Cheaper by the Dozen (1950 film)

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Cheaper by the Dozen (1950) is an American comedy-drama film.

The film was based upon the 1948 book Cheaper by the Dozen by Frank Gilbreth Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Cary which told of growing up in a family with twelve children.

Their parents were motion study and efficiency experts Frank Bunker Gilbreth and Lillian Moller Gilbreth. The title comes from one of Gilbreth's favorite jokes which played out in the movie that when he and his family were out driving and stopped at a red light, a pedestrian would ask "Hey, Mister! How come you got so many kids?" Gilbreth would pretend to ponder the question carefully, and then, just as the light turned green, would say "Well, they come cheaper by the dozen, you know," and drive off.

Based on the success of Cheaper by the Dozen, Gilbreth and Cary wrote a follow-up to their book entitled Belles on Their Toes which was also made into a movie by 20th Century Fox.

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The film was remade in 2003 with the same title, but otherwise almost no resemblance to the first film. The 2003 film also featured a family of twelve children, but all of the characters' names were changed, the film was set in modern times, and the modern film did not have the melancholy ending that the 1950 version had.