1961 Blogathon- “The Parent Trap”

Let’s get together, yeah yeah yeah
Why don’t you and I comb-ine?
Let’s get together, what do you say?
We can have a swingin’ ti-me
We’d be a cra-a-zy team
Why don’t we ma-a-ake a scene…

This verse from “Let’s Get Together” pretty much sums up the premise of The Parent Trap.  Sharon and Susan end up meeting and getting together in a joint effort to reunite their parents.  They want to stay together, they want their parents to get together and they don’t want their dad to get together with a young gold digger named Vicky.

The estranged parents caught in an embarrassing situation in the pool changing room! From the opening credits of “The Parent Trap.”

After a kicky stop motion animation puppetry sequence which, combined with Tommy Sands and Annette Funicello’s rendition of the title song, “The Parent Trap,” the audience is fully aware of the premise of the film.  Through animation and song, it is illustrated and explained that two sisters meet and scheme to reunite their divorced parents–so that they can be a complete family.

Susan and Sharon first meet at camp

At the beginning of the film, Sharon (Hayley Mills) is being dropped off by her chauffeur.  She quickly befriends two other girls and they become a clique of sorts.  During her first few hours at camp, Sharon comes across another girl, Susan (Hayley Mills), who bares a remarkable resemblance to her.  They look identical, except Susan has short hair whereas Sharon’s hair is long.  To put it mildly, the two girls do not get along.

SUSAN’S ROOMMATE (about Sharon): “The nerve of her (Sharon), coming here with your face!”
SUSAN’S OTHER ROOMMATE: “What are you gonna do about it?”
SUSAN: Do? What in heaven’s sake can I do, silly?”
SUSAN’S OTHER ROOMMATE: “I’d bite off her nose, then she wouldn’t look like you.”

Susan has her own group of friends that she pals around with and the two groups of girls take turns terrorizing each other.

How does nobody wake up when this booby trap is installed? Talk about being a sound sleeper!

Sharon and her friends (one of which is LaRue from Sally Field’s Gidget TV series!) flip Susan and her friends’ canoe.  In retaliation, Susan and her friends booby trap Sharon and her friends’ cabin–complete with honey, string, straw, the works.  It makes a massive mess.  While Sharon and her friends try to clean up, Camp Director Miss Inch and her assistant Miss Hathaway from The Beverly Hillbillies, come around for cabin inspection.  Of course, Sharon & Co.’s cabin is a disaster.  As a punishment, the girls are prohibited from attending the co-ed dance that is being held that evening.  Sharon and Susan’s disdain for one another comes to a head at the dance.

Susan is caught in an awkward predicament at the co-ed dance–thanks to Sharon!

Banished from the dance because of Susan, Sharon waits for Susan to come outside with her date.  As Susan leans up against the deck railing, Sharon and her friend cut the back of Susan’s skirt off.  When Susan returns to the dance, the back of her panties are exposed to everyone at the dance.  For whatever reason, Susan doesn’t notice until her friends come to her aid and tell her that her panties are showing.  Mortified, Susan goes outside and ends up confronting Sharon.  The two girls end up brawling and ruining the dance and Miss Inch’s cake.

Hey, at least you don’t have anyone bothering you while you’re trying to eat your lunch!

Sharon and Susan are punished for their unladylike behavior and are banished to the “Serendipity Cabin.”  This cabin is still in camp, but is secluded from the other cabins.  Miss Inch, tells the girls that they will: “eat together, sleep together and play together.”  Susan and Sharon eat meals together at the “Isolation Table.”  It begins to seem like Susan and Sharon are fated to be miserable for the rest of the summer until a fateful afternoon rainstorm.

After a funny scene involving Susan hanging up her Ricky Nelson photos:

SHARON: “Who’s that?”
SUSAN: “Are you kidding? Ricky Nelson?”
SHARON: “Oh your boyfriend.”
SUSAN: “I wish he was! You mean you’ve never heard of him? Where do ya come from? Outer Space?!”

