THE COURTSHIP OF EDDIE'S FATHER

 "THE COURTSHIP OF EDDIE'S FATHER" --- (1963)

SYNOPSIS: "Realizing that he needs a mother -- and his widower father, Tom, needs a wife -- precocious Eddie Corbett is determined to get his dad remarried. While Tom dates numerous women, including the uptight aristocrat Rita Behrens, nobody seems to be a good fit for Eddie or his father. Soon it becomes apparent that Tom's ideal match may be closer than he thought, as he begins to develop feelings for his lovely neighbor, Elizabeth Marten."

STARRING: Glenn Ford, Ron Howard, Dina Merrill, Shirley Jones, Stella Stevens, Jerry Van Dyke, Roberta Sherwood, Lee Meriweather and Vito Scotti.

SCREENPLAY: John Gay; based on "The Courtship of Eddie's Father" a 1961 novel by Mark Toby.

DIRECTOR: Vincente Minnelli

FUN FACTS:

Film rights to the novel were bought by MGM prior to publication for $100,000 in 1961. The Chicago Tribune called the novel "deeply moving, and at the same time, very funny."

Producer Joe Pasternak assigned John Gay to write the script and hired Glenn Ford to star. Shirley Jones accepted her role in part because she did not have to sing.

Roberta Sherwood, a nightclub singer and TV entertainer, made her film debut.

Pasternak says he interviewed hundreds of children to play Eddie but as soon as he talked to Ronny Howard "I knew he was right."

The bowling alley sequence was filmed at the now-defunct Paradise Bowl, located at 9116 South Sepulveda Boulevard in Los Angeles (two miles north of LAX).