Four Daughters (1938)

Adam Lemp, the Dean of the Briarwood Music Foundation, has passed on his love of music to his four early adult daughters - Thea, Emma, Kay and Ann - who live with him and his sister, the girls' Aunt Etta, in the long time family home. Of the four, Kay has the greatest promise as a musical performer, specifically as a singer. Theirs is a loving family, however much the girls exasperate their father with their love of popular music, since he loves only the classics, most specifically Beethoven. The girls support each other however they can, but each is an individual with her own distinct personality and wants, including the type of man each wants as a husband. Practical but deep in her heart romantic Emma has long been courted by their next door neighbor, unassuming florist Ernest Talbot, and clever Thea wants to be Mrs. Ben Crowley, he a wealthy up and coming banker with prospects. Only the youngest, the fun loving Ann, states that she doesn't want to get married. Their collective lives change with the entry into their lives of two men. The first is Adam's old friend's son, popular music composer and conductor Felix Deitz, who easily gets a job at the foundation using his natural and sincere charm which he applies to all equally. Many women misconstrue that charm for romantic interest. The second is Felix's acquaintance, musician Mickey Borden, who he hires to orchestrate his latest composition. Mickey has a chip on his shoulders about what life has dealt him, which he uses in turn as a reason for living a reckless life. The two men make each of the four daughters reexamine what she thinks she wants in life, or more precisely who she wants, which for all may be the same person.