A gust of wind and rain sweeps into the girls’ cabin and blows all the photos of Ricky Nelson around.  Sharon rushes to Susan’s aid and helps her batten down the hatches and try to salvage the photos.  After getting to talking and discovering that both only have one parent (Sharon lives with her mother and Susan with her father) and have the same birthday, Sharon begins to think there is more to this series of coincidences and perhaps it’s a stroke of serendipity (hence, the name of the cabin).  Susan doesn’t get it until Sharon shows her a picture of her mother, Maggie (Maureen O’Hara).  Susan tells Sharon that that is her mother too.  Ding! Ding! Ding! The girls have figured out that they are actually twins, split up at birth.

Susan is a great hairdresser! Not sure if Sharon is as convinced.

The rest of camp is spent scheming.  The girls decide that they cannot be separated again and want more than ever to get their parents back together, so they can be a complete family unit.  Their plan is simple: they will switch places.  Sharon will travel to Susan’s home in Carmel, California to meet her father, Mitch (Brian Keith) and Susan will travel to Boston to meet Maggie.  Susan practices her diction (“Shan’t, can’t, aunt”) and tries to learn the blueprint of Sharon’s home.  Sharon tries to learn Susan’s housekeeper Verbena’s laundry schedule and the names of her animals.  Camp finally ends and the girls’ plan goes off with a hitch.

“Well bust it up for heaven’s sake!”

While in their new homes, Susan and Sharon try to get used to their new lifestyles while trying to keep up the facade of being the other twin.  When Sharon’s grandfather (Charles Ruggles) overhears some suspicious phone conversations and Susan’s housekeeper Verbena (Una Merkel) observes the dog, Andrometer, acting weird around Susan, they begin to become suspicious.  Grandpa and Verbena might not know what is going on, but they are aware that something is “off.” The jig is finally up when Grandpa overhears a phone conversation between Susan and Sharon on the phone and Sharon confides in Verbena and tells her the truth.

“I’m not sayin’ a word, not one word!” Verbena, who says so much without saying a word.

In Boston, Susan is struggling to keep up with Sharon’s piano lessons and the rigidity of her schedule.  She is also trying to talk to Maggie to find out the truth about the relationship between her and Susan’s father.  Meanwhile, in California, Sharon is in crisis mode because Mitch has announced that he is getting remarried to a young woman named Vicky.  Verbena dislikes Vicky and makes it known without “sayin’ a word.  Not one single word.” Verbena, while “not saying a word,” tells Sharon that she suspects Vicky of being a gold digger.  Sharon calls Susan in a panic about Mitch’s impending marriage and begs her to tell Maggie the truth so that they can get the show on the road.

After the phone call between Sharon and Susan, Grandpa who overheard it, pressures Susan to tell Maggie the truth.  Maggie and Susan are soon planning a trip to California, but not before this hilarious scene in the bedroom when Grandpa essentially tells his daughter, Maggie, that she looks old:

GRANDPA (after questioning Maggie’s hair and clothing and basically telling her that her style is outdated and matronly and fake encouraging Maggie’s stubbornness about updating her look):
“Stay the way you are… a nice, reliable, settled, comfortable woman, who accepts the coming of age with grace and dignity.”
MAGGIE: “That’s the most horrible thing anybody could say!”

Despite being upset with her father’s criticism of her appearance, Maggie takes his words to heart.  After a short layover in New York City, Maggie and Susan are at Mitch’s glorious doorstep in California.

Mitch’s amazing living room in his gorgeous ranch house

Mitch’s California ranch home is probably one of the greatest houses in all of movies.  His house is gorgeous. The amazing stone work, the dark stained finishes, the great open areas (that you could only have in California.  It wouldn’t work here in Oregon), the gorgeous stained glass, the great tile, the beautiful mid-century modern furniture, I love this house.  It is much better than Maggie’s stuffy Boston townhouse.  His kitchen has amazing windows that extend the entire width of the room in front of the sink.  There’s also an amazing courtyard where Hayley Mills and Hayley Mills perform their “Let’s Together” song.

