Summer Magic
Tags: romantic

Plot synopsis:
Financial problems force young Boston widow Margaret Carey (Dorothy McGuire) and her 3 children to move out of their home. Nancy (Hayley Mills), the dramatic and kind-hearted eldest, remembers a large yellow house that the Careys had admired when they visited the small town of Beulah, Maine, and makes an inquiry about it. Upon the sale of the family's treasured piano ("Flitterin'"), Nancy reveals that the house is vacant and the family decides to relocate to the country ("Beautiful Beulah").
When the Careys arrive in Beulah they realize they're slightly out-of-place although the town welcomes them. Overall, the Careys find that moving to the country was the best decision for them and they're content in their new home ("Summer Magic"). But the house is in a shameful state of neglect, and caretaker Osh Popham (Burl Ives), against his wife's wishes, offers cheap labor to make the house livable, as well as offering free products from his hardware store. He also steers young Peter in the right direction, trading him a pair of overalls for his "Buster Brown suit" in which he now feels too citified, and offering him haircut money and carpentry lessons.
But just when the Careys are settled in and things are going better, they find out that orphaned Cousin Julia's adoptive parents have run into their own financial problems and want to send her to the Careys. They reluctantly agree, and while they get ready for her, Gilly (Eddie Hodges) and Nancy entertain Peter (Jimmy Mathers) with jokes about her appearance and snobby, snotty personality ("Pink of Perfection"). When Julia (Deborah Walley) arrives, she's even worse than her cousins remembered. Part of her welcome seems to include being jumped on by Peter's large dog Sam in the middle of the night. Aghast at Beulah's primitive ways, she forces Osh's daughter Lally Joy (Wendy Turner) to help her bathe in the kitchen rather than lug kettles of hot water up the stairs.
While Nancy and Lally Joy cope with Julia, Peter enjoys working on the house with Osh, who entertains him with stories of bugs the like of which Peter hadn't dealt with in the city ("Ugly Bug Ball"). When Margaret informs Osh of their still-failing finances, Osh, hoping to keep them in town, makes up a request from the house's owner, Tom Hamilton, in exchange for no rent. He pretends that Mr. Hamilton has answered in the affirmative, only requesting that on Halloween the Careys must have a ceremony for his dead mother and find a decent place for her picture. The Careys accept and Osh chooses a fake picture for the ceremony. But Osh's wife Mariah, who has been on to his lies from the beginning, visits the yellow house to tell the Careys that Mr. Hamilton has no idea that they are there. Before she can spill the news, Osh fakes a fall from the second story, claims an injured leg, and insist that his wife help him get home.
After church the next Sunday, Nancy and Julia spot a handsome man, Charles Bryant (James Stacy), who has moved to Beulah to be the new schoolteacher. They invite him to a lawn party at the yellow house, where both try to win his affections, Nancy with her smarts and Julia with her looks. Julia wins, leaving Nancy too jealous to enjoy the quiet evening after the party ("On the Front Porch"). In their bedroom, her jealousy and anger drive her to reveal that Julia's adoptive parents "dumped" her on the Careys after gambling away their money. Julia flees to Aunt Margaret for assurance that her parents truly loved her, and Margaret reveals that her parents' situation is looking good enough that they are about ready for her to come home. This makes Nancy realize that she has grown to love Julia despite her many flaws (and her having "won" Charles), and she begs her to stay. Julia accepts, and prepares to move in permanently with the Careys.
As Halloween approaches, everyone gets ready for the big party. Lally Joy, who harbors a big crush on Gilly, displays her ugly dress to Nancy and Julia, fretting embarrassment at the party. Nancy and Julia promise to redesign the dress as they give her pointers on how to act around boys ("Femininity").
On the day of the party, a handsome young man (Peter Brown) appears at the yellow house and meets Nancy. She informs him that they'd been living in the house and tells him about the party for Mr. Hamilton's mother. The stranger quickly heads for Osh's store, where it is revealed that he is Tom Hamilton. Osh comes clean about renting the house to the Careys, inspired by Nancy's good-heartedness. Indignant, Tom leaves the store.
