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Rent-a-Kid

1995 television film directed by Fred Gerber

Manuscripts, fine bindings, an engraving plate and preserved performance ephemera
Arts and lettersInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionFeb 25, 2026
Entity authorityQ2977849
Source-derived summary

Rent-a-Kid is a 1995 American comedy film. It stars Leslie Nielsen, Christopher Lloyd, and Matt McCoy. It was directed by Fred Gerber.

Plot

Cliff Haber runs an orphanage, and decides to go on a vacation. He has his father, Harry, run the orphanage while he is away. Harry has a rental store and decides that it would be a good idea to rent out orphans to prospective adoptive parents after he hears Cliff's testimony on how hard it is for him to find parents for the orphans he takes care of. Meanwhile, as Cliff is away, he gets a bigger idea by overhearing a couple at a Mexican restaurant, Russ and Valerie Syracuse, arguing over the issue of wanting to have children.

Through enough persuasion from Harry and giving it thought on their own, they decide to rent all three Ward children, Brandon, Kyle, and Molly. A couple, the Lachmans, come to the orphanage wanting to adopt a girl. They find and choose Molly which they tell Cliff and he spreads on to Harry, and as he gives the news to Molly, she is not happy, because she does not want to leave Kyle and Brandon.

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Rent-a-Kid” is 1995 television film directed by Fred Gerber. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Rent-a-Kid, television and film, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewA productive route into publication, performance and collection histories when the underlying object or edition remains clearly identified. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1995—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1995-01-01. For this dossier, Rent-a-Kid, television and film is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “1995 television film directed by Fred Gerber” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.

Evidence profile

Attribution, date and provenance are strongest when supported by the original work, a catalogue record and documented transmission. The source revision retrieved here is dated Feb 25, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2977849. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1995.

Critical limits

Later fame can flatten the distinction between original context, subsequent adaptation and institutional collecting history. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.

Best used for
  • Identifying works and editions
  • Tracing reception history
  • Finding collection records
Verify next

The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Rent-a-Kid”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Rent-a-Kid primary sources, Rent-a-Kid archive and Rent-a-Kid research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Rent-a-Kid”?
  2. How did later circulation or interpretation alter the work’s reception?
  3. Which edition, object, performance or recording is being described?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Rent-a-Kid” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.