Editing Bachelor Mother (section)

== Plot ==
{{multiple image
   | direction = vertical
   | width     = 150
   | image1    =Ginger Rogers by John Miehle 6.jpg
   | caption1  =[[Ginger Rogers]] plays Polly Parish, who mistaken for the mother of an abandoned baby, is thrust into comic circumstances for which she is entirely unprepared.
   | image2    =David Niven (SAYRE 7175).jpg
   | caption2  =[[David Niven]] plays David Merlin, who mistakenly making Polly’s employment conditional on her accepting responsibility for “her” child, becomes increasingly involved with both of them.
   | image3    =Charles Coburn in 1939 (studio portrait by Ernest Bachrach for RKO Pictures) (cropped2).jpg
   | caption3  =[[Charles Coburn]] plays J.B. Merlin, David’s father, who delighted when he mistakenly believes David has provided him a grandson (though out-of-wedlock), insists that David marry Polly, mistaken for the mother of the abandoned baby.
   }}
Polly Parrish, a saleswoman at Merlin's, a [[New York City]] department store, receives notice that her seasonal position will be terminated after the Christmas season. Walking to lunch, she sees a stranger leaving a baby on the steps of an [[orphanage]]. Afraid the baby may roll off the steps, Polly picks it up. Seeing Polly holding the baby, content in her arms, the orphanage staff assumes she is the mother. Despite Polly's disclaiming motherhood, they offer her aid so she can keep the baby. Polly leaves the baby in their care, but not before giving them her name and informing them that she works at Merlin's.

Knowing the Merlin family to be [[Philanthropy|philanthropic]], the orphanage director appeals to David, the playboy son of the store's owner, J.B. Merlin, describing Polly’s supposed circumstances. David arranges for Polly to have a permanent position and a raise, offering the company's full support. Polly's delight at keeping her job turns to baffled confusion when the orphanage attendants deliver the baby to her home as a condition of her employment.

Frustrated that no one believes the baby is not hers, Polly drops the baby off at David's for his butler to sort out. Desperate for money, Polly departs for a dance competition with a cash prize that she entered with Freddie, a flirtatious stock clerk at the store. An enraged David storms after Polly, baby in tow, believing she abandoned her baby to have fun in nightclubs. David threatens that Polly will find herself fired, denied a recommendation, and blacklisted by every employer in the city if she fails to take care of the child properly. 

Threatened with persecution, jobs being scarce in the [[Great Depression|Depression]], Polly gives up, invents an abusive past lover, names the baby "John", and starts raising him. Mrs. Weiss, Polly's landlady, provides baby equipment and offers to care for the boy when Polly is working, and Polly quickly comes to love the child.

David increasingly reaches out to Polly, bringing her and John gifts, advising (feebly) on childcare, and paying visits. Freddie wrongly believes Polly is David's mistress and John their baby. When Freddie is promoted, he mistakenly believes Polly arranged it at his urging; however, Freddie loses this promotion when he confuses David for a shoplifter, attacking him in an overeager show of authority.

New Year's Eve arrives, and David has no date for a high society party. Insisting that Polly deserves an evening out and Mrs. Weiss can care for John, David provides evening clothes and a [[mink]] coat from the store. The pair have a romantic evening, though David does not feel ready to commit to a woman with a baby.

Embittered by his lost promotion, Freddie sends an anonymous note to J.B. Merlin, saying that David has a secret child. J.B. is delighted by the idea of a grandchild, having despaired of David ever settling down. Stalking David, he sees him meet up with Polly and John in a park.

Ironically, David ends up in the same position as Polly: insisting that John is David's baby, J.B. disbelieves any protests to the contrary and demands that he marry Polly. If David refuses, J.B. threatens to seize John's custody through legal means. Rushing to warn Polly, David insists that she produce John's real father to convince J.B. that he is not John's grandfather. Hurt by David's characterizing marrying her as "ridiculous," Polly tells him to leave.

Polly is fearful that J.B.'s bringing in lawyers and investigators will reveal that she is not John’s mother, likely compelling her to give up the child she loves. Mrs. Weiss has her adult son pose as Polly's "secret" husband due to Merlin's Depression Era policy against employment of married women. The ploy fails when David arrives with Freddie, who he has bribed to pose as John's father. A jealous David attacks Mrs. Weiss's son, who disavows paternity. J.B. insists, "It doesn't matter who the father is, I'm the grandfather!" During the chaos, Polly disappears and tries to flee with John. Terrified that he lost Polly and John forever, David finds her, confesses his love, declares to J.B. that he is John's father, and asks Polly to marry him. She accepts.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.answers.com/topic/bachelor-mother |title=Bachelor Mother 1939: Movie and film review from Answers.com |access-date=2009-05-10 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081210113411/http://www.answers.com/topic/bachelor-mother |archive-date=2008-12-10 }}</ref>