Out West with the Peppers
Brief Synopsis
A working class family moves West in search of better fortune.
Cast & Crew
Read More
Charles Barton
Director
Edith Fellows
Polly Pepper
Dorothy Ann Seese
Phronsie Pepper
Dorothy Peterson
Mrs. Pepper
Charles Peck
Ben Pepper
Tommy Bond
Joey Pepper
Film Details
Also Known As
Five Little Peppers Abroad
Genre
Comedy
Drama
Release Date
Jun
30,
1940
Premiere Information
not available
Production Company
Columbia Pictures Corp.
Distribution Company
Columbia Pictures Corp.
Country
United States
Screenplay Information
Based on the novel Five Little Peppers Abroad by Margaret Sidney (Boston, 1902).
Technical Specs
Duration
1h 2m
Film Length
6 reels
Synopsis
When her health fails, Mrs. Pepper takes Polly, Phronsie, Ben, Joe and Davie, the five little Peppers, to visit her sister, Alice Anderson, who runs a boardinghouse for loggers in Oregon. Jim Anderson, Alice's husband and a surly drunk, resents the family's presence from the moment they arrive. Sensing his hostility, the children stay away from him. Nevertheless, Phronsie incites Jim's wrath when he bumps his head on her bird cage, and in a drunken rage, he frees her beloved pets. Despite Jim's antagonism, Polly suspects that he has a better side to his nature and vows to uncover it. In her task, she is aided by Ole, a big Swedish lumberman who boards at the Anderson house. Inspired by Ole's stories of his pirate days, the children leap at his offer to drive them to the river, where they can build a raft and play pirates. En route, however, Jim falls into a drunken stupor and passes out at the river's edge. The five Peppers build their raft, but it breaks loose from its moorings with Phronsie, Joe, Davie and Ben aboard. Caught in a log jam, the children are in desperate danger, and as Ole rushes to their rescue, he is knocked unconscious by a log. Polly frantically awakens Jim, who unhesitatingly plunges to the rescue. After safely steering the raft to shore, Jim rescues Ole, thus proving that Polly was right about his inherent nobility.
Director
Charles Barton
Director
Cast
Edith Fellows
Polly Pepper
Dorothy Ann Seese
Phronsie Pepper
Dorothy Peterson
Mrs. Pepper
Charles Peck
Ben Pepper
Tommy Bond
Joey Pepper
Bobby Larson
Davie Pepper
Victor Kilian
Jim Anderson
Helen Brown
Alice Anderson
Emory Parnell
Ole
Pierre Watkin
Mr. King
Ronald Sinclair
Jasper King
Walter Soderling
Caleb
Roger Gray
Tom
Hal Price
Bill
Rex Evans
Martin
Millard Vincent
1st specialist
Wyndham Standing
2nd specialist
Andre Cheron
Frenchman
John Rogers
Ship steward
Ernie Adams
Telegraph operator
Kathryn Sheldon
Abbie
Eddie Laughton
Lumberjack
Harry Bernard
Checker player
Crew
Film Details
Also Known As
Five Little Peppers Abroad
Genre
Comedy
Drama
Release Date
Jun
30,
1940
Premiere Information
not available
Production Company
Columbia Pictures Corp.
Distribution Company
Columbia Pictures Corp.
Country
United States
Screenplay Information
Based on the novel Five Little Peppers Abroad by Margaret Sidney (Boston, 1902).
Technical Specs
Duration
1h 2m
Film Length
6 reels
Articles
Out West with the Peppers
Original Peppers author Margaret Sidney used good business sense when growing her popular Little Peppers book franchise. She married her publisher to "keep it all in the family," and when he died she took over the business herself. Quitting after four books, Sidney responded to popular demand and wrote eight more. Columbia Pictures' family-friendly Peppers films were released only a few months apart, as were many studio series installments, such as Columbia's own Blondie pictures. Producer Jack Fier had to get his four Peppers pictures in the can before the young actors' voices changed, and before little Dorothy Ann Seese stopped looking like an adorable 5-year-old. The third Peppers outing Out West with the Peppers (1940) invents a new grumpy adult for the charming Polly Pepper (Edith Fellows) to enlighten, Pollyanna-style. To help Mother recover her health, the whole family relocates to an Oregon lumber camp. Polly's aunt (Helen Brown) is nice but Uncle Jim (Victor Kilian) hates kids. He even gives a hard time to the cute youngest Pepper, Phronsie. In the action highlight, the Pepper children's play raft is swept downriver. Uncle Jim comes to the rescue, and the experience thaws his cold heart. Character actor Emory Parnell provides more comic reassurance as the Swedish lumberjack Ole. As in the previous Peppers film, Edith Fellows is once again passed over to allow more audience-pleasing scenes with the cute little Phronsie, especially while learning about pirates from old Ole. Columbia's publicists did their best to promote little Dorothy Ann Seese as a successor to the world-famous moppet star Shirley Temple.
Out West with the Peppers
Original Peppers author Margaret Sidney used good business sense when growing her popular Little Peppers book franchise. She married her publisher to "keep it all in the family," and when he died she took over the business herself. Quitting after four books, Sidney responded to popular demand and wrote eight more. Columbia Pictures' family-friendly Peppers films were released only a few months apart, as were many studio series installments, such as Columbia's own Blondie pictures. Producer Jack Fier had to get his four Peppers pictures in the can before the young actors' voices changed, and before little Dorothy Ann Seese stopped looking like an adorable 5-year-old. The third Peppers outing Out West with the Peppers (1940) invents a new grumpy adult for the charming Polly Pepper (Edith Fellows) to enlighten, Pollyanna-style. To help Mother recover her health, the whole family relocates to an Oregon lumber camp. Polly's aunt (Helen Brown) is nice but Uncle Jim (Victor Kilian) hates kids. He even gives a hard time to the cute youngest Pepper, Phronsie. In the action highlight, the Pepper children's play raft is swept downriver. Uncle Jim comes to the rescue, and the experience thaws his cold heart. Character actor Emory Parnell provides more comic reassurance as the Swedish lumberjack Ole. As in the previous Peppers film, Edith Fellows is once again passed over to allow more audience-pleasing scenes with the cute little Phronsie, especially while learning about pirates from old Ole. Columbia's publicists did their best to promote little Dorothy Ann Seese as a successor to the world-famous moppet star Shirley Temple.
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
A working title for this film was Five Little Peppers Abroad. The picture was the third in The Pepper Family series. For more information on the series, consult the Series Index and see entry for Five Little Peppers and How They Grew (above).
