One of the most extraordinary filmgoing experiences you'll ever have.

known as Pacific State Hospital at the time - closed 2015

Lanterman Development Center - 3530 W Pomona Blvd, Pomona, California, USA

Stella Stevens and Bobby Darin in Too Late Blues (1961)

Seymour Cassel and Gena Rowlands in Minnie and Moskowitz (1971)

John Cassavetes and Gena Rowlands in Love Streams (1984)

Judy Garland and Dirk Bogarde in I Could Go on Singing (1963)

Peter Falk, John Cassavetes, and Ben Gazzara in Husbands (1970)

Gena Rowlands and John Adames in Gloria (1980)

Burt Lancaster in The Young Savages (1961)

Alan Arkin, Beverly D'Angelo, Peter Falk, Charles Durning, and Valerie Curtin in Big Trouble (1986)

Kirk Douglas, Burt Lancaster, and Laurence Olivier in The Devil's Disciple (1959)

Judy Garland, Burt Lancaster, and Bruce Ritchey in A Child Is Waiting (1963)

I think you can find what you're looking for here, Miss Hansen. Because it's not what you can do for these children; it's what they can do for you.

Judy Garland and Bruce Ritchey in A Child Is Waiting (1963)

Burt Lancaster, Gena Rowlands, and Bruce Ritchey in A Child Is Waiting (1963)

Judy Garland and Burt Lancaster in A Child Is Waiting (1963)

Judy Garland, Gloria McGehee, Bruce Ritchey, and June Walker in A Child Is Waiting (1963)

Burt Lancaster

Judy Garland

Gena Rowlands

Abby Mann

A teacher and a psychologist work with children at an institute for the mentally-imparied.

John Cassavetes

A Child Is Waiting

Supportive, descriptive.

A truly heartwarming look at the every day lives of children at a mental facility. Judy Garland gives a great performance as Jean Hansen, a lonely woman on the look out for just the right kind of job.

Burt Lancaster is very convincing as the hospital psychiatrist. He is strict but in many ways kind to the kids. However, the one standout child in this movie is Bruce Ritchey who portrays &quot;Reuben Widdecombe&quot;. The boy dislikes Lancaster for his strictness.

I thought Billy Mumy &quot;Lost In Space&quot; and &quot;Twilight Zone&quot; would have had a bigger part in this, yet he is only in a supporting role. Bruce Ritchey looks like &quot;the boy next door&quot;, like any other normal kid. Judy Garland takes a great interest in Ritchey and gets his parents to come out to the hospital to see him.

The dad, Steven Hill, wants to forget that his son ever existed and refuses to come see the boy until the mother, played by Gena Rowlands, tearfully persuades her ex-husband to visit he son. She comes to the hospital herself but refuses to see Reuben.

All in all, the movie is wonderful. You will definately need to have a box of kleenex nearby. Ritchey will win your heart! I give it an enthusiastic 2 THUMBS UP!

Psychologist Dr. Matthew Clark is the head of the Crawthorne State Training Institute, one of the first boarding schools for developmentally challenged children. Dr. Clark is sympathetic but demanding of his teachers and students. His approach of tough love is controversial. He takes a chance at hiring former aspiring concert pianist Jean Hansen as the school&apos;s music teacher, Miss Hansen who has no background in nursing, teaching or dealing with the developmentally challenged. She herself is trying to find her own place in life. She immediately bonds with autistic student Reuben Widdicombe, who she sees as needing special attention in light of his parents having not visited him since they enrolled him in the school two years earlier. The Widdicombes divorced shortly thereafter because of the pressures their relationship faced in dealing with Reuben. Dr. Clark sees Reuben as the type of child the most difficult with which to deal: Reuben understands just enough to realize that he is different and is often being rejected. Miss Hansen and Dr. Clark disagree on how best to get through to Reuben. Although Dr. Clark admits that his methods have not worked with Reuben, he also does not believe that Miss Hansen&apos;s approach of undivided attention is the answer. Through getting to know the Widdicombe&apos;s reasons for not visiting and she herself seeing the life of the adult disabled, Miss Hansen comes to an understanding of how she feels she can best help her students, Reuben included.

Trailer

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BOTgzNzQwMzgtMDdlNi00OGEwLThiYjUtYjg5YmY3NTFkOTYwXkEyXkFqcGdeQXRyYW5zY29kZS13b3JrZmxvdw@@._V1_.jpg

A truly heartwarming look at the every day lives of children at a mental facility. Judy Garland gives a great performance as Jean Hansen, a lonely woman on the look out for just the right kind of job.

Burt Lancaster is very convincing as the hospital psychiatrist. He is strict but in many ways kind to the kids. However, the one standout child in this movie is Bruce Ritchey who portrays "Reuben Widdecombe". The boy dislikes Lancaster for his strictness.

I thought Billy Mumy "Lost In Space" and "Twilight Zone" would have had a bigger part in this, yet he is only in a supporting role. Bruce Ritchey looks like "the boy next door", like any other normal kid. Judy Garland takes a great interest in Ritchey and gets his parents to come out to the hospital to see him.

The dad, Steven Hill, wants to forget that his son ever existed and refuses to come see the boy until the mother, played by Gena Rowlands, tearfully persuades her ex-husband to visit he son. She comes to the hospital herself but refuses to see Reuben.

All in all, the movie is wonderful. You will definately need to have a box of kleenex nearby. Ritchey will win your heart! I give it an enthusiastic 2 THUMBS UP!

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