The Happy Time

The Happy Time
theatrical poster
Directed by	Richard Fleischer
Produced by	Earl Felton Stanley Kramer
Written by	Earl Felton Robert Fontaine Samuel A. Taylor
Based on	The Happy Time 1945 novel by Robert Fontaine
Starring	Charles Boyer Louis Jourdan Marsha Hunt Bobby Driscoll Linda Christian Kurt Kasznar Marcel Dalio
Music by	Dimitri Tiomkin
Edited by	William A. Lyon
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures
Release date	October 30, 1952 (1952-10-30) (New York City)
Running time	94 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

The Happy Time is a 1952 American film directed by the award-winning director Richard Fleischer, based on the 1945 novel of the same name by Robert Fontaine, which Samuel A. Taylor turned into a hit play. A boy, played by Bobby Driscoll, comes of age in a close-knit French-Canadian family. The film stars Charles Boyer and Louis Jourdan as his father and uncle respectively. The play was also adapted into a musical in 1968 by composer John Kander, lyricist Fred Ebb, and librettist N. Richard Nash, and starred Robert Goulet. Included in the orchestra was the soloist john Serry Sr..

Young Robert "Bibi" Bonnard (Bobby Driscoll) grows up in Ottawa, Ontario with his parents, Jacques (Charles Boyer) and Susan (Marsha Hunt), and his roving rogue of a grandfather, Grandpere (Marcel Dalio). Across the street is his uncle, amiable drunkard Louis (Kurt Kasznar), who ignores the complaints of his hard-working dressmaker wife Felice (Jeanette Nolan) and her worries about the future of their daughter Yvonne. Louis agitates about meeting his prospective son-in-law, Alfred Grattin, a teetotaler bank clerk who wishes to marry Yvonne. Next-door neighbour and schoolmate Peggy O'Hare (Marlene Cameron) has a crush on Bibi, but he is as yet too young to understand.

On his birthday, Bibi is taken to see the vaudeville acts at the theatre where his violinist/ conductor father works. During the magic act, the Great Gaspari tries to steal a kiss from Mignonette Chappuis (Linda Christian), the assistant he is in the process of sawing in half. She storms offstage and quits. Jacques offers her a job as a maid, which she gladly accepts. Bibi is intrigued, but a little confused about his feelings for the new addition to the household. Equally fascinated, but not at all perplexed as to why is another unexpected arrival, Uncle Desmonde (Louis Jourdan), a traveling salesman and notorious . He has been summoned back to take the place of the recently deceased sales manager, though he informs his employer it is only until a replacement can be found.