Four Daughters
Encyclopedia
Four Daughters is a 1938 musical
drama film
that tells the story of a happy musical family whose lives and loves are disrupted by the arrival of a cynical young composer who interjects himself into the daughters' romantic lives. The movie stars the Lane Sisters
(Priscilla Lane
, Rosemary Lane
, and Lola Lane
), and features Gale Page, Claude Rains
, Jeffrey Lynn
, John Garfield
and Dick Foran
. The Lanes were real sisters, members of a family singing trio.
The film was written by Lenore J. Coffee
and Julius J. Epstein
from the Fannie Hurst
novel Sister Act, and was directed by Michael Curtiz
. The movie spawned two sequels with more or less the same cast, Four Wives
and Four Mothers
.
in a musical family headed by their father, Adam. The Lemps also run a boarding house
, and among the tenants is Felix Deitz, a young composer whom the four daughters aim to attract. Emma, the oldest daughter, is the object of affection for a nervous neighbor, Ernest, but she rebuffs his attentions. Thea, a pianist and the second oldest, is courted by a local wealthy man, Ben Crowley, but is not sure she loves him. Kay, the next oldest, is a talented singer and has a chance at a music school scholarship, but doesn't want to leave home. The youngest daughter is Ann, a violinist. A new tenant to the house is an angry young man named Mickey, an orchestral arranger and friend of Felix. Mickey immediately falls in love with Ann, but Felix also has had his eyes on her and proposes marriage.
, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor
(John Garfield
), Best Adapted Screenplay
and Sound Recording (Nathan Levinson
). For Best Picture and Best Director it lost to Frank Capra
's You Can't Take It with You
. Best supporting actor went to Walter Brennan
in Kentucky
, while the adapted screenplay honor went to Pygmalion
.
of four films by Warner Bros.
featuring the Lane Sisters
and the other cast members. It was followed by in 1939's Daughters Courageous
, also directed by Michael Curtiz
and co-starring Claude Rains
and John Garfield
, though it is a story about a different family. However, the storyline of Four Daughters and the Lemp family is continued in the 1940 film, Four Wives
, and 1941's Four Mothers
.
in 1954 as Young at Heart
starring Frank Sinatra
and Doris Day
.
Musical film
The musical film is a film genre in which songs sung by the characters are interwoven into the narrative, sometimes accompanied by dancing. The songs usually advance the plot or develop the film's characters, though in some cases they serve merely as breaks in the storyline, often as elaborate...
drama film
Drama film
A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...
that tells the story of a happy musical family whose lives and loves are disrupted by the arrival of a cynical young composer who interjects himself into the daughters' romantic lives. The movie stars the Lane Sisters
Lane Sisters
The Lane Sisters refers to a group of sisters, three of whom achieved success in the 1920s and 1930s as a singing act, with their popularity onstage leading to a series of successful films. A fourth sister was not successful and left this milieu and a fifth avoided show business altogether...
(Priscilla Lane
Lane Sisters
The Lane Sisters refers to a group of sisters, three of whom achieved success in the 1920s and 1930s as a singing act, with their popularity onstage leading to a series of successful films. A fourth sister was not successful and left this milieu and a fifth avoided show business altogether...
, Rosemary Lane
Lane Sisters
The Lane Sisters refers to a group of sisters, three of whom achieved success in the 1920s and 1930s as a singing act, with their popularity onstage leading to a series of successful films. A fourth sister was not successful and left this milieu and a fifth avoided show business altogether...
, and Lola Lane
Lane Sisters
The Lane Sisters refers to a group of sisters, three of whom achieved success in the 1920s and 1930s as a singing act, with their popularity onstage leading to a series of successful films. A fourth sister was not successful and left this milieu and a fifth avoided show business altogether...
), and features Gale Page, Claude Rains
Claude Rains
Claude Rains was an English stage and film actor whose career spanned 66 years. He was known for many roles in Hollywood films, among them the title role in The Invisible Man , a corrupt senator in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington , Mr...
, Jeffrey Lynn
Jeffrey Lynn
Jeffrey Lynn was an American actor.Born Ragnar Lind in Auburn, Massachusetts, Lynn was a school teacher before he began his acting career. He came to Hollywood and made his film debut in Out Where the Stars Begin...
, John Garfield
John Garfield
John Garfield was an American actor adept at playing brooding, rebellious, working-class character roles. He grew up in poverty in Depression-era New York City and in the early 1930s became an important member of the Group Theater. In 1937 he moved to Hollywood, eventually becoming one of Warner...
and Dick Foran
Dick Foran
John Nicholas 'Dick' Foran was an American actor, known for his performances in western musicals and for playing supporting roles in dramatic pictures.-Life and career:...
. The Lanes were real sisters, members of a family singing trio.
