Mrs Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch ** (1934, Pauline Lord, W C Fields, ZaSu Pitts, Evelyn Venable) – Classic Movie Review 11,573

Director Norman Taurog’s humorous 1934 Paramount Pictures comedy-drama film Mrs Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch is worth watching for the performers and the laughs, even if the antique emotional manipulation seems too crude today.

W C Fields (as Mr C Ellsworth Stubbins) brightens what is otherwise a thickly laid-on story of the courage of a feisty, optimistic and cheerful woman, Mrs Elvira Wiggs (Pauline Lord), in bringing up her family of several daughters and sons Jimmy (George Breakston) and Billy (Jimmy Butler) single-handedly during hard times in 1901.

The screenplay by William Slavens McNutt and Jane Storm is based on the 1904 Broadway play by Anne Crawford Flexner, in turn taken from the 1901 novel by American author Alice Hegan Rice, humorously telling of a southern family’s coping with poverty. It is one of only two films starring Broadway stage actress Pauline Lord.

Original illustration for the first illustrated edition of Mrs Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch

There are two previous versions: a 1914 silent film starring Blanche Chapman and a 1919 silent film starring Marguerite Clark and Mary Carr. It was remade in 1942 as Mrs Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch starring Fay Bainter. The book was also adapted into a 1935-1938 radio series.

The cast are Pauline Lord as Mrs. Wiggs W.C. Fields as Mr. C. Ellsworth Stubbins, ZaSu Pitts as Miss Tabitha Hazy, Evelyn Venable as Lucy Olcott, Kent Taylor as Bob Redding, Charles B. Middleton as Mr. Bagby, Donald Meek as Mr. Hiram Wiggs, Jimmy Butler as Billy Wiggs, George Breakston as Jimmy Wiggs, Edith Fellows as Australia Wiggs, Virginia Weidler as Europena Wiggs, Carmencita Johnson as Asia Wiggs, George Reed as Julius, Mildred Gover as Priscilla, Arthur Housman as Dick Harris, Walter Walker as Dr. Barton, Sam Flint as Railroad Agent Jenkins, James Robinson as Mose – Newspaper Office Boy, Edward Tamblyn as Usher, Al Shaw as First Comedian, Del Henderson as House Manager, George Pearce as Minister, Lillian Elliott as Mrs. Bagby, Ann Sheridan, and Tyler Brooks.

It was one of Paramount’s biggest hits of the year.

Norman Taurog had a prolific 40-year directing career, ending up directing Elvis Presley nine times.

Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 11,573

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