''Everybody's Baby'' is a 1939 American

comedy film The comedy film is a film genre that emphasizes humor. These films are designed to amuse audiences and make them laugh. Films in this genre typically have a happy ending, with dark comedy being an exception to this rule. Comedy is one of the o ...

directed by Malcolm St. Clair and starring

Jed Prouty Jed Prouty (born Clarence Gordon Prouty; April 6, 1879 – May 10, 1956) was an American film actor. Biography Born as Clarence Gordon Prouty in Boston, Massachusetts, Prouty was a vaudeville performer before becoming a film actor. Mostly appe ...

Shirley Deane Shirley Deane (born Shirley Deane Blattenberger; March 16, 1913 – April 26, 1983) was an American film actress. Early years Born in Fresno, California, to Jesse H. Blattenberger and his wife Zola (née Redden), she was raised by her matern ...

and

Spring Byington Spring Dell Byington (October 17, 1886 – September 7, 1971) was an American actress. Her career included a seven-year run on radio and television as the star of '' December Bride''. She was an MGM contract player who appeared in films from the ...

. It was part of

Twentieth Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc., formerly 20th Century Fox, is an American film studio, film production and Film distributor, distribution company owned by the Walt Disney Studios (division), Walt Disney Studios, the film studios division of the ...

Jones Family The Jones Family film series is seventeen 20th Century Fox second feature family comedies produced between 1936 and 1940. Somewhat similar to the mildly comic tone of MGM's ''Andy Hardy'' and Columbia Pictures '' Blondie'' films, the Joneses sta ...

series of films. The film's

art direction Art director is a title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, live-action and animated film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to super ...

was by

Bernard Herzbrun Bernard Herzbrun (January 10, 1891 – January 7, 1964) was an American art director. He was nominated an Academy Award in the category Best Art Direction for the film ''Alexander's Ragtime Band''. He worked on 275 films between 1930 and 195 ...

and

Boris Leven Boris Leven (in early film credits – ''Boris Levin''; August 13, 1908 – October 11, 1986) was a Russian-born Academy Award-winning art director and production designer whose Hollywood career spanned fifty-three years. Born in Moscow ...

Plot

Dr. Pillcoff (Reginald Denny), who identifies himself as a child psychologist, arrives in the rural township carrying radical views on raising children, namely

Behaviorism Behaviorism is a systematic approach to understand the behavior of humans and other animals. It assumes that behavior is either a reflex elicited by the pairing of certain antecedent stimuli in the environment, or a consequence of that indivi ...

. His lectures on child rearing include warnings that holding and kissing babies harm their health. Local families are dismayed disturbed by the topic, but Bonnie Thompson (Shirley Deane), who is expecting a child, embraces the theory, causing friction in her family. The fathers in the community look into the matter and suspect that the so-called child expert is a fraud and take steps to expel the disruptive intruder.

Cast

as John Jones *

as Bonnie Thompson *

as Mrs. John Jones *

Russell Gleason Russell Gleason (February 6, 1908 – December 25, 1945) was an American actor who began his career at the very beginning of the talking film era. He was born into an acting family, the son of actors Lucille Gleason, Lucille and James Gleason. He ...

as Herbert Thompson *

June Carlson June Carlson (April 16, 1924 – December 9, 1996) was an American film actress. Early years A native of Los Angeles, Carlson was the daughter of Hjalmas Carlson and Carrie Rogers Carlson. Film Carlson began her career as a child actress, appe ...

as Lucy Jones *

Florence Roberts Florence Roberts (March 16, 1861/1864 – June 6, 1940(photo included) was an American actress of the stage and in motion pictures. Stock company actress Born in New York City, she began acting onstage there. Her career began at the Brooklyn ...

as Granny Jones *

Billy Mahan Billy Mahan (July 9, 1930 – August 30, 2002) was an American film actor. A child actor, he played the recurring role of Bobby Jones in Twentieth Century Fox's Jones Family series of films. His son is voice actor Kerrigan Mahan.Drew p.180 Sele ...

