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Everybody's Baby
Everybody's Baby
Directed by	Malcolm St. Clair
Written by	Robert Chapin; Karen DeWolf; Frances Hyland; Albert Ray; Elizabeth Reinhardt; Hilda Stone;
Produced by	John Stone
Starring	Jed Prouty; Shirley Deane; Spring Byington;
Cinematography	Edward Snyder
Edited by	Norman Colbert
Music by	Samuel Kaylin
Production; company	Twentieth Century Fox
Distributed by	Twentieth Century Fox
Release date	March 24, 1939;
Running time	61 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Everybody's Baby is a 1939 American comedy film directed by Malcolm St. Clair and starring Jed Prouty, Shirley Deane and Spring Byington. It was part of Twentieth Century Fox's Jones Family series of films.^[1] The film's art direction was by Bernard Herzbrun and Boris Leven.^[2]

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. 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.^[3]

Cast

Jed Prouty as John Jones
Shirley Deane as Bonnie Thompson
Spring Byington as Mrs. John Jones
Russell Gleason as Herbert Thompson
June Carlson as Lucy Jones
Florence Roberts as Granny Jones
Billy Mahan as Bobby Jones
Reginald Denny as Dr. Pilcoff
Robert Allen as Dick Lane
Claire Du Brey as Nurse Cordell
Marvin Stephens as Tommy McGuire
Hattie McDaniel as Hattie
Arthur Loft as Chief Kelly
Howard C. Hickman as Dr. Jenkins
George Ernest as Roger Jones
Kenneth Howell as Jack Jones
James Blaine as Plainclothes Man
Stanley Blystone as Plainclothes Man
Romaine Callender as Salesman
George Chandler as G. Randolph
James Flavin as Police Announcer
Phyllis Fraser as Millie
Aggie Herring as Mrs. Diggs
Robert Lowery as B. Wilson
Mickey Martin as Ratty Diggs
Sam McDaniel as Master of Ceremonies
Frank Moran as Tough
William Newell as Waiter
Ruth Robinson as Nurse
Lillian West as Nurse

Theme

The topic of scientifically informed methods of child rearing and psychology were widespread in the United States at the time the Everybody's Baby was produced. Though the matter offers opportunities for humor, the subject matter was serious.^[4]

The film character of “Dr. Pillcoff” played by Reginald Denny is based on real-life academic John B. Watson, who espoused the theory of Behaviorism in the 1920s and 30s. The hypothesis asserted that all human behavior could be conditioned, the aim of which to create healthy citizens. His book Psychological Care of Infant and Child (1928) urged parents “never hug or kiss [your infants], never let them sit in your lap.” ^[5]

According to film historian Ruth Anne Dwyer, director Malcolm St. Clair and associates “effectively debunks the Pillcoff/Watson doctrine” in Everybody’s Baby.^[6]

Notes

^ Drew p.180
^ Dwyer, 1996 p. 227: Filmography
^ Dwyer, 1996 p. 150-151, p. 227: Filmography, plot synopsis: Dywer notes in synopsis: “Behaviorism was regarded as a valid theory in America [at the time] and is soundly debunked in this film.”
^ Dwyer, 1996 p. 150-151
^ Dwyer, 1996 p. 151
^ Dwyer, 1996 p. 150-151, p. 174: Social history section, cites Watson book. See also info on republished material from Watson in The Plastic Age: 1917-1930 (1970) And: p. 227: “Behaviorism was regarded as a valid theory in America [at the time] and is soundly debunked in this film.”