Dear Ruth
Brief Synopsis
A soldier shows up at the doorstep of his romantic pen pal who has no recollection of ever writing him.
Cast & Crew
Read More
William D. Russell
Director
Joan Caulfield
Ruth [Wilkins]
William Holden
Lieut. William Seacroft
Mona Freeman
Miriam Wilkins
Edward Arnold
Judge Harry Wilkins
Billy Dewolfe
Albert Kummer
Film Details
Genre
Comedy
Adaptation
Release Date
Jul
18,
1947
Premiere Information
Asbury Park, NJ opening: 29 May 1947; New York opening: 10 Jun 1947
Production Company
Paramount Pictures, Inc.
Distribution Company
Paramount Pictures, Inc.
Country
United States
Screenplay Information
Based on the play Dear Ruth by Norman Krasna (New York, 13 Dec 1944).
Technical Specs
Duration
1h 35m
Sound
Mono
Color
Black and White
Theatrical Aspect Ratio
1.37 : 1
Film Length
8,566ft
Synopsis
In 1944 in a suburb of New York City, Miriam Wilkins, a precocious sixteen-year-old, contributes to the war effort by writing the Secretary of War urging him to include women in the draft, protesting the State Department's French policy by wearing a beret, signing up her parents to donate blood, and writing to American soldiers overseas. One day, a young lieutenant named William Seacroft arrives at the Wilkins' home while on a two-day leave from the Italian front and asks to see Miriam's twenty-two-year-old sister Ruth, with whom he has been exchanging love letters. Bill excitedly introduces himself to Ruth's parents, Harry and Edith, who have never heard of him. Although they do not tell Bill, Ruth is in love with Albert Kummer, a thirty-four-year-old slacker who works with her at the town bank. Bill explains that, although he fears flying, Ruth inspired him to become a bombardier because after twenty-five missions, a flyer is guaranteed leave. Harry and Edie invite Bill to dinner that night, but Ruth returns home after work and announces that she and Albert are engaged. Miriam then confesses that she sent Bill Ruth's picture and wrote him sixty letters and poems as part of a campaign to keep up soldiers' morale. When Bill returns to finally meet Ruth, she can see that he thinks he is in love with her, and agrees to pretend that she wrote the letters in order to spare his feelings. Albert, enraged, spends the evening with Harry and Edie waiting for Ruth, who goes out with Bill and does not come home until after one o'clock in the morning. Touched by Bill's innocent charm, Ruth asks Miriam for his letters and discovers a sweet idealism. The next morning, Bill sends Ruth a houseful of lilacs, as well as two hundred boxes of candy corn, which Miriam had mentioned in the letters as her favorite treats. Bill's sister Martha then arrives from Philadelphia to see her brother, and asks when Bill and Ruth are going to marry. When Bill arrives and boldly kisses Ruth in front of Albert and the family, she insists that Albert and Martha join them on a subway ride to avoid being alone with him. While they are out, Bill's sergeant, Chuck Vincent, to whom Martha had been engaged, arrives. Meanwhile, Martha causes Albert to miss the subway train so that Bill can be alone with Ruth to propose, and he is arrested for jumping a turnstyle. When he arrives back at the Wilkins', he is furious, and when the others return for lunch, Bill announces that he and Ruth are to be married. He then learns that he and Chuck will be stationed in Florida, thus allowing them both to marry immediately. Chuck and Martha are reconciled, and the judge agrees to marry them that afternoon. Finally, Ruth tells Bill that she only agreed to marry him to spare his feelings, and he realizes she is engaged to Albert. Miriam later apologizes to Bill, and when he realizes that it was she who wrote to him, is overwhelmed by Ruth's kindness. Bill leaves to make travel arrangements for himself and Chuck and Martha. When he returns, he good-naturedly toasts Albert and Ruth and, telling her he knows that Miriam wrote the letters, says good-bye. While Albert is upstairs scheduling the church for his wedding, Harry tells Ruth that he put money on her running off with Bill, and she realizes she is in love with him. Bill then returns because he gave Harry his ticket instead of Chuck and Martha's, and Ruth tells him she has always wanted to see Florida. Hoping Ruth would change her mind, Harry had prepared two marriage licenses, and quickly marries and whisks them out the back door before Albert gets off the phone.