Reluctant to escort Lally Joy to the party, Gilly becomes more willing as she makes her appearance in her beautiful redesigned dress. Seeing them together and Charles and Julia together, Nancy realizes that she's the only one without a partner; after talking it over with her mother, she decides to attend on her own. As she descends the stairs she runs into Tom Hamilton, who accompanies her to the party. Nancy presents the picture Osh had produced: unfortunately, it is a frighteningly ugly woman and Tom feels insulted and angry at Osh. He reveals his true identity to the thoroughly-embarrassed Nancy, and as he has taken a fancy to her, he asks her to dance. As the party gets going, Osh exclaims that things always work out in the end.

Review: It is a good-natured, fun film that you don't have to worry about letting your children watch.
Hayley Mills is a delight as the ever-optimistic Nancy Carey who misrepresents her family's situation in order to win the sympathy of Mr. Popham, a rural Maine postmaster, general store owner, sheriff, etc.
Burl Ives as the laconically good-natured Mr. Popham is a absolute treat to watch.
"Summer Magic" is a fun and pleasant film about two teenaged cousin girls and their amusing rivalry after they both move to the country with their family.
It's fun to see these two ladies come-of-age in all aspects from having to share a room to throwing a party just to get to know the handsome new school teacher (the story is also a lot more interesting to watch than most of today's teen flicks).
Hayley Mills is of course the highlight of the film stealing every scene that she's in, a talent she displays in several other Disney films.
The decade that brought us the First World War may seem an odd subject for nostalgia, but "Summer Magic", like "On Moonlight Bay" from a few years earlier, is a film which tries to persuade us that, whatever may have been happening on the battlefields of Europe, the 1910s (or the "Ragtime Era" as many Americans called them) really were the time of a kinder, gentler America.
This was the fourth of six films which Hayley Mills made for Walt Disney Productions.
The film is also a musical with several songs, although none of them rally stand out apart from "The Ugly Bug Ball", which was a favourite of mine as a child.
Overall, however, the film's cheerful atmosphere and the contributions of Mills and Ives make this a watchable example of warm- hearted Disney family entertainment.
Excellent movie, if you liked Hayley Mills in PollyAnna, look no further.
This movie exhibits family values and basic human kindness amid the traditional Disney music and humor.
Accept that before you accept my critique of Summer Magic.I have always loved this movie.
I watched everything I could of hers, even Pollyanna!Summer Magic was an old movie when I first saw it, in the 80s.
This movie is a remake of a movie called Mother Carey's Chickens (1938) Anne Shirley as Nancy Carey, Ruby Keeler as Kitty Carey, James Ellison as Ralph Thurston, Fay Bainter as Mrs. Carey, Walter Brennan as Mr. Popham, and Donnie Dunagan as Peter Carey.Both are really good family movies.
Summer Magic is more on the musical end and Mother Carey's Chickens is more of the romance side.
Hayley Mills is cute, as usual, as the older sister in the Carey family.
In addition to the aforementioned "Ugly Bug Ball", we have two of the oddest inclusions in the Disney catalog: "Femininity" (where Walley and Mills teach Wendy Turner how to act like a woman!) and "The Pink of Perfection" (Mills' and Hodges' duet, in reference to Walley's snooty character).
Good or bad, happy or sad, come what may this will always be the most magical of the movies I saw in a theater as a child.
Already charmed by its Disney-Norman Rockwell-Hallmark look at the Ragtime Age; this 12 year old boy was simply bowled over 30 minutes into the film by his first glimpse of Deborah Walley.
Walley was already a teen queen from her "Gidget" film but had escaped my too-young-to-notice teen actresses consciousness until that day at the theater.In her period costume this vision was the original "Pretty in Pink" and the most beautiful girl I had ever seen.
Disney simply took basic plot elements form the novel and film "Mother Carey's Chickens" (1938), threw in a bunch of "Cinderella" elements, and had Dorothy McGuire softly reprise her performance in "A Tree Grows In Brooklyn".If you can't find something here with which to connect, whether it is wistful identification or distanced examination of the film language elements, then you are probably already pretty much used up.
