2 Icons Plus 18 Kids Equals Family Fun in ‘Yours, Mine and Ours” 1968

 

Henry Fonda & Lucille Ball make a very attractive couple as widowed military folk
 who marry and blend their already big families, in 1968's "Yours, Mine and Ours."

I'm a sucker for family comedies like Cheaper by the Dozen, and grew up on The Brady Bunch. I saw 1968's Yours, Mine and Ours once or twice on TV as a ‘70s kid. I liked it a lot, but never revisited the blended Beardsley family as an adult, because I thought it wouldn't live up to my childhood memories. Well, I was pleasantly surprised, while re-watching for this review. Despite some typical dated conventions, Yours, Mine and Ours is still warm and funny, and not too sappy.

I was amused that '68's "With Six You Get Eggroll"
used the same coloring crayon opening credits as "Yours, Mine and Ours."

For comparison, I tried watching the similar With Six You Get Eggroll. This too came out in ‘68 and starred America's other veteran sweetheart, Doris Day. It was painfully unfunny, despite Doris and a fun cast. It's plastic plot and humor was more akin to The Brady Bunch, which aired the year after. Yours, Mine and Ours is definitely not The Beardsley Bunch! The troubles and tribulations of blending two families run through the entire movie, though by the end, they are happier and settled. I appreciated that the kids looked like real kids, not Brady Bunch dolls, though a couple of the teen actors were hired for their attractiveness, no doubt.

Lucille Ball as Helen North and her gang of kids, in 1968's "Yours, Mine and Ours."

The humor in Yours, Mine and Ours comes from the reality of the fusing families and ensuing confusion, with 18 kids total, and two more together! Though this big screen sitcom is mostly fiction, the situation is based on real life. Widow/military dispensary nurse Helen North meets widower/ Navy officer Frank Beardsley. She has 8 children, he has 10. Despite the overwhelming prospect of raising these kids as one family, with objections from both sides of the siblings, Helen and Frank fall in love and marry.

Henry Fonda as Frank Beardsley & his crew, in 1968's "Yours, Mine and Ours."

Melville Shavelson directed Yours, Mine and Ours, who had a way with kids and family on film, in a commercial yet smart way. Houseboat with Cary Grant and Sophia Loren is a great example. He also directed one of Bob Hope’s best vehicles, which involved kids, The Seven Little Foys, not to mention Danny Kaye’s The Five Pennies. Shavelson had some serious kids cred! Despite the fact Lucy found this property and had her TV writers Bob Carroll, Jr. and Madelyn Davis work on the story, Shavelson didn’t let this film turn into The Lucy Show on the big screen.

Lucille Ball & Henry Fonda's rapport lights up 1968's "Yours, Mine and Ours."

While Lucy has a number of funny moments, Ball also gets to play a warm, sensible woman. Helen North Beardsley is easily Lucille Ball’s best latter day role. The scene where Lucy’s Helen deals with her problem child, who she thinks is just throwing a tantrum, but turns out to be afraid that he'll die young like his father. This early moment made me realize that Yours, Mine and Ours wasn’t just going to be a chuckle fest and Lucy's naturalistic reactions in the storytelling are wonderful.

Lucy's Helen North gets a jolt of reality when she finds out the cause of her
 young son's tantrum, in 1968's "Yours, Mine and Ours."

When Frank invites Helen to dinner, the Beardsley boys spike her “light” screwdriver, and it’s both hilarious and touching. Helen knows she’s making a disastrous first impression, but can’t control herself, alternately laughing and crying. Ball plays the comedy and pathos brilliantly.

Henry Fonda, whose natural acting and quiet strength were his hallmark, brings both dramatic believability and dry humor to the Navy guy trying to raise 10 kids after being gone on duty. Fonda has many warm moments as the dad doing the best he can, but when Henry’s Frank calls attention to his unruly crew, it reminded me that off-screen Fonda wasn’t always warm and cuddly.

