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 1940s and 1950s. They are a hillbilly couple with fifteen children whose lives are turned upside-down when they win a model home of the future in a slogan-writing contest. On the verge of getting their farm condemned, the Kettles move into the prize home that is different from their country lifestyle. After that, they are subjected to more unusual situations.
Originally based on real-life farming neighbors in Washington state, United States, Ma and Pa Kettle were created by Betty MacDonald in whose 1945 best-selling novel, The Egg and I, they appeared. The success of the novel spawned the 1947 film The Egg and I starring Claudette Colbert and Fred MacMurray, also co-starring Marjorie Main and Percy Kilbride as Ma and Pa Kettle. Main was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role.
After the audiences' positive reaction to the Kettles in the film, Universal Studios produced nine more films, with Marjorie Main reprising her role in all and Percy Kilbride reprising his in seven. The films grossed an estimated $35 million altogether at the box office and are said to have saved Universal from bankruptcy.

Premise

In Ma and Pa Kettle and Ma and Pa Kettle Go to Town it mentions there are 15 kids although there is inconsistency in the names

Animals on the Kettles' farm

Bossie: Bossie is the Kettles' red and white milk cow, who provides Ma, Pa, and their family of fifteen children with plenty of milk. Most of the time, it is the older Kettle boys or even Pa's Indian friends, Geoduck and Crowbar, who milk her. In "Ma and Pa Kettle Go to Town", Pa is seen milking Bossie while listening to the music playing on the radio.
The Chickens: The Kettles keep a flock of nearly a hundred chickens on their broken-down farm, who provide them with lots of eggs each day. Sometimes, one or two of the hens cause mischief towards the Kettles or other characters in the films. In "Ma and Pa Kettle At Home", Ma Kettle's prized speckled hen is seen a few times laying eggs on Mannering's head or in his bowler hat.
Pa Kettle's team: Pa Kettle's team includes an old retired trotting horse, named Emma, and a white donkey wearing a straw hat, who together pull Pa's wagon around the county. In "Ma and Pa Kettle At The Fair", Pa buys Emma originally to win a horse race at the county fair.
Nick: Nick is the Kettles' prized black bull. He spends most of his time living on the Kettles' farm, which is his main home, but in "Ma and Pa Kettle At Home", he sneaks out of the farm and lumbers towards the Maddocks' farm to visit one of John Maddocks' prize cows, Bessie. He is often seen wearing a derby hat on his head, similar to the same type of hat that Pa Kettle wears.
The Goats: A herd of four white Saanen goats live on the Kettles' farm. In "Ma and Pa Kettle At Home", their original owner, John Maddocks, sells them to Pa Kettle for $100. The goats spend most of their time grazing around the farm, but the largest of them, a large buck with massive curved horns, often causes everyone trouble. In "Ma and Pa Kettle At Home", he butts Ma, then Mannering, and lastly Pa, after they turn their backs to him. In "Ma and Pa Kettle Back On The Farm", he starts chewing on several sticks of dynamite that Pa bought to make a new well for Ma, but Pa keeps snatching them from him.
Agnes: Agnes is the Kettles' family Bluetick Coonhound, who also lives on the farm. She is often seen wearing a sweater that Ma Kettle made for her. In "Ma and Pa Kettle At Home", she produces a litter of puppies for the Kettles and their friends at their Christmas Eve party.

