Between Us Girls
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
Henry Koster
Diana Barrymore
Robert Cummings
Kay Francis
John Boles
Andy Devine
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
After finishing a stage performance in Detroit, actress Caroline Bishop heads east to see the Long Island mansion that has just been purchased by her wealthy, widowed mother Christine. Arriving at her mother's new home, Caroline is surprised by the flashiness of the decor, then is told by the old family retainer, Gallagher, that her mother is in bed and has been out "lallygagging" until three in the morning. Christine tells Caroline that the change in her lifestyle is due to the new man in her life, multi-millionaire Steven J. Forbes. Christine further admits that she has lied to Steven, having told him that she is only thirty-one years old and that her daughter is a mere child away at boarding school. She has also told Steven that a photograph of the adult Caroline is "Aunt Sadie," the "black sheep" of the family, whose picture she keeps as an "object lesson" for Caroline. When Steven comes to call on her the next afternoon, Christine plans to tell all, but Caroline insists that her mother continue the deception and disguises herself as a twelve-year-old. Steven arrives at the Bishop home with Jimmy Blake, a youthful millionaire, who has devoted his life to fighting for the downtrodden and who believes that Caroline is being mistreated by being forced to attend boarding school. When Gallagher threatens to quit the Bishop household unless Caroline and Christine tell Steven and Jimmy the truth about their ages, Caroline locks the servant in a closet. Jimmy returns the next day and surprises Caroline while she is dressed in her "Sadie Thompson" costume, rehearsing for her next play. Jimmy mistakes this "adult" Caroline for Aunt Sadie and attacks her, thinking that she has been mistreating the "child" Caroline. The "child" Caroline later comes down the stairs feiging injury, and falsely claims it is the work of her evil aunt. Having fallen in love with Jimmy, Caroline tries to keep the young millionaire from a date with his fiancée by telling him that she has never tasted ice cream. Once at the soda fountain, Caroline gets into a fight with a twelve-year-old boy, who then summons his teenage brother and ex-prizefighter father for help. Fleeing the situation in Jimmy's car, the two are arrested for numerous traffic violations, and Christine is forced to go to the police station to bail them out. Later that night, Jimmy discovers the truth when he sees the adult Caroline at a nightclub with Christine and Mike Kilinsky, Caroline's theatrical manager. Although Caroline tells him that she is Sadie, Jimmy recognizes the bandage on her injured wrist, a result of the soda fountain escapade. Caroline persists in her deception, however, by insisting that the "child" Caroline is still at home, then is forced to race back to the Bishop mansion before Jimmy's arrival. The millionaire then gives the "child" Caroline the punishment he feels she so richly deserves by throwing her into a lake. Later, Steven proposes marriage to Christine, and Jimmy traces Caroline to a Detroit theater, where she is appearing in a play as "Joan of Arc." Jimmy confronts Caroline with the truth, and in the midst of her perforance, he proposes to her and she accepts.
Director
Henry Koster
Cast
Diana Barrymore
Robert Cummings
Kay Francis
John Boles
Andy Devine
Ethel Griffies
Walter Catlett
Guinn Williams
Scotty Beckett
Andrew Tombes
Peter Jamerson
Mary Treen
Lillian Yarbo
Irving Bacon
Walter Woolf King
Aileen Pringle
Charles Coleman
Virginia Engels
Earle Dewey
Tommye Adams
Leon Belasco
Jack Mulhall
Jack Chefe
Edgar Dearing
Wade Boteler
Bennie Bartlett
Billy Lenhart
Ed Gargan
Herbert Heyes
Edgar Licho
Lloyd Whitlock
Robert Barron
Norma Drury
Jack C. Smith
Crew
True Boardman
Bernard B. Brown
Myles Connolly
R. A. Gausman
Frank Gross
John Jacoby
Phillip P. Karlstein
Henry Koster
Henry Koster
Joe Lapis
Robert Laszlo
Warren Munroe
Jack Otterson
Jack Pierce
Charles Previn
Richard H. Riedel
Joseph Valentine
Ira Webb
Seward Webb
Vera West
[bud] Westmore
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
The working titles of this film were Boy Meets Girl, Boy Meets Baby, What Happened, Caroline? and Love and Kisses, Caroline. In mid-September 1941, director Henry Koster signed an agreement with Universal which would allow him to produce his own films, with his former assistant director, Phil Karlstein, promoted to associate producer. Between Us Girls was the first production Koster worked on under this agreement. According to Hollywood Reporter, this agreement also stated that top Universal directors of photography Joseph Valentine and Rudolph Mate would be assigned to the new Koster unit. According to Hollywood Reporter, Universal originally envisioned this project as a vehicle for its popular teenage star, Deanna Durbin. In early February 1942, actress Diana Barrymore was tested for the role of "Caroline," but a late February 1942 Hollywood Reporter news item states that the producers did not believe that she was convincing as a teenager. The item went on to state that the producers were trying to borrow actress Olivia de Havilland from Warner Bros. for the part, but if they were unsuccessful in that venture, they were considering canceling the project and instead filming a previously planned adaptation of The Phantom of the Opera, with Deanna Durbin in the female lead. (Universal would later produce that project in 1943, with Susanna Foster as the female lead. See entry below.) In mid-March 1942, Barrymore was finally given the part and the production began a month later.
Hollywood Reporter later reported that in early April 1942 Karlstein and Valentine took a second unit to New York City to shoot background footage for the film. According to Universal publicity materials, Koster wanted the same production crew on this film that he had on his first American film, Three Smart Girls (see AFI Catalog of Feature Films, 1931-40; F3.4623), including director of photography Joseph Valentine, sound technician Joe Lapis, head gaffer Warren Monroe and property boss Bob Laszlo. Press materials state that this was the first film in which the child team of "Butch and Buddy" were separated, as Billy Lenhart appeared in the film without Kenneth Brown. The original play was previously filmed in Germany in 1934 as Früchtchen, starring Frankziska Gaal and Hermann Thimig, and directed by Richard Eichberg.
