Meet Edgar Kennedy's Un-Average Families!

"I'll Build It Myself"
Jack Rice, Dot Farley, Edgar Kennedy, Florence Lake.

Edgar Kennedy's 103 Average Man RKO shorts were kept fresh over 17 years by creative plots and a shifting cast of supporting actors. Not only did actors come and go but the in-law relationships changed as writers and directors experimented to find the perfect formula to frustrate Edgar for maximum laughs.  In most films Edgar does have a wife with assorted in-laws added as needed. The family often takes on a new project and fails collectively such as:

a) Finding a bottle of champaign, the family builds a boat so they can christen it. (#7-Giggle Water)

b) The family goes into the interior decorating business. (#13-Good Housewrecking)

c) The family goes on vacation in their new trailer.  (#94-Heading for Trouble)

d) The family decides to jar their own fruit preserves. (#102-Home Canning)

Florence and Edgar

In others the family tries to e) adopt a baby, f) run a gas station, g) manage a department store, h) build a cabin in the mountains, i) confront an irate landlord, j) open a diner, etc.  "Try" is a key word as you can guess how most efforts turn out.

It's time to meet Edgar's two main families plus variations and the actors who portrayed them.

The first family in "Lemon Meringue" (1931) consisted of Edgar's wife (Florence Lake), her Mother (Dot Farley) and Brother (Billy Eugene), the dreaded In-Laws that live under the same roof sponging off poor Edgar and making his every waking moment ... trying, to say the least. This same cast finished the series from 1944 to 1948 with the exception of Jack Rice replacing Billy Eugene as Brother.

Florence Lake was the sister of Arthur Lake who played Dagwood Bumstead in the Blondie movies.  (Florence even played Blondie on the radio for a period while Penny Singleton was pregnant.) She met Harry Sweet in 1929, who cast her as Edgar's wife in the prototype "Rough House Rhythm" (1931).  She described her role: "I was the dumb blonde talkative wife.  The lines were not written, the script just said Florence ad libs."  Her ditzy chatter often became so annoying that Edgar spoke for the audience when he screamed: "Florence ... (pause) ... Shut up!"  Still there was a certain onscreen respect and affection between them, which was desperately needed to ward off the In-Laws.

Dot Farley, Ben Turpin
and Jimmy Finlayson.

Dot Farley forever made her mark as the meddling, nagging mother-in-law from hell.  She first acted with Edgar way back in 1913 in "The Bangville Police" and was in short comedies through the silent era with Ben Turpin, Billy Bevan, Mack Swain and others at Sennett.  How Edgar put up with "Mother" in short after short is a mystery.  How much frustration can one man take was of course the set up for laughter.  Edgar could only take so much and usually melted into a slow burn at the fade-out.  There were exceptions that kept the series fresh.  "Edgar Hamlet" (1935) ends with Wife, Mother and Brother all paying Edgar sincere compliments for his rendition of Hamlet's "To be or not to be" soliloquy.

Billy Eugene was the first to play Florence's brother, or Edgar's Brother-In-Law.  "Brother," as Edgar often called him, was a loafing bum without a job who took delight in hiding behind Florence while needling Edgar. Some plots had Edgar trying to get Brother married or into a job, anything to get him to move out. Billy Eugene was in the first 18 Average Man shorts until he disappeared from films after "In Laws Are Out" in 1934.

Jack Rice stepped right into the Brother shoes without a lost beat in "A Blasted Event" (1936). Jack also appeared in the 1940s Blondie features as Ollie.  It is jarring to see him show up in several Edgar shorts as different characters.  In "Baby Daze" (1939) he plays an expectant father in the waiting room, and in "T'Aint Legal" (1940) he delivers a $5,000 prize check for Edgar being so happily married. Both films were made during a transition period when the brother-in-law character had been written out.

Florence Lake left the series suddenly after "Dummy Ache" in 1936.  She popped up in 1938's "Ears of Experience" (1938) with Jack as Brother and Bill Franey as her Father who lived with them instead of Mother Dot, and again in "Two for the Money" with Dot and Jack in 1942.  Flo returned to the series to stay in "Radio Rampage" (1944). One reason she dropped out may have been a drinking problem which she eventually overcame and led her to preach against the evils of drink from then on.  Edgar's biographer, Bill Cassara, has these thoughts on the series changes during the years 1936 to 1942:

"In retrospect Edgar did appear to have two families during the 17 year run.  Many factors came into play.  The series only lasted until the end of the year with no guarantees for a long run.  If there were salary increase demands, that could partly explain the first turnover.  Billy Franey was an old pal of Edgar's and getting him on board may have actually saved money (eliminating the brother-in-law character).  That all changed when Franey unexpectedly died.  Also, Florence filled in on radio during the time Penny Singleton was doing the "Blondie" series.  The Edgar series was always popular with middle America and no one took much notice of the family changes.  For everyone to come back into the fold was a nice capper to the series."

