The Bachelor Mother

Bachelor Mother (1939) is an American comedy film directed by Garson Kanin, and starring Ginger Rogers (in a mostly non-dancing and non-singing role), David Niven, and Charles Coburn. The screenplay was written by Norman Krasna based on a Academy Award nominated story by Felix Jackson (aka Felix Joachimson). With a plot full of mistaken identities, Bachelor Mother is a light-hearted treatment of the otherwise serious issues of child abandonment. It was remade in 1956 as Bundle of Joy, starring Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher.

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Ginger Rogers at AllPosters

Ginger Rogers was born Virginia Katherine McMath in Independence, Missouri, the daughter of William Eddins McMath, of Scottish ancestry, and his wife Lela Emogene Owens (1891-1977), of Welsh ancestry. Her parents separated soon after her birth, and she and her mother went to live with her grandparents, Walter and Saphrona (née Ball) Owens, in nearby Kansas City. Rogers' parents fought over her custody, with her father even kidnapping her twice. After the parents divorced, Rogers stayed with her grandparents while her mother wrote scripts for two years in Hollywood.

Ginger was to remain close to her grandfather (much later, when she was already a star in 1939, she bought him a home in Sherman Oaks, California (5115 Greenbush Ave) so that he could be close to her while she was filming at the studios). Several of Rogers' cousins had a hard time pronouncing her first name, shortening it to "Ginya".

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David Niven at AllPosters

David Niven was born in London, England. He was the son of William Edward Graham Niven (1878 - 1915) and Henrietta Julia Degacher. He was named David for his birth on Saint David's Day. Niven often claimed that he was born in Kirriemuir, in the county of Angus in 1909, but after his death, his birth certificate showed this was not true.

Henrietta was of French and British ancestry. She was born in Wales, the daughter of army officer William Degacher and Julia Caroline, daughter of Lieutenant General James Webber Smith. Her father, born William Hitchcock, had assumed his mother's maiden name of Degacher in 1874.

William Niven, David Niven's legal father, was of Scottish descent; his paternal grandfather, David Graham Niven, (1811-1884) was from St. Martins, a village in Perthshire. William served in the Berkshire Yeomanry in the First World War and was killed during the Gallipoli Campaign on 21 August 1915. He was buried in Green Hill Cemetery, Turkey in the Special Memorial Section in Plot F. 10.

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Charles Coburn at AllPosters

Charles Coburn was born in Savannah, Georgia, the son of Scots-Irish Americans Emma Louise Sprigman and Moses Douville Coburn. He started out doing odd jobs at the local theater, handing out programs, ushering, or being the doorman. By the age of 17 or 18, he was the theater manager. He later moved on to acting and made his debut on Broadway in 1901. Coburn formed an acting company with Ivah Wills in 1905. They married in 1906. In addition to managing the company, the couple performed frequently on Broadway.

After his wife's death in 1937, Coburn relocated to Los Angeles, California and began acting in films. He won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as a retired millionaire playing Cupid in The More the Merrier in 1943. He was also nominated for The Devil and Miss Jones in 1941 and The Green Years in 1946. Other notable film credits include Of Human Hearts (1938), The Lady Eve (1941), Kings Row (1942), The Constant Nymph (1943), Heaven Can Wait (1943), Wilson (1944), Impact (1949), The Paradine Case (1947), Everybody Does It (1950), Has Anybody Seen My Gal? (1952), Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) and John Paul Jones (1959). He usually played comedic parts, but Kings Row and Wilson were dramatic parts, showing his versatility.

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