By Violet LeVoit
Mary Jane's Pa
Brief Synopsis
A female newspaper publisher hires the husband who deserted her years earlier.
Cast & Crew
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William Keighley
Director
Aline Macmahon
Ellen Preston
Guy Kibbee
Sam Preston
Tom Brown
King Wagner
Robert Mcwade
John Wagner
Minor Watson
Kenneth Marvin
Film Details
Also Known As
Wanderlust
Genre
Drama
Adaptation
Comedy
Release Date
Apr
27,
1935
Premiere Information
not available
Production Company
First National Productions Corp.
Distribution Company
First National Pictures, Inc.; The Vitaphone Corp.
Country
United States
Screenplay Information
Based on the play Mary Jane's Pa by Edith Ellis Furness (New York, 3 Dec 1908), and the novel of the same name adapted from the play by Norman Way (New York, 1909).
Technical Specs
Duration
1h 11m
Sound
Mono
Color
Black and White
Theatrical Aspect Ratio
1.37 : 1
Film Length
8 reels
Synopsis
Sam Preston, who prints a small town newspaper, is called by wanderlust. He deserts his wife Ellen and two small daughters, Mary Jane and Lucille. Years later, he returns to the town and takes a job as a carnival barker while searching for his family. By accident he meets Mary Jane and learns that Ellen is running a successful newspaper. She is supporting Kenneth Marvin, a political candidate, because she believes that he is the only candidate not in the pay of special interests. Keeping his identity secret from his daughters, Sam accepts Ellen's offer to become the family's cook and general handyman in order to be close to his children. Through an old friend, John Wagner, who happens to be the rival candidate, Sam learns that Marvin has been accepting payoffs from a produce company. Ellen doesn't believe him and demands proof. With the help of Wagner's son King and a young reporter, Sam finds the cancelled checks and delivers them to Ellen on election eve. She is in the process of printing a special edition based on Sam's evidence when Marvin's men destroy her machines. Sam repairs an old printer, and working feverishly, he and Eellen put an extra edition on the streets in time to win the election for Wagner. Ellen forgives Sam and, after he reveals his real identity to his daughters, asks him to take over as editor of the paper.
Director
William Keighley
Director
Cast
Aline Macmahon
Ellen Preston
Guy Kibbee
Sam Preston
Tom Brown
King Wagner
Robert Mcwade
John Wagner
Minor Watson
Kenneth Marvin
Nan Gray
Lucille Preston
Johnny Arledge
Linc Overman
Robert Light
Fred
Betty Jean Hainey
Mary Jane Preston
Oscar Apfel
Chief Bailey
Dewitt Jennings
Sheriff
Carl Stockdale
Gene
Louis Mason
Jones
Jack Kennedy
Watchman
Milt Kibbee
Bill
John Hyams
Morgan
Eddie Lee
Chinese
Roger Gray
Bartender
Don Downen
Youth
Nick Copeland
Worker
Sam Rice
Worker
Rosalie Roy
Secretary
Georgia Cooper
Mrs. Bailey
Irving Bacon
Clerk
James P. Burtis
Motor cop
Frank Meredith
Motor cop
Ward Bond
Roughneck
Ben F. Hendricks
Roughneck
Lew Harvey
Roughneck
Eddy Chandler
Turnkey
Joseph E. Bernard
Officer
George Riley
Magician
Kathryn Sheldon
Gossip
Bonita
Gossip
Margaret Armstrong
Gossip
Miss Martin
Gossip
Edward Mcwade
Crew
Film Details
Also Known As
Wanderlust
Genre
Drama
Adaptation
Comedy
Release Date
Apr
27,
1935
Premiere Information
not available
Production Company
First National Productions Corp.
Distribution Company
First National Pictures, Inc.; The Vitaphone Corp.
Country
United States
Screenplay Information
Based on the play Mary Jane's Pa by Edith Ellis Furness (New York, 3 Dec 1908), and the novel of the same name adapted from the play by Norman Way (New York, 1909).
Technical Specs
Duration
1h 11m
Sound
Mono
Color
Black and White
Theatrical Aspect Ratio
1.37 : 1
Film Length
8 reels
Articles
Mary Jane's Pa -
Guy Kibbee and Aline MacMahon worked together in 10 movies, including their most famous pairing in Gold Diggers Of 1933 (1933). Just two short years later, the duo of the sharp-tongued frump and the harmless, middle-aged rake was revered enough by audiences to be billed in the trailer for this drama as "those loveable screenmates". Here, in this wanderlust cautionary tale, a frustrated publisher of a small run newspaper (Guy Kibbee) has had enough of provincial life and hits the road, leaving his wife (Aline MacMahon) and two small daughters in the lurch. In shock, his now-deserted wife rallies and makes the newspaper into a rousing success. When the prodigal husband returns many years later, in a plot twist that presages Mrs. Doubtfire (1993) by many decades, he takes a domestic position in her home as a cook in order to be near the girls he left behind. Kibbee's most lasting claim to breakfast table fame originates from this movie: the scene where he fries eggs in the holes cut out from slices of bread gave nickname to the dish "Guy Kibbee eggs".
By Violet LeVoit
By Violet LeVoit
Mary Jane's Pa -
Guy Kibbee and Aline MacMahon worked together in 10 movies, including their most famous pairing in Gold Diggers Of 1933 (1933). Just two short years later, the duo of the sharp-tongued frump and the harmless, middle-aged rake was revered enough by audiences to be billed in the trailer for this drama as "those loveable screenmates". Here, in this wanderlust cautionary tale, a frustrated publisher of a small run newspaper (Guy Kibbee) has had enough of provincial life and hits the road, leaving his wife (Aline MacMahon) and two small daughters in the lurch. In shock, his now-deserted wife rallies and makes the newspaper into a rousing success. When the prodigal husband returns many years later, in a plot twist that presages Mrs. Doubtfire (1993) by many decades, he takes a domestic position in her home as a cook in order to be near the girls he left behind. Kibbee's most lasting claim to breakfast table fame originates from this movie: the scene where he fries eggs in the holes cut out from slices of bread gave nickname to the dish "Guy Kibbee eggs". By Violet LeVoit
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
The working title of the film was Wanderlust which also was the release title in Great Britain. The Edith Ellis Furness play was the basis of a 1917 Vitagraph Co. film also entitled Mary Jane's Pa, which was directed by William P. S. Earle and starred Marc MacDermott and Mildred Manning (see AFI Catalog of Feature Films l911-20; F1.2857).