Two experiments right after "Dummy Ache" found Edgar soloing.  In "Vocalizing" (1936) he takes a singer home from her concert and soon becomes her chauffeur.  In "Hillbilly Goat" (1937) Edgar is a traveling salesman in the Ozarks who encounters a love-starved widow.  He may have had a family back home but since they don't figure in the plots we will never know.  Both were funny films, but the Average Man is a married man, so the family quickly returned though in a new dynamic.

Vivien Oakland and Bill Franey
in "Drafted in the Depot" (1940)

Vivien Oakland turned up as Edgar's wife in "Bad Housekeeping" (1937) and played "Vivien" in 21 shorts through "An Apple in His Eye" (1941).  Vivien was a Hal Roach veteran who worked with Charlie Chase in "Mighty Like a Moose" (1927) and Laurel and Hardy in "We Faw Down" (1928), "Way Out West" (1937) and others.  While portraying Mrs. Kennedy, she also played Leon Errol's wife a few times in his RKO shorts series.

In sharp contrast to Florence's dumb blonde, Vivien Oakland kept Edgar in his place with acerbic sarcasm of her own.  He knew she was right most of the time and so tried to become the husband she expected.  Her strong character replaced the need for a mother-in-law presence. Hmm, what if Edgar also lived with a father-in-law?

Bill Franey first appeared with Edgar in "Dummy Ache" (1936) and played various roles in most of the shorts thereafter until his early death in 1940 at only 51, although he looked like he was 71! Bill was a good friend of Edgar's in real life but a relentless tyrant in the shorts to rival the mother-in-law figure he replaced.  In fact he became Vivien's father or "Pop" in "Edgar and Goliath" in 1937 and the role stuck. When it looks like Edgar and Vivien might not have been married for ten years in "T'Aint Legal" (1940), Franey kicks Edgar out of "her" house and tries to turn him in to the police.

Other actresses stepped in to play Wife from time to time during the period Florence was away.  Irene Ryan, later famous as Granny on "Beverly Hillbillies," was Wife in "Hold Your Temper" and "Indian Signs," both 1940, with Dot Farley and Jack Rice in their familiar roles.  Vivian Tobin is Wife in the hilarious "Kennedy's Castle" (1938) with Franey as the live-in Pop.  Comedian Sally Payne, fresh from playing Gabby Hayes' daughter in Roy Rogers westerns, played Wife six times in 1941 and 1942.  Pauline Drake played Wife in three films 1943-'44.

Florence Lake returned for good in "Radio Rampage" (1944) along with Dot Farley and Jack Rice through the last film in the series, "Contest Crazy" (1948).  The family dynamic remained true to Harry Sweet's original concept back in 1931 and never seemed to grow stale. The films were as funny as ever.  Many classic scenes came from this final, definitive family circle like the ring swallowed by a chicken in "Feather Your Nest," the washing machine carried up a long flight of stairs in "It's Your Move," tobacco shortages from the war in "What, No Cigarettes?," beef shortages in "The Big Beef," and "I'll Fix It Myself" which is self explanatory.

The Average Man series had an unprecedented 17-year run in the movies with largely the same cast and set the stage for "I Love Lucy," "Ozzie and Harriet," "I Married Joan," "Amos 'n' Andy," "My Little Margie" and so many TV sit-coms to come.

One can easily envision "The Trouble with Edgar" becoming television's first smash situation comedy with Florence, Dot and Jack repeating their roles with perhaps a cute kid next door thrown in. Instead that honor went to "The Trouble with Father" starring June and Stu Erwin that debuted in 1950.  (I am sure someone will point me to an earlier TV sit-com.)  It could have been Edgar, except for his untimely death in 1948 at the age of 58.  However, I don't think he would have gone into TV at that point in his career since he was better paid for making six two-reelers a year at RKO and was in high demand in A-comedies like his final film "My Dream is Yours" (1949) with Doris Day.

In "Will Power" (1936) Edgar sends himself a phony telegram so he can fake a heart attack so that while he is sick Brother will be forced to find a job.  The family rallies around Edgar with some concern.


Photos are courtesy of Dennis Atkinson and his RKO Comedy Classics.

Please visit the Edgar Kennedy Restoration Project on Facebook and "Like" Edgar.

More information about the upcoming Kickstarter campaign, an original Slow Burn Edgar music video and plans for The Edgar Kennedy Show are at the Edgar website.

Birth of the Average Man!