Liking this film now is just having the willingness to exercise a little self-knowing whimsy.Cinderella-wise you have a fairy prince, a glass slipper, a wicked step-sister, a wardrobe transformation scene, cute animals, a coach, songs, and a ball.The songs are along the lines of those seen recently in "Enchanted" but without the elaborate special effects.
So you have a shaggy sheep dog (where have I seen that before?), you have a couple of handsome young television actors (Peter Brown and James Stacy), you have a Moochie Corcoran hammy kid, you have the comedy relief of acting veterans Una Merkel and Burl Ives to appeal to parents, and you have liberal use of Disney's stock nature footage.Although I was too dazzled by Walley to pay much attention to Hayley Mills this was probably her best performance for Disney, it was certainly the most difficult part she was given.
Anyway, I highly recommend this film for people who are looking for films for their children or for anyone who loves classic Disney films.
Hayley Mills plays the oldest daughter of a newly impoverished family that moves to an old yellow house in Maine.
Dorothy McGuire plays the widowed mother; Burl Ives is at his incomparable best in the role of Osh Popham, the town's general factotum married to what has to be the gloomiest woman in the state of Maine, if not the United States.
Based on the book "Mother Carey's Chickens," by Kate Douglas Wiggin, the story was well adapted for the screen, maintaining the integrity and heart of the novel while making the cast a little more manageable.
Advertised as a vehicle for sixteen-year-old Hayley Mills, the movie is actually an ensemble piece set during the ragtime era, and the cumbersome outfits and hairdos Hayley wears fail to suit her well; still youthful and spirited, she's heavier here and doesn't have much of a character to work with.
Definitely not the best place for one to introduce themselves to Hayley Mills' versatile talents, but as a corny Disney pic for the family it isn't too bad.
The songs are wonderful catchy tunes- especially the one's Burl Ives from an innocent time.
There are some hilarious scenes- such as when Burl Ive's character is looking for a picture of Mr. Hamilton's "Mother".
Burl Ives' song "Ugly Bug Ball" guaranteed quite a few giggles and childish voices trying to sing along with it!
Compared to the movies of today where violence, attitude, crass behavior and vulgarity are common place (and those are "kid" movies?), "Summer Magic" is a very welcome gift from days gone by, when catching lightening bugs, playing outside until sundown, and having ice cream on the front porch with family and neighbors was the norm.
Cue songs and eight hundred weight of syrup as Hayley Mills, Burl Ives and co work out this Disney adaptation of Kate Douglas Wiggin's novel Mother Carey's Chickens.
SUMMER MAGIC is a sickly sweet Disney vehicle designed around blonde starlet Hayley Mills, fresh from the success of THE PARENT TRAP.
Indeed, Disney is so fond of thrusting 'life lessons' down the throats of its child audience that I generally avoid their movies like the plague.
However, by far the best thing about the movie is Burl Ives, a larger-than-life actor playing a larger-than-life character, and his rendition of the 'Ugly Bug Ball' is a real hoot..
Summer Magic is one of the few films I can think of where the remake actually improved on the original.
Maybe it's the cast here, maybe it's the musical score by Disney house composers the Sherman Brothers.Whatever it is, Summer Magic is nice recreation of times at the turn of the last century when widow Carey, played by Dorothy McGuire moves in to this old house with her three children, Hayley Mills, Eddie Hodges, and Jimmy Mathers.
The score by the Brothers Sherman doesn't contain anything as memorable as what comes out of Mary Poppins, but those two guys suffered their entire careers from the rest of their work being compared to Mary Poppins.This was Hayley Mills's height as a Disney star and she certainly was lovely and winsome as the oldest of the Carey brood who gets a little romance from not one, but two sources in that first summer in Maine.Presiding over the whole film avuncularly is Burl Ives, playing a role Walter Brennan originated in Mother Carey's Chickens.
Well with Pollard you can skip the wise part.Summer Magic is one of the Magic Kingdom's best films and who knows, maybe it will get yet another remake.
I have just watched Summer Magic again,it has been many years since I first saw the film.
