What a shame they didn't think to make this film while Lewis Stone was still living. He was such a wonderful actor and it would have been so much fun to see him with Mickey again for the last time. Andy also should have married Polly Benedict. Too bad Ann Rutherford didn't want to do this movie. Some people do marry their high school sweethearts, especially after they've sown their wild oats so to speak. LOL
shareI loved the entire Andy Hardy series, but the only criticism I had was that Lewis Stone looked way too old to be the father of a teenager. He looked like he was in his 80 's, and so he couldn't possibly still be alive when Andy himself was a middle-aged man with children of his own.
shareHis oldness added to his wise father image, IMO.
shareIn reality Lewis Stone was only 41 years older than Mickey Rooney. He was born in 1879 while Mickey was born in 1920. Mr. Stone was prematurely gray at age 20. By the way, he wasn't the first Judge Hardy. Lionel Barrymore was in "A Family Affair". Mickey Rooney, Celia Parker (Marian), and Sara Haden (Aunt Millie) continued their roles. Mrs. Hardy was played by Sring Byington.
Polly Benedict was also in the movie but was replaced by Ann Rutherford.
My Mom (who was a teenager and fan of the Hardy films when they were first made) often commented on the aged appearance of the Hardy parents when we watched the films on TV. She'd say that in the 1930s and 40s in real life the parents of teenagers actually looked much older then and that the films reflected that. It didn't seem odd to her when she first saw the films because it was no different than what she saw around her. But by the 1960s, when we would watch the films together, the age difference seemed much more striking to her even though she remembered how it was nothing out of the ordinary when the films were in their heyday.
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