Cary Makes Room

Anna Rose (Betsy Drake) is happily married to George "Poppy" Rose (Cary Grant). The couple have three children: Tim (Malcolm Cassell), Trot (Gay Gordon), and Teenie (George Winslow). They also have an assortment of pets - abandoned creatures that Anna adopts, as Anna feels deeply for any creature living without love. So, when she visits a local orphan asylum and discovers the number of older children unable to find loving homes, she decides there is always Room for One More (1952).

Ms. Drake and Mr. Grant had been married for three years when they appeared in this, their second of two films together. Their rapport is obvious and works towards the film's appeal. Mr. Grant is appropriately flustered as the husband working to make ends meet for a continually growing family. He also brings to the part an intelligence and concern for his family, that in lesser hands would have resulted in the stereotypical stupid father. Poppy is never that, nor is he unwilling to take on the additional mouths. He is cautious in the face of Anna's open generosity, and the counterpoint works beautifully.

Betsy Drake makes Anna a free spirit; she lets her heart lead, in the assumption that all will be well. But we quickly learn she is savvy enough to know that financially they are strapped with the extra mouths, and that her job - and that of her husband - is to provide love and care to their adopted charges. Thus, the two additions to the Rose home are not adopted - they need funding from the state to make sure that ALL the children are equally cared for.

We know pretty quickly that Anna is a soft touch. Miss Kenyon (Lurene Tuttle), the head of the local orphanage sees to that. Though Anna is hesitant about taking on a child, Miss Kenyon arrives at the door of the Rose home with a very troubled girl, Jane (Iris Mann). The film pulls no punches in detailing the abuse this 13 year old child has faced, from her parents and from other caretakers. We know that she has been starved at one point, as we see her hoarding food in anticipation of being ejected from the Rose home.  And when we meet the next of Miss Kenyon's children to enter the Rose family, we actually see the abuse that Jimmy-John (Clifford Tatum Jr.) has been suffering at the hands of one of his teachers.

All of the child actors are good, but George Winslow (Teenie) in his film debut, steals the show. With his distinct voice (he was nicknamed "Foghorn), he'd first appeared on the radio show Art Linkletter's People are Funny. (AFI Catalog). He would appear in two films with Cary Grant and two with Marilyn Monroe (Monkey Business (1952) which featured both of them, and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) with Ms. Monroe).  Mr. Winslow retired from films at the age of twelve (when asked, he said he never much liked acting); served in the Navy and worked for the Postal Service.  He never married; he died of cardiac arrest at the age of 69 in 2015. This New York Times obituary has more information about his life and career.

Based on the book of the same name by Anna Perrot Rose (for more on the book, see Josephine's Reader Advisory ), the film did well at the box office. Both Variety and New York Times review by Bosley Crowther gave the film a thumb's up (though Mr. Crowther was annoyed at the "running gag" concerning "the manner in which the children interfere with the cuddling of pa and ma".  In fairness, he does admit to a certain priggishness.) The Lux Radio Theatre aired a version of the story in May of 1952, with Cary Grant and Phyllis Thaxter.  In 1962, the story was the subject of a short-lived television series, starring Andrew Duggan and Peggy McKay (TCM article). 

Cary Grant has a way with children in his films that is exceptional - having five of them only gives him more opportunity to interact.  I'll end with the opening of the film and a suggestion that you try it one day when you need a smile.