Ma and Pa Kettle

Ma and Pa Kettle were the featured characters in a series ofpopular light comedic movies in the 1940s and 1950s. The movies revolved around the absurd misadventures of the Kettle clan.

Pa (Franklin Kettle) (played by Percy Kilbride) was a gentle but slow-speaking, slow-thinkingand lazy man. His only talents appeared to be avoiding work andwinning contests. Ma (Phoebe Kettle) (played by Marjorie Main) was larger, raucous, moreambitious and smarter than Pa, but not by much, and could easily befooled. She was content with her role as mother to a small army ofchildren on the Kettles' ramshackle farm. (At the end of the first film in the series Pa Kettle won a modern home that the family moved into. As the series continued, various reasons came up to have the family relocate to the "old place", sometimes for extended periods of time.)

Much of the humor came from the preposterous situations the Kettlesfound themselves in, such as Pa being mistaken for a wealthyindustrialist or being jailed after he accidentally set a series ofevents in motion that resulted in race horses at the fair eating feedlaced with concrete.

The Kettles first appeared in supporting roles in "The Egg and I",starring Fred MacMurray and Claudette Colbert. After that theystarred in a series of their own movies. Main was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in 1948 for her role in "The Egg and I".

Main and Kilbride also appeared together in the 1948 Universal film "Feudin', Fussin' And A-Fightin"'. The movie also starred Donald O'Connor and Joe Besser. Many have mistaken this movie to be a Kettle film. Main played Maribel Matthews and Kilbride played Billy Caswell.

Kilbride retired after making the "hamburger" movie; the Pa Kettle character did not appear in "The Kettles in the Ozarks". Arthur Hunnicutt played Pa's brother Sedgewick Kettle in that movie. In "The Kettles on Old MacDonald's Farm", the last Kettle movie, Parker Fennelly played Pa Kettle.

The eight Kettle films starting Kilbride and Main have been released on DVD, as part of Universal's "Franchise Collection" series. Volume 1 contains "The Egg and I", "The Further Adventures of Ma and Pa Kettle", "Ma and Pa Kettle Go to Town" and "Ma and Pa Kettle Back on the Farm", while Volume 2 contains "Ma and Pa Kettle at the Fair", "Ma and Pa Kettle on Vacation", "Ma and Pa Kettle at Home", "Ma and Pa Kettle at Waikiki". In 'Ma and Pa Kettle Back on the Farm' The oldest brother, Tom Kettle, was played by Richard Long, Sherry Jackson played Susie Kettle and the youngest child, Billy Kettle, was played by J.P. Sloane.

The characters of Ma and Pa Kettle also appeared in television's first comedy serial, "The Egg and I", which aired on CBS (September 3, 1951-August 1, 1952). Each episode was only 15 minutes long. Ma Kettle was played by Doris Rich and Pa Kettle was played by Frank Twedell. Betty Lynn (better known as Barney Fife's girlfriend Thelma Lou from "The Andy Griffith Show") played Betty in some episodes, including "Pa Turns Over A New Leaf" (which aired on May 21, 1952).

The 1980 satire film "Loose Shoes" (which also starred Bill Murray) included a sketch called "A Visit With Ma and Pa" where Ma Kettle was played by Ysabel MacCloskey and Pa Kettle was played by Walker Edmiston.

Animator Walter Lantz produced a short-lived cartoon series for Universal Pictures called "Maw and Paw" in which only four cartoons were released between 1953 and 1955. The characters Maw and Paw (voiced by Grace Stafford and Dal McKennon) were based on the characters of Ma and Pa Kettle.

Films

*"The Egg and I" - 1947
*"(The Further Adventures of) Ma and Pa Kettle" - 1949
*"Ma and Pa Kettle Go to Town" - 1950
*"Ma and Pa Kettle Back on the Farm" - 1951
*"Ma and Pa Kettle at the Fair" - 1952
*"Ma and Pa Kettle on Vacation" - 1953
*"Ma and Pa Kettle at Home" - 1954
*"Ma and Pa Kettle at Waikiki" - 1955
*"The Kettles in the Ozarks" - 1956
*"The Kettles on Old MacDonald's Farm" - 1957

Book references

* Total Television (by Alex McNeil) (Penguin Books) (1996)

External links

* [http://www.angelfire.com/tv2/rainbowcountry/kettle Fan Site]
* [http://www.geocities.com/gimcrack.geo/main.html Ma and Pa Fan Club]