In 1930 Edgar Kennedy was second banana for every comedian on the Hal Roach lot -- Laurel and Hardy, Our Gang, Harry Langdon, Charley Chase and The Boy Friends.  He often played Kennedy the Cop and even tried his hand directing Charley Chase and Thelma Todd in "All Teed Up" and the Boy Friends in "Bigger and Better."  But there didn't seem to be an opening at Roach for Edgar to star.  His popular cop character was the butt of jokes, requiring little comic talent, and could easily be replaced by Roach stalwart Tiny Sandford.

Edgar did freelance work outside Roach that same year in two comedy shorts for Pathé in which he co-starred with perennial drunk Arthur Houseman: "Help Wanted, Female" and "Next Door Neighbors," directed by Harry Sweet.

Also in 1930-'31 fledgling studio RKO Radio Pictures was putting together their own short subject department that flourished until the studio closed in the mid-1950s.  Leonard Maltin tells the story in "The Great Movie Shorts" (Crown, 1972):

Edgar Kennedy & Harry Sweet

"In the early days of sound, several companies -- FBO, Pathé, and Radio Pictures -- were gradually merged together.  At first they tried to maintain separate entities, but finally they came together as RKO Radio Pictures.  In the merger stages, a permanent short-subject department was formed under the direction of Harry Sweet, a writer-director-comic.  Gloria Morgan, a script supervisor on the shorts, remembers him as "a very gentle, funny man with a delicious sense of humor."

"Sweet initiated several series, most notably Edgar Kennedy's "Mr. Average Man" comedies, and directed many himself.  He also starred in a number of shorts and supervised other comedies being made at the time with Clark and McCullough, the Masquers Club, etc.  When he died in a plane crash, producer Lou Brock took over the short-subject program and stayed on for many years."

Harry Sweet acted in more than 60 films starting in 1919.  One may spot him as Edgar's pal in "Carnival Boat" (1932) with William Boyd and Ginger Rogers, or watch his last comedy short "Just a Pain in the Parlor" (aka. "How Comedies Are Born"). Harry also directed 58 comedy shorts from 1920 to 1933 and is credited as writer on 27 of them.  Two comic spirits more kindred than Edgar and Harry may never have existed.

Sweet made two "Whoopie Comedies" teaming Edgar with screen wife Florence Lake during the transition period to the RKO shorts.  "Rough House Rhythm" was released 4/5/1931 and "All Gummed Up" followed on 5/24/1931.  Neither film are available for viewing, but the plot of "Rough House Rhythm" involves Edgar and Florence getting married and setting up housekeeping with Flo's brother sharing the same cramped dwelling.  In "All Gummed Up" the nagging mother-in-law (played by Louise Carver) was added and William Eugene was cast as "Brother."

Dot Farley, Edgar Kennedy and William Eugene
in "Lemon Meringue."

The stage was set for the first official "Average Man" film that was released by RKO on Aug. 3, 1931.  At the last minute Dot Farley, who first acted with Edgar in 1913, filled in for Louise Carver and hung around to irk Edgar through 1948 as "Mother."

Louella Parsons announced in her syndicated column:  "RKO-Pathé believes that daily happenings in the life of the ordinary citizen will furnish enough comedy for a series of short subjects.  They have signed Edgar Kennedy, who has appeared in innumerable Laurel and Hardy comedies, to play the lead in Mr. Average Man, with Harry Sweet directing.  The first of the series, "Lemon Meringue," starts this week and included in the cast with Mr. Kennedy are Dot Farley, Florence Lake and William Eugene."

An exhibitor at the time wrote about the film: "A Mr. Average Man comedy, featuring Edgar Kennedy.  His mother-in-law and brother-in-law with the aid of his wife, get him to open a restaurant and quit his regular salary job.  The action takes place just before the opening on the hash house.  The timing of the gags is pretty close to perfect, and it works up to a good old slapstick finish with pies being thrown regardless." Edgar later bragged about being hit in the face with pies 164 times in a single movie.

Is your mouth watering to see this film?  Can you taste the lemon?  Sadly, "Lemon Meringue" is the holy grail of all sound comedy shorts because it is the very first of Edgar's 103 RKO shorts, it reportedly contains the largest pie fight of all time (who would not love to see that?) and it is presently LOST.  The film was never released to television in the 1950s, the Library of Congress and other american film archives have no material, and virtually no one has seen the film since it's original release.  There is always hope that a print lies hidden in some foreign archive, or that a 16mm print struck in the 1930s or 40s for home use might yet resurface.

The second film in Edgar's RKO series, "Thanks Again," does exist in 35mm although it has been seen by few since it was not in the 1950s TV package.  The plot involves the family acquiring a single prop airplane, which they must first repair in a hanger before a bizarre accident somehow puts Edgar in the cockpit flying wild during the climax.

