Studio: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)
Running time: 82 minutes
Father’s Little Dividend (1951)
“Academy Award winners Elizabeth Taylor and Spencer Tracy return in their starring roles from Father of the Bride in this delightful comedy of battling in-laws—Father’s Little Dividend. Stanley and Ellie Banks (Tracy and Joan Bennett) have barely had time to recover from their daughter’s (Taylor) wedding when they learn they are to be grandparents. Their dreams of peace and quiet are soon shattered by baby wails and dirty diapers!” [From the Blu-ray]
Cast
Stanley Banks: Spencer Tracy
Ellie Banks: Joan Bennett
Kay Dunston: Elizabeth Taylor
Buckley Dunstan: Don Taylor
Doris Dunstan: Billie Burke
Herbert Dunstan: Moroni Olsen
Delilah: Marietta Canty
Tommy Banks: Rusty Tamblyn
Ben Banks: Tom Irish
Dr. Andrew Nordell: Hayden Rorke
The Reverend Galsworthy: Paul Harvey
Police Sergeant: Richard Rober
Policeman: Frank Faylen
Nurse: Beverly Thompson
Taxi Driver: Dabbs Greer
Officer: Robert B. Williams
Diaper Man: Frank Sully
Mike: James Menzies
Red: Thomas Menzies
Old Man: Harry Hines
Bridesmaids: Nancy Valentine, Wendy Waldron
Elderly Man on Porch: Lon Poff
Gym Instructor: George Bruggeman
The Dividend: Donald Clark
Crew
Director: Vincente Minnelli
Producer: Pandro S. Berman
Screenwriters: Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett
Based on Characters Created by: Edward Streeter
Cinematographer: John Alton
Art Directors: Cedric Gibbons and Leonid Vasian
Musical Score: Albert Sendrey
Editor: Ferris Webster
Set Decorators: Edwin Willis and Keogh Gleason
Women’s Costumes: Helen Rose
Did You Know?
The film was shot in just twenty-three days. Vincente Minnelli, who was hard at work on An American in Paris (1951), squeezed in his directorial duties on Father’s Little Dividend while awaiting the completion of the sets for Paris’s now legendary seventeen minute climactic ballet scene.
There were some interesting parallels between Elizabeth and Joan Bennett, who played ‘Moms’ in the film. Bennett was married at the time to Walter Wanger, who would go on to produce Cleopatra (1963), both actresses portrayed Little Women’s Amy March on screen (Bennett in the 1933 adaptation, Elizabeth in 1949), and both shared a birth date of February 27!
When Father’s Little Dividend became another big hit for the studio, there was talk of making a third installment, with hopes that the Banks family might become another cash cow for the studio in the same vein as the Andy Hardy series.