MRS WIGGS OF THE CABBAGE PATCH
US, 1934, 80 minutes, Black and White.
Pauline Lord, Zasu Pitts, W.C. Fields, Evelyn Venable, Kent Taylor, Charles Middleton, Donald Meek.
Directed by Norman Taurog.
Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch was a popular story of the '30s and '40s and was filmed with Pauline Lord, a stage actress, and remade with Fay Bainter in 1942. It is a mixture of Depression-optimistic story and sentiment. This version has its charm although would seem too sweet for a contemporary audience. However, the sequences with W.C. Fields are excellent and he's well-matched by Zasu Pitts. However, these sequences don't really mesh with the overall story of Mrs. Wiggs and her poverty and her children and good nature.
1. A popular story in the '30s and '40s? Its appeal now?
2. A story of the Depression, the tone of the Depression? A piece of Americana ? The blend of the ingredients of sentiment, humour, survival?
3. The wealth and poverty of the town itself? The Wiggs family, the people on the cabbage patch, the minister, the doctor? The wealthy family, Bob and his work on a newspaper, the tyrannical man who owned the ground on the cabbage patch?
4. How attractive a character was Mrs. Wiggs? Her goodness to all, her relationship with her children, her memories of Mr. Wiggs and her excusing him, her spinster neighbour and her friendship with her, her friendship with Bob and his fiance? Nice, naive, American charm and sentiment?
5. The children? the girls with their atlas names? Bill and his being the man of the house, the wood, the horse, the theatre tickets? Jimmy and his illness, the thanksgiving dinner, going to hospital, hearing about the theatre, his death and funeral? The pathos? The humour e.g. the girl and her holding her breath?
6. The initial focus on the thanksgiving dinner and the highlighting of the poverty and needs, the illness? The relief with the rich girl bringing the food and making the family happy? Their gratitude? The repetition of this theme with their going to the theatre and the humour of their response, the answering of the joke from the stage, thinking all was over at interval etc.? The switch of mood with Jimmy's illness and death? The focus on Miss Hazy and her courtship, her having to make the meal and win over her husband? The marriage ceremony?
7. The romance, Bob and his working on the paper, helping people, the girl and her wealthy family, antagonism? Bob and his help with Jimmy's illness, the buying of the theatre tickets? The happy reconciliation at the marriage?
8. The character of Miss Hazy and Zasu Pitts' comic style, the repressed spinster wishing for a husband, having his photo? W.C. Fields' comic style and his presentation of himself, age, looking over Miss Hazy, the meal, the proposal and the marriage, and the irony of his having to cook?
9. The mean owner and his hounding of the family, his harsh remarks at the theatre, the railroad deal and his finally being outwitted?
10. The various crises and the emotional impact, the thanksgiving dinner, Jimmy's death and funeral, Mr Wiggs' return?
11. The humorous critique of the irresponsible American man in Mr Wiggs? Mrs Wiggs praising him for his thinking, his irresponsibility, money? The happy ending with the buying of the house?
12. The impact of the humour and sentiment in its time? The gentle touch? The impact on audiences in the latter part of the 20th. century - a past view of a past world?
