Small Town Deb
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
Harold Schuster
Jane Withers
Jane Darwell
Bruce Edwards
Cobina Wright Jr.
Cecil Kellaway
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Fifteen-year-old Patricia Randall is a thorn in the sides of her older brother Tim and sister Helen, who regard her as too young to be of any consequence. Even her mother admits that Pat is going through "that peculiar stage," but Pat's father Henry and the Randall housekeeper, Katie, know that Pat is a good kid at heart. Pat becomes especially annoying to Helen when she inadvertantly interferes with Helen's burgeoning romance with medical student Jack Richards. Jack, exhausted from his studies, is in the Randalls' small home town to rest for the summer, but Helen's constant socializing and sporting activities are wearing him out. Pat tries to get Helen to ease up, but when she does not, Pat convinces Jack to take a rest at the Randalls' country cabin rather than break up with Helen. Meanwhile, Henry grows increasingly worried because Helen's and his wife's extravagencies have so depleted the family's finances that he might not have enough money to pay the taxes on their land in the country. Henry had bought the land in the hope that a factory would want to move there, but he and friends, who have invested in land nearby, decide to ask the government if they want to buy the land for a military training ground. He travels to Chicago, and while the regional board there agrees that the site would be ideal, he must first receive the permission of Jack's influential businessman father, Eustace R. Richards. While Henry worries about the taxes, Helen desperately tries to find a date for the country club dance after Jack leaves town. Tim also tries to find a date, for his girl friend, Sue Morgan, has left to visit a cousin. Helen succeeds in finding an escort, and Tim decides to take Pat. He pays for a new dress for her and a visit to the local beauty parlor, and Pat is thrilled with the results. The night of the dance, however, Pat's would-be suitor, Chauncey Jones, engineers the return of Sue so that Tim can take her to the dance and Pat is free for him. His own plans are thwarted though when he has to take his cousin Eloise, and Pat is left dateless. Determined to go because she knows that Mr. Richards will be there, Pat drives to the cabin and brings Jack back as her date. Both Richards and Helen are impressed with Jack's health, for he has recuperated well during his time alone, and he and Helen are reconciled. Pat easily convinces Richards to okay her father's project, then refuses all the boys who ask her to dance so that she can dance with Chauncey.
Director
Harold Schuster
Cast
Jane Withers
Jane Darwell
Bruce Edwards
Cobina Wright Jr.
Cecil Kellaway
Katharine Alexander
Jack Searl
Buddy Pepper
Robert Cornell
Margaret Early
Douglas Wood
John T. Murray
Ruth Gillette
Nora Lane
Daphne Ogden
Marie Blake
Henry Roquemore
Jeff Corey
Edwin Stanley
Isabel Randolph
Crew
Arthur Berthelet
Jasper Blystone
Harry Brand
Richard Day
Mack Gordon
Chester Gore
Al Graham
Pat Haver
Herschel
Ethel Hill
William Koenig
Harry M. Leonard
George Leverett
Thomas Little
Virgil Miller
Emil Newman
Lou Ostrow
Alexander Troffey
Jerrie Walters
Harry Warren
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
According to the Twentieth Century-Fox Records of the Legal Department at the UCLA Arts-Special Collections Library, Jerrie Walters, credited with original story, was a pseudonym for Jane Withers. A Hollywood Reporter news item stated that she received $3,000 for her story. In the film, Withers does an impression of fellow Twentieth Century-Fox star Carmen Miranda and sings "I, Yi, Yi, Yi, Yi (I Like You Very Much)," which was one of Miranda's signature songs.
