Marjorie Main and the Kettle franchise

Marjorie Main played the character of Ma Kettle in 10 movies beginning with The Egg and I in 1947.

Main had been a reliable supporting performer in many films prior to this such as Meet Me In St. Louis, The Harvey Girls, and Summer Stock.  Last year, a terrific post from Secluded Charm highlighted her performances in these films.

But as Ma Kettle she received her greatest success, including an Academy Award nomination for her performance in The Egg and I.  In the movie, she was arguable the funniest character; I love the way she haphazardly sets the table for her, Pa, and the 15 kids (!!). Audiences wanted to see more of her and "Pa Kettle" (Percy Kilbridge), and more movies were made - a franchise was born.

In The Further Adventures of Ma & Pa Kettle, the Kettles move from their old, dilapidated  farm house into a modern home-of-the-future after Pa wins a contest. Ma is really funny in this movie, especially in the scene where she sees her and Pa on television. Her reactions are amusing.

In Ma & Pa Kettle go to Town, the movie opens with Ma making pancakes. Pa accidentally drops popcorn kernels in the batter. Ma goes crazy when the flapjacks jump through the air off the griddle.

Then Kettles go off to New York City on vacation and get mixed up with some criminals, but 99% of the time they are completely oblivious to any nefarious deeds, which is part of the fun. A highlight of the film has Ma going to an upscale beauty salon.

And the funniest of them all has to be Ma & Pa Kettle Back on the Farm. In this hilarious installment, the Kettles become grandparents for the first time. The movie stars with Ma confused as to why her daughter-in-law has to go to the hospital to have the baby. Ma says proudly, "I had 15 right here in my house and there ain't nothing wrong with any of 'em". Then the highfalutin in-laws come to visit and it's funny to see Ma hold her temper against her son's mother-in-law.

I recommend any of these movies to enjoy the comedic performances of Marjorie Main as Ma Kettle and to see how a franchise thrived through a ten movie franchise.

Dead End (1937)

Great cast and performances. Based on the play by Lillian Hellman, who also wrote the screenplay. Takes place in a slum neighborhood in New York. First, we're introduced to a gang of hoodlums. This group of actors appeared again in some other pictures, so they were dubbed, "The Dead End Kids". Silvia Sidney plays the sister of one of them; she's struggling to keep food on the table for herself and the kid. Her political activism and her brother's delinquency causes her endless stress. She vents to her friend Joel McCrea, a former gang member who is now a struggling architect, looking for work and waiting for his big break. In comes Humphrey Bogart, also a former "Dead End" kid, now wanted by the law. His character - Baby Face Martin - has plastic surgery and becomes unrecognizable. He hangs around the neighborhood and tries to reconcile with his mother (played by Marjorie Main) - who wants nothing to do with him - and his ex-girlfriend played by Claire Trevor, now a sick and broke prostitute. Ms. Trevor's one 5-minute scene with Bogart was so powerful and memorable with audiences that she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. Feeling completely depressed and rejected, Bogart attempts to kidnap of the neighborhood rich kids for ransom, but is shot down at the end, which provides' the film moral lesson, which McCrea explains to one of the kids - stay off the streets. The Dead End Kids steal this movie with every scene they are in. Silvia Sidney is very powerful and moving as well, and also deserving of a nomination. Bogart is perfect as the gangster. Silvia Sidney gets top billing, though. Bogart had not yet made his mark. Produced by Samuel Goldwyn and directed by William Wyler. Ward Bond plays one of the cops.

Read More about the Dead End Kids from the blog FilmFiles.

Dawn has written a great review of this movie on her blog.