Harry Sweet wrote and directed 13 shorts with Edgar Kennedy -- "Next Door Neighbors" for Pathé in 1930, the two Whoopie Comedy precursors to the Average Man in 1931 and the first 10 shorts in the RKO series.  Without question Sweet was the architect of Edgar's domestic comedy shorts that ran for 103 episodes until Edgar's passing in 1948.  The format then morphed into the well-loved TV sit-coms typified by "Trouble with Father," "I Married Joan," "Ozzie and Harriet," "I Love Lucy," "The Honeymooners" and so many more.

Harry Sweet's final Edgar Kennedy short is "Good Housewrecking" released June 16, 1933.  The family tries their hand at interior decorating, to naturally disastrous results as you can see in this excerpt:


The Edgar Kennedy shorts directed by Harry Sweet
Next Door Neighbors (1/28/30) - Pathé
Rough House Rhythm (4/5/31) - A Whoopie Comedy, forerunner to Average Man - Lost
All Gummed Up (5/24/31) - Whoopie Comedy, forerunner to Average Man - Lost
Lemon Meringue (8/3/31) - RKO. First official Average Man short - Lost
Thanks Again (10/5/31) - Earliest preserved film in the series.
Camping Out (12/14/31) - Lost, or let's say "present whereabouts unknown."
Bon Voyage (2/22/32) - Whereabouts unknown.
Mother-in-Law's Day (4/25/32) - An Edgar short with the same title was released in 1945.
Giggle Water (6/27/32) - Rare, but Library of Congress has materials.
The Golf Chump (8/5/32) - earliest Average Man short released to TV in the 1950s.
Parlor, Bedroom and Wrath (10/14/32)
Art in the Raw (2/24/33)
Good Housewrecking (6/16/33)

The above quotes are from Leonard Maltin's "The Great Movie Shorts" and from Bill Cassara's "Edgar Kennedy - Master of the Slow Burn."

Photos are courtesy of Dennis Atkinson and his RKO Comedy Classics.

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Slow Burn Edgar Kennedy Music Video!

The Edgar Kennedy Show now has its own theme song and music video to prove it!  The music and lyrics to "Slow Burn" were written by prolific film music composer Charlie Barnett, who operates out of the Washington DC area and plays and records with the eclectic jazz sextette Chaise Lounge.  The music track, used by the kind permission of Charlie for Edgar promotion and eventually in the new series, is recorded by Chaise Lounge with vocals by member Marilyn Older.

Here is only a portion of the nostalgic lyrics set to a truly catchy tune:

My granddad sure loved a good joke.  He always loved a funny line,
And then a kind of slapstick ... cracked him up every time.
Edgar Kennedy was big in the movies, when granddad was just a kid.
He was a comedy king in the thirties, and grandpa laughed at everything he did.
Edgar Kennedy had a routine then, that of course my granddaddy learned.
At a real slow pace he dragged his hand down his face, and that was called the slow burn.
Don't think that I ever got it, but I guess every generation gets its turn.
There was a moment of grace in my granddad's face laughing at the slow burn.
Yeah he loved the slow-w-w-w burn, that cracked him up back in '34.
Slow-w-w-w burn, had 'em laughing and rolling on the floor.

"Slow Burn" is about an unusual connection between a young woman and her granddad over his love for comedian Edgar Kennedy.  It is based on Charlie Barnett's deep affection for his dad who loved Edgar, but is sweetly sung by Marilyn Older and so seems to be about a granddaughter.  The gender is not important since all adults try to connect with family elders by sharing their long ago interests and joys.

There is a line about seeing Edgar's films on youtube but still not "getting it."  This touches on a real generational gap that many young people encounter with vintage, largely black and white films. Film fans know how truly funny and universal Edgar is, right up there with Laurel and Hardy, W.C. Fields, the Marx Brothers and so many more.  How many times have you thought: "Just watch the films.  You'll love them!"  Perhaps they will watch the "Slow Burn" video about connecting with family, and along the way enjoy, empathize and laugh with Edgar Kennedy by the time they finish.  In this manner "Slow Burn" -- the song plus the film clips -- will help reach a new generation of fans.

Without further ado please watch, sing along with and laugh to "Slow Burn."


One of the Chaise Lounge band members did know who Edgar was when he first heard the song, but the others were completely baffled.  Much more about writing the song is in an interview with Charlie over at the Bijou Blog.

