''Ma and Pa Kettle at Waikiki'' is a 1955 American

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...

directed by

Lee Sholem Lee Tabor Sholem (May 25, 1913 in Paris, Illinois, – August 19, 2000 in Los Angeles, California) was an American television and film director. Nicknamed ""Roll 'Em" Sholem", he is identified more than anyone else in the film industry, industr ...

. It is the seventh installment of

Universal-International Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Americ ...

's ''

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. The hillbilly duo had their hands full with a ramshackle farm and a brood of rambunctious child ...

'' series starring

Marjorie Main Mary Tomlinson (February 24, 1890 – April 10, 1975), professionally known as Marjorie Main, was an American character actress and singer of the Classical Hollywood period, best known as a Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer contract player in the 1940s and ...

and

Percy Kilbride Percy William Kilbride (July 16, 1888 – December 11, 1964) was an American character actor. He made a career of playing country hicks, most memorably as Pa Kettle in the ''Ma and Pa Kettle'' series of feature films. Early life Kilbride was ...

in his final starring role.

Plot

In July 1952, the Kettles help out cousin Rodney Kettle in

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

with his

pineapple The pineapple (''Ananas comosus'') is a tropical plant with an edible fruit; it is the most economically significant plant in the family Bromeliaceae. The pineapple is indigenous to South America, where it has been cultivated for many centuri ...

business. Ma and Pa get acquainted with blue-blooded Mrs. Andrews who thinks the Kettles are the "lowliest" people she has met. This is Percy Kilbride's last appearance as Pa Kettle, and his final movie as well. Cousin Rodney (Loring Smith) has paid Ma and Pa Kettle's way to Hawaii, under the false assumption that Kilbride is a business genius who can help increase stalled business at the family pineapple factory. Pa DOES come up with a solution, although purely by accident. The Kettles also meet a Hawaiian family who are their "mirror image"---hard working Mother (Hilo Hattie), lazy Father (Lung), and twelve children named after the months of the year. Pa Kettle is naturally curious as to what will happen when the next child comes along. Unscrupulous business rivals kidnap Pa, who remains innocently oblivious of his danger. Both large families converge on the hideout for a slapstick rescue mission;with Hawaiian food as the chief ammunition.

Cast

as Ma Kettle *

as Pa Kettle *

Lori Nelson Dixie Kay Nelson (August 15, 1933August 23, 2020), known professionally as Lori Nelson, was an American actress and model mostly active in the 1950s and early 1960s. She had roles in the TV series ''How to Marry a Millionaire'' and the films ''Re ...

as Rosie Kettle *

Byron Palmer Byron Palmer (21 June 1920 – 30 September 2009) was an American film, television and stage actor under contract with 20th Century Fox. Early years Palmer was the second of four children of '' Harlan G. Palmer''; a politician, judge, and most n ...

as Bob Baxter *

Russell Johnson Russell David Johnson (November 10, 1924 – January 16, 2014) was an American actor. He played Professor Roy Hinkley in ''Gilligan's Island'' and Marshal Gib Scott in ''Black Saddle''. Early life Johnson was born in Ashley, Pennsylvania, on ...

as Eddie Nelson *

Hilo Hattie Hilo Hattie (born Clarissa Haili, October 28, 1901 – December 12, 1979) was a Hawaiian singer, hula dancer, actress and comedian of Native Hawaiian ancestry. Early life and career Hattie was born in Honolulu, Hawaii. She loved to dance the hul ...

as Mama Lotus *

Loring Smith Loring B. Smith (November 18, 1890–July 8, 1981) was an American vaudeville, stage, film, radio and television actor, frequently of broadly comic and gregarious characters who enjoyed a 65-year career in every aspect of the entertainment bu ...

as Rodney Kettle *

Lowell Gilmore Lowell Gilmore (20 December 1906 – 31 January 1960) was an American stage, film and television actor. Life and career Lowell Gilmore first worked as a stage manager on the 1929 Broadway play ''The First Mrs. Fraser'', but got his chance as a ...

as Robert Coates *

Mabel Albertson Mabel Ida Albertson (July 24, 1901 – September 28, 1982) was an American actress of television, stage, radio and film who portrayed Phyllis Stephens in the TV sitcom ''Bewitched''. Early years Mabel Ida Albertson was born on July 24, 1901, in ...

as Teresa Andrews *

Fay Roope Fay Roope (born Winfield Harding Roope; October 20, 1893 – September 13, 1961) was a Harvard graduate and a character actor who appeared in American theater in New York City from the 1920s through 1950, and in American film and television from ...

as Fulton Andrews *Oliver Blake as Geoduck *Teddy Hart as Crowbar *

Esther Dale Esther Dale (November 10, 1885 – July 23, 1961) was an American actress of the stage and screen. Early years Dale was born in Beaufort, South Carolina. She attended Leland and Gray Seminary in Townshend, Vermont. In Berlin, Germany, she stud ...

as Birdie Hicks *Claudette Thornton as Rodney Kettle's Secretary *George Arglen as Willie Kettle *Myron Healey (Kidnapper) *Ben Welden (Kidnapper) *Richard Reeves (Kidnapper) *Charles Lung (Papa Lotus)

Production

Although made in 1952, the film was not released for another 3 years, by which time the producer,

Leonard Goldstein Leonard Goldstein (May 28, 1903 – July 23, 1954) was an American film producer who produced mainly low-budget films, making multiple films at a time.Vogel p.51 Biography He started as a theatre booking agent in Los Angeles and moved to New Yor ...

, had died.

References

External links

* 1955 films 1955 comedy films Films set in Hawaii Films set in Washington (state) Films set in 1952 Ma and Pa Kettle Films directed by Lee Sholem Films scored by Henry Mancini American comedy films 1950s English-language films 1950s American films American black-and-white films {{1950s-comedy-film-stub