Bachelor Mother (1939) is an American romantic comedy film directed by Garson Kanin, and starring Ginger Rogers, David Niven, and Charles Coburn. The screenplay was written by Norman Krasna from an Academy Award-nominated story by Felix Jackson (a.k.a. Felix Joachimson) written for the 1935 Austrian-Hungarian film Little Mother. With a plot full of mistaken identities, Bachelor Mother is a light-hearted treatment of the otherwise serious issues of child abandonment.

Plot

Polly Parrish moved to New York City to seek more opportunities and works as seasonal temporary help in a large department store, Merlin's. She receives notice that her position will be terminated after the Christmas season and she will not be kept on. Walking home, she sees a stranger leaving a baby on the steps of an orphanage. To protect the baby from the cold, Polly takes it inside. The orphanage staff offer Polly assistance and aid so she can keep the baby, because the immediate mutual fondness between Polly and the baby convinces the orphanage staff that Polly is the mother, despite her many protests. Polly leaves the baby in their care, but not before she gave them her name and informed them she was being laid off from Merlin's department store.