Seven Sweethearts

Seven Sweethearts is a 1942 musical film directed by Frank Borzage and starring Kathryn Grayson, Marsha Hunt and Van Heflin.

In 1949, Hungarian playwright Ferenc Herczeg sued MGM, producer Joe Pasternak and screenwriters Walter Reisch and Leo Townsend for $200,000, alleging that they had plagiarized Herczeg's 1903 play Seven Sisters, which Paramount Pictures had adapted into the 1915 film The Seven Sisters, starring Madge Evans.

Kathryn Grayson's real-life sister Frances Raeburn plays Cornelius.

Plot
Mr. Van Maaster is a hotelier in Little Delft, Michigan. By family tradition, the oldest of his seven daughters must marry first, but Regina wants to move to New York to become an actress. The youngest, Billie, has the sweetest singing voice. All seven sisters are married in the same ceremony.

Cast

 * Kathryn Grayson as Billie Van Maaster
 * Marsha Hunt as Regina 'Reggie' Van Maaster
 * Cecilia Parker as Victor Van Maaster
 * Peggy Moran as Albert 'Al' Van Maaster
 * Dorothy Morris as Peter Van Maaster
 * Frances Rafferty as George Van Maaster
 * Frances Raeburn as Cornelius Van Maaster
 * Van Heflin as Henry Taggart
 * Carl Esmond as Carl Randall
 * Michael Butler as Bernard Groton, Peter's Beau
 * Cliff Danielson as Martin Leyden, Victor's Beau
 * William Roberts as Anthony Vreeland, Cornelius's Beau
 * James Warren as Theodore Vaney, Albert's Beau
 * Dick Simmons as Paul Brandt, George's Beau
 * S. Z. Sakall as Mr. Van Maaster, the Father
 * Diana Lewis as Mrs. Nugent
 * Lewis Howard 	as Mr. Nugent
 * Isobel Elsom as Miss Abagail Robbins
 * Donald Meek as Reverend Howgan
 * Louise Beavers as Petunia

Music
Although sometimes tagged as a musical, all the songs in the film are diegetic, with no unheard accompaniment to the songs, and all with Billie as soloist. They include an English version ("There Is a Dreamboat on High") of a berceuse (Wiegenlied/lullaby), long attributed (and in the film) to Mozart, but it was in fact composed by Friedrich Fleischmann (Schlafe, mein Prinzchen, schlaf ein, 1799).

A scene in which a pianist lodger plays a melody to lull the hotelier to sleep features "Rock-a-bye Baby", derived from English ballad "Lillibullero", itself derived from the quickstep section of a march by Henry Purcell. At a climactic moment in the tulip festival the aria "Je suis Titania" (from the French opera Mignon) is heard. Other songs written by the team of Walter Jurmann (music) and Paul Francis Webster (lyrics) featuring Kathryn Grayson as soloist include "You and the Waltz and I", "Little Tingle Tangle Toes" and "Tulip Time".

Reception
According to MGM records the film earned $638,000 in the U.S. and Canada and $1,048,000 elsewhere (a rarity for MGM, as most films earned more money domestically until after World War II), returning a profit of $364,000.