Mother Carey, a Bostonian widow, and her three children move to Maine. Postmaster Osh Popham helps them move into a run-down old house and fixes it up for them. It's not entirely uninhabited, though; the owner, Mr. Hamilton, is a mysterious character away in Europe, but Osh assures them he won't mind their living there, since he won't be coming home for a long time yet. The children and a cousin who comes to live with them have various adventures before an unexpected visitor shows up
Acting
Hayley Mills' Nancy—chaotic good personified.
Score
Burl Ives sings and your heart grows three sizes.
Director
James Neilson
Hayley Mills
Nancy Carey
Burl Ives
Osh Popham
Dorothy McGuire
Mrs. Margaret Carey
Deborah Walley
Julia Carey
Una Merkel
Mariah Popham
Eddie Hodges
Gilly Carey
Michael J. Pollard
Digby Popham
Peter Brown
Tom Hamilton
James Stacy
Charles Bryant
James Mathers
Peter Carey (as Jimmy Mathers)
O.Z. Whitehead
Mr. Perkins
Harry Holcombe
Rev. Henry Lord
Norman Leavitt
Hank Champlin, the barber (uncredited)
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Hayley Mills filmed this immediately after 'The Moon-Spinners' and was Disney's biggest child star since Shirley Temple. The studio literally built movies around her gap-toothed charm.
Based on Kate Douglas Wiggin's 1911 novel 'Mother Carey's Chickens'—the same author who wrote 'Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm.' Wiggin basically invented cozy New England widow content.
US
