Marjorie Main and Percy Kilbride proved so popular as characters in The Egg And I that Universal Pictures gave them their own series. This film Ma And Pa Kettle was the first of many as the Kettles become cult figures in red state America of the Truman and Eisenhower years.
Percy Kilbride as Pa Kettle was the role model for Edgar Buchanan in Petticoat Junction as the laziest man alive. Of course with the 15 kids that he and Marjorie Main produced he was good for at least one activity. But we do have to consider that Marjorie gave more of a long term commitment to producing the brood.
Anyway Kilbride does enter contests and this film concerns the fact that he entered a contest slogan and won a brand new house which is all push buttons. His contest win puts their Arkansas town on the map. But it brings more trouble than its worth sometimes.
In other news the oldest Kettle played by Richard Long is back from agricultural college and he's made himself a new and improved incubator for chicken eggs. On the train home he meets Meg Randall who is a writer for a magazine who is covering the Kettles and their new home as a human interest story. It's rough courtship as Randall has to get used to the ways of the Kettles, but she's a good person and a good sport.
As I wrote on another Kettle film review, if you were a big fan of things like Petticoat Junction and Green Acres, the Kettle films were your cup of tea back in the day.
Percy Kilbride as Pa Kettle was the role model for Edgar Buchanan in Petticoat Junction as the laziest man alive. Of course with the 15 kids that he and Marjorie Main produced he was good for at least one activity. But we do have to consider that Marjorie gave more of a long term commitment to producing the brood.
Anyway Kilbride does enter contests and this film concerns the fact that he entered a contest slogan and won a brand new house which is all push buttons. His contest win puts their Arkansas town on the map. But it brings more trouble than its worth sometimes.
In other news the oldest Kettle played by Richard Long is back from agricultural college and he's made himself a new and improved incubator for chicken eggs. On the train home he meets Meg Randall who is a writer for a magazine who is covering the Kettles and their new home as a human interest story. It's rough courtship as Randall has to get used to the ways of the Kettles, but she's a good person and a good sport.
As I wrote on another Kettle film review, if you were a big fan of things like Petticoat Junction and Green Acres, the Kettle films were your cup of tea back in the day.