The Girl Next Door is a 1953 American musical comedy film directed by Richard Sale and starring June Haver, Dan Dailey, and Dennis Day. It was made and released by 20th Century Fox.
Contents
Plot
A popular performer, Jeannie Laird decides to buy her first house and celebrate with a big party. The guests' enjoyment is interfered with by the happenings at the home of the next door neighbor, Bill Carter.
Carter is a comic-strip artist. He prides himself on every story he tells being true to life, including that of 10-year-old son Joey, whom he is raising alone. When a relationship blossoms between Bill and Jeannie after a shaky start, a neglected Joey ends up blabbing to Bill's bosses that the comic strip's adventures have become far more fiction than fact.
Cast
Dan Dailey as Bill Carter
June Haver as Jeannie Laird
Dennis Day as Reed Appleton
Billy Gray as Joey Carter
Cara Williams as Rosie Green
Natalie Schafer as Evelyn, the maid
Clinton Sundberg as Samuels, the butler
Hayden Rorke as Henry Fields
Mary Jane Saunders as Kitty
Background
This was June Haver's last film appearance. Haver had gained fame in the mid-to-late 1940s as a musical star for Fox; she starred in films like The Dolly Sisters, Irish Eyes Are Smiling, Where Do We Go from Here?, I Wonder Who's Kissing Her Now, Look for the Silver Lining, and I'll Get By. Haver departed from films to join a convent in 1952, but left the convent six months later and married actor Fred MacMurray.
When released, The Girl Next Door drew mixed press reviews; it did moderately well at the box-office.