayal of the vaudeville stage in a local setting in New York. The cast are all fantastic. Gordon MacRae and June Haver have the male leads. Gene Nelson (that "other" Gene of dance fame) is in the top supporting role as Doug Martin, and he gives his usual dazzling dance performances.

It's Debbie Reynolds' first credited film in a very good comedy role, but sans any singing or dancing. Two top supporting actors of the day lead the rest of a very good cast. S. Z. Sakall plays Miklos Teretzky, and Jane Darwell is Mrs. Murphy. James Barton, who performed on the vaudeville circuit in the early 20th century, plays Dennis O'Grady - the father of Haver's Patricia ("The Daughter), Reynold's Maureen, and Marcia Mae Jones' Katie O'Grady.

While the music and dancing are superb, the comedy is very good as well. This is a period film, set in 1898 at the conclusion of the Spanish-American War. The movie opens with troops returning to New York in a parade, while Dennis O'Grady and Miklos Teretzky take their lunch break from operating their horse-drawn trolley cars.

Besides the song, dance and comedy entertainment, this film has a nice educational aspect in its portrayal of that time in history. Here are some favorite lines.

Patricia O'Grady, "Isn't it wonderful? Now there are so many men in New York, even papa won't be able to keep them away from us."

Miklos Teretzky, "Your daughters met some sliders and they got you r lunch. This could be happening. Dennis O'Grady, Aw, suspicion - nothin' but suspicion." Miklos, "As sure as my name is Miklos Teretzky - when daughters forget their father, one answer only then - M-A-N, man. In Budapest is learned in kindergarten."

Patricia O'Grady, "We'll go right by Tony Pastor's." Maureen O'Grady, "Papa says never to. We'd be contaminated." Patricia, "Oh, he doesn't know the meaning of that word any more than you do. Come on. Let's get good and contaminated."

Tony Pastor, dressed as a down-and-out guy in the theater alley, "Oh, how I wish I had my life to live over." Patricia O'Grady, "I should think once would be enough."

Ed Powers (Pat Flaherty, uncredited), "How are you, Dennis?" Dennis O'Grady, "About how long would it take a man to drink himself to death?" Ed Powers, "With our whisky, just a matter of minutes."

Dennis O'Grady, "There's enough starch in this shirt to make it bullet proof."