Private Nurse
Cast & Crew
David Burton
Jane Darwell
Brenda Joyce
Sheldon Leonard
Robert Lowery
Ann Todd
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
After she travels to New York City to marry her childhood sweetheart, nurse Mary Malloy is stood up at the marriage license bureau. Desperate to find a job, Mary goes to the Lexington Nurse's Registery, but the manager, Miss Phillips, warns her that it will be several weeks before she can place her. As Mary is leaving, however, she hears a call come in from Smitty, butler to drunken playboy Henry Hoyt. A message is left for Miss Adams, one of the senior nurses, but Mary, believing that she can get there first, goes to Henry's apartment. Henry and his friends confound Mary, but Adams arrives and, after hearing Mary's story, helps her with the case. They soon get rid of Henry's guests and put him to bed, then Mary accompanies Adams to her rooms. Adams takes Mary under her wing, allowing her to stay with her and accompany her on jobs. Mary is forced to gently repulse the attentions of Henry, who continually sends her flowers and presents. One afternoon, one of Adams' neighbors, Eddie the chauffeur, calls Mary down to his car, where his boss's daughter, young Barbara Winton, lies injured. Mary and Eddie take the child home, where a doctor ascertains that she has a badly fractured leg. Barbara's father, businessman John Winton, comes home and is horrified to learn that his daugther is injured. Winton, whose life revolves around his daughter, allows Mary to stay when he sees how well Barbara responds to her. Mary learns from Barbara that her mother is dead, and then is warned by Winton never to speak to the child about her mother. Mary sends for Adams to help care for Barbara, and all goes well until Henry sends Mary more flowers. When Winton sees the box, which is from Helene's Flower Shop, he reacts strangely and orders Mary to stop the deliveries. When Mary explains the situation to Henry, he tells her that Winton was a notorious bootlegger and racketeer during Prohibition, but that he went straight for Barbara's sake. Henry then phones the florist to cancel his standing order, and shop owner Helene, who is actually Barbara's mother, learns about the child's injury. The worried Helene calls Mary, who agrees to meet her the next evening. Mary goes to the flower shop, where Helene explains the circumstances of her divorce from Winton, whose influence resulted in his gaining sole custody of Barbara. Soon after, Barbara is walking with the aid of crutches and decides to throw a birthday party for Adams. While she and Mary are shopping for party supplies, Barbara insists on going to Helene's flower shop because of the pretty flowers Mary received from Henry. Helene is overwhelmed to see her child, but valiantly keeps her identity a secret. When they return to the house though, Barbara tells Winton which flower shop they visited. Believing that Mary and Adams deliberately disobeyed his orders, Winton fires them and orders them out, but not before they tell him that he is wrong to separate a mother and child. Barbara overhears the argument, and her brokenhearted sobs convince Winton that he has made a mistake. He promises to ask Helene to remarry him, and Mary and Adams, happy that Barbara will soon have a normal home life, answer another call from Smitty.
Director
David Burton
Cast
Jane Darwell
Brenda Joyce
Sheldon Leonard
Robert Lowery
Ann Todd
Kay Linaker
Frank Sully
Ferike Boros
Claire Dubrey
Leonard Carey
Clara Blandick
Myra Marsh
George Chandler
Steve O'brien
Leila Mcintyre
John Elliott
John "skins" Miller
Laura Treadwell
Sarah Edwards
Fern Emmett
Ed Stanley
Ernie Stanton
Joe Recht
Hugh Beaumont
Jack Norton
Pat O'malley
Dick Dickinson
Crew
Harry Brand
Richard Day
Al De Gaetano
Frances Deets
Samuel G. Engel
Hal Herman
Herschel
Harry M. Leonard
George Leverett
Thomas Little
Virgil Miller
Emil Newman
Joseph C. Wright
Sol M. Wurtzel
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
According to a Hollywood Reporter news item, Private Nurse was one of the first films to implement a plan announced by Twentieth Century-Fox that would give "considerably stronger casts to its lower budget productions than heretofore." The news item also noted that "not only are stronger top names to head the casts, but the lesser roles are to be filled with better players than previously." According to another Hollywood Reporter news item, writer Samuel G. Engel was assigned to prepare a sequel to Private Nurse. Although it is not known if the screenplay was completed, a sequel was not produced.
