Behind the Scenes of The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer

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The Bachelor and The Bobby-Soxer brought together well-established Hollywood talent with Cary Grant, Shirley Temple, and Myrna Loy.

Sidney Sheldon, who created The Patty Duke Show and I Dream of Jeannie, wrote the screenplay and received an Academy Award for his work. Other titles considered for the project included Suddenly It's Spring and Too Good to Be True.

Cary Grant and Myrna Loy also worked together in Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House, which was released approximately a year later. For Bobby-Soxer, Grant received approximately $12 thousand per week, while Loy received approximately $5 thousand.

“[RKO studio head] Dore Schary convinced me to do the film. The two roles were really Cary Grant's and Shirley Temple's, but the script amused me, the pay was good, and playing a judge for the first time seemed like fun,” said Loy.

Grant, on the other hand, wasn’t particularly enthusiastic about the part, but Schary convinced him that it was worth his time.

During the production, Shirley Temple did an imitation of Cary Grant to make the crew laugh. What she didn’t know was that Cary Grant was behind her when she did it! Temple said, “I was sent all the way from RKO to David Selznick’s office and was told not to do it anymore. I thought to myself, ‘I must have been pretty good to make him that angry.’”

Temple was also a trickster with Loy. She snuck old flashbulbs into the cameras so that some photographs of Loy didn’t develop correctly. Rather than escalate it into a prank war, Loy sent her flowers, and Temple was on her best behavior going forward.

Two scenes in the film have references to Shirley Temple. In Temple’s character’s room, a Shirley Temple doll stands on the mantle. While Cary Grant is at the soda shop with Temple, the waitress serves him a Shirley Temple drink! Interestingly, Temple wasn’t a fan of the drink herself. She thought it was too sweet!