Father Is a Bachelor

Carefree vagabond Johnny Rutledge is stuck in a small town when his medicine show employer and friend Professor Mordecai Ford is put in jail. He befriends a young girl named May Chalotte and her brothers January ("Jan"), February ("Feb") and twins March and April. Jan received word six months before that their parents had died in a riverboat accident, but has not told anybody but Feb, and now Johnny, fearing they would be sent to an orphanage. Johnny makes it clear that he is adamantly opposed to taking on any responsibilities, but somehow finds himself becoming their "uncle" anyway. He works on a farm during the week and sings and waits tables on Sunday in a restaurant owned by Jericho Schlosser to provide for the children.

When Prudence Millett, daughter of the local judge, comes to inquire why the boys are not in school, Johnny is forced to claim he is their uncle. A romance begins to blossom, despite his strong aversion to being tied down. (He had worked very hard to drag himself out of poverty to half-ownership of a paper mill, only to have his partner abscond with all the company funds, so he gave up being a responsible citizen.)

When wealthy, unloved Jeffrey Gilland Sr. orders Johnny to keep his disreputable children away from his son Jeffrey Jr., Johnny scuffles with him and gets arrested. Prudence posts his bond, but his troubles are not over. Plato Cassin, Gilland's lawyer, finds out about the children's parents and blackmails Johnny into agreeing to marry one of his older, spinster sisters, Genevieve and Adelaide, in order to keep the kids. (Adelaide wins a game of quoits for the privilege.) Plato also convinces Prudence that Johnny was using the children to romance her.

After thinking it over, Johnny decides to run away with the now-released Professor Ford. May overhears and invites people to her birthday party the next day, intending it to be a going-away party for Johnny. Meanwhile, Johnny dissuades Gilland's young son from running away himself. At the party, a grateful Gilland drops the charges against him.

Prudence shows up, having seen how far Johnny is willing to go for the children. When May asks why she cannot be her aunt, Prudence is quite willing. Johnny tells Adelaide that he loves Prudence. She proves to be a sport and the two women gamble for him. Professor Ford offers what he, Johnny and Jan believe is Johnny's two-headed coin. Prudence wins the toss. Later, Johnny is shocked to learn that they accidentally used a regular coin.

Professor Ford leaves town, leaving Johnny with his new family.

• William Holden as Johnny Rutledge
• Coleen Gray as Prudence Millett
• Mary Jane Saunders as May Chalotte
• Charles Winninger as Professor Mordecai Ford
• Stuart Erwin as Constable Pudge Barnham
• Clinton Sundberg as Plato Cassin
• Gary Gray as Jan Chalotte
• Sig Ruman as Jericho Schlosser
• Billy Gray as Feb Chalotte
• Lloyd Corrigan as Judge Millett
• Frederic Tozere as Jeffrey Gilland Sr.
• Peggy Converse as Genevieve Cassin
• Lillian Bronson as Adelaide Cassin

Johnny sings a number of songs in the film, including "Wait 'Till the Sun Shines, Nellie" in blackface in the opening scene. Holden's singing was dubbed by Buddy Clark.

Bosley Crowther called the film a "saccharine, paper-thin little romance" in his New York Times review.[1]

• Father Is a Bachelor at the TCM Movie Database
• Father Is a Bachelor at IMDb
• Father Is a Bachelor at AllMovie
• Father Is a Bachelor at the American Film Institute Catalog