Growing up I was huge fan of the TV show My Three Sons which aired on various networks in the 1960 & early 70's. Fred MacMurray was the stoic rock of Gibraltar Widower of three boys with the help of his house servant Uncles. I caught a Lucy Desi Comedy hour featuring the MacMurray's Fred and his lovely blonde wife June. June Haver MacMurray was a Movie Actress in her day as a triple threat, Singing, Dancing and Acting. I caught this movie totally by accident on TCM and it's a typical 1950's period piece musical from Warner Brothers. Our movie takes place in turn of the century Manhattan. Vaudeville was the main and affordable means of entertainment for the masses at that time. To further explain what Vaudeville was; a variety of entertainment filled with unrelated vignettes with a mixture of song. dance, magic and comedy acts. Vaudeville theaters sprung up all over the country like Starbuck's franchises of today. Streetcar conductor Dennis O'Grady (James Barton)a widower with Three daughters is a traditionalist with a strict code of rules for his Lassies to abide by. Meet only Irish men with a college education and most importantly don't bring home any Show Business performers.You see Dennis O'Grady was also a showman in his day with an act featuring wife Rosie. But his dear departed Wife Rosie died from the strain of show business and that's where he puts the blame never to return or even patronize the theater. The eldest of the three lovelies Kate tells her two younger sisters that she just eloped to an Irish Policeman Sean McClory (James Moore)Meanwhile an incident involving a forgotten Lunch-pale by Father O'Grady causes the two Sisters Patricia (June Haver) and a very young Maureen (Debbie Reynolds)in tow as they pass the (forbidden zone) passing the theater. A man who's wearing a hobo's costume makes a conversation with Patricia as he asked for a crust of bread. Pat panics and gives her Father's lunch to the bum. Unbeknownst to Pat that bum was the owner of the theater and he wasn't interested in food but more importantly wanted to make her acquaintance. That owner is the leading man in this story Tony Pastor (Gordon MacRae). After mistaken identities Pat and Gordon hit it off from the start as Patricia was always fascinated by the stage. Patricia would even put on her late Mother's costumes to the disdain of her Father. The Movie is really about silly traditions and mistaken information. One character of reason throughout the story is the chubby European knockwurst carrying S.Z. Sakall known as Cuddles plays Dennis O'Grady's best friend and co- worker. You know Cuddles from the movie Casablanca as Bogie's Cafe manager. One more player of noteworthy mention is dancer Gene Nelson who plays Doug Martin who is a headliner dancer for owner Pastor.. Patricia enters amateur contest as a singer but Doug comes to the rescue and saves her act and Patricia joins Tony Pastor's theater company as a regular. Doug and Patricia practice feverishly as Tony's jealousy brews watching the two bond as an act. Meanwhile Father O'Grady learns that his daughter is pregnant as the Doctor leaves his flat assuming it's Patricia with the showman Pastor responsible. To add to the confusion older married sister Kate is Pregnant with twins on the way but Father doesn't know she's married to Officer McClory. What does a Father do? Go to the tavern and get stewed and then disown the lot of them. As bad as it sounds it makes for a light hearten musical/story. Great movie to watch at Christmas or St. Patrick's Day.

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.

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.

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.