Today we take a look at a Reel Classic comedy that may at this time be under the radar. The Egg And I was released in 1947 and was the eighth largest box office hit of that year. The film was based on a semi-autobiographical book of the same name by Betty MacDonald, who wrote of her personal adventures in running a chicken farm. This was one of seven films that Fred MacMurray and Claudette Colbert starred in together.
The story opens with Fred MacMurray and Claudette Colbert as the newly married couple Bob and Betty MacDonald. It is their wedding night and Bob surprises Betty with news that he has given up his white-collar job and has bought a chicken farm out in the country. As a matter of fact, it is an abandoned chicken farm with a run-down house and a need for a new chicken coop. He is excited and full of glee and she is more like “Um, okay.” However, she loves him and so they pile into an overloaded truck filled with luggage, chickens, a cow, and a pig to take them to the country.
While Bob upon arrival sees what could be, Betty sees a house falling apart and the farm in need of much attention. On their first night, they are greeted with a heavy storm and a leaky roof and Bob gets out the calendar and starts planning for the arrival of new baby chicks (oh yes, and possibly a child of their own).
Bob and Betty experience the ups and downs of farming and meet a number of interesting neighbors along the way. One couple includes the infamous Ma and Pa Kettle (Marjorie Main and Percy Kilbride). They were such a hit in this movie that there was a series of Ma and Pa Kettle adventures (nine more after this) that ran from 1949 to 1957. Marjorie Main was nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Ma Kettle (she also appeared as the maid in Meet Me In St. Louis).
Other interesting neighbors include Richard Long as Ma and Pa’s oldest son Tom Kettle (you may remember him from The Big Valley and 77 Sunset Strip TV series), Billy House (The Stranger, Bedlam) as the traveling salesman Billy Reed, and Fuzzy Knight (sidekick to several western cowboys including Johnny Mack Brown) as the cab driver. Louise Albritton plays the rich, single woman (Harriet Putnam) who owns a modern chicken farm and finds herself flirting with her neighbor Bob. Let’s just say that Betty (Claudette Colbert) does not find this amusing.
There is an interesting vehicle driven by Harriet Putnam—a 1946 Mercury Eight station wagon known as a “woody” as there were wooden panels on the car. Some of you may remember seeing those cars in years past. One of the most touching scenes is after the MacDonalds experience a crisis that puts their future as farmers at risk. The neighbors gather to assist them in whatever way they can—be it donations or labor. A wonderful example of how communities rally in a crisis to assist each other.
As mentioned above, The Egg And I was very popular when released and was adapted to radio productions that starred Fred MacMurray and Claudette Colbert. In 1951 CBS-TV aired a television production that was a daytime serial (airing with such programs as Search For Tomorrow and Love Of Life) but it only ran for one year. The year it ran it was the highest-rated afternoon serial on CBS. More of you may remember another TV show that was patterned after The Egg And I that aired in the ’60s and is still seen on TV today—Green Acres. And finally, Walter Lantz created a series of cartoons patterned after Ma and Pa Kettle named Maw and Paw. The first cartoon appeared in 1953 (Maw and Paw) and the last in 1968 (Feudin’ Fightin’ N Fussin’.)
The Internet Movie Database (IMBD) rates this film as a 7 out of 10, and Rotten Tomatoes has an Audience Score of 78%. I think it is a pleasant, entertaining comedy and worth a watch. That may be a bit difficult however as I found it on streaming services but none for free. Also, it appears that the library doesn’t have a copy of this film on the shelves. It can be found in a DVD collection called Ma & Pa Kettle Complete Comedy Collection which has this film and the other nine films featuring the Kettle family.
The trailer can be seen below. Keep watching for the next Reel Classic