The film was written by Lenore J. Coffee
Lenore J. Coffee
Lenore Jackson Coffee was an American screenwriter, playwright and novelist.-Biography:...
and Julius J. Epstein
Julius J. Epstein
Julius J. Epstein was an American screenwriter, who had a long career, best remembered for the adaptation - in partnership with his twin brother, Philip, and others - of the unproduced play Everybody Comes to Rick's that became the screenplay for the film Casablanca , for which its team of writers...
from the Fannie Hurst
Fannie Hurst
Fannie Hurst was an American novelist. Although her books are not well remembered today, during her lifetime some of her more famous novels were Stardust , Lummox , A President is Born , Back Street , and Imitation of Life...
novel Sister Act, and was directed by Michael Curtiz
Michael Curtiz
Michael Curtiz was an Academy award winning Hungarian-American film director. He had early creditsas Mihály Kertész and Michael Kertész...
. The movie spawned two sequels with more or less the same cast, Four Wives
Four Wives
Four Wives is a 1939 film starring Priscilla Lane and two of her sisters, features Gale Page, Claude Raines, Eddie Albert, and John Garfield, and was directed by Michael Curtiz...
and Four Mothers
Four Mothers
Four Mothers is the 1941 film sequel to Four Daughters and Four Wives starring Priscilla Lane and two of her sisters, and featuring Gale Page, Claude Raines, and Eddie Albert. The supporting cast includes Jeffrey Lynn, May Robson, Frank McHugh, and Dick Foran...
.
Plot
The Lemp sisters, Ann, Kay, Thea, and Emma, are prodigiesChild prodigy
A child prodigy is someone who, at an early age, masters one or more skills far beyond his or her level of maturity. One criterion for classifying prodigies is: a prodigy is a child, typically younger than 18 years old, who is performing at the level of a highly trained adult in a very demanding...
in a musical family headed by their father, Adam. The Lemps also run a boarding house
Boarding house
A boarding house, is a house in which lodgers rent one or more rooms for one or more nights, and sometimes for extended periods of weeks, months and years. The common parts of the house are maintained, and some services, such as laundry and cleaning, may be supplied. They normally provide "bed...
, and among the tenants is Felix Deitz, a young composer whom the four daughters aim to attract. Emma, the oldest daughter, is the object of affection for a nervous neighbor, Ernest, but she rebuffs his attentions. Thea, a pianist and the second oldest, is courted by a local wealthy man, Ben Crowley, but is not sure she loves him. Kay, the next oldest, is a talented singer and has a chance at a music school scholarship, but doesn't want to leave home. The youngest daughter is Ann, a violinist. A new tenant to the house is an angry young man named Mickey, an orchestral arranger and friend of Felix. Mickey immediately falls in love with Ann, but Felix also has had his eyes on her and proposes marriage.
Academy Award nominations
The film was an Academy Award nominee for Best PictureAcademy Award for Best Picture
The Academy Award for Best Picture is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to artists working in the motion picture industry. The Best Picture category is the only category in which every member of the Academy is eligible not only...
, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry. Since its inception, however, the...
(John Garfield
John Garfield
John Garfield was an American actor adept at playing brooding, rebellious, working-class character roles. He grew up in poverty in Depression-era New York City and in the early 1930s became an important member of the Group Theater. In 1937 he moved to Hollywood, eventually becoming one of Warner...
), Best Adapted Screenplay
Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay
The Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay is one of the Academy Awards, the most prominent film awards in the United States. It is awarded each year to the writer of a screenplay adapted from another source...
and Sound Recording (Nathan Levinson
Nathan Levinson
Nathan Levinson was an American sound engineer. He won an Academy Award in the category Sound Recording for the film Yankee Doodle Dandy and was nominated for 16 more in the same category...
). For Best Picture and Best Director it lost to Frank Capra
Frank Capra
Frank Russell Capra was a Sicilian-born American film director. He emigrated to the U.S. when he was six, and eventually became a creative force behind major award-winning films during the 1930s and 1940s...
's You Can't Take It with You
You Can't Take It with You
You Can't Take It with You is a comedic play in three acts by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart. The original production of the play opened at the Booth Theater on December 14, 1936, and played for 837 performances...
. Best supporting actor went to Walter Brennan
Walter Brennan
Walter Brennan was an American actor. Brennan won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor on three separate occasions, which is currently the record for most wins.-Early life:...
in Kentucky
Kentucky (film)
Kentucky is a 1938 Technicolor film with Loretta Young, Richard Greene, and Walter Brennan. It was directed by David Butler. It is a Romeo and Juliet story of lovers Jack and Sally, set amidst Kentucky horseracing, in which a family feud goes back to the Civil War and is kept alive by Sally's Uncle...
, while the adapted screenplay honor went to Pygmalion
Pygmalion (1938 film)
Pygmalion is a 1938 British film based on the George Bernard Shaw play of the same title, and adapted by him for the screen. It stars Leslie Howard and Wendy Hiller....
.
Four Daughters film series
Four Daughters is the first in a seriesFilm series
A film series is a collection of related films in succession. Their relationship is not fixed, but generally share a common diegetic world. Sometimes the work is conceived as a multiple-film work, for example the Three Colours series, but in most cases the success of the original film inspires...
of four films by Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
featuring the Lane Sisters
Lane Sisters
The Lane Sisters refers to a group of sisters, three of whom achieved success in the 1920s and 1930s as a singing act, with their popularity onstage leading to a series of successful films. A fourth sister was not successful and left this milieu and a fifth avoided show business altogether...
and the other cast members. It was followed by in 1939's Daughters Courageous
Daughters Courageous
Daughters Courageous is a 1939 drama film starring the three Lane Sisters , with the fourth sister being played by Gale Page. The movie also stars John Garfield and Claude Rains...
