The screenplay was adapted by Eleanore Griffin and based on the bestselling novel Good Morning, Miss Dove by Frances Gray Patton, which was based on three short stories she had written for The Ladies Home Journal: "The Terrible Miss Dove", '"Miss Dove and Judgment Day" and "Miss Dove and the Maternal Instinct". The film was directed by Henry Koster.
Miss Dove (Jennifer Jones), commonly referred to as "the terrible Miss Dove," is a prim and proper geography teacher who governs her classroom with strict disciplinary rules, dependable habits and a common-sense approach to life's everyday challenges. To the residents and former pupils of Liberty Hill, she is regarded as the epitome of gentility and wisdom.
On a typical day, her habits never varying, Miss Dove oils her creaking gate and walks to the schoolhouse, briefly stopping to address her neighbors along the way. As the school bell rings, she stands at the entrance to her classroom as each of her pupils gets in line and greets her with "Good morning, Miss Dove." During this morning's session, she reprimands David Burnham (Biff Elliot) for swearing and tells him that he must remain after class and write "Nothing is achieved by swearing" 20 times in his notebook. During David's detention, Miss Dove suddenly feels a sharp pain at the base of her spine and tells David to run and tell his father that she is ill.
Miss Dove puts her head down on her desk and begins to think about the day when her father died and changed her life forever. She had met a promising new beau when her father suddenly died. After his death, she learns that her father, who had been president of the local bank, "borrowed" a large sum of money and their home is heavily mortgaged. Miss Dove is determined to make the matter right and promises Mr. Porter (Robert Douglas), the new bank president, that she will repay the debt by becoming a teacher. Mr. Pendleton (Marshall Thompson) visits Miss Dove and proposes marriage, but she turns him down upon receiving a call from Mr. Porter telling her that he has obtained a position for her at Cedar Grove School.
Miss Dove returns to the present when Dr. Baker (Robert Stack) and Rev. Burnham arrive and form a seat with their arms to carry her from school through the streets of Liberty Hill to the hospital. She is admitted to her room by a former student, Billie Jean (Peggy Knudsen), who chatters incessantly along the way. Billie Jean, who left Liberty Hill and had a child out of wedlock, has returned to her hometown and is smitten with a police officer named Bill Holloway (Chuck Connors). Miss Dove fondly recalls Bill and tells Billie Jean that he was one of her best pupils. In a flashback, she remembers how he arrived to her classroom, a poor, unkempt boy being raised by his alcoholic grandmother. Over the years, Miss Dove gave Bill odd jobs and even bought him a suit for his grammar school (eighth grade) graduation. As Bill entered the Marines, he wrote to Miss Dove often, and when he returned to Liberty Hill, she was the first person he came to for advice about his future career.
The news of Miss Dove's hospitalization spreads, and she is soon visited by her former students. Another flashback shows Maurice Levine (Jerry Paris) when he came to Cedar Grove as a Jewish boy from Poland unable to speak English and was teased and chased by his classmates. Miss Dove taught him to speak English and arranged for her class to visit the Levine home for a special meal. He became a successful playwright, and Miss Dove traveled to New York to see his first play. Another visitor is amiable, friendly Frederick Makepeace (Eddie Firestone), who is doing time on a prison road-gang for petty theft, and had been in class with Maurice. Miss Dove has another flashback where she recalls how distraught Dr. Baker's wife Virginia ("Jincey") had been after she found out her original fiancé changed his mind about getting married. Jincey turned to Miss Dove for direction. Miss Dove told her she should go to her room at her sister's house and fall on her knees thanking God for His protection, and then look for something to do with her life to help her fellow man. Jincey then considered going into the nursing field. In still another story, there was a "run" on the local bank as frantic depositors waited in line to withdraw their savings. Miss Dove instead deliberately stalled for time as she very leisurely deposited her paycheck just as the teller windows closed at 3:00, angering other depositors. The next morning, the crisis passed as the bank received money from Federal authorities.
Dr. Baker informs Miss Dove that she must have surgery to remove a growth on the base of her spine. Mr. Porter offers to get Miss Dove a skilled surgeon in a distant city and have the civic club pay her full expenses, but she insists that Dr. Baker perform the surgery.
On the day of the surgery, classes are dismissed, and the townspeople wait outside the hospital for news of Miss Dove's operation. As she awakes, Dr. Baker tells her that the operation has been a success and that she will be all right. As the bells begin to ring throughout the town, Billie Jean tells Miss Dove that school was dismissed. In typical fashion, Miss Dove tells Dr. Baker that he must inform Mr. Spivey (Richard Deacon), the principal of the school, that the children must be returned to their classes in order to study for the state proficiency exams the following Monday. She goes into detail about what each class needs to review.
The film opened to generally good reviews and good box office in November 1955. A review in The New York Times commented: "Since it is unashamedly sentimental without being excessively maudlin about its heroine, 'Good Morning, Miss Dove' deserves credit for being honest and entertaining."[5]
Norma Deloris Egstrom, known professionally as Peggy Lee, was an American jazz and popular music singer, songwriter, and actress whose career spanned seven decades. From her beginning as a vocalist on local radio to singing with Benny Goodman's big band, Lee created a sophisticated persona, writing music for films, acting, and recording conceptual record albums combining poetry and music. Called the "Queen of American pop music", Lee recorded more than 1,100 masters and co-wrote over 270 songs.