If you love "Slow Burn" as much as we do, please help spread the word on the Internet.  Share it on your own Facebook page, email your friends, sing it from the highest mountain.  Show it to young people to gauge their response.  We need them to join the crusade to revive interest in Edgar Kennedy and other giants of comedy.  It's up to each of us to pass the torch like the song says.  "Slow Burn" can become a "Prevu of Coming Attractions" to cultivate this younger audience into recognizing and enjoying Edgar so they will be there to enjoy "The Edgar Kennedy Show."

When you share "Slow Burn" please include a link to the Edgar Facebook page (www.facebook.com/edgarkennedyshow) to help us gather Edgar fans and increase our LIKE count.

Drummer Tommy Barrick created an original video to the music and uploaded it to youtube on Jun 25, 2011.  Our thanks to Tommy for giving his blessings to the new video that Pete Bedell of Team Edgar created.  Here is the additional information over at Tommy's Video:

Chaise Lounge performs an original tune SLOW BURN. Music by Charlie Barnett. Video by Tommy Barrick. Slow Burn features the unique comedy stylings of Edgar Kennedy. Edgar Livingston Kennedy (April 26, 1890 -- November 9, 1948) was an American comedic film actor, known as "the king of the slow burn."
Chaise Lounge is Marilyn Older - vocals, Gary Gregg - woodwinds, John Jensen - trombone, Charlie Barnett - guitar, Pete Ostle - bass, Tommy Barrick - drums, percussion.
www.chaiseloungenation.com

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Edgar Kennedy and Charlie Chaplin at Keystone

"In the Clutches of the Gang" (1915)
Edgar as Keystone Kop with mustache in back, left.

When Edgar Kennedy joined Mack Sennett's Keystone Film Company in 1913 he found steady work in short after short that were filmed in a few days at most.  Edgar was not always used as a comedian.  Sennett's other large men, Mack Swain and Fatty Arbuckle, simply looked funny, but Edgar needed a funny mustache or costume.  His imposing stature and boxing experience made him valuable playing straight men or petty crooks in many films.

Biographer Bill Cassara sums up Edgar's varying roles at Keystone:  "As a stock player, Edgar was playing villains, comic heavies, cops and even handsome suitors. Oversized mustaches, face make-up, wigs and other exaggerated features and clothes were expected for character portrayals. Each actor was expected to apply their own makeup.  Stock players were supposed to be unrecognizable from one comedy to another, often depicting different characters in the same film."

Charlie Chaplin's first released film for Keystone was Kid Auto Races at Venice, impromptu clowning around at a soap-box derby filmed on Jan. 10, 1914, a full year after Edgar had joined Sennett. Charlie had already made Making a Living and his third film was Mabel's Strange Predicament with Mabel Normand.

Only recently Chaplin's fourth and previously unknown Keystone was discovered by film historian Paul Gierucki on 16mm at an antiques show in Michigan -- A Thief Catcher released on Feb. 19, 1914.  Ford Sterling stars and Chaplin plays a minor role as a policeman who helps apprehend crooks Edgar Kennedy and Mack Swain, all on display in this wonderful still along with an unidentified 4th cop. Charlie next made Between Showers without Edgar and followed with A Film Johnnie, released March 2, 1914. This is the earliest Edgar Kennedy film that has been restored to excellent quality and proves to be a milestone for both he and Charlie. Here is part of the plot from Phil Posner's Charlie Chaplin Filmography:

In Charlie Chaplin's fifth Keystone comedy we get a look inside the famous laugh factory. Charlie is a movie fan and we first see him creating havoc at a theatre where he gets too involved with the action on the screen and the beautiful actress in the film.  Ejected from the theatre, he proceeds to Keystone itself where he mooches money from Roscoe Arbuckle as he arrives at work. Charlie sneaks into the studio and disrupts the filming, much to the chagrin of the director. He mistakes a scene where the starlet is being manhandled for reality and comes to her rescue. Firing a prop pistol in all directions, he clears the stages before leaving.

Edgar plays the harried film director who can't seem to find a real cop to get Charlie out of the film he is trying to direct and out of the studio. Scenes are pretty much improvised around this basic premise.  Edgar displays several creative grimaces that would develop into "burns" years later, though nothing at Sennett was ever "slow."

Of the 35 films that Chaplin made for Sennett in his only year at Keystone, Edgar Kennedy appeared in 12 of them.  Edgar had a straight role he was born for as a boxing protagonist in The Knockout (6/11/14).  As Cyclone Finn he battles star Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle.  Arbuckle's wife Minta Durfee is also in the film along with a cameo by Sennett himself.  Chaplin only played a minor part in the second half as the referee.

