Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch | |
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Directed by | Norman Taurog |
Screenplay by | William Slavens McNutt Jane Storm |
Based on | Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch by Alice Hegan Rice play by Anne Crawford Flexner |
Produced by | Douglas MacLean |
Starring | Pauline Lord W. C. Fields ZaSu Pitts |
Cinematography | Charles Lang |
Edited by | Hugh Bennett |
Music by | John Leipold |
Production company | |
Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
Release date |
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Running time | 80 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch is a 1934 American comedy drama film directed by Norman Taurog, and is based on the 1904 Broadway play by Anne Crawford Flexner, [1] which itself is taken from the novel of the same name by Alice Hegan Rice. The film stars Broadway stage actress Pauline Lord, and is one of only two films she appeared in. ZaSu Pitts and W. C. Fields appear in supporting roles.
The 1934 version is the third film adaptation of the novel and play. The first film version was released in 1914, starring Blanche Chapman. The second version was released in 1919 and stars Mary Carr, while the fourth version was released in 1942 and stars Fay Bainter. [2] The book was also adapted into a radio series which aired from 1935 to 1938. [3]
In 1901, Mrs. Wiggs is facing eviction, scrabbling for survival with her number of children and hoping for the return of her husband, who left many years before, looking for gold in the Klondike. The family owns the shack but it has a mortgage of $25 (equivalent to approximately $569 in 2023 [4] dollars) and the evil moneylender is threatening them. Mrs. Wiggs is a laundress but can't manage to save enough back because whatever extra money she gets is used to help others, often animals. The oldest son, James, has worked hard all his life, but now is seriously ill with tuberculosis. The little girls are all named "out of geography", Europena, Asia and Australia. The second-oldest boy, Billy, is something of an entrepreneur. When he finds a spavined and dying horse he brings it home and the family nurses it back to reasonable health, naming it Cuba. Neighbor Tabitha Hazy seeks a husband and takes out a subscription to "The Matrimonial Guide", the 1901 version of a dating service.
Alice, a wealthy girl who is a volunteer social worker, brings the family a feast of a Thanksgiving dinner (in the book, they promptly sell it and buy cheaper food). Her fiance, Mr Bob, the town newspaper editor, becomes involved, finally taking Jimmy to a hospital. Billy makes enough (with the secret support of Mr Bob, looking over Jimmy's shoulder at the theatre ticket office) to take the family to a vaudeville variety show, and Mrs. Wiggs describes it all to Jimmy as he dies. She places an advertisement in national newspapers, directed to her husband, saying that Jimmy is dead and he must come home.
Tabitha has found a man she likes, but fears he won't like her because she can't cook. Mrs. Wiggs conspires with her to serve an exquisite dinner. When he finds out the truth, he refuses to marry her, but she tells him she doesn't want someone who thinks only of his own pleasure and throws him out. In the midst of all this, Mr. Wiggs arrives and sits quietly in a corner until he is noticed. He is secretly and unsupectingly given enough money, by Mr Bob, to pay off the mortgage, and everyone lives happily ever after.
The film was one of Paramount's biggest hits of the year, although less successful than the studio originally hoped. [5]
Billy Rose was an American impresario, theatrical showman, lyricist and columnist. For years both before and after World War II, Billy Rose was a major force in entertainment, with shows such as Billy Rose's Crazy Quilt (1931), Jumbo (1935), Billy Rose's Aquacade (1937), and Carmen Jones (1943). As a lyricist, he is credited with many songs, notably "Don't Bring Lulu" (1925), "Tonight You Belong To Me" (1926), "Me and My Shadow" (1927), "More Than You Know" (1929), "Without a Song" (1929), "It Happened in Monterrey" (1930), and "It's Only a Paper Moon" (1933).
Alice Hegan Rice, also known as Alice Caldwell Hegan, was an American novelist. Her 1901 novel Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch became a play and four films.
The Cadillac Palace Theatre is operated by Broadway In Chicago, a Nederlander company. It is located at 151 West Randolph Street in the Chicago Loop area.
