It Grows on Trees

The story is about a couple who discover two trees in their backyard that grow money. One morning a few days after Polly Baxter (Dunne) purchased a couple of trees and planted them in her backyard, a $5 bill floats in through an open window, spurring a curious turn of luck to her family's ongoing financial concerns.

As she continues to collect more in the following days and weeks, Polly finds that the money is actually growing on the new trees that she planted and keeps that discovery from her husband Philip (Dean Jagger). Polly finds ways to use the money, while her husband wants it to be turned in to the police.

The neighbors, the media, the bank, the I.R.S., and the U.S. Treasury all get involved. Comedy ensues as the Baxters struggle with newfound ethical dilemmas; e.g., is this money legal or counterfeit, and what happens when the money dries up like an old leaf? All the time, however, Polly maintains that the world is full of wonder, if only people would believe.

• Irene Dunne as Polly Baxter
• Dean Jagger as Phil Baxter
• Joan Evans as Diane Baxter
• Richard Crenna as Ralph Bowen
• Edith Meiser as Mrs. Pryor
• Les Tremayne as Finlay Murchison
• Forrest Lewis as Dr. Burrows
• Frank Ferguson as John Letherby
• Bob Sweeney as McGuire
• Malcolm Lee Beggs as Henry Carrollman
• Dee Pollock as Flip Baxter
• Sandy Descher as Midge Baxter

The film was based on a story by Leonard Praskin and Barney Slater. They took it to Arthur Lubin who liked it and showed the story to producer Leonard Goldstein at Universal. The studio agreed to finance and in September 1951 Irene Dunne agreed to star. They working title was There's Nothing Like Money.IRENE DUNNE GETS LEAD IN U.-I. MOVIE: Signs to Star in a Fantasy, 'There's Nothing Like Money,' to Be Made Next Year

By THOMAS M. PRYOR New York Times 25 Sep 1951: 45. By November the title had changed to It Grows on Trees and the movie was going to start after Lubin finished Francis Goes to West Point.Drama: Bernard Brothers to Star With Simone Simon; Tony Moreno Set for 'Untamed'

Schallert, Edwin. Los Angeles Times 20 Nov 1951: B9.

Dunne wanted Dean Jagger as co star after seeing him in My Son John.HEDDA HOPPER: 'Rogue's March' Will Claim Peter Lawford Los Angeles Times1 Apr 1952: 16. Joan Evans was borrowed from Sam Goldwyn, who had borrowed Peggy Dow from Universal for I Want You the previous year.WILLIAMS WRITING NEW MOVIE SCRIPT New York Times 2 Feb 1952: 10.

The filmmakers had to negotiate with the Treasury Department who had strict rules on the creation of fake money. They agreed to money being created for the film but had several conditions which needed to be complied with, such as not showing the money in close up and sticking back together any money that had been cut up.HOLLYWOOD DOSSIER: New York Times 29 June 1952: X3.

Lubin said his main job as a director was to "watch the tempo" and make sure the actors looked as though they "believed every word they're saying."Farce-Fantasies on Horizon: Hollywood Letter

By Richard Dyer MacCann. The Christian Science Monitor20 May 1952: 10.

Lubin said that Dunne was "a doll" and "that whole picture was charming. It was made during the 1952 election and there was a lot of politics in the story about money growing on trees. I think the front office sort of ruined the comedy in it. There again, theatre owners were making decisions rather than producers."{{cite book|page=[https://archive.org/details/justmakingmovies00davi/page/184 184]|title=Just making movies|url=https://archive.org/details/justmakingmovies00davi|url-access=registration|first=Ronald L.|last= Davis |year=2005|publisher=University Press of Mississippi |isbn=978-1-57806-690-2 }}

Lubin bought the screen rights to The Wisdom of the Serpent by Adela Rogers St. Johns, hoping to film it with Dunne, but it was never made.Lubin Will Do Film of St. Johns' Story: Director Buys Screen Rights to 'Wisdom of the Serpent' -Irene Dunne to Star New York Times 18 Oct 1952: 16.

In 2019, Stephen Vagg wrote in Diabolique magazine, "It is effective and entertaining though very “Eisenhower era” and I kept wishing Dunne's husband was played by a movie star rather than Dean Jagger."{{Cite magazine|magazine=Diabolique Magazine|first=Stephen|last=Vagg|url=https://diaboliquemagazine.com/the-cinema-of-arthur-lubin/|date=14 September 2019|title=The Cinema of Arthur Lubin}}

Lubin said "I don't know if I helped her [Dunne] or ruined her. It was a very, very funny picture. It was made during the McCarthur period. The heads of the studio were alarmed that we were making too much fun of the government. It was cut to pieces. Most of the humor I thought was lost and so did Irene."{{cite book|first=James|last=Demaris|title=A Directors Guild of America Oral History: Arthur Lubin|date=December 1976 – January 1977|publisher=Directors Guild of America|page=96}}

It Grows on Trees was presented on Radio Theater November 16, 1953. The one-hour adaptation starred Ginger Rogers and Marcia Henderson.{{cite news|last1=Kirby|first1=Walter|title=Better Radio Programs for the Week|work=The Decatur Daily Review |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/2765499/the_decatur_daily_review/|agency=The Decatur Daily Review|date=November 15, 1953|page=50|via = Newspapers.com|access-date = July 7, 2015}} {{Open access}}

{{reflist}}

• {{IMDb title|0044758|It Grows on Trees}}
• {{Rotten Tomatoes|it_grows_on_trees}}
• [https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/79494/it-grows-on-trees It Grows on Trees] at TCMDB
• [https://letterboxd.com/film/it-grows-on-trees/ Its Grows on Trees] at Letterbox DVD
• [https://archive.org/details/variety188-1952-11/page/n5 Review of film] at Variety

{{Arthur Lubin}}

Category:1952 films

Category:Films directed by Arthur Lubin

Category:American black-and-white films

Category:Universal Pictures films

Category:1950s fantasy comedy films

Category:American fantasy comedy films

Category:Films scored by Frank Skinner

Category:Films about trees

Category:1952 comedy films

Category:1950s English-language films

Category:1950s American films

Category:English-language fantasy comedy films