Director
William D. Russell
Director
Cast
Joan Caulfield
Ruth [Wilkins]
William Holden
Lieut. William Seacroft
Mona Freeman
Miriam Wilkins
Edward Arnold
Judge Harry Wilkins
Billy Dewolfe
Albert Kummer
Mary Philips
Edith Wilkins
Virginia Welles
Martha Seacroft
Kenny O'morrison
Sgt. Chuck Vincent
Marietta Canty
Dora [the maid]
Irving Bacon
Delivery man
Jimmie Dundee
Harold Klobbermeyer
Jay Gerard
Cab driver
Erno Verebes
Headwaiter
Isabel Randolph
Crew
Art Camp
Props
Sam Comer
Set Decoration
John Cope
Sound Recording
Robert Emmett Dolan
Music Score
Hans Dreier
Art Director
Farciot Edouart
Process Photography
Ray Evans
Composer
Edith Head
Costumes
Earl Hedrick
Art Director
Paul Jones
Producer
Ernest Laszlo
Director of Photography
Jay Livingston
Composer
Archie Marshek
Film Editor
Syd Moore
Set Decoration
Oscar Rudolph
Assistant Director
Arthur Sheekman
Screenwriter
William Thayer
Sound Recording
Wally Westmore
Makeup Supervisor
Film Details
Genre
Comedy
Adaptation
Release Date
Jul
18,
1947
Premiere Information
Asbury Park, NJ opening: 29 May 1947; New York opening: 10 Jun 1947
Production Company
Paramount Pictures, Inc.
Distribution Company
Paramount Pictures, Inc.
Country
United States
Screenplay Information
Based on the play Dear Ruth by Norman Krasna (New York, 13 Dec 1944).
Technical Specs
Duration
1h 35m
Sound
Mono
Color
Black and White
Theatrical Aspect Ratio
1.37 : 1
Film Length
8,566ft
Articles
Dear Ruth
A normal day in the Wilkins family: reticent beauty Ruth, crusty judge father, petition-happy political activist teen Miriam. Who should show up but Ruth's soldier pen pal Bill Seacroft...whom she doesn't know about. It seems Miriam used her sister's name and picture to build up wartime morale. Ruth reluctantly agrees to "humor" Bill for his 2-day leave, though she's just become engaged to her stuffy suitor Albert. Can Miriam's cloud castle last the weekend without crashing to earth?
Dear Ruth
A normal day in the Wilkins family: reticent beauty Ruth, crusty judge father, petition-happy political activist teen Miriam. Who should show up but Ruth's soldier pen pal Bill Seacroft...whom she doesn't know about. It seems Miriam used her sister's name and picture to build up wartime morale. Ruth reluctantly agrees to "humor" Bill for his 2-day leave, though she's just become engaged to her stuffy suitor Albert. Can Miriam's cloud castle last the weekend without crashing to earth?
Quotes
The game of man and woman maneuvering in pursuit of a mate I consider on the mental level of a game of checkers.- Miriam Wilkins
I'll talk to you later. A prominent member of the last generation just walked in.- Miriam Wilkins
I hope the young fellow that gets my blood doesn't need it too badly, because I have no confidence in it.- Judge Wilkins
He was lonely and frightened, and - and he poured his heart out to me.- Miriam Wilkins
Who's going to pour it back?- Judge Wilkins
Trivia
J.D. Salinger got the name for his hero in The Catcher in the Rye from seeing the marquee for this film, starring William HOLDEN and Joan CAULFIELD.
Notes
While William Holden's name is above Joan Caulfield's in the opening credits, Caulfield's is first in the end credits. The order of other cast member's names also differs between the opening and end credits. According to a Hollywood Reporter news item, Paulette Goddard was considered for the role of "Ruth," Sonny Tufts was planned as the male lead and Diana Lynn was considered for the role of "Miriam." According to studio publicity, the exteriors for encompassing shots of the Wilkins' house were shot at a residence near the UCLA campus in Westwood, CA. The house interiors and front facade were built in the studio.
In 1945, Hollywood Reporter reported that Columbia Pictures was suing "Norman Krasna and Broadway producers Joseph Hyman and Bernard Hart, charging the play Dear Ruth, which ran for 683 performances, was an infringement of the copyrighted script, Dear Mr. Private," owned by Columbia. The outcome of the lawsuit has not been determined. As reported in the Hollywood Reporter review, the film was completed [Oct 1946] "at a time when anything pertaining to the war ceased to seem funny," and as result, the film's release was postponed. The film marked William Holden's return to the screen after military service.
Dear Ruth was the first film in a series of three based on the characters created by Norman Krasna. In 1949, Paramount released Dear Wife, directed by Richard Hayden and starring most of the original cast members, which took up the story after "Ruth" and "Bill" are married. Another sequel, Dear Brat, directed by William A. Seiter, featured Mona Freeman's character "Miriam" and others from the first two films, but did not include Caulfield or Holden in the cast ( and below). Joan Caulfield, William Holden and Billy DeWolfe reprised their roles in a Lux Radio Theatre broadcast on April 26, 1948, and Caulfield, Holden and Mona Freeman reprised their roles in a second Lux radio version on December 5, 1949.
