The 1961 Movie "Susan Slade"

The 1961 movie Susan Slade tells a story about a 17-year-old girl, Susan Slade (played by the actress Connie Stevens), who unintentionally becomes pregnant. She and her boyfriend had intended to marry when they began to engage in sexual intercourse, but he dies in a mountain-climbing accident at about the same time that she discovers she is pregnant.

Susan confides her pregnancy to her mother, Leah Slade (played by the actress Dorothy McGuire), who informs her husband, Susan's father, Roger Slade (played by the actor Lloyd Nolan). Although the pregnancy is discovered very early (in the second month) and although the Slade family is wealthy, abortion is not considered by any of the characters for even one second.

Instead of aborting the pregnancy, the Slade family moves to Guatemala for two years. Mr. Slade works for a mining company that is happy to transfer him to Guatemala immediately.

During the family's two years in Guatemala, Susan gives birth to a son, but Susan's mother Leah pretends that she herself was pregnant and gave birth. Therefore, when the Slade family returns from their two-year stay in Guatemala, everyone who knows the family thinks that Leah is the mother and that Susan is the sister of the baby boy.

Through a series of events that I will not recount here, Susan eventually reveals that she herself is the mother. The movie ends with Susan falling in love with a struggling writer, Hoyt Brecker (played by the actor Troy Donahue).

   
I am pointing out this 1961 movie in my blog because abortion is NOT considered as an option for dealing with the unintended pregnancy of a 17-year-old girl when marriage is not possible. Her pregnancy must be concealed forever because of the social shame, but she must give birth to the child.

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The movie was released in November 1961 -- about 21 months before the Houseman's summer vacation at Kellerman's. In November 1961, Lisa Houseman was about 17 years old -- just like Susan Slade. For sure, Lisa -- and most of her girlfriends -- watched the movie in a movie theater.

Perhaps 15-year-old Baby Houseman watched the movie too.

The movie was a big hit among teenage girls. The Amazon webpage about the movie reports that (on August 30, 2019) 76% of the customers rated the movie five stars and 14% rated it four stars. Having rated the movie five stars, one nostalgic commenter recalls (emphasis added)

This is one of my all time favorite movies as I will never forget back in the 60's what a controversial movie it was. Connie Stevens had an outstanding role! Every teenage girl wanted to see this movie in it's day,

Oh, how times have changed. My parents would never have been as broad-minded as the parents in this movie.

I have shown this movie to both my 24-year-old daughter and 14-year-old son, they both look at me and say "Mom, how many years ago...you are ancient".

I just smile! Times were so different back then.

I still enjoy watching this movie and always will. Troy Donahue was one of my all time favorite male actors, sooooo good looking and charming!

Aside from the attractiveness of the movie's two leading actors -- Connie Stevens and Troy Donahue -- the movie was popular among teenage girls because it portrayed a family dealing rather calmly and reasonably with a 17-year-old daughter's unintended, unmarried pregnancy.

Of course, moving to Guatemala and pretending that the teenage girl's mother gave birth to the child was a bizarre solution. Nevertheless, the parents' conversations with their 17-year-old pregnant daughter are charmingly reasonable and intelligent. Every teenage girl would have wanted to have such broad-minded parents.

Finally, the movie presented the possibility that a never-married young mother might end up being loved and married by a man as handsome and adorable as Troy Donahue.

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Another reason why Susan Slade was such a popular movie was that it followed the 1959 movie A Summer Place, which likewise had starred Troy Donahue and Dorothy McGuire.

In A Summer Place, Troy Donahue played the son of Dorothy McGuire. Although she is married, she is having an affair with a previous boyfriend, who is the father of a girl played by Sandra Dee. Eventually the Troy character and the Sandra character engage in sexual intercourse, and the Sandra character becomes pregnant.

In 1959, this movie was supposed to be watched only by adults, but of course all the teenagers wanted to watch it too. The movie was notorious.

So, when Susan Slade -- again starring Donaue and McGuire and again featuring an unintended teenage pregnancy -- was released in 1961, all the teenage girls wanted to watch it, especially if they had been too young to watch A Summer Place in 1959.

In neither movie did any character ever express any idea of aborting a pregnancy.

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