King Kelly of the U.S.A.
Cast & Crew
Leonard Fields
Guy Robertson
Edgar Kennedy
Irene Ware
Ferdinand Gottschalk
Franklin Pangborn
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
James "King" Kelly, his friend, practical joker Happy Moran, and the girls of "Kelly's Affairs of 1934," are on an ocean liner bound for Paris, where they have a performing engagement. On board, Kelly meets and falls in love with Catherine, who is in reality Princess Tania of Belgardia and is traveling incognito with her maid, Sylvia. At the same time, T. Ashmore Brockton, an efficiency expert traveling to Belgardia with his secretary, Rodney, falls in love with Maxine, one of Kelly's troop. Brockton sends Rodney to buy Maxine's contract from Kelly, but Kelly refuses to sell it. After Brockton and Kelly both receive telegrams cancelling their business plans in Europe, each decides to swindle the other by switching their now worthless contracts. Kelly, posing as the efficiency expert, arrives in Belgardia, where he finds that the country is bankrupt, owes a large debt to Prince Alexis of neighboring Morovia, and has as its only asset a stock of mops that are worthless because women prefer vacuums. To generate revenue for the country, Kelly uses American salesmanship techniques to peddle the mops and opens the royal palace to tourist trade. Then, Kelly, who is still unaware that Princess Tania is really his love Catherine, has King Maximilian, her father, arrange a marriage for her with Prince Alexis as a way of cancelling the debt to Morovia. Tania, who is in love with Kelly, refuses to marry the elderly Alexis until she discovers that the arrangement was Kelly's idea. Now apprised of Tania's identity, Kelly looks for ways to raise money to pay back the debt and nullify the engagement. "Personality Mops," as Kelly's enterprise is now known, sponsors Kelly on a radio show as "The Voice of Romance." Mop sales soar as the women of Belgardia respond to the new crooner. When Alexis arrives to claim his bride, Maximilian tells him the wedding is off, even though he used the money to buy more mops instead of paying off the loan. When Alexis' threat to kill Kelly is heard over the radio network, the women of Belgardia come to the palace armed with their mops to save Kelly. Kelly and Tania then are reconciled with each other.
Director
Leonard Fields
Cast
Guy Robertson
Edgar Kennedy
Irene Ware
Ferdinand Gottschalk
Franklin Pangborn
Joyce Compton
Wm. L. Von Brincken
Otis Harlan
Lorin Baker
William Orlamond
Bodil Rosing
Phyllis Ludwig
Crew
George Bertholon
George Bertholon
Trem Carr
Edward Cox
Leonard Fields
Bernie Grossman
Russell Harlan
Tex Hayes
E. R. Hickson
Howard Higgin
Bob Lander
Reggie Lanning
Jack Ogilvie
Robert Planck
William Reineck
Joe Sanders
Ralph Shugart
Oliver Sigurdson
David Silverstein
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
The film includes an animated sequence in which "Kelly," tongue-tied as he tries to tell "Tania" how he feels about her, draws a stage and two characters. As "Kelly" sings a love song to "Tania," the camera cuts between the live-action actors and the animated characters. According to a July 6, 1934 Daily Variety news item, Monogram moved its headquarters to RKO-Pathé Studios in Culver City, CA, on July 5, 1934. Although the same item referred to Monogram's previous headquarters as "Metropolitan" and noted that two-days' worth of shooting on King Kelly were to be done there, a Hollywood Reporter news item indicated that the production was to be shot at General Service Studios in Hollywood. Other contemporary sources list General Service Studios as Monogram's prior location. Writer Howard Higgin's surname is spelled "Higgins" in the onscreen credits. Variety incorrectly reviewed the film as Kelly of the U.S.A.
