In Cheaper by the Dozen, the last child born was a boy. In Bells on their Toes, the sequeal, it is said that the last child was a girl, who was graduating at the time. Did the mother know all along it was a girl, and not tell her husband because he wanted 6 boys?
shareCheaper by the Dozen(the film) took a little creative license making Bob the youngest, I guess to make it more dramatic on whether they would have 6 boys and 6 girls or having a seventh girl...In Belles on Their Toes they ignored this and went with how it was in real life- Jane was the youngest child.
shareIt is hard enough with inconsistancies with tv program, but a follow-up movie that is a different situation. Maybe the writers did not think the viewers would remember that the child they had was a boy.
shareThe Gilbreths did have 6 girls and 6 boys. However, their 3rd child, Mary, died at the age of 3 or 4. She was always counted as part of the "dozen" though. She is in the first movie, not in the 2nd.
In the books, when Mrs. Gilbreth was having her 11th child, they go into great detail talking about what a hard time they had coming up with a name. Mr. Gilbreth didn't like any of the names tossed about (except the ones already used). Mrs. Gilbreth liked "Robert" and since it was not a family name, Mr. Gilbreth teased her about it and had the children do it as well. This takes up several pages in the book, so I can understand why they wanted to use it in the movie.
They already have "Jane" (the youngest) in this movie, as a toddler--which I didn't understand. Perhaps they were not sure that there would be a sequel or wanted that "It's a boy!" scene they always want in the movies. There are other inaccuracies as well--Anne was already in college when her father died, and Jane was 2. The best thing is to read the books! The movies are very good but the books are great!