Great names like Burl Ives, Hayley Mills, Peter Brown etc, well do I need to go on, they all made the film.
As I said I was younger then, but when I saw Summer Magic again today, I still had not changed my mind about Peter Brown waiting at the bottom of the stairs for me!
She loved it,and especially the Burl Ives part singing"Ugly Bug Ball".
The whole movie,is fun,entertaining and totally "non-objectionable",which would take a miracle to say that about a film made today!
Turner Classic Movies makes up the majority of my own film-watching,and I am delighted to see via Forums how many young folks feel the same way,about the offerings of TV/films today.
Anyone looking for a delightful film that the whole family can sit down and watch together without having to worry about embarrassing/offensive scenes or language,here is a perfect choice.
The songs were silly, the snooty cousin was way way too cloyingly annoying, the supporting characters were just too stereo-typically Disney.It was fine seeing young Hayley Mills and Eddie Hodges and James Stacy and Peter Brown but the story , not so much.Then there's the odious Michael J.
I wanted to watch this movie because I had read that Walt Disney had said it reminded him of his childhood.
This movie (based on a book called Mother Carey's Chickens) is for anyone who spent their Sunday nights watching The Wonderful World of Disney while growing up and wants to share that same feeling with their own children.
Turn on the closed caption, gather up your little girls and sing along with the movie.The Carey family is saved from having to live in "a hovel...that's not in a very nice neighborhood, either" by a mysterious "Mr. Hamilton" via the town postmaster/constable/general store owner Osiam Poppham.
The eldest daughter Nancy's (Hayley Mills) boundless enthusiasm and interaction with a fun assortment of characters such as a homeless cousin that "Thinks she's the pink of perfection" to Mrs. Poppham (Una Merkle-whom Hayley Mills fans will recognize from the original Parent Trap movie) who believes in a "good solid black cloud with no silver linings".
This story of the downturn in family circumstances and a fanciful letter turn a lost mansion in Boston to a delightful home in rural Maine.Burl Ives is marvelous as a small town store proprietor, and his stores and singing enliven the film.Dorothy McGuire is wonderful as the mom, and the other characters fit in well.The visit of Aunt Julia, who is not well-liked by the children, turns into an opportunity for mischief.This is an old-fashioned family film.
Kids will especially love "The Ugly Bug Ball." It is entertaining enough to keep adults interested, but not too adult for young children.
My husband is not a big fan of most "kid's" movies, but he really enjoyed Summer Magic when I made him watch it.
I highly recommend this movie to anyone that likes old Disney movies or has children..
Oh, it's nice to see Una Merkel through adult eyes, knowing who she is, and the movie has a certain curiosity value as an example of Disney's early 1960's film-making.
Hayley Mills is visibly tired of parts like this, and poor Dorothy McGuire -- unflatteringly coiffed but beatific as always -- has to open her mouth so some other lady can dub in the superfluous title song.
But really, what is the point of a movie about Bostonians adapting to life in the country when Boston looks like a back lot, rural Maine looks like a back lot, and it all basically takes place in that don't-confuse-this-with-reality Disney world?
The nadir may be the time when Burl Ives sings a song called "The Ugly Bug Ball" with nature footage spliced in, all manipulated so that real insects seem to be dancing and playing themselves as orchestral instruments.
This is my all-time favorite Haley Mills movie.
Take my advice: if you want a clean, family movie, go out and rent it today...better yet, BUY IT!
I did enjoy the likes of BEDKNOBS AND BROOMSTICKS and MARY POPPINS as a child , and as an adult I still enjoy watching 20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA , but the older you get the more cynical you get so watching most of Disney`s output as an adult is an ordeal and I`ve got to say SUMMER MAGIC is just about the worst Disney film I`ve ever seen .
Hayley Mills' English accent was not disguised at all and I was extremely offended by the song "Femininity." It was also very slow and didn't have the usual Disney charm.
this was a bad movie please take our comment seriously and don't watch this film.
Those are some adjectives to describe Summer Magic, a Disney musical based on the novel Mother Carey's Chickens.
