The Happiest Millionaire

Release Date: June 23, 1967

Watch Date: January 26, 2025

“Pet alligators roaming the conservatory, a Bible-and-boxing school in the stables, and a delightfully eccentric millionaire make for unrestrained pandemonium in this musical extravaganza! Fred MacMurray presides over a Philadelphia mansion where just about anything can happen!”

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   Technically, the last two movies that I picked were the next two movies on our regular list, and Bob did express a few times he wished that I would pick something that wasn’t just ‘next up’. But I can’t help it. I liked both of the next movies on the list, and I didn’t want to wait ten days just to watch them. So no, I do not feel like my picks were a waste at all, because I (at least) had a blast.

   This musical is based on a play which is based on a book which is based on a biography or an autobiography or a memoir (I can’t quite remember) about Mr. Anthony Biddle, a millionaire during the run up to World War I and what it was like being the daughter of such an eclectic man.

   I wouldn’t particularly call Mr. Biddle the happiest millionaire. Maybe by the end? I think the butler, John Lawless, is a pretty happy character. And the songs are all upbeat and fun, I’ve been singing “Fortuosity” in my head daily for a couple years now, usually on long drives it’ll pop up unprompted. But Mr. Biddle spends most of his time being grumpy that he’s becoming an empty nester, or that the government doesn’t appreciate his concern about the Great War in Europe and how America will eventually have to enter it, or annoyed at his aunt, or upset that his alligators are frozen solid. So maybe the “Mid-Life Crisis-iest Millionaire” didn’t have the right ring to it, and “The Happiest Butler” doesn’t really make a lot of sense because John Lawless – while he is the way the audience usually engages with the Biddle family – is not the main character.

   It’s a little long, but if you give it a chance, it doesn’t really feel that way. The songs start hitting right at the beginning, and they don’t stop. They’re not all the best songs the Sherman Brothers have ever written, but there are definitely some memorable ones, “Fortuosity” I mentioned earlier, but “Watch Your Footwork”, “I’ll Always Be Irish” and “Let’s Have A Drink On It” are all ear worms as well, and even had Bob nodding his head a long in time. Pretty much anything John Lawless sings.

   The only thing that really bugs me about this film is the sons. And this is not because of anything they do in particular, it’s mostly because they sing one song and then disappear. Apparently they’ve gone to school, but maybe then just don’t introduce them for just one song and then have them disappear. Mr. Biddle could have probably sung a song with a similar message to “Watch Your Footwork” without having to introduce two characters that will be mentioned a few times but never seen again. Because while Mr. Biddle expresses disappointment that his boys aren’t home several times, it feels very forced, because we don’t miss them at all.

   I don’t know how well this movie musical is known, but I think it should be known more. I had never heard about it until a few years ago, and it should definitely be up there with some of the classic Disney musicals, if not one of the more solid ones from the earlier years of film.

   Also, as a side note, try not to tell your New York born partner that the movie takes place in New York but then have it take place in Philadelphia. Apparently their loyalty to the Philadelphia football team does not transfer over to the city itself.