as Bobby Jones * Reginald Denny as Dr. Pilcoff * Robert Allen as Dick Lane *

Claire Du Brey Claire Du Brey (born Clara Violet Dubreyvich, August 31, 1892 – August 1, 1993) was an American actress. She appeared in more than 200 films from 1916 to 1959. Her name is sometimes rendered as Claire Du Bray or as Claire Dubrey. Early y ...

as Nurse Cordell *

Marvin Stephens Marvin R. Stephens (March 23, 1922 - May 22, 2008) was an American film actor.Dwyer p.225 A child actor, his first Hollywood roles were in the Mickey McGuire films. Stephens then played the recurring role of Tommy McGuire in Twentieth Century Fox ...

as Tommy McGuire *

Hattie McDaniel Hattie McDaniel (June 10, 1893 – October 26, 1952) was an African-American actress, singer-songwriter, and comedian. For her role as Mammy in ''Gone with the Wind'' (1939), she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, becoming the f ...

as Hattie *

Arthur Loft Arthur Loft (born Hans Peter Loft;"Obituary: Arthur Loft"
''The Los ...

as Chief Kelly *

Howard C. Hickman Howard Close Hickman (February 9, 1880 – December 31, 1949) was an American actor, director and writer. He was an accomplished stage leading man, who entered films through the auspices of producer Thomas H. Ince. Career In 1900, Hickman debu ...

as Dr. Jenkins *

George Ernest George Ernest (born George Ruud Hjorth; November 20, 1921 – June 25, 2009) was an American actor and Office of Strategic Services (OSS) combat photographer/cameraman during World War II. He appeared in more than 60 films between 1930 an ...

as Roger Jones *

Kenneth Howell Kenneth Howell (February 21, 1913 - September 28, 1966) was an American actor. He is best remembered for roles in films such as ''Pardon My Pups'' (1934), ''The Wrong Way Out'' (1938), ''Pride of the Bowery'' (1940) and ''Ball of Fire'' (1941), ...

as Jack Jones *

James Blaine James Gillespie Blaine (January 31, 1830January 27, 1893) was an American statesman and Republican politician who represented Maine in the United States House of Representatives from 1863 to 1876, serving as speaker of the U.S. House of Repr ...

as Plainclothes Man *

Stanley Blystone William Stanley Blystone (August 1, 1894 – July 16, 1956) was an American film actor who made more than 500 films appearances from 1924 to 1956. He was sometimes billed as William Blystone or William Stanley. Early years Blystone was born in ...

as Plainclothes Man *

Romaine Callender Alfred Romaine Callender (February17, 1883February5, 1976) was an English born American actor of stage and screen. He should not be confused with several other men in his family also known publicly as Romaine Callendar, including his father, the st ...

as Salesman *

George Chandler George Chandler (June 30, 1898 – June 10, 1985) was an American actor who starred in over 140 feature films, usually in smaller supporting roles, and he is perhaps best known for playing the character of Uncle Petrie Martin on the television ...

as G. Randolph *

James Flavin James William Flavin Jr. (May 14, 1906 – April 23, 1976) was an American character actor whose stage, film, and television career lasted some forty years. Early life Flavin was born in Portland, Maine, and attended the West Point, where he pl ...

as Police Announcer *

Phyllis Fraser Phyllis Cerf Wagner (born Helen Brown Nichols; April 13, 1916 – November 24, 2006), also known as Phyllis Fraser, was an American socialite, writer, publisher, and actress. She was a co-founder of Beginner Books. Early life Fraser was born ...

as Millie *

Aggie Herring Agnes Herring (February 4, 1876 – October 28, 1939) was an American actress. She appeared in more than 100 films between 1915 and 1939. She was born in San Francisco and died in Santa Monica, California.