Henry Fonda was 62 when he filmed "Yours, Mine and Ours."
I think Hank & Cary Grant were Hollywood's golden era actors who aged best.

Much has been made of how old Henry Fonda and Lucille Ball were as younger middle-aged parents. Lucy got the brunt of the criticism, since her character has a baby near the end of the film. There's no denying that they were indeed over-aged. The real Helen North was in her early 30s at the time, and Frank Beardsley in his mid-40s. Yours, Mine and Ours was filmed a year before its release, the spring/summer of '67. So, Lucy was 56 and Henry Fonda 62 at the time. I think audiences were more accepting, because in real life, Lucy was a late life mother with Lucie and Desi Jr., who were teens at the time.

By the end of "Yours, Mine and Ours," the Beardsleys have their first child together.

I'll say this much: Mature they may have been, but Hank and Lucy were a most attractive on-screen couple with a warm, believable rapport. I always thought Henry Fonda aged handsomely and naturally. And while Lucy had been receiving the star beauty treatment since her sitcom went color, Ball was a beautiful woman, and still looked quite stylish and slim. I find their natural faces much more pleasant to look at than many of today's mature stars, like Tom Cruise or Nicole Kidman, who are currently the ages that Fonda and Ball were in the making of this film. Actually, Nicole, who later played Lucy on film, was born the summer Yours, Mine and Ours was filmed!

Henry Fonda looks handsome in uniform & Lucille Ball is still lovely here,
in 1968's "Yours, Mine and Ours."

Some familiar TV child actor faces that some of you may remember: Eric Shea, delightful as Helen North’s younger boy and Mitch Vogel as her middle son. Tim Matheson plays Fonda’s oldest son, back when he was a charming teen star. Suzanne Cupito, who later became Morgan Brittany, and Tracey Nelson, daughter of Ricky, both play Beardsley’s daughters. Gary Goetzman, who later became a successful producer, played the freckled teen Beardsley boy. In 2021, some of Goetzman’s anecdotes about Yours, Mine and Ours made it to the big screen in director pal Paul Thomas Anderson’s Licorice Pizza. Unfortunately, Anderson’s caricature of Lucille Ball as Lucy Doolittle was crude and not particularly funny.

Teen heart throb Tim Matheson on tan display, in 1968's "Yours, Mine and Ours."

Also interesting is that for a frothy comedy, some of the topics that Yours, Mine and Ours lightly touches on were adult: Helen’s oldest girl getting pressured by boyfriend Ben Murphy for sex or the oldest Beardsley boy (Matheson) getting drafted for the Vietnam war.

Shopping for groceries--an old-fashioned word!--with the Beardsleys, in 1968's
"Yours, Mine and Ours."

The narration by the stars and the occasional asides to the audience by Henry Fonda and sarcastic military pal Van Johnson are unexpected and funny. Tom Bosley is amusing in an early role as the overwhelmed family doctor. There’s some location shooting in San Francisco and Alameda depicting the couple’s courtship and the Navy base, so that you don't feel trapped in a TV sitcom.

Lucy's old MGM pal Van Johnson plays the sarcastic matchmaker in 1968's
"Yours, Mine and Ours."

Yours, Mine and Ours still has plenty of laughs, plus a warm family story, that will both entertain and touch audiences even today.

"How about a chorus of 'We Need a Little Christmas?'" No, thanks, Lucy!
Lucille Ball as Helen North Beardsley in 1968's "Yours, Mine and Ours."
 

Lucy & Fonda in '42's
"The Big Street."

Here’s Lucille Ball and Henry Fonda a quarter of a century earlier, teamed for the first time in the Damon Runyon comedy-drama, The Big Street. My take: https://ricksrealreel.blogspot.com/2022/04/lucille-ball-istic-in-big-street-1942.html

My look back as a Lucy fan.

Here’s my clear-eyed memories as a Lucy fan as a ‘70s kid: https://ricksrealreel.blogspot.com/2021/12/id-rather-love-real-lucy.html