Twice Blessed
Brief Synopsis
Twin sisters set a parent trap to reunite their divorced mother and father.
Cast & Crew
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Harry Beaumont
Director
Preston Foster
Jeff Turner
Gail Patrick
Mary Hale
Lee Wilde
Terry Turner
Lyn Wilde
Stephanie Hale
Richard Gaines
Senator John Pringle
Film Details
Genre
Comedy
Release Date
Jul
1945
Premiere Information
New York opening: 7 Jul 1945
Production Company
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Corp.
Distribution Company
Loew's Inc.
Country
United States
Technical Specs
Duration
1h 15m
Film Length
6,843ft
Synopsis
Mary Hale, the American authority on child psychology, returns from a trip with her daughter, the prim genius Stephanie, and tells reporters about her plan to help Senator John Pringle with his work on the youth problem. One of the reporters, Jeff Turner, happens to be Mary's ex-husband and Stephanie's father, and accuses Mary of sacrificing her marriage for her career and stepping into a man's job. Soon after, Mary asks Jeff if she can visit Stephanie's identical twin sister, Terry, whom she has not seen for seven years, and he agrees. That night at the soda shop, "bobby-soxer" Terry, her boyfriend Jimmy and their friends discuss the City Championship Dance Contest before she comes home to find her mother and sister. As Mary and Jeff discuss the fact that though they still care for each other, they disagree on how to rear the twins and whether Mary should work, Terry and Stephanie covertly decide to switch places, so Terry can enjoy Stephanie's glamorous lifestyle and live with her mother, while Stephanie can escape the public eye and get to know her father. When Jeff refuses to let Mary take Terry and instead kisses her, a flustered Mary grabs Terry, thinking she is Stephanie, and leaves. The next morning, Stephanie visits the soda shop and confuses Terry's friends by being awkward and brainy. At the same time, Terry goes out with Stephanie's boyfriend, Mickey Pringle, and shocks him by being fun and wild. That night, the girls talk on the telephone and decide that Stephanie should compete in the National Knowledge Contest, dressed as Terry, so their mother will believe that Jeff reared Terry correctly and fall in love with him again. Soon after, Stephanie is forced to compete in a jitterbug contest with Jimmy, and though she fails miserably, the two fall deeply in love. Meanwhile, Terry attends a society dance and falls in love with Mickey, who adores what he believes is his girl friend's new liveliness. A few days later, after Mary gives a public speech supporting Pringle, whom she plans to marry in order to advance her career, Jeff maneuvers her into his cab. There they admit their mutual love, though Mary refuses to re-marry him. Later, after Jeff stands up Alice, his jealous girl friend and fellow reporter, to cover the National Knowledge Contest, she gets even by photographing Terry, as Stephanie, dancing the jitterbug with Mickey and getting involved in a fight that breaks out on the dance floor. Meanwhile, Stephanie, as Terry, wins the National Knowledge Contest, causing Mary to change her opinion about Jeff's parenting skills. Alice calls Jeff at the award ceremony to inform him that Stephanie is in jail for fighting. Leaving Mary at the ceremony, he runs to the newspaper office, where Alice blackmails him into agreeing to marry her in return for not printing the photographs of Stephanie jitterbugging, which would ruin both Stephanie and Mary. When Mary, who has followed Jeff, arrives at the newspaper office, she tells him she now wants to marry him, but he feigns disinterest. A few days later, Terry forces Jeff to tell her about Alice's blackmail, and after she and Stephanie reveal their identity-swapping to their friends, the teens help them storm Alice's apartment and steal the pictures. That night at a rally, Mary is about to announce her engagement to Pringle when the kids burst in and give the photographs to her. As Mary tears up the pictures and embraces Jeff, Alice storms out and the twins swap boyfriends, kissing them blissfully.
Director
Harry Beaumont
Director
Cast
Preston Foster
Jeff Turner
Gail Patrick
Mary Hale
Lee Wilde
Terry Turner
Lyn Wilde
Stephanie Hale
Richard Gaines
Senator John Pringle
Jean Porter
Kitty
Marshall Thompson
Jimmy
Jimmy Lydon
Mickey Pringle
Gloria Hope
Alice
Douglas Cowan
Jake
Warren Mills
Whitey
Joel Friedkin
Mr. Winters
Ralph Brooke
Chet
Ralph Hoopes
Lionel
Don Hayden
Alfi
Tommy Bond
Horace
Ethel Smith
Leo Borden
Lefty
Ruth Warren
Maid
Greta Granstedt
Maid
Jack Kenny
Groom
Joe Hickey
Dance judge
Roger Creed
Chauffeur
Bill Henderson
Boy
John Dehner
Radio announcer
Tom Herbert
Manager
Edward Gargan
Crew
Edward Baravalle
Music mixer
Douglass Biggs
Film Editor
Joseph Boyle
Assistant Director
Earl Brent
Music Arrangement
Kay Carter
Associate
Peter P. Decker
Music mixer
Dale Deverman
2nd Camera
Arthur L. Field
Producer
Frazao
Composer
Cedric Gibbons
Art Director
Wally Heglin
Orchestration
Ethel Hill
Screenwriter
Irene
Costume Supervisor
Ray June
Director of Photography
Benedicto Lacerda
Composer
Standish J. Lambert
Re-rec and Effects mixer
M. J. Mclaughlin
Music mixer
Richard Pefferle
Associate (Sets)
Hans Peters
Art Director
Douglas Shearer
Recording Director
Robert W. Shirley
Re-rec and Effects mixer
Art Smith
Unit Manager
David Snell
Music Director
William Steinkamp
Re-rec and Effects mixer
Michael Steinore
Re-rec and Effects mixer
Richard Stevens
Unit mixer
Arthur Walsh
Dance routines
John A. Williams
Re-rec and Effects mixer
Edwin B. Willis
Set Decoration
Film Details
Genre
Comedy
Release Date
Jul
1945
Premiere Information
New York opening: 7 Jul 1945
Production Company
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Corp.
Distribution Company
Loew's Inc.
Country
United States
Technical Specs
Duration
1h 15m
Film Length
6,843ft
Articles
Twice Blessed
Twin sisters set a parent trap to reunite their divorced mother and father.
Twice Blessed
Twin sisters set a parent trap to reunite their divorced mother and father.
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
Although Lee and Lyn Wilde's opening onscreen credit reads "presenting the Wilde Twins," they had been appearing in films since 1943. Hollywood Reporter production charts in November and December 1944 list James Craig in the cast, but he did not appear in the final film. Craig May have been replaced by Preston Foster, whose name appeared in the production charts after Craig's was removed. The first names of Lacerda and Frazao, composers of the song "Lero-Lero," could not be determined. Although the plot of Walt Disney Productions' 1961 and 1998 films entitled The Parent Trap strongly resemble Twice Blessed, The Parent Trap was based on the German novel Das doppelte Lottchen by Erich Kästner (see AFI Catalog of Feature Films, 1961-70; F6.3720 for information on 1961 film).
