Cheers for Miss Bishop (1941) [Drama]



“Cheers for Miss Bishop” is a film based on the novel “Miss Bishop” by Bess Streeter Aldrich. This film marked the debut of Rosemary De Camp.

Miss Ella Bishop is a teacher at a small town Midwestern college. The story is told in flashback and takes place over many years, from the 1880s to the 1930s, showing her from her freshman year to her retirement as an old woman. At the beginning, she lives with her mother and her vixenish cousin Amy; she remembers when her father had a farm near the town. Ella is an inhibited girl whose frustration grows as she approaches womanhood. Her ambition to teach causes her to lose her only opportunity for true love, and her life becomes one of missed chances and wrong choices.

She is engaged to lawyer Delbert Thompson; but she learns, to her distress, that Amy is pregnant by him. Delbert and Amy run off together; but Amy dies in childbirth, leaving Ella to care for Amy’s daughter Hope. Hope grows up and marries Richard, and they move away and have a daughter named Gretchen. Ella also has a fling with another teacher, the unhappily married John Stevens, but she eventually breaks off the relationship; later, she is distressed to learn that John has been killed.

Through all the years, Ella is supported by her friend Sam Peters, a local grocer. Another source of support is Professor Corcoran, the college president who hires her as a teacher and persuades her to stay when she considers leaving. His death is a blow to Ella. As Ella reaches old age, she reflects back and realizes she allowed the years to go by without achieving what she believes to be true fulfillment. However, the years have not been without glory; and her moment of triumph arrives when her numerous now-famous students from over the years return to a testimonial dinner at the school to honour their beloved Miss Bishop.

Directed by Tay Garnett, produced by Richard A. Rowland, written by Bess Streeter Aldrich (novel), Stephen Vincent Benet, Sheridan Gibney and Adelaide Heilbron, starring Martha Scott as Ella Bishop, Edmund Gwenn as Professor Corcoran, Don Douglas as Delbert, William Gargan as Sam Peters, Sterling Holloway as Chris, Dorothy Peterson as Mrs. Bishop, Sidney Blackmer as John Stevens, Mary Anderson as Amy, Marsha Hunt as Hope and Rosemary De Camp as Minna.

Source: “Cheers for Miss Bishop” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.. 13 April 2013. Web. 21 July 2013. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheers_for_miss_bishop.

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26 Replies to “Cheers for Miss Bishop (1941) [Drama]”

  1. weird , the sound won't work with my ear buds……….. cked & works great on another movie……… but works fine w.o them………………. never seen the like !

  2. It is very interesting to stop and check out the author of this book that inspired the movie, Bess Streeter Aldrich (1881-1954) .  I see so many similarities!  She went to a university and did get an advanced degree and had worked in her collage, as a supervisor and taught for 4 years..  She had 4 children and was left to raise them all alone on her own salary as a writer, as her husband was in Alaska then died, in 1909. This is a refection of her life and how she felt. 

  3. People don't see single life as a vocation to dedicate oneself to the service of others…..The concept of self sacrifice is lost on the me generation…

  4. I still truly believe that teachers should have some of the highest paid professions in the country. They are indeed a beacon of light for those who are lost. Especially the good ones who truly value teaching and love their profession. Such an excellent picture had me in tears, so inspiring what a wonderful woman. Need more like her )

  5. Thanks for sharing this wonderful movie. Movies like this celebrate humanity's potential rather than exploiting the lowest levels of inhumanity. With it's uplifting message of freedom and kindness, it should be required watching for all high school freshmen rather than the history textbooks of today that only trumpet the problems this country has had to overcome.

  6. Wisdom is the first cousin to freedom and freedom and freedom is the glory of our nation and our people….Ahh well we can dream , may we one day experience true wisdom,I guess some do.

  7. Love this movie but boy, they make someone in their 70s look ancient! My mother is in her mid-70s and she looks about 20 years younger than they have Ms. Scott made up to be!

  8. Fantastic, Wonderful etc classic drama movie that brought tears down my cheeks at the end
    Our teachers of today don't get respect from some students and some parents but when I was a boy in grades 1 thru 6 I was kept after school then when I got home my parents punished me but those days are gone
    To this day as a baby boomer sometimes I have flashbacks
    My deepest thanks to the person who downloaded this movie
    Ed

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