“That plotz-faced child bride and her electric hips!” aka Vicky

Back to the movie,  Maggie and Susan show up at Mitch’s home, right as Mitch is entertaining his fiancee Vicky, her mother and the Reverend who is supposed to officiate the wedding–perfect time for the ex-wife to show up.  The Reverend, whom I sense is not a big fan of Vicky and her mother, catches Mitch and Maggie in a compromising position and is amused by the entire situation.  Maggie is dressed in Mitch’s bathrobe as she had just finished showering.  Mitch is chasing her around the house trying to catch her just as the Reverend walks in.  Vicky is understandably upset, but since she’s the villain and we don’t want her and Mitch to marry, we don’t care.  Maggie has the best lines at the end of this scene:

MAGGIE (to VICKY & VICKY’S MOTHER): “What a shame you can’t stay for dinner with us.”
VICKY’S MOTHER: “Yes. Vicky and I have a million things to do–fittings and odds and ends to buy.”
MAGGIE: “Just charge it all to Mitch–he’s loaded.”
VICKY’S MOTHER: “Oh? I didn’t know.”
MAGGIE: “Didn’t you?”

Boom! Maggie’s got Vicky and Vicky’s mother’s number.  After this point, Sharon and Susan go to work setting their “parent trap.”  First they try recreating Maggie and Mitch’s first date, based on information Susan got from Maggie earlier in the film.  They enlist ranch hand Hecky to serenade Mitch and Maggie like a gypsy.  Verbena cooks up a batch of veal parmesan for the meal.  Sharon and Susan come out on stage with something that slightly resembles a vaudeville act, based on the theme of “getting together.”

“Let’s Get Together”

Sharon plays a concert pianist who is in the middle of a concert, performing Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony.  Susan comes out in a big suede vest strumming a guitar.  My husband likes to point out how Susan is most definitely NOT playing the guitar each and every time we watch this.  And really, he’s right. Hayley Mills isn’t even pretending to play the guitar properly.  But all that doesn’t matter.  Maggie and Mitch are thoroughly entertained by their daughter’s shenanigans and are touched by the lengths they went through to set up this big date…. then they start arguing and all hints of possible romance are gone.

The next morning, the morning when Sharon and Maggie are supposed to return to Boston, the twins are desperate.  They decided to dress exactly alike and blackmail their parents into taking them on a camping trip.  At the conclusion of the camping trip, the girls will reveal their true identities.  This seems like a lame plan in that you’d think two parents who’d raised their daughters for 13 years would know who’s who, but Mitch admits that even he is not sure which twin is Susan.  The plan is set into motion… then Vicky shows up.

Maggie, knowing that Vicky will hate camping, cunningly invites her to go along…then dips out at the last minute.

Maggie, knowing Vicky will be completely out of her element on a camping trip, hilariously tricks her into going camping with Mitch, Hecky, and the girls instead.  Vicky agrees to go, not knowing that she’s been bamboozled.  While on a hike through the woods to their camp, the girls concoct multiple schemes to drive Vicky bananas.  They give her sugar water stating that it’s mosquito repellent, they place a lizard on her canteen knowing she’ll freak out and they plant a fake idea in her mind that hitting two sticks together will scare away mountain lions.  While at camp, the girls trick Vicky into falling into the lake by having one twin stand on the other’s shoulders and pretending that the water was shallow.

(As a side note, it seems interesting to me that Sharon is so comfortable camping as she seems to be from a pretty stuffy household in Boston.  Though she did attend that summer camp, so what do I know?)

The twins not at all stifling their amusement of Vicky’s traumatic camping adventure.

That evening, Vicky is beginning to crack.  She’s disgusted by the trout dinner (and the upcoming trout breakfast).  Mitch breaks the news to her that her mosquito repellent is bogus and that she’s basically inviting them to feast on her.   Mitch and Hecky laugh at her when she starts trying to keep the mountain lions away by hitting the sticks together.  In disgust, she goes to bed.  During the evening, Susan plays her famous “let’s booby trap the tent” trick that she employed in the beginning of the film, except this time Sharon is a co-conspirator rather than victim.

