FAQ

Young Eddie Corbett (Ron Howard) attempts to find a new wife for his recently widowed father Tom (Glenn Ford).

The Courtship of Eddie's Father is based on an autobiographical novel of the same name by Mark Toby. The novel was adapted for the film by American screenwriter John Gay. The popularity of the movie also inspired a TV series, The Courtship of Eddie's Father (1969), that ran from 1969-1972.

No exact time frame is given for when Helen died, but it must have been fairly recently, evidenced by 1) Tom's comment, "That's the one that mommy ironed," when Eddie says that his shirt itches, 2) Tom's return to work evoking comments of sympathy from his co-workers, 3) Eddie wanting to tell his friend that his mother died, and 4) the divorcée from across the hall, Elizabeth Marten (Shirley Jones) dropping by with fudge for Eddie and condolences for Tom. The intimation is that the movie starts just after Eddie and his father return from Helen's funeral. Also unexplained is the manner of Helen's death. Eddie describes a scene when she was carried away on a stretcher and told him to be a good boy and take care of his father. One viewer described it as "old movie disease, ill-defined but always fatal!"

When Eddie comes down ill (of another undisclosed illness), aspiring nurse Elizabeth Marten rushes over from across the hall to care for him. Back in the 1960s, when this movie was made, there were two choices of thermometer...rectal or oral. The rectal thermometer was considered a more accurate measure of the body's core temperature. It was also useful in cases where a child could not hold an oral thermometer correctly for the 2-3 minutes it would take to get a reading, e.g., in infants. Thermometers in this era were made of glass and filled with mercury, which can be poisonous when swallowed. Eddie mentioned that his teeth were chattering, so a rectal thermometer might have seemed appropriate, especially to a nurse.

...Tom was watching TV just before Eddie got sick: Mogambo (1953) (1953). The actor and actress embracing are Clark Gable and Grace Kelly.

Tom tells Eddie that he's going to ask Rita Behrens (Dina Merrill) to marry him, but Eddie doesn't like Rita (she has skinny eyes, he tells his father, and all the bad women in the comic books have skinny eyes). Eddie runs away from summer camp and hitches a ride to Elizabeth Marten (Shirley Jones)'s apartment. When Tom finally arrives, Eddie is asleep, but Tom is so angry that he wants to wake him up. Elizabeth refuses to allow it and forces them to cross the hall into to his apartment where they soon get into an argument that keeps escalating until Tom says, "I can see how your marriage had to fail." Elizabeth slaps him. They realize then that they've both been dealing badly with the ends of their marriages...Tom because of the death of his wife and Elizabeth because of the divorce. Elizabeth goes crying back to her apartment and finds that Eddie has been awakened by their loud voices. She explains to Eddie that it was wrong to run away from camp and that he has no right to interfere with his father's decision to marry Rita. Eddie returns to his own apartment and apologizes to his father. Rita phones Tom, concerned about Eddie and wondering about their lunch date tomorrow. Tom tells her that he needs to spend more time with Eddie, coupled with a strong message that their wedding is off for now. A week passes, and Mrs Livingston (Roberta Sherwood) leaves to join her daughter and son-in-law in Brazil, lamenting the fact that she has spent the last year learning Spanish. Eddie points out to his father that Tom has only seen Rita once in the last week and wonders whether their relationship is over. Tom corroborates that they're still "friends". Eddie takes the opportunity to suggest that Tom ask Elizabeth for a date, even coaching him on how to do it. As Tom phones Elizabeth, Eddie runs out into the hall and rings Elizabeth's doorbell. As she and Tom chat amiably, Eddie looks back and forth into each apartment and smiles.