Kentucky Kernels

In the wake of the sound revolution, screen comedy changed drastically. Ever in search of the next big thing, the studios recruited Broadway and vaudeville's finest, and thus the Depression-era screen was gifted with the likes of W.C. Fields, the Marx Brothers, the Three Stooges and Jack Benny. Not every stage headliner became an enduring screen legend. The secret to longevity seems to be the vaudeville artists' ability to adapt their style of comedy to the screen. For every Eddie Cantor and Burns & Allen that made the transition, there is a Tom Howard and Smith & Dale, who never reinvented themselves as movie comics. The silver lining is that these vaudevillians offer a welcome glimpse at the comedy stylings of the American variety stage circa 1930. First paired as a comedy duo in the 1927 stage musical Rio Rita (produced by legendary Broadway showman Florenz Ziegfeld), Bert Wheeler and Robert Woolsey were perennial vaudeville favorites who brought their snappy dialogue-driven act to Hollywood. Wheeler is the wavy-haired, good-natured, always-smiling half of the duo, while Woolsey is a cross between Groucho Marx and George Burns, a bespectacled cynic who is almost always toying with an enormous cigar. Ironically, Woolsey was supposedly a non-smoker, off-screen at least. Picturegoer magazine reported this fact in 1936, while noting that, "during the past six years he has smoked 20,000 cigars for screen and publicity work." In 1934's Kentucky Kernels, Woolsey is The Great Elmer, a down-on-his-luck magician, while Wheeler is Willie Doyle, his affable sidekick. Together they inhabit a shanty beneath a big-city bridge. When a troubled man (Paul Page) attempts suicide, he lands in the duo's fishing net and becomes their project for rehabilitation. They encourage him to heal his emotional wounds by adopting a child, but as soon as they bring home a mischievous lad from the orphanage, the would-be father disappears, leaving Spanky (Spanky McFarland) in Willie and Elmer's care. Spanky, however, is no ordinary child. For starters he has an irresistible compulsion to smash glass. To better complicate the comedy, it is revealed that Spanky is heir to a Southern fortune, so the odd threesome head south to claim the estate. But Spanky has inherited not only a large mansion, but a long-running feud, and Willie and Elmer find themselves caught in the crossfire of a deadly clan war. Romantic entanglements ensue and a pair of bubbly songs by Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby help ease tensions between the warring Wakefields and Milfords. For the role of the juvenile heir, the filmmakers turned to the Hal Roach Studios, where the industry's best underage comedians were under contract for the "Our Gang" comedies (later renamed the Little Rascals for television syndication). McFarland had joined the troupe in 1931 and quickly established "Spanky" as one of the more prominent characters. Born in Fort Worth, Texas in 1928, George McFarland's earliest professional work was as an advertising model for a local bakery. His aunt sent a photo to the Hal Roach Studios (where the "Our Gang" comedies were already a sensation) and the McFarland family soon thereafter traveled to Hollywood for a screen test that resulted in a four-year contract. According to fellow child actor (and "Our Gang" veteran) Dickie Moore, "He stayed at Roach longer than any other child...and appeared in 95 Our Gang comedies." The secret of McFarland's child star longevity? "He stayed short," answers Matthew "Stymie" Beard. A cinematographer during the silent era, George Stevens was at the forefront of madcap comedy directors when he made Kentucky Kernels. Within a year, he would change his focus to more series films (such as Alice Adams [1935] and Annie Oakley [1935]), and would later become one of Hollywood's most celebrated directors of "important" films such as A Place in the Sun (1951), Giant (1956) and The Diary of Anne Frank (1959). Wheeler and Woolsey's films were quite popular in their day, and the duo might have eventually become household names were it not for Woolsey's untimely death of kidney disease in 1938. Wheeler made only a few solo film appearances afterward, choosing instead to return to the stage (in a series of Broadway musical revues) and later become a character actor on television (he appeared in the short-lived TV series Brave Eagle [1955-56]). Wheeler and Woolsey aren't the only outmoded stars of Kentucky Kernels. The supporting cast includes the young African-American actor Willie Best, who appeared in numerous films under the derisive name "Sleep 'n' Eat," portraying a series of sleepy-eyed, molasses-paced slaves and servants. The role of Buckshot is the kind of negative stereotype gratefully absent from the modern screen, but exists as a reminder of the varied, potentially offensive forms of comedy popular in a bygone era. Director: George Stevens Producer: H.N. Swanson, Lee S. Marcus Screenplay: Bert Kalmar, Harry Ruby and Fred Guiol, based on a story by Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby Cinematography: Edward Cronjager Production Design: Van Nest Polglase and Perry Ferguson Music (songs): Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby Cast: Bert Wheeler (Willie), Robert Woolsey (The Great Elmer), Spanky McFarland (Spanky), Mary Carlisle (Gloria), Noah Beery (Col. Wakefield), Willie Best (Buckshot), Paul Page (Jerry Bronson). BW-75m. by Bret Wood