The next morning, Vicky wakes up to a baby bear licking honey off her feet.  Freaked out, she rushes out of the tent, no doubt getting pine needles stuck to her feet, trashes the camp and pushes Mitch into the tent.  Hecky grabs Vicky her boots and she screams out this immortal line:

“Get me out of this stinking fresh air!”

Vicky flounces off into the woods, with Hecky in tow, never to be seen again.

Back at the ranch, Maggie is whipping up some beef stew.  She has given Verbena the night off.  As for Hecky, who knows where he is.  Maybe Vicky has killed him.  Maybe she forced him to drive her far from Carmel.  Regardless, he’s not home.  The twins are up in Susan’s room.  They have apologized to Mitch for “submarining” Vicky and all is forgiven.  Which is good, because nobody liked her anyway.

And the twins’ scheming finally pays off!

Mitch observes Maggie in the kitchen for awhile and decides to go gussy himself up.  He showers, shaves and combs his hair.  He turns some music on on the hi-fi for ambiance and also breaks out a bottle of red wine.  As Mitch and Maggie talk in the kitchen, they begin to reminisce about the times they spent with one another.  Soon, it is apparent that they really do still love each other, especially when they give each other a romantic kiss.

Now in bed, Sharon wakes up after having a dream about her father and mother remarrying.  Remember, she’s psychic.  She says as much at the beginning of the film.   I choose to believe that this scene implies that the trap has worked.  Maggie and Mitch are together again and the twins won’t have to endure “the six month split.”

I choose to believe that Sharon’s dream was predicting the inevitable and Mitch and Maggie remarried. And they all lived happily ever after.

If it isn’t already obvious, I love this movie.  I just can’t with the Lindsay Lohan one.  Lohan will always be a “Mean Girl” to me.  She cannot fill Hayley Mills and Hayley Mills’ shoes.

 

Doris Day Birthday Blogathon–“With Six You Get Eggroll”

Doris Day made her film debut in 1948 in the musical, Romance on the High Seas.  Many of Day’s films throughout the 1940s and 1950s cemented her role as one of Warner Brothers’ top musical stars.  Some of Day’s best known films during this period are: Tea for Two, I’ll See You in My Dreams, By the Light of the Silvery Moon, The Pajama Game and Calamity Jane.  During the 1950s, Day also demonstrated that she was a capable dramatic actress and appeared in non-musical films like The Man Who Knew Too Much, Julie, and Love Me or Leave Me.  Day ended the 1950s starring in Pillow Talk with Rock Hudson.  This film proved that in addition to musicals and dramatic roles, Day was also comfortable in sophisticated romantic comedies.  In 1960, Day starred in one more thriller, Midnight Lace.

The filming of ‘Lace’ proved to be so traumatic for Day that she refused to make another film of this type ever again.  ‘Lace’ depicts a woman terrified that someone is trying to murder her.  The intensity of Day’s fear conjured up old memories of her abusive first husband.  She was so traumatized by the filming of ‘Lace’ that she vowed to not make another thriller again.  Day kept her promise.  During the 1960s, Day made two more romantic comedies with Hudson and then appeared in other romantic comedies with the likes of Rod Taylor, Cary Grant and James Garner.  Day also appeared in family comedies like Please Don’t Eat the Daisies with David Niven and her final film, With Six You Get Eggroll co-starring Brian Keith.

I love the caption for this poster: “Does this look like a movie that could give you bad dreams?”

With Six You Get Eggroll was one of Day’s top money-making films.  This film, much in the same vein as Yours, Mine and Ours (1968) and The Brady Bunch (1969-1974), dealt with the blending of two families and the issues that can arise.  Day portrays Abby McClure a widowed, single mom who supports her three sons as the boss of a lumberyard.  Abby’s sister, Maxine, played by Pat Carroll (aka Ursula from The Little Mermaid), is constantly trying to fix Abby up with men.  In this particular case, Maxine wants to hook her sister up with Brian Keith, who portrays widower Jake Iverson.  Iverson is the father to a teenage daughter, Stacey, portrayed by Barbara Hershey.  Abby’s oldest son Flip (John Findlater) and Jake’s daughter are classmates.  In true classic film fashion, Abby’s youngest kids are at least ten-plus years younger than their brother, Flip.  Abby’s one son, Jason, looks like a mini Mo Rocca from The Daily Show.

