The Daughter of Rosie O' Grady(1950).

The Daughter of Rosie O'Grady(1950).Cast: June Haver, Gordon MacRae, James Barton, S.Z. Sakall, Gene Nelson, Sean McClory and Debbie Reynolds.



After watching the parade honoring soldiers returning from the Spanish-American War, sisters Patricia and Maureen O'Grady, walk by Tony Pastor's vaudeville theater, on their way to bring lunch to their father Dennis, a streetcar conductor. Tony, who at the time is dressed as a bum, the girls decide that he needs the lunch more than their father.

Dennis' friend, Miklos, tells father to talk his daughters about men before it is too late. Unknown to Dennis, his oldest daughter Katie is already married to James Moore and is pregnant. They have not told anyone about their marriage because the wartime housing shortage they have not found an apartment of their own.

Pat soon learns that the man who ate their father's lunch was not a bum but an actor, heads straight to the theater to find him. Tony apologizes, and after learning that Pat's mother was a well-known vaudeville performer, writes a song about the "Daughter of Rosie O'Grady." He then asks the sisters to play the song and is still there when Dennis comes home. Dennis blames the death of his wife Rosie on the hard life of vaudeville and is opposed to anything to do with the theater. Pat thinks it best to tell her father that Tony is a college student. During a dinner party with Tony and some of is friends, Pat tells Tony that she wants to go on the stage. Tony insists that they tell her father the truth about his profession, which backfires and Dennis bans Tony from his house until he gives up the theater. Pat moves out staying with Miklos and his wife. When Dennis learns that one of his daughters is expecting twins, he decides it must be Pat and immediately gets drunk. The bartender calls a policeman, and Jim, who is now working as a policeman, comes to take him home. Will the family reconcile and go back to performing on stage?

What makes this movie fun, is that it is debut of Debbie Reynolds. She had been in June Bride (1948) previously, but without dialogue.

Gene Nelson (March 24, 1920 - September 16, 1996), was inspired to become a dancer by watching Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers movies when he was a child. After serving in the Army during World War II, Nelson landed his first Broadway role in, Lend an Ear, for which he received the Theatre World Award. He also appeared on stage in Follies, which won him a Tony Award nomination, and Good News.

Nelson's film acting credits include: This is the Army (1943), I Wonder Who's Kissing Her Now (1947), Gentlemen's Agreement (1947), Apartment for Peggy (1948), The Walls of Jericho (1948), The Daughter of Rosie O'Grady (1950), Tea for Two (1950), The West Point Story (1950), Lullaby of Broadway (1951), Painting the Clouds with Sunshine (1951), Starlift (1951), She's Working Her Way Through College (1952), She's Back on Broadway (1953), Three Sailors and a Girl (1953), Crime Wave(1954), So This is Paris (1954), Oklahoma! (1955), The Atomic Man (1956), The Way Out (1956), The Purple Hills (1961), 20,000 Eyes (1961), Thunder Island (1963), Starred as "Buddy" in the 1971 Broadway musical "Follies", A Brand New Life (1972), Family Flight (1972), and S.O.B. (1981). Nelson directed episodes of the original Star Trek, the first season of I Dream of Jeannie, and Gunsmoke. In 1959, he appeared with Keith Larsen and Buddy Ebsen in the NBC adventure series Northwest Passage as a young man trying to prove his innocence in a murder case. Nelson also directed the 1965 Elvis Presley movie Harum Scarum.