The Question of the Dozen

NOTE: This is a very old post! I have since read the book and seen the film!

I'll admit to not having read the book or seen the film of the original Cheaper by the Dozen, but I have been doing some research on the family. My mother is a big fan of the stories but remarked that "something must have been wrong with Mary" because she was never in any of the stories, and family pictures show only eleven children. We thought Mary was a freak they kept locked in the attic, but it turns out she died of diphtheria at a young age. She can't have been much more than six, and some of the younger children were not born at this time. The family felt Mary was still with them in spirit, hence talk of the eleven children being "the dozen." These movie credits raise ANOTHER mystery--someone (Betty Barker) is credited as Mary Gilbreth in this movie! No date of birth is given for Betty Barker, so no telling how old she was in 1950 and whether Mary was portrayed as being the age she was at death or the age she would have been had she lived (shades of "Beloved"!) In either case, if Mary was "in"--WHICH Gilbreth child was "out," and why? (As eight of the twelve are still living, perhaps someone wished to remain anonymous, so Mary was substituted in his/her place.)

Originally posted on Internet Movie Database, December 20, 2000