Ma and Pa Kettle *** (1949, Marjorie Main, Percy Kilbride, Richard Long, Meg Randall, Esther Dale) – Classic Movie Review 7,235

Sweet character actors Marjorie Main and Percy Kilbride get their chance for stardom in the 1949 American comedy film Ma and Pa Kettle when two of the characters from Betty MacDonald’s 1947 semi-fictional memoir book The Egg and I, which they played in the 1947 film version The Egg and I, proved so popular that they landed their own series, which ran to nine B-movies between 1949 and 1957.

In director Charles Lamont’s 1949 first one, father of 15 Pa Kettle (Kilbride) wins a tobacco slogan-writing contest and buys a new home with all mod cons. Local nosey-parker Mrs Birdie Hicks (Esther Dale) asserts that the slogan was plagiarised, but journalist Kim Parker (Meg Randall) proves it is kosher and weds the eldest Kettle kid, Tom Kettle (Richard Long).

As a slice of rural, downhome Forties Americana, it is all very entertaining in its simple, easy-going, old-fashioned way. There are plenty of infectious, if obvious laughs in a predictable script, prompted by the engaging performances and the pleasantly cosy atmosphere. But the main success of this film, as well as the series, is mostly down to the warm and generous playing of the two funny stars.

Also in the cast are Patricia Alphin, Barry Kelley, Harry Antrim, Ida Moore, Isabel O’Madigan, Emory Parnell, Boyd Davis, O Z Whitehead, Ray Bennett, Alvin Hammer, Lester Allen, Chief Yowlachie, Rex Leese, Harry Cheshire, Teddy Infuhr, Sam McDaniel, Harry Tyler, Paul Dunn, Margaret Brown, Dale Belding, Donna Leary and Dewey Robinson.

Filming started in December 1948 and it was released on April 1, 1949.

Sadly, Kilbride was injured in a car crash and could not appear in the final two films, which eventually ended the series. Main filmed The Kettles in the Ozarks (1956) without Kilbride, and Parker Fennelly played Pa Kettle in her final film of the series, The Kettles on Old MacDonald’s Farm (1957), her final film appearance.

The film was a big hit, grossing $2,850,000, and very lucrative for Universal Pictures as it cost only $200,000, helping to save the studio from financial collapse.

Main also wrote some of her character’s dialogue and created her own costumes and make-up.

Ma and Pa Kettle (also known as The Further Adventures of Ma and Pa Kettle) is followed by Ma and Pa Kettle Go to Town (1950) and Ma and Pa Kettle Back on the Farm (1951).

Percy Kilbride and another actor, Ralph Belmont, were struck by a motorist while crossing the street in Hollywood on 21 September 1964. Belmont died instantly and Kilbride died three months later in hospital on November 11, aged 76. Kilbride never married.

After her final appearance in 2 episodes of TV’s Wagon Train in 1958, Marjorie Main retired from acting, Main lived a quiet life in Los Angeles, with interests in spiritualism and the Moral Re-Armament. She died of lung cancer on April 10, 1975, aged 85. Main had a long-term relationship with actress Spring Byington.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 7,235

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