The Daughter of Rosie OGrady

Plot

At the end of the Spanish–American War in 1898, grumpy and overprotective Irish widower Dennis O'Grady (James Barton) has three daughters. The oldest, Katie (Marcia Mae Jones), welcomes her husband James Moore (Sean McClory), whom she has married in secret, home from the army. The youngest two, Patricia (June Haver) and Maureen (Debbie Reynolds), pass a vaudeville theater owned by Tony Pastor (Gordon MacRae). Patricia recognizes the man from earlier that afternoon when he mocked her father, and she scolds him for his actions.

Dennis is advised by his friend Miklos (S. Z. Sakall) to warn his daughters about the immoral behavior of most men before it is too late. He is not aware of Katie's marriage and pregnancy, nor Patricia's flirtations with a vaudeville actor. Since the death of his wife Rosie – a famous vaudeville actress – Dennis has been wary of vaudeville, feeling that the hard life of vaudevillians was the cause of Rosie's death. When Patricia is caught by her father accompanying Tony, she lies that Tony is a college student. Dennis is impressed by the young man, and decides that he would be perfect to date Katie. Patricia is upset but keeps quiet, afraid of her father's judgment.

Patricia tells Tony that she is interested in joining him on the stage, but Tony thinks she should tell her father the truth. Dennis is outraged when he learns about Tony's connections to the vaudeville, and locks Patricia in her room, but she sneaks out to join Tony on the stage, where she quickly becomes a big hit. Dennis, meanwhile, learns that one of his daughters is expecting twins, and decides that Patricia must be the one. Devastated, he gets drunk and gets in trouble with the police. He disowns all his daughters – including innocent Maureen.

Lonely without his daughters, Dennis becomes ill. Patricia is informed by Miklos about her father's health, and quickly gathers her sisters and their lovers to take care of him. Dennis initially does not accept their company, until he finds out that Katie has just given birth to triplets. Afterwards, Patricia and Tony get engaged.

Cast

Cast notes

Production

The film had been in preproduction for years before its release with the working title of A Night at Tony Pastor's. A 1942 article announced that George Raft would play the lead role.