Kettle farm set

The Kettle Farm was a movie ranch in Universal Studios where most of the Ma and Pa Kettle features were filmed. The set was redressed several times to resemble a cluttered farmhouse with dilapidating farm buildings. The Kettles' farmhouse did not appear in Ma and Pa Kettle on Vacation and Ma and Pa Kettle at Waikiki. The farm buildings were restored and painted for Ma and Pa Kettle at Home. The entire farm set was modified for The Kettles in the Ozarks, where it was reused as Uncle Sedge's farm in Arkansas. The remodeled farmhouse was also used for The Kettles on Old MacDonald's Farm. The Kettle Farm area was demolished in 1969 to begin construction on the Gibson Amphitheatre on the site of the set. Today this site is The Wizarding World of Harry Potter.
The movie ranch appeared in other films and television series, including:
The ten Kettle films are:
  1. The Egg and I
  2. Ma and Pa Kettle a.k.a. The Further Adventures of Ma and Pa Kettle
  3. Ma and Pa Kettle Go to Town
  4. Ma and Pa Kettle Back on the Farm
  5. Ma and Pa Kettle at the Fair
  6. Ma and Pa Kettle on Vacation
  7. Ma and Pa Kettle at Home
  8. Ma and Pa Kettle at Waikiki
  9. The Kettles in the Ozarks
  10. The Kettles on Old MacDonald's Farm

    ''The Egg and I''

Ma and Pa Kettle first appeared in supporting roles as neighbors in The Egg and I, starring Fred MacMurray and Claudette Colbert as a refined city couple who move to a rural chicken farm. Marjorie Main, a veteran character actress, played a hardy country woman in dozens of films, and so was a natural for the role of Ma Kettle. Main was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.

''Ma and Pa Kettle'' series

After the success of The Egg and I, she and Percy Kilbride starred in their own series of Ma and Pa Kettle movies, which became box-office bonanzas for Universal Pictures, having earned an estimated $35 million for the entire series.
Kilbride retired after making Ma and Pa Kettle at Home, primarily due to boredom with the character, as well as health concerns.

''The Kettles'' films

The Pa Kettle character did not appear at all in The Kettles in the Ozarks, in which Arthur Hunnicutt played Pa's brother Sedgewick Kettle. In The Kettles on Old MacDonald's Farm, the last Kettle movie, Parker Fennelly played Pa Kettle.

Box office rankings

At the height of the popularity of the series, exhibitors polled by Quigley Publishing voted Kilbride and Main among the most popular stars in the US:
Betty MacDonald's characters Ma and Pa Kettle also appeared in television's first comedy serial, The Egg and I, which aired on CBS. Each episode was only 15 minutes long. Ma Kettle was played by Doris Rich and Pa Kettle was played by Frank Twedell. Betty Lynn played Betty MacDonald in some episodes, including "Pa Turns Over A New Leaf". The role was usually played by Pat Kirkland. Another episode, "The Purloined Jacket", starred Mary Perry as Cammy, Richard Carlyle as Joe Kettle, and William A. Lee as Ed Peabody.
The satirical film Loose Shoes, which 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", although only four cartoons were released between 1953 and 1955. The characters Maw and Paw were based on the characters of Ma and Pa Kettle. The spellings of Maw and Paw Kettle appeared in the book The Egg and I. Another Walter Lantz cartoon, "The Ostrich Egg And I", from the Maggie & Sam series, was a spoof of The Egg and I, with Maggie voiced by Grace Stafford and Sam voiced by Daws Butler.
In The Munsters season 1 episode "Family Portrait", a magazine writer makes a reference to the Kettles when he sees the Munster home, which he implies resembles the Kettle farmhouse: "Let's see if Ma and Pa Kettle are home."
In several Warners Brothers cartoons of the 1950s and 1960s, prolific voice artist June Foray imitates Marjorie Main's voice whenever a big aggressive female character appears in the cartoon. Many boomer kids became familiar with Foray's version of Main's voice before they discovered Marjorie Main as the source of Foray's imitation.

DVD releases

The Adventures of Ma and Pa Kettle Volume 1
as the first part of Universal's Franchise Collection series.
The Adventures of Ma and Pa Kettle Volume 2
as the second part of Universal's Franchise Collection series.
The Further Adventures of the Kettles
as a TCM Vault Collection presented by Universal Studios.
The Ma and Pa Kettle Complete Comedy Collection
as a TCM Vault Collection presented by Universal Studios.