Mother Carey's Chickens (film)

Mother Carey's Chickens
Directed byRowland V. Lee
Written byS.K. Lauren
Gertrude Purcell
Based onMother Carey's Chickens
1911 novel
by Kate Douglas Wiggin
Produced byPandro S. Berman
StarringAnne Shirley
Ruby Keeler
Walter Brennan
CinematographyJ. Roy Hunt
Edited byGeorge Hively
Music byRoy Webb
Production
company
RKO Radio Pictures
Distributed byRKO Radio Pictures
Release date
  • July 29, 1938 (1938-07-29)
Running time
82 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$358,000
Box office$703,000

Mother Carey's Chickens is a 1938 American drama film starring Anne Shirley and Ruby Keeler. The film was directed by Rowland V. Lee and based upon a 1917 play by Kate Douglas Wiggin and Rachel Crothers, which in turn was adapted from Wiggins' Mother Carey's Chickens.

Originally Katharine Hepburn was assigned to the lead role, but she refused and left RKO in order to avoid having to appear in the film.

In 1963, Walt Disney released Summer Magic, a loose remake of this film, with Hayley Mills as Nancy Carey.