Ma and Pa Kettle (film)
Encyclopedia
Ma and Pa Kettle is a 1949 comedy film
directed by Charles Lamont
, and is the sequel of The Egg and I
, centering on the supporting characters in The Egg and I, Ma and Pa Kettle
.
. The Kettles' arch-nemesis, Birdie Hicks, organizes a town council
meeting to condemn the Kettles' garbage dump farm.
Pa Kettle enters a contest to win a house-of-the-future by writing a slogan for the King Henry Tobacco Company. During the council meeting, Alvin, the town's mailman, calls about a telegram declaring Pa Kettle the winner of the contest. Mayor Dwiggins is delighted and cancels the meeting to deliver this notice to Pa. All of the council members arrive at Ma and Pa's farmhouse, but they are greeted by the Kettle children who attack them with slingshots and toy guns. Ma comes out and calls Pa, but all Pa wanted was a new tobacco pouch. The family move into their large house-of-the-future and enjoy it, throwing a party there. It has modern television, and rows of beds which simultaneously fold up into the wall at the push of a button. After Pa suffers a sunburned face from a heat lamp, he alone moves back to their old house to further avoid such troublesome gadgets. He is then accused of plagiarizing his prize-winning slogan from someone else, and as a result his wife and children have to literally fight off authorities arriving to evict them from the modern house. Pa is finally exonerated from the accusation, and they can keep the house. Their older son gets financing to improve his improved chicken incubator, and in the end gets married.
Comedy film
Comedy film is a genre of film in which the main emphasis is on humour. They are designed to elicit laughter from the audience. Comedies are mostly light-hearted dramas and are made to amuse and entertain the audiences...
directed by Charles Lamont
Charles Lamont
Charles Lamont was a prolific film director of over 200 titles, and the producer and writer of many others. He was born in St. Petersburg, Russia, and died in Los Angeles, California, USA.-Career:...
, and is the sequel of The Egg and I
The Egg and I (film)
The Egg and I is a 1947 film directed by Chester Erskine, who co-wrote screenplay with Fred F. Finklehoffe, based on the book by Betty MacDonald.This comedy was such a hit with audiences, it spawned the Ma and Pa Kettle film series...
, centering on the supporting characters in The Egg and I, Ma and Pa Kettle
Ma and Pa Kettle
Ma and Pa Kettle are comic film characters of the successful film series of the same name, produced by Universal Studios, in the late '40s and '50s. They are a hillbilly couple with fifteen children whose lives turn upside-down when they win a model-home-of-the-future in a slogan-writing contest...
.
Plot
Ma and Pa Kettle have lived in a broken-down ramshackle farmhouse for twenty-five years in rural Cape Flattery, WashingtonCape Flattery (Ma and Pa Kettle)
Cape Flattery is the fictional town in the rural-comedy film series, Ma and Pa Kettle . The town makes reference to the Cape Flattery as the most remote, rural, and northernmost point in the West Coast....
. The Kettles' arch-nemesis, Birdie Hicks, organizes a town council
Town council
A town council is a democratically elected form of government for small municipalities or civil parishes. A council may serve as both the representative and executive branch....
meeting to condemn the Kettles' garbage dump farm.
Pa Kettle enters a contest to win a house-of-the-future by writing a slogan for the King Henry Tobacco Company. During the council meeting, Alvin, the town's mailman, calls about a telegram declaring Pa Kettle the winner of the contest. Mayor Dwiggins is delighted and cancels the meeting to deliver this notice to Pa. All of the council members arrive at Ma and Pa's farmhouse, but they are greeted by the Kettle children who attack them with slingshots and toy guns. Ma comes out and calls Pa, but all Pa wanted was a new tobacco pouch. The family move into their large house-of-the-future and enjoy it, throwing a party there. It has modern television, and rows of beds which simultaneously fold up into the wall at the push of a button. After Pa suffers a sunburned face from a heat lamp, he alone moves back to their old house to further avoid such troublesome gadgets. He is then accused of plagiarizing his prize-winning slogan from someone else, and as a result his wife and children have to literally fight off authorities arriving to evict them from the modern house. Pa is finally exonerated from the accusation, and they can keep the house. Their older son gets financing to improve his improved chicken incubator, and in the end gets married.
Cast
- Marjorie MainMarjorie MainMarjorie Main was an American character actress, mainly at MGM, perhaps best known for her role as Ma Kettle in a series of ten Ma and Pa Kettle movies.-Early life and career:...
as Ma Kettle - Percy KilbridePercy KilbridePercy W. Kilbride was an American character actor. The son of Irish immigrants, he made a career of playing country hicks, most memorably as Pa Kettle in the Ma and Pa Kettle series of feature films.-Career:...
as Pa Kettle - Richard LongRichard Long (actor)Richard Long was an American actor better known for his leading roles in several ABC television series, including The Big Valley, Nanny and the Professor and Bourbon Street Beat.-Early life:...
as Tom Kettle - Meg RandallMeg RandallMeg Randall was a film actress. A graduate of the University of Oklahoma, Randall signed a movie contract with Universal Pictures in 1949 and, that same year, appeared in the film noir classic Criss Cross and played Babs Riley in the comedy film The Life of Riley. Randall was credited as Gene...
as Kim Parker - Esther DaleEsther DaleEsther Dale was an American actress, best known perhaps for her role as Aunt Genevieve in the 1935 Shirley Temple vehicle, Curly Top....
as Birdie Hicks - Emory ParnellEmory ParnellEmory Parnell was an American vaudevillian and actor who appeared in over 250 films in his 36 year career...
as Billy Reed - Harry AntrimHarry AntrimHarry Antrim was an actor in vaudeville, film and television.By 1906, Antrim was working in vaudeville. During the early 1930s, he moved to Los Angeles and secured uncredited parts in several films, beginning with 1936's Small Town Girl...
as Mayor Dwiggins