The most famous Sennett film from 1914 is the first comedy feature film -- Tillie's Punctured Romance released 11/14/14. Marie Dressler was imported from Broadway for star power, but Charlie as a cad who romances Mabel when he can sneak it in and Marie when she has money got the best notices.  Every comedian on the Sennett lot appears from Charley Chase and Mack Swain to Slim Summerville and Al St. John as Keystone Kops.  Although the Kops run amuck in the climactic chases and pratfalls, Edgar was not one of them this time.  He played a straight role as the restaurant owner where Tillie works, as seen in this still.  In a different disguise he also plays a butler!

It's fascinating to see Edgar Kennedy in minor roles in these early Keystones.  He undeniably adds to each film but displays few glimmers of true comic talent that were to come.  Edgar watched and learned and finally hit his stride as the average man in his own shorts in the early 1930s, by which time only Chaplin remained a major star from the Sennett era.  Fatty Arbuckle, Mable Normand, Ford Sterling, Mack Swain, Charles Murray and Hank Mann had all but disappeared with the coming of sound.  Edgar survived and flourished and will entertain a new generation with "The Edgar Kennedy Show" now in development.


The definitive DVD set of "Chaplin at Keystone" is available from Flicker Alley. Good sources for DVDs of rare silent comedies are Looser Than Loose and Grapevine Video.   Please visit the Edgar Kennedy Restoration Project and LIKE Edgar, leave a comment and ask your friends to spread the word about the campaign to bring back Edgar.  Read about Edgar's dramatic films at the Bijou Blog.

Edgar Kennedy -- Original Keystone Kop!

Team Edgar plans to produce The Edgar Kennedy Show in 30 minute episodes.  The centerpiece of each will be one of his complete RKO shorts restored to high def.  The balance will consist of mini-documentaries devoted to various aspects of Edgar's career.  These will be narrated by Edgar's biographer Bill Cassara and include generous stills and film clips.  In time we hope to produce a visual biography of Edgar's World.

For example, one segment will certainly cover how Edgar got into the movies.  Was he an original Keystone Kop?  You bet!

Edgar had acting aspirations at an early age although his high-pitched voice did not fit his burly physique.  While touring with a theatrical troupe in 1911 in Chicago he appeared in his first film -- Brown of Harvard -- for the Selig Polyscope Company.  His voice did not matter in silent films.

In 1912 Edgar trained for a boxing career and had some success until being knocked out by Kid Kenneth on Feb. 8, 1913.  Shortly thereafter he walked onto the fledgling Keystone Film Company in Los Angeles and asked Mack Sennett for a job.  The year was 1913 and Edgar was 23.  He found steady employment as part of the Sennett stock company, appearing in almost every film over the next few years starting at a salary of $3 a day.  By comparison, Charlie Chaplin was a late comer to pictures making his first Little Tramp appearance in 1914's Kid Auto Races in Venice.

Some sources credit Edgar's first Sennett film as Hoffmeyer's Legacy (released Dec. 1912) and also claim it is the first with the Keystone Kops.  Neither can be verified since it is sadly a lost film.  Edgar was still boxing in San Francisco when the film was produced and so could hardly have been in it.

On April 24, 1913 Sennett released Bangville Police which does survive and is considered the first real Keystone Kops film.  Actor Fred Mace plays the police chief and is the only one dressed as a cop.  Others who rush to assist him are Edgar, Raymond Hatton who had a long career in westerns, Charles Avery, Rube Miller, Jack Leonard and Fred Happ.  Edgar is the big guy, naturally, who wields a shovel in his earliest surviving film role.

Also in the cast in an incredible coincidence is Dot Farley as Mabel Normand's mother.  Dot played Edgar's domineering mother-in-law starting 18 years later in many of his RKO shorts, and she is in the very last one, Home Canning (1948), a full 35 years later.  Dot is the woman in this still with the clenched hands.  Edgar is just behind Dot holding the shovel handle.

The simple plot of Bangville Police generates a whole lot of mayhem.  It seems that farm maid Mabel overhears two strangers in her barn and thinks they plan to rob her, so she locks herself in the house and phones the police.  When her mother and father arrive and batter at the door to get in, she thinks they are the imaginary attackers and hides in a closet.  The police chief races to the rescue in a steam driven jalopy that blows up and then continues on foot.  A crowd of deputies with badges, including Edgar dressed as a farm hand, also run to help.  See how it all turns out by watching the film right here!


The title "Bangville" reminded me of Mr. Bang.  Cartoonist Fontaine Fox created a popular comic strip "Toonerville Folks" in 1908 that was syndicated everywhere by 1913.  Toonerville was a rural town connected to the big city by the Toonerville Trolley.  One of the cantankerous characters was the "Terrible-Tempered Mr. Bang" who got overly upset at almost anything.  It is possible that director Harry Sweet to some degree modeled Edgar's average man character after Mr. Bang in the early RKO shorts.  It is certain that audiences were familiar with and used to laughing at such a frustrated man from the comic, as you can judge in this sample strip:

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More information about the Edgar Project is on this web page.