When we first meet Abby,  we see her committing a major OSHA violation by standing on the forks of a moving forklift in her lumberyard.  I really enjoy the fact that Abby is the boss of a male-dominated field and appears to be running it efficiently and effectively and has the respect of her subordinates.  Next, Abby’s sister Maxine shows up and convinces Abby that she needs to invite a date to the dinner party that she’s having that evening.  Abby ends up taking her sister’s advice and invites Jake to the party.

Doris Day’s amazing shower cap!

While getting ready for the party, everything that could go wrong for Abby, does.  Her dog, Calico, gets a hold of her wig and ruins the hairstyle.  Abby is forced to re-curl her wig.  Her “hair” is soaking wet by the time she is finished, and she resorts to cooking her wig in the oven at 200F in an attempt to dry it out and set the style before the party.  Meanwhile, while Abby is “putting her face on,” the kids are taking a bath.  Abby hears a bunch of noise coming from the bathroom that is most definitely not kids bathing.  When she walks in, she sees that the kids have somehow spilled yellow paint into the tub.  With children that now resemble The Simpsons and a golden-hued arm, Abby comes across her dinner party guests who’ve let themselves in.  With her yellow-dyed skin, yellow and white splotchy robe, amazing flowered shower cap and a face covered in cold cream, Abby looks a fright, but soon manages to get it together and have her party.

Sister Maxine and her husband are all over Jake from the second he walks in.  When Abby finally enters the room, they go to work trying to convince Jake and Abby that they’re perfect for one another and should get together.  Both Jake and Abby are uncomfortable and try their best to keep their cool.  Jake finally has had enough and makes up a bogus excuse about having to meet clients at the airport in a couple hours.  Later, Abby and Jake run into one another at the supermarket and end up having coffee at the drive-in, which is run by Herbie Fleck, portrayed by George Carlin (!).

Throughout multiple dates and outings to the drive-in to escape their children, Abby and Jake end up falling in love.  While I suppose it’s understandable, I don’t enjoy the behavior of the oldest two children, Flip and Stacey.  Flip is worse than Stacey.  When Abby comes home late one night after stating that she was running to the market for pumpernickel, Flip rips his mother a new one as if she were a teenager breaking curfew.   He is particularly patronizing to Abby and I wish she would have chewed him out right then and there, but perhaps that isn’t Abby’s style.  Flip repeatedly treats his mother like a misbehaving child and treats Jake as if he were some deviant.  Stacey isn’t as bad, but does treat her father and Abby pretty poorly until she finally comes around.  I understand that Flip and Stacey are having trouble adjusting to their parents having new romantic relationships, but seriously.  They graduate from high school during the film and presumably will be going to college.  Does it really matter?

 A young George Carlin takes Doris Day & Brian Keith’s coffee order at their drive-in rendezvous spot.  

After a few months of sneaking around and drinking copious amounts of coffee and champagne at the drive-in, Abby and Jake decide that they should just get it over with and marry, much to the chagrin of the oldest children.  After marrying, Abby and Jake try to figure out how their family will live together in one house.  Day’s house is larger, but needs at least one more bedroom for Stacey.  Jake’s house is much smaller.  The newly blended family tries to bounce back and forth between houses, but logistically, it becomes a nightmare.  They eventually decide that they’ll buy a larger house.  Until their respective homes sell, Abby and Jake purchase a camper trailer that will serve as an extra bedroom.  After fighting over who gets to sleep in the camper, Abby and Jake move in–much to Abby’s chagrin.

