If you thought the only version of The Parent Trap out there was the 1998 Lindsay Lohan movie, you are mistaken. In 1961, Walt Disney released the original Parent Trap, the story about identical twin girls who meet at summer camp and set out on a quest to reunite their divorced parents. It's adorable (just like the remake) and if you saw the '90s version first, it's worth watching to see the similarities and differences between the two films.

The '60s was a grand time for Disney live-action movies. Released that decade were classics such as Mary Poppins, Pollyanna, The Absent-Minded Professor, and The Love Bug, just to name a few.

We meet teenage girls Susan Evers and Sharon McKendrick (the adorable and delightful Hayley Mills plays both roles) on their first day of camp. Susan lives with her single father Mitch (Brian Keith) in California, and Sharon lives with her single mother Maggie (Maureen O'Hara) and grandparents in Boston. The two girls don't get along at first, spending their time at camp fighting and refusing to seriously acknowledge their identical features. They eventually go too far with the pranks and end up being isolated together for the rest of their stay. They become friendly after awhile and discover they're twins whose parents divorced when they were babies, thus never meeting. Since both mom and dad are single, they come up with a plan to reunite them. After summer camp ends, Susan goes to Boston pretending she's Sharon, while Sharon goes to California as Susan. After enough time has passed, they reveal to their parents their true identities and get switched back in person in the hopes mom and dad will fall in love again.

It seems like a perfect plan, but of course there always has to be an obstacle in the protagonists' way. When Sharon meets up with her dad for the first time, she figures out that if she and her sister want their parents to be together again, they've got to get rid of a certain woman in their way: Vicky Robinson. Vicky is Mitch's young gold-digger girlfriend and the woman he wants to marry. From there, the girls try to stop the wedding, revealing their true selves, while Mitch and Maggie discover their feelings for each other will never die.


Our leading lady, Hayley Mills, has such charm and easily carries the movie from beginning to end. She reprised her Susan/Sharon roles in three '80s Parent Trap TV sequels. Maureen O'Hara, one of classic Hollywood's most famous and respected actresses, does some great work here as Maggie. She's a very composed and sophisticated woman throughout one half of the movie, and a complete goofball in the next half.

Fun Fact: Joanna Barnes, who plays Vicky, has a role in the Parent Trap remake as money-hungry Meredith Blake's mother, Vicki. It's quite fun imagining this is the same Vicki from the original. There are other similarities between the two movies: for example, much of the dialogue from the original is replicated in the remake. Also, 'Let's Get Together', a song heavily featured in the 1961 version is sung by Lindsay Lohan very quickly (you have to really pay attention in order to catch it) in one scene.

It's hard explaining why this 'franchise' is still so popular with young people today. It's not a musical, and there are zero visual effects to keep us mesmerized. Its enduring popularity could be credited to the story, simple as that. There are thousands of kids throughout the world who live with one parent and have minimal, if not zero, contact with the other. These films are an escape from reality for those who wish their family wasn't so 'broken'. Also, who wouldn't want to discover that they have an identical twin to cause trouble with?

This is a Disney classic, and will remain so forever as long as there are kid dreamers out there.

Valerie Frederick, a typical young woman who just happens to be in love with classic films and French Fries, writes about the golden age of cinema from a teen's perspective.