Edgar Kennedy -- Gathering His Fans!

The first step toward making The Edgar Kennedy Show a reality is to find his many fans and rally them to the Facebook Page.  Team Edgar is currently delving into all aspects of social media to spread the word, including emails, posts on movie Facebook pages, contacting bloggers who write about vintage films and seeking links from movie websites.  Once we learn how to reach everyone, a PR Web Press Release will publicize a Kickstarter campaign in August, with production of the first six episodes in the fall.

I have been sending out emails much like the message below, which contains links and advice for helping us find fans who LIKE EDGAR.  Liking him on Facebook is all important!

Dear Film Fan,

I would like to ask your help to bring comedian Edgar Kennedy the recognition he so richly deserves.  If you are on Facebook, simply visit the new Edgar Kennedy Restoration Project Facebook page.  Once there, click LIKE!

That's all!  Many thanks for helping!  If you don't participate in Facebook, my thanks anyways.  You can find out about the Edgar project by clicking here.

After you have LIKED EDGAR at Facebook, you can help further in two ways:

1)  Post any kind of "Message" about Edgar on the FB page.  This will then appear in the section "Recent posts by others."

2)  Post a link on YOUR OWN Facebook home page to help spread the news to YOUR FB Friends that we might not otherwise reach.  Something simple like "I love Edgar Kennedy and here's a place to watch clips of him every week."  Then type this into your post -- https://www.facebook.com/edgarkennedyshow -- and the link shown here will magically appear.

Edgar Kennedy Restoration Project

After working with Mack Sennett, Chaplin, Laurel and Hardy, Our Gang and the Marx Brothers, Edgar Kennedy became America's first sit-com star and Master of the Slow Burn. Edgar played himself in 103 RKO comedy shorts from 1931 to 1948. In each he is driven to the edge by a zany dysfunctional famil...

"Liking Edgar" and commenting on him and telling your Friends on Facebook will demonstrate the fan support we need to secure financing.  While there, please enjoy Edgar "Clips of the Week."  A new one will be posted every Friday.  

In brief, the EKRP aims to find and restore Edgar's RKO Average Man comedy shorts to High Definition.  Each restored short will become an episode of "The Edgar Kennedy Show" and will be introduced by Edgar's biographer Bill Cassara, who will also write and narrate short biographical segments on various aspects of Edgar's Illustrious career.  These Shows will be available for broadcast, DVD sales and online streaming in due course.

Edgar Kennedy is fondly remembered as an original Keystone Kop who worked with Chaplin, Laurel and Hardy, Our Gang and the Marx Brothers.  Not as well known are his RKO series of 103 shorts from 1931 to 1948 in which he played the Average Man enmeshed in travails with a ditzy wife, harpy mother-in-law and do-nothing brother-in-law.  Edgar was a pioneer for all the TV sitcoms to come.  Lucy even appeared in one in 1936 -- Dummy Ache.  The shorts are still hilarious.  Getting them back before the public in pristine quality will perpetuate Edgar's legacy.

The Edgar Kennedy Show will be produced by Bob Campbell (Matinee at the Bijou) and Ron Hall (that's me, Festival Films) with the full participation of author Bill Cassara, Film Chest CEO Phil Hopkins, film collector Derek Myers, producer Pete Bedell and other members of the original Matinee at the Bijou team.  Go here for further information.  

My sincere thanks for any way you can help spread news about the Edgar Project, and especially for Liking Edgar on Facebook today.

Back to our pending plans...

Phase Two will take the Edgar Kennedy Restoration Project public on Kickstarter.  A PR Web press release will spread the word far beyond the Edgar Kennedy fans who will have found us on Facebook and been enjoying the Edgar Clips of the Week.  Kickstarter is a marvelous crowd-funding opportunity where fans can contribute any amount to help the project, or simply root on its success over the month long campaign.  We are optimistic at getting the financial support to fund the first six episodes because Edgar Kennedy truly does have thousands of fans who want to see restored versions of his rare films.

Phase Three will be production of the first six episodes in the fall.  Please check back every week for developments.  If you are not that familiar with Edgar's RKO Average Man series of comedy shorts (1931-1948) here is a Clip of the Week from 1935 -- "Edgar Hamlet":



See you on Facebook at Edgar Kennedy Restoration Project. 

The Edgar Kennedy Restoration Project

Five years ago Bob (Matinee at the Bijou) Campbell and I developed a proposal to produce "The Edgar Kennedy Show." Here is part of the description that we filed with the Writer's Guild West:

The EDGAR KENNEDY SHOW is a proposed series for television. Edgar's biographer, Bill Cassara, will introduce each 18 minute comedy short starring Edgar Kennedy and will then discuss some aspect of Edgar’s life and films. Excerpts will be included from Edgar Kennedy feature films. 