Up until the camper fiasco, much of this film resembles one of day’s more sophisticated comedies.  There are multiple discussions about sex and there are quite a few “did they or didn’t they?” scenes between Abby and Jake.  In a scene where Abby and Jake have just endured watching television with the younger children, they look forward to having time to themselves to (presumably) make out on the couch.  Flip, however, senses this and makes a point of staying in the room, effectively ending any makeout sessions.  The tension, both sexual and not, in this scene is palpable, with Flip very smug, knowing exactly what he’s doing.  If With Six You Get Eggroll had been made when the production code was in full swing, I do not believe that Abby and Jake could have been portrayed as being home alone, canoodling with champagne in front of the fire, especially since they fall asleep in front of the fire.  Finally, Abby’s maid, Molly, played by Alice Ghostley (aka Aunt Esmeralda from Bewitched) expresses her annoyance when Abby and Jake show up at Jake’s house unannounced, looking for a place to rendezvous away from everyone.  It seems that Molly was promised the use of Jake’s house for the same reason.

  Doris Day in the family camper trailer.  

Another feature of this film that sets it apart from other family comedies of the same time is the look and portrayal of the leading man.  Jake uses fairly strong language (for a family film) with multiple instances of “hell” and “damn.”  He seems quick-tempered (though not violent) and stubborn.  It’s also interesting that he has a pretty rough looking tattoo on his arm, which is prominently displayed when the kids walk in on Abby and Jake the morning after they eloped.  Good on Abby and Jake for getting dressed again! We have to assume SOMETHING went on on their wedding night.

One of the best scenes in the film is when Stacey exerts her “lady of the house” attitude one too many times for Abby’s liking and Abby decides to show Stacey what it means to be in charge of the home.  She writes up a very long and difficult list of household chores (ironing, vacuuming, waxing floors, silver polishing, etc.) for her to complete.  After working all morning and day, Stacey completes the list.  Abby gives her a new list for the next day, a list consisting of going to the movies and visiting with friends.  Stacey has a new appreciation for her new step-mother and they have a very sweet bonding moment.  Of course father Jake comes in and sees the list and completely misunderstands the point Abby was trying to make.  This misunderstanding evolves into a very heated argument, which serves as the catalyst for the camper mayhem at the end of the film.  The ending of the film features Jamie Farr (Klinger from M*A*S*H) and Allen Melvin (Sam the Butcher from The Brady Bunch).

 The crazy cast of characters that join Brian Keith and Doris Day at the jail. 

One of my favorite things about 1960s comedies, is that there is almost always a scene taking place in a club with some crazy music playing.  The music is never identifiable and I imagine that it’s just being performed for the film.  With Six You Get Eggroll features a wild dance club with some music that sounds like they sampled the marimba track from The Rolling Stones’ “Under My Thumb.” What’s also amazing about these scenes is the dancing.  As someone who is rhythmically challenged, the dancing that appears in these 1960s movies or the Beach Party movies looks like something I could do.  Cactus Flower, Yours Mine and Ours, and Bob, Carol, Ted and Alice all feature amazing club scenes.  I also think it’s funny that the music is pretty much the same throughout the entire duration of the club scene–it never changes.

With Six You Get Eggroll was released in 1968. At this time, the sexual attitudes in the United States were greatly evolving and Day’s brand of clean comedy was falling out of style.  Day was offered the role of Mrs. Robinson in The Graduate, but her manager/husband, Marty Melcher, turned the role down on her behalf.  Both Day and Melcher felt that the script was vulgar.  While Day’s films still attracted an audience, they were not turning the type of profit that they had prior.  During filming of ‘Eggroll,’ Melcher unexpectedly died.  Doris was devastated in more ways than one.  Of course, she was devastated that her husband had died; but she also discovered that her husband and his business partner had squandered all her earnings, leaving her deeply in debt.  She also discovered that her husband had signed her up for a weekly sitcom on CBS.  Day did not want to do a television show, but she had no other option.  She was obligated and also needed to repay her debts.  The Doris Day Show which aired from 1968 to 1973 essentially ended Day’s film career.

After the end of Day’s sitcom, she appeared on a few more variety shows and talk show interviews, but she was all but retired by the 1980s.  In 1989, she came out of seclusion to attend the Golden Globe Awards and accept the Cecil B. DeMille Lifetime Achievement Award.  Since her retirement, Day has dedicated herself to animal rights and welfare.  She continues to keep busy at her home in Carmel, CA and tomorrow, on April 3, she will celebrate her 96th birthday–you go Doris!