Jimmy Butler was an American, juvenile, motion-pictures actor, active in the 1930s and early 1940s.
Edward Francis Tamblyn was an American actor. He was the father of actor Russ Tamblyn and keyboardist Larry Tamblyn, and the grandfather of actress Amber Tamblyn.
Lillian Elliott was a stage and film actress, appearing in 60 films between 1915 and 1943. She was born in Canada and died in Hollywood, California. She was married to actor James Corrigan, and their eldest son, Lloyd Corrigan, became a Hollywood writer, director, and character actor.
Ethel Griffies was an English actress of stage, screen, and television. She is remembered for portraying the ornithologist Mrs. Bundy in Alfred Hitchcock's classic The Birds (1963). She appeared in stage roles in her native England and in the United States, and had featured roles in around 100 motion pictures. Griffies was one of the oldest working actors in the English-speaking theatre at the time of her death at 97 years old. She acted alongside such stars as May Whitty, Ellen Terry, and Anna Neagle.
Barbara Jo Allen was an American actress. She was also known as Vera Vague, the spinster character she created and portrayed on radio and in films during the 1940s and 1950s. She based the character on a woman she had seen delivering a PTA literature lecture in a confused manner. As Vague, she popularized the catchphrase "You dear boy!"
Lovey Mary is a 1926 American comedy-drama film directed by King Baggot, with Bessie Love in the title role. It is based on the 1903 novel of the same name by Alice Hegan Rice, a sequel to Rice's Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch. It was distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
Anne Crawford Flexner born Anne Laziere Crawford, was an American playwright.
Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch is a 1919 silent American comedy-drama film produced by Famous Players–Lasky Corporation and distributed through Paramount Pictures. Directed by Hugh Ford, the film stars Marguerite Clark and is based on the 1904 Broadway play by Anne Crawford Flexner, which itself is taken from the novel of the same name by Alice Hegan Rice.
Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch is a 1901 novel by American author Alice Hegan Rice, about a southern family humorously coping with poverty. It was highly popular on its release, and has been adapted to film several times. The early editions of the book carry the author's birth name, Alice Caldwell Hegan.
Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch is a 1942 American comedy-drama film starring Fay Bainter and directed by Ralph Murphy. It was based on the play by Anne Crawford Flexner that premiered on Broadway in 1904, which was in turn adapted from the 1901 novel of the same name by Alice Hegan Rice.
Helen Lowell, born Helen Lowell Robb (1866–1937), was an American stage and film actress.
Wiggs is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:
Charlotte Alice Alter was an American actress on stage and in silent films.
Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch is a 1914 American silent comedy drama film directed by Harold Entwistle and starring Beatriz Michelena, Blanche Chapman and House Peters. It is based on the 1903 play by Anne Crawford Flexner, which itself is taken from the 1901 novel of the same name by Alice Hegan Rice.
Lovey Mary is a 1903 novel by the American writer Alice Hegan Rice. The novel was first serialized in the monthly Century Magazine beginning in December 1902, then was published in book form by The Century Company on February 28, 1903. It was a sequel to the author's 1901 novel Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch. The book contains eighteen illustrations by Florence Scovel Shinn, one of which is reproduced on the cover. The story spans three years in the life of Lovey Mary, an orphan who finds acceptance among the poor folks of the Cabbage Patch, an area which was inspired by Rice's personal experiences growing up in Kentucky.
Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch, is an 1903 comedy by American author Anne Crawford Flexner. It was based on two books by Alice Hegan Rice, Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch (1901) and Lovey Mary (1903). It has three acts and two settings, all within the "Cabbage Patch", an impoverished neighborhood on the fringes of Louisville, Kentucky. The character-driven play covers three weeks time and has multiple storylines, including an ill-starred mail-order marriage, two refugees from an orphanage, the return of a long-lost husband, and a handful of young romances.
'Vivia Ogden was an American film and stage actress and producer whose career spanned the 1910s and 1920s.