Edgar Kennedy was America’s first sitcom star. He played himself in 103 two-reel (twenty minute) short subjects produced by RKO Radio Pictures between 1931 and 1948. In each episode, Edgar is surrounded by a zany dysfunctional family consisting of dizzy wife, meddling mother-in-law and shiftless good for nothing brother-in- law. Sound familiar?

Each short revolves around a typical sitcom plot with Edgar at the center of the action and caught up in domestic discord, a household emergency, or the latest get-rich-quick scheme certain to bankrupt the household ~~ or put one of them in jail. As the tension mounts, Edgar’s pent-up impatience boils over until he finally ignites in anger, and resigns himself to fate by slowly wiping his head and face with his left hand. This symbolic white flag of defeat and “Slow-Burn” made him one of the movies’ most recognizable faces.

THE EDGAR KENNEDY SHOW is coming soon from Bijou Productions, the creators of the original hit 1980s television series MATINEE AT THE BIJOU and Festival Films.  Each half-hour sit-com episode will feature one of Edgar’s entertaining and timeless movie shorts, most of which have not been seen by the general public in over 60 years.

The Edgar Kennedy Show will be produced in High Definition and will include a comprehensive website and blog, along with a myriad of other Web 2.0 bells and whistles to help stimulate the buzz. 

Contemplating his legacy!

Those five years slipped away quickly and without much progress because we needed financing to restore film prints to high definition and to film the introductions and biographical segments with Bill Cassara that will flesh out each episode.  We also needed a broadcast platform, DVD distributor, foreign sales, publicity, marketing and other plans to generate income.  Our faith in the films and in Edgar to conquer new audiences fostered a continuing conviction that if we just produce the first shows and get them out there, then fans and sponsors will follow.

The Edgar Kennedy Show will give birth to an Edgar Revival for these indisputable (in our minds, at least) reasons:

• His best films are hilarious.  Funny is funny ... forever!
• Edgar's films have not been restored in Hi-Def for TV or DVD.
• Edgar contributed to Our Gang, Laurel and Hardy and the Marx Brothers.  Their fans are legion.
• Edgar's Average Man series set the stage for all TV situation comedies to come.
• Edgar's eternal woes and slow burn are timelier than ever.  He is today's average man!

The innovative road to producing The Edgar Kennedy Show is crowd funding -- the method that recently generated $5 million to make a feature film of VERONICA MARS.  Edgar's many fans will have their chance to help us restore his films and perpetuate his legacy.  Yes, we plan a Kickstarter campaign this summer to finance the first six half-hour episodes of The Edgar Kennedy Show.

Our plan to raise money on Kickstarter for a new season of Matinee at the Bijou will delay until immediately after The Edgar Kennedy Restoration Project (the Kickstarter name) is successfully funded.  The reasons to promote and produce The Edgar Kennedy Show before Matinee at the Bijou are many: 

• We will learn the ins and outs of Kickstarter.
• Restore shorts to hi-def that can later be used in Bijou. 
• Lower budget to produce 6 Edgar Kennedy Shows than 13 Bijou shows.
• Focusing on one beloved icon is sure to succeed. 
• Simple goal: Fund Edgar and we will deliver long-lost films like Thanks Again (1931). 
• A half-hour will be easier to license to TV or find a sponsor for PBS. 
• Countless fans love Edgar, and will love to see him re-introduced to the world. 

We have a new partner in this exciting endeavor -- Phil Hopkins, one of the owners of Film Chest Media Group.  Film Chest specializes in restoring vintage films for DVD sales, foreign, television, online streaming and venues not yet invented!  Film Chest has run a successful Kickstarter campaign and will advise us there.  Phil is excited about restoring Edgar Kennedy's many shorts for the first time.

We have just launched The Edgar Kennedy Restoration Project on Facebook.   The first goal is to gather Edgar's fans.  Please visit and "Like" Edgar and you will get each Facebook update.  Leave your comments about Edgar.  Tell your friends.  Help us spread the word by sharing a photo and link on your own FB page.  Come back each week to watch the "Edgar Clip of the Week."  You can view the first one right here:

A weekly dose of Edgar will bring a smile to your face and a hearty guffaw.  Edgar suffered for all of us.  His pain is our pain.  His exasperated, slow-burn face-wipe still epitomizes the plight of the average man in a world gone mad.  His hopeless predicaments will cheer you up with laughter.  Help us revive Edgar and restore him to the world!

Visit The Edgar Kennedy Restoration Project on Facebook!