The Egg and I **** (1947, Claudette Colbert, Fred MacMurray, Marjorie Main, Percy Kilbride, Louise Allbritton, Richard Long) Classic Movie Review 7231

Co-writer/ producer/ director Chester Erskine’s 1947 Universal Pictures black and white screwball comedy The Egg and I is a warm and witty farm frolic that proved Claudette Colbert’s last big hit. It is written for the screen by Chester Erskine and Fred F Finklehoffe, based on Betty MacDonald’s humorous memoir.

Colbert stars in this delightful whimsy as glamorous city girl Betty and Fred MacMurray stars with her as working guy Bob having comic chicken misadventures as they set about turning a ramshackle property into a viable poultry farm, after Bob reveals to Betty on their wedding night that he has bought an abandoned chicken farm. It is well known that chickens are not erotic, at least to humans, so this was not a good move on wedding night. MacMurray’s Bob has egg on his face. All in all, Betty is far from thrilled about her rural lifestyle.

Colbert elegantly accesses her It Happened One Night persona and MacMurray is effortlessly genial. They are just right for it. Marjorie Main and Percy Kilbride co-star most enjoyably as hillbilly farmer couple Ma and Pa Kettle. They are a delight.

Louise Allbritton has the fifth main role as Harriet Putnam, a glamorous neighbour with an eye for Bob. Richard Long, who had made his film debut as Claudette Colbert’s son in Tomorrow Is Forever (1946), plays in another of her movies here as Tom Kettle. The character and actor reappeared in the sequels Ma and Pa Kettle (1949), Ma and Pa Kettle Go to Town (1950) and Ma and Pa Kettle Back on the Farm (1951).

But the biggest winners here are Marjorie Main and Percy Kilbride, who make début appearances as the hillbilly farmer couple Ma and Pa Kettle before setting off on a 10-year film series career of their own. The series ran to nine B-movies between 1949 and 1957, starting with Ma and Pa Kettle (1949), Ma and Pa Kettle Go to Town (1950) and Ma and Pa Kettle Back on the Farm (1951).

Also in the cast are Billy House, Ida Moore, Donald MacBride, Samuel S Hinds and Elizabeth Risdon.

Marjorie Main.

Marjorie Main said: ‘Ma Kettle is a once in a lifetime role. I hope it makes a lot of people happy.’ It did. Her final film role was as Ma Kettle in The Kettles on Old MacDonald’s Farm (1957).

Her performance in The Egg And I earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress. She was born Mary Tomlinson on 24 February 1890 in Acton, Indiana. MGM offered her a seven-year contract in 1940. After her psychologist husband died of lung cancer in 1935, Marjorie fell in love with actress Spring Byington. They remained devoted to each other until Spring passed away in 1971.

In the book The Egg and I, first published in 1945, Betty MacDonald narrates her adventures and travels as a young wife on a chicken farm on the Olympic Peninsula, Washington. Hard to imagine the success of Betty MacDonald’s memoir today. On 12 September 1946, the specially bound millionth copy of the book was presented to MacDonald by Washington Governor Monrad Wallgren at a luncheon in Seattle.

She was paid $100,000 plus a percentage of profits for the film rights. There must have been plenty of profits as the movie was box office success, earning $5.5 million in the US against its budget of $1.9 million.

The cast are Claudette Colbert as Betty MacDonald, Fred MacMurray as Bob MacDonald, Marjorie Main as Ma Kettle, Louise Allbritton as Harriet Putnam, Percy Kilbride as Pa Kettle, Richard Long as Tom Kettle Billy House as Billy Reed, Ida Moore as Emily, Donald MacBride as Mr. Henty, Samuel S. Hinds as Sheriff, Esther Dale as Birdie Hicks, Elisabeth Risdon as Betty’s Mother, John Berkes as Geoduck, Victor Potel as Crowbar, and Fuzzy Knight as Cab Driver.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 7231

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