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Cheaper by the Dozen

Time-and-motion study and efficiency expert Frank Bunker Gilbreth Sr. and his wife, psychologist Lillian Moller Gilbreth, raise 12 children in 1920s Providence, Rhode Island and Montclair, New Jersey. Frank employs unorthodox teaching methods with his children, who clash with their parents.

Frank takes every opportunity to study motion and increase efficiency, including filming his children's tonsillectomies to investigate opportunities to streamline the operation. He escorts his daughter to her prom as a chaperone but chats and dances with her female friends.

Frank is sent on a lecture tour to Europe, expecting to visit Prague and London. While phoning Lillian from the station, he suffers a heart attack. After Frank's sudden death, the family members agree that Lillian will continue her husband's work, beginning with delivering his lectures in Europe. This enables the family to remain in their house rather than move to their grandmother's house in California. With a widowed working mother and one income, the children will have to assume much greater responsibilities.