The Daughter of Rosie O'Grady

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.

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.

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!