Why are there only 11 children mentioned in the books and the movies- "Cheaper by the Dozen" and "Belles on Their Toes"?
And did any of them ever have big families?
You can read about them here.
The books and movies make great family gifts for Christmas. (I'm not talking about the 2003 movie). The scene when a woman from Planned Parenthood comes to the door to enlist the help of Mrs. Gilbreth in their work is priceless.
And if you want to read the life and times of a modern day (though hardly modern)Cheaper by the Dozen you would enjoy reading Christi's blog.
3 comments:
Once, just once that I noticed, in CBTD (I haven't read the other one)they mentioned a girl named Mary or Maria. I think she was number three or four. My guess is that she had some sort of mental or physical handicap that people ignored back then so they just left her out of the story so that they wouldn't have to talk about it.
Actually, when I clicked on your link I found this. I guess I should have looked there first:
One question I frequently get is about little Mary Elizabeth Gilbreth. Mary, along with some of her siblings, came down with diphtheria, in 1912. While the others recovered, Mary didn't and died on January 31st. However, you will find few references to Mary's passing, in the Gilbreth books or even in their papers, at Purdue.
The family never got over the loss of Mary and continued to refer to the Dozen, even though all twelve were never contemporaries. The story of the Dozen continued through the books and in the movies. This out of the family's long sadness over her loss and their feeling that Mary was still with them, in spirit.
When I read that I was too sad to mention it in the blog. How beautiful though that they continued to think of themselves as "the dozen". That family spirit and identification is so important, takes you far in life and is easily achieved in a large family. It really is you against the world.
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