For Love of Ivy

For Love of Ivy is a 1968 American romantic comedy film directed by Daniel Mann. The film stars Sidney Poitier, Abbey Lincoln, Beau Bridges, Nan Martin, Lauri Peters, and Carroll O'Connor. The story was written by Poitier with screenwriter Robert Alan Aurthur. The musical score was composed by Quincy Jones. The theme song "For Love of Ivy", written by Quincy Jones and Bob Russell, was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song. The film received Golden Globe supporting-acting nominations for Beau Bridges and Abbey Lincoln. Plot Ivy Moore, a 27-year-old African-American woman, has worked as a maid for the department store owning Austin family of Long Island, New York, for nine years, since being brought by them from Florida, where she was raised by her grandmother. Despite protestations that they treat her as a part of the family, she announces her decision to leave her job and go to secretarial school and improve her situation. The Austins are desperate to keep her, and the teenagers, Gena and Tim, hatch a scheme to do so. Tim Austin sets up Ivy with Jack Parks, a trucking company executive, to wine and dine Ivy. Tim hopes that the introduction of excitement in her life will dissuade her from leaving the family. Tim persuades a reluctant Parks to date Ivy, and applies pressure by threatening to reveal his illegal gambling casino, which operates at night in the back of a large, long-distance truck.