Mary Margaret "Peggy" Cass was an American actress, comedian, game show panelist, and announcer.
Billie Honor Whitelaw was an English actress. She worked in close collaboration with Irish playwright Samuel Beckett for 25 years and was regarded as one of the foremost interpreters of his works. She was also known for her portrayal of Mrs. Baylock, the demonic nanny in the 1976 horror film The Omen.
A Pocket Full of Rye is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie and first published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club on 9 November 1953, and in the US by Dodd, Mead & Co. the following year. The UK edition retailed at ten shillings and sixpence (10/6) and the US edition at $2.75. The book features her detective Miss Marple.
The White Cliffs of Dover is a 1944 American war drama film based on the verse novel The White Cliffs by Alice Duer Miller. It was made by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, directed by Clarence Brown, and produced by Clarence Brown and Sidney Franklin. The screenplay was by Claudine West, Jan Lustig and George Froeschel, with the credit for additional poetry by Robert Nathan. Nathan stated in an interview that he wrote the screenplay as his first work as a contracted writer for MGM but the studio credited Claudine West who died in 1943 as a tribute to her.
The Thirteen Problems is a short story collection by British writer Agatha Christie, first published in the UK by Collins Crime Club in June 1932 and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company in 1933 under the title The Tuesday Club Murders. The UK edition retailed at seven shillings and sixpence (7/6) and the US edition at $2.00. The thirteen stories feature the amateur detective Miss Marple, her nephew Raymond West, and her friend Sir Henry Clithering. They are the earliest stories Christie wrote about Miss Marple. The main setting for the frame story is the fictional village of St Mary Mead.
Margaret Ann "Peggy" Knudsen was an American character actress.
Mrs. Frances Gray Patton was an American short story writer and novelist. She is best known for her 1954 novel Good Morning Miss Dove.
Corky Hale is an American jazz harpist, pianist, flutist, and vocalist. She has been a theater producer, political activist, restaurateur, and the owner of the Corky Hale women's clothing store in Los Angeles, California.
Good-Time Girl is a 1948 British film noir-crime drama film directed by David MacDonald and starring Jean Kent, Dennis Price and Herbert Lom. A homeless girl is asked to explain her bad behaviour in the juvenile court, and says she’s run away from home because she’s unhappy there. They explain in detail what happened to the last girl who thought she could cope on her own, and this becomes the main plot.
Elizabeth "Betty" Draper Francis is a fictional character played by January Jones on AMC's television series Mad Men. She begins the show married to protagonist Don Draper ; following a separation in the third season, the two remain divorced for the remainder of the series, but continue to share custody of their three children.
Black Girl is an American family drama film with a screenplay by J.E. Franklin, based on her 1969 play, and directed by Ossie Davis. The film explores issues and experiences of black womanhood in the 1970s, including how black women were depicted and common stereotypes of the period. According to Melvin Donalson in Black Directors in Hollywood, "Black Girl is a film that explores the intricate and sometimes painful connections between mothers and daughters."
English Without Tears is a 1944 British romantic comedy film directed by Harold French and starring Michael Wilding, Penelope Dudley-Ward and Lilli Palmer. The screenplay was by Terrance Rattigan and Anatole de Grunwald. It was released in the U.S. under the title Her Man Gilbey, as a reference to the classic Screwball comedy, My Man Godfrey (1936).
Good People is a 2011 play by David Lindsay-Abaire. The world premiere was staged by the Manhattan Theatre Club in New York City. The production was nominated for two 2011 Tony Awards – Best Play and Best Leading Actress in a Play, with the latter winning.
A Notorious Affair is a 1930 American pre-Code drama film, produced and released by First National Pictures. It was directed by Lloyd Bacon, starred Billie Dove, and featured Basil Rathbone and Kay Francis. The film was adapted from the play Fame, which was written by Audrey and Waverly Carter.
Shake, Rattle & Roll VI is a 1997 Filipino horror anthology film and the sixth installment of the Shake, Rattle & Roll film series. It was produced by MAQ Productions, and was distributed by Regal Films. It is directed by Maurice Carvajal, Anton Juan, and Frank Rivera. The film is not an entry to the Metro Manila Film Festival unlike other installments, but it was meant to be an entry in the 1996 Metro Manila Film Festival.
Miss World America 1992 was the 4th edition of the Miss World America pageant and it was held in El Paso, Texas and was won by Sharon Belden of Florida. She was crowned by outgoing titleholder, Charlotte Ray of New Jersey. Belden went on to represent the United States at the Miss World 1992 Pageant in South Africa later that year. she finished in the Top 10 at Miss World.
References
↑ Solomon, Aubrey. Twentieth Century Fox: A Corporate and Financial History (The Scarecrow Filmmakers Series). Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 1989. ISBN978-0-8108-4244-1. p249
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