Walt Disney Lays an Egg. After the death of her dad, destitute Hayley Mills (as Nancy Carey) and her ragtime musical family must move from Boston to a small town Beulah, Maine.
The blonde, British-accented Ms. Mills looks and sounds nothing like dark-haired mother Dorothy McGuire (as Margaret Carey).
To confuse matters, brother Eddie Hodges (as Gilly Carey) is a flaming redhead, while little Jimmy Mathers (as Peter Carey) looks like he's related to the lad on "Leave it to Beaver" - more so, after he loses the "sissy" wig.This is a fowl adaptation of "Mother Carey's Chickens".The family moves in to the "yellow house", with assistance from lovable old caretaker Burl Ives (as Osh Popham).
Worst song may be Mr. Ives' rendition of "The Ugly Bug Ball", which seems like it could be a Disney TV outtake.* Summer Magic (7/7/63) James Neilson ~ Hayley Mills, Burl Ives, Dorothy McGuire, Deborah Walley.
Good natured and lovingly rendered family film.
Maybe not as good as "Mother Carey's Chickens" but what I did like about the film was its good nature and how lovingly rendered it was.
It is a showcase for two talents: the iconic British water sprite, Hayley Mills (Nancy Carey) and the kindly folk singer with a heart, Burl Ives (Mr. Poppem).
Sherman penned the charming "Summer Magic", "Lavender Blue, Dilly-Dilly" and the corny "The Ugly Bug Ball," with incomparable rag time nostalgia brimming from every note.
But on this occasion, the poignancy one is likely to derive comes entirely from seeing the young Haley Mills and elderly Burl Ives, emphatically and musically sparing off of one another's formidable talents, and leaving us all a little bit better for their joust.
Summer Magic has been remastered on DVD with considerably good results.
I never once believed Hayley Mills as the daughter of Dorothy McGuire and sister of Eddie Hodges and James Mathers with her obvious British accent downing any realism of these four in the family way.
When they arrive in the small Maine town, he is indeed attacked for looking like a girl, and wisely sneaks in with the four kids who beat him up while trying to play "King of the Hill" to get his hair cut and exchange his clothes for more a more country appropriate outfit from the understanding Burl Ives.This version of the Sally Benson story, "Mother Carey's Chickens", is a bit different than the 1930's RKO Radio version which starred Ruby Keeler and Anne Shirley, and very Disney-fied.
The basic premise of this musical comedy piece of Americana has Mills arranging to rent a house in Maine without her mother's knowledge and convincing her to move the family there where, like the Ingalls of "Little House on the Prairie", they seem to become the moral compass of the small town, even with the arrival of a much derided snooty cousin (Deborah Walley) who upsets Mills by stealing the affections of school teacher James Stacey.
The heart and soul of this film squarely is split down the middle between the always lovely McGuire, finding another summer place and getting to sing (dubbed) the title song where the editors pull away footage from her and insert documentary footage of the countryside wildlife from one of their many documentaries and the always commanding Burl Ives.
Merkel wants to tell McGuire the truth about the house, that they were not permitted to rent it, and when the real owner (a very young Peter Brown) shows up, Ives has lots of 'splainin' to do.As usual, Ives gets to sing a couple of folk songs, one extremely corny about "the ugly bug's ball" that once again splits away to show nature doing its thing.
The Sherman Brothers' score, for the most part, is second rate when compared to "Mary Poppins" and "Bednobs & Broomsticks", with one song, "Femininity", rather lively as Mills (not sounding very good here) and Walley dress up Ives' tomboyish daughter (Wendy Turner) standing out among the rest.
A Charming Family Film Classic With Lots of Syrupy Warmth, Intimate,Nostalgia and A Heaping Helping of Good Old Fashioned Disney.
you don't get much meaner than that.the 'Ugly Bug Ball' musical moment is also quirky and weird (if not a little creepy) enough to be amusing to little kids.the production design, photography and other elements are delivered with accomplished professionalism that it often seemed only Disney could pull out of a modest budget like this.i grew up watching this film at the movies and then again on the 'Wonderful World of Disney' television show.