, also directed by Michael Curtiz
Michael Curtiz
Michael Curtiz was an Academy award winning Hungarian-American film director. He had early creditsas Mihály Kertész and Michael Kertész...
and co-starring Claude Rains
Claude Rains
Claude Rains was an English stage and film actor whose career spanned 66 years. He was known for many roles in Hollywood films, among them the title role in The Invisible Man , a corrupt senator in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington , Mr...
and John Garfield
John Garfield
John Garfield was an American actor adept at playing brooding, rebellious, working-class character roles. He grew up in poverty in Depression-era New York City and in the early 1930s became an important member of the Group Theater. In 1937 he moved to Hollywood, eventually becoming one of Warner...
, though it is a story about a different family. However, the storyline of Four Daughters and the Lemp family is continued in the 1940 film, Four Wives
Four Wives
Four Wives is a 1939 film starring Priscilla Lane and two of her sisters, features Gale Page, Claude Raines, Eddie Albert, and John Garfield, and was directed by Michael Curtiz...
, and 1941's Four Mothers
Four Mothers
Four Mothers is the 1941 film sequel to Four Daughters and Four Wives starring Priscilla Lane and two of her sisters, and featuring Gale Page, Claude Raines, and Eddie Albert. The supporting cast includes Jeffrey Lynn, May Robson, Frank McHugh, and Dick Foran...
.
Cast
 |
Priscilla Lane Lane Sisters The Lane Sisters refers to a group of sisters, three of whom achieved success in the 1920s and 1930s as a singing act, with their popularity onstage leading to a series of successful films. A fourth sister was not successful and left this milieu and a fifth avoided show business altogether... as Ann Lemp |
 |
John Garfield John Garfield John Garfield was an American actor adept at playing brooding, rebellious, working-class character roles. He grew up in poverty in Depression-era New York City and in the early 1930s became an important member of the Group Theater. In 1937 he moved to Hollywood, eventually becoming one of Warner... as Mickey Borden |
 |
Rosemary Lane Lane Sisters The Lane Sisters refers to a group of sisters, three of whom achieved success in the 1920s and 1930s as a singing act, with their popularity onstage leading to a series of successful films. A fourth sister was not successful and left this milieu and a fifth avoided show business altogether... as Kay Lemp |
 |
Jeffrey Lynn Jeffrey Lynn Jeffrey Lynn was an American actor.Born Ragnar Lind in Auburn, Massachusetts, Lynn was a school teacher before he began his acting career. He came to Hollywood and made his film debut in Out Where the Stars Begin... as Feliz Deitz |
 |
Lola Lane Lane Sisters The Lane Sisters refers to a group of sisters, three of whom achieved success in the 1920s and 1930s as a singing act, with their popularity onstage leading to a series of successful films. A fourth sister was not successful and left this milieu and a fifth avoided show business altogether... as Thea Lemp |
 |
May Robson May Robson May Robson was an actress and playwright. A major stage actress of the late 19th and early 20th century, Robson is best known today for the dozens of 1930s motion pictures she appeared in when she was well into her seventies, usually playing cross old ladies with hearts of gold.- Biography :Born... as Aunt Etta |
 |
Gale Page as Emma Lemp |  |
Frank McHugh Frank McHugh Francis Curray "Frank" McHugh was an American film and television actor.Born in Homestead, Pennsylvania, McHugh came from a theatrical family. His parents ran a stock theatre company and as a young child he performed on stage... as Ben Crowley |
 |
Claude Rains Claude Rains Claude Rains was an English stage and film actor whose career spanned 66 years. He was known for many roles in Hollywood films, among them the title role in The Invisible Man , a corrupt senator in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington , Mr... as Adam Lemp |
 |
Dick Foran Dick Foran John Nicholas 'Dick' Foran was an American actor, known for his performances in western musicals and for playing supporting roles in dramatic pictures.-Life and career:... as Ernest Talbot |
Remake
Four Daughters was remadeRemake
A remake is a piece of media based primarily on an earlier work of the same medium.-Film:The term "remake" is generally used in reference to a movie which uses an earlier movie as the main source material, rather than in reference to a second, later movie based on the same source...
in 1954 as Young at Heart
Young at Heart (1954 film)
Young at Heart is a 1954 film, directed by Gordon Douglas. It was a remake of the 1938 film Four Daughters, and it starred Frank Sinatra, Doris Day, Gig Young, Ethel Barrymore, Alan Hale, Jr and Dorothy Malone and was the first of five films that Gordon Douglas directed with Frank...
starring Frank Sinatra
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
and Doris Day
Doris Day
Doris Day is an American actress, singer and, since her retirement from show business, an animal rights activist. With an entertainment career that spanned through almost 50 years, Day started her career as a big band singer in 1939, but only began to be noticed after her first hit recording,...
.