February 24

Happy Birthday to Marjorie Main, Zachary Scott and Abe Vigoda.

I always like Marjorie Main. She seemed like a person you would want to have around to help, to listen and have a good time with. I always like the Ma & Pa Kettle series. Robert Osborn introduced one of the films last year and said that she did not like the films, but did them because she had to, whether it was because she needed the money or was contractually obligated, I don't remember.

I watched several films for Marjorie Main. First is Ma & Pa Kettle Go On Vacation. Ma & Pa win a trip to Paris. Why the film is not called Ma & Pa Go To Paris, I don't know. There are plenty of fish out of water scenes and political intrigue. My favorite scenes are when Ma & Pa go out to clubs. In one scene there are French Apache dancers. Ma does not like how the man treats the woman and throws the man into the kitchen. He comes out and is covered head to toe in spaghetti noodles. Another scene the waiter is making crape Suzette and Pa thinks that the fire is out of control and tries to put the fire out with his coat. When Ma is kidnapped Pa goes to the police and the police don't understand English or his pantomime he throws a police hat on the floor and takes a baton and throws it through the glass door. He gets the police to chase him to where he is supposed to meet Ma.

I also watched Mrs. O'Malley and Mr. Malone. Marjorie plays Mrs. O'Malley, a woman from Montana that wins money on a radio musical contest. She goes by train to NY to collect her prize. In Chicago meeting with her niece she meets Mr. Malone (James Whitmore) a lawyer and writer of detective stories. Mr. Malone is a shyster, fast talking, skirt chasing and broke lawyer. A man that owes him money gets on the train for NY. He follows along with the police, the man's ex-wife and girlfriend. The film is a comedy and a mystery set mainly on a train. My favorite scene is probably when they get to NY. The police think that Mrs. O'Mallery and Mr. Malone murdered a person each and handcuff them together to take to the station. The radio program staff meet Mrs. O'Mallery at the station with a small band. When she gets off the train, they start playing. She and Mr. Malone are looking for the actual murder and escape from the police. The band members follow and several times they start playing. Mr. Malone catches the murder and starts to go over his crimes and the murder states that he wants to hire him to represent him. He immediately goes into lawyer mode.