Grandpa to the Rescue
In “You Can’t Take It With You” (1938) when Alice Sycamore (Jean Arthur) comes home in tears one day, Grandpa Vanderhof (Lionel Barrymore) comes into her room and tells her how much she reminds him of her grandmother, his beloved late wife. He is supportive of her going away after being humiliated by her fiancé, Tony Kirby (James Stewart). Alice is Tony’s secretary and below his family’s social standing, so his parents don’t want him to marry her. Mr. Vanderhof’s good advice helps Alice and Tony get married in the end.
“Gramps” (George Cleveland) loves to hear his granddaughter’s voice in “A Date with Judy” (1948). Before Judy (Jane Powell) goes on a date to a school dance where she is to perform, Gramps asks her to sing his favorite song. Her boyfriend, Ogden “Oogie” Pringle (Scotty Beckett), sends a short, younger boy in his place on the advice of his older sister Carol (Elizabeth Taylor), so Judy doesn’t go.
Instead, she goes to the soda fountain, the popular meeting place for youngsters in Santa Barbara, California. There, the owner, her friend “Pop” Sam Scully (Lloyd Corrigan), wonders why she isn’t at the dance. She tells him about her troubles and asks if his new employee, his nephew Steve Andrews (Robert Stack), might be able to take her. At first Steve refuses to take someone so young, but he later concedes. Just then, Gramps arrives in tails and top hat and offers to take Judy to the dance. She tells Gramps she has an escort; he is thrilled and stays at the soda fountain to have a special soda with Pop.
The Perfect Grandpa
Jessica Poole’s (Debbie Reynolds) loveable grandfather is played by Charlie Ruggles in “The Pleasure of His Company” (1961). Mr. Savage (Ruggles) comes to San Francisco for her upcoming wedding. She hugs him and says, “I’ve missed you. You come so seldom.” Then, she rushes upstairs to get the mink jacket her stepfather, James Dougherty (Gary Merrill), bought her for her honeymoon. You can tell how close Jessica is with her grandfather that she wants to share the simple pleasure of a new outfit with him. In her father’s (Fred Astaire) absence due to her parents’ divorce, Jessica has turned to her beloved grandfather for love and support.
Ruggles also plays a grandfather in “The Parent Trap” (1961). He discovers that his identical twin granddaughters, Sharon McKendrick and Susan Evers (both played by Hayley Mills), accidentally met at summer camp, where they discover that they are not just lookalikes but twin sisters. They decide to switch places to force their parents to meet again, and their grandfather listens in on their 3 a.m. phone call. He helps the one he hasn’t seen, Susan, tell her mother and grandmother the truth and arranges his daughter and granddaughter’s travel plans to Carmel, California, as he wants to see the family reunited.
Even though these last two films were made after the Golden Era of Hollywood (1934–1954), they are very good movies. They both show the negative effects of divorce on children. In “The Pleasure of His Company,” the Jessica’s parents can’t get back together because Jessica’s mother, Katherine Dougherty (Lilli Palmer), has remarried. In “The Parent Trap,” Maggie McKendrick (Maureen O’Hara) and Mitch Evers (Brian Keith) remarry after some meddling from their daughters and Grandpa. Disney movies of that era knew how to give a movie a happy ending!
These five movies remind us of the wisdom we can get from the older generation. So, if you need some good advice, ask the wise and kind old men in your family. They just might be able to help.
