DUMMY ACHE

July 10, 1936

SYNOPSIS: Knowing that her husband, Edgar, would disapprove of her starring in a play, Florence acts very suspicious about where she is going when a rehearsal comes up. Edgar follows her to the home of co-star Al St. Claire and spies while they enact a scene in which Florence discovers that her lover is married to Lois (Lucille Ball). Florence becomes enraged and shoots Al. Edgar thinks the scene is for real. He comes in, finds a dummy of Al stuffed in a laundry basket, and before Florence can explain, carries it away to dispose of “the body”. Limbs are spilling out of the hamper as he lugs it down the street and naturally the police soon catch up with Edgar, so before long, all confusion is cleared up.

Leslie Goodwins (Director), Lee Marcus (Producer), Bert Gilroy (Associate Producer). Filmed at RKO-Radio Pictures. 18 minutes length. 

Lucille Ball (Lois Mason, the Actress / ‘Mrs. Marino’)
was born on August 6, 1911 in Jamestown, New York. She began her screen career in 1933 and was known in Hollywood as ‘Queen of the B’s’ due to her many appearances in ‘B’ movies. With Richard Denning, she starred in a radio program titled “My Favorite Husband” which eventually led to the creation of “I Love Lucy,” a television situation comedy in which she co-starred with her real-life husband, Latin bandleader Desi Arnaz. The program was phenomenally successful, allowing the couple to purchase what was once RKO Studios, re-naming it Desilu. When the show ended in 1960 (in an hour-long format known as “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour”) so did Lucy and Desi’s marriage. In 1962, hoping to keep Desilu financially solvent, Lucy returned to the sitcom format with “The Lucy Show,” which lasted six seasons. She followed that with a similar sitcom “Here’s Lucy” co-starring with her real-life children, Lucie and Desi Jr., as well as Gale Gordon, who had joined the cast of “The Lucy Show” during season two. Before her death in 1989, Lucy made one more attempt at a sitcom with “Life With Lucy,” also with Gordon, which was not a success and was canceled after just 13 episodes. 

Edgar Kennedy (Edgar)

was born on April 26, 1890, near Monterey, California. He became a professional boxer, claiming to have gone 14 rounds against The Manassas Mauler, Jack Dempsey.

At Mack Sennett’s Studios he was allegedly one of the original Keystone Kops, but soon graduated from bit parts to supporting roles, including Tillie’s Punctured Romance (1914) with Charles Chaplin. RKO hired Kennedy to appear in a series of comedy shorts called “The Average Man,” in which he played the head of a family. The shorts had very tight shooting schedules, often as few as three days. With Lucille Ball, he made Kid Millions (1934) A Night at the Biltmore Bowl (1935), neither of which were part of his series of ‘average man’ short films. He made over 200 short subjects and appeared in over 100 feature films, still in demand right up to the day he died of cancer on November 9, 1948.

Florence Lake (Florence Kennedy / ‘Dolores Doran’)

was born as Florence Silverlake on November 27, 1904 in Charleston, South Carolina. Florence was the older sister of  Arthur Lake, who was famous for playing “Dagwood” on radio, TV and films.

She was best known for Wrong Direction (1934), Secret Service (1931) and Quiet Please! (1933). She was the best known of Edgar Kennedy’s screen wives in his series of short domestic comedies. After his death in 1948, she continued to appear in minor film roles and many television parts. Aside from Dummy Ache, she did three RKO films with Lucille Ball, two episodes of “Here’s Lucy” and the special “Happy Anniversary and Goodbye.” She was married to John Graham Owens and died on April 11, 1980.

Lake in “Lucy and the Raffle” (HL S3;E19) in 1971

Dot Farley (Florence’s Mother)

was born Dorothea Farley on February 6, 1881 in Chicago, Illinois. She was known for So Big (1924), The Little Irish Girl (1926) and The Signal Tower (1924). She appeared in many Mack Sennett films in the silent era and later became well known for playing Edgar Kennedy’s mother-in-Law in his series of domestic comedies for RKO. In 1941, she joined Lucille Ball in Look Who’s Laughing, a film based on radio’s “Fibber McGee & Molly.” She died on May 2, 1971

Jack Rice (Florence’s Brother) was born Earl Clifford Rice on May 14, 1893 in Michigan. He is known for his work on Feather Your Nest (1944), Poisoned Ivory (1934) and Blondie’s Holiday (1947). Rice did seven other films with Lucille Ball between 1934 and 1947. He died on December 14, 1968.

Rice in “Lucy Meets Orson Welles” (ILL S6;E3) in 1956. 

George Lewis (Al St. Claire, the Actor / ‘Rupert Marino’) was born on December 10, 1903 in Guadalajara, Mexico. He was known for Zorro’s Black Whip (1944), Radar Patrol vs. Spy King (1949) and Malice in the Palace (1949). He was married to Mary Louise Lohman. This was his only appearance with Lucille Ball. He died on December 8, 1995. 

Harry Bowen (Bowen, the Cabbie)
was born on October 4, 1888 in Brooklyn, New York. He broke into the film industry doing film shorts during the silent era. In 1929 that he made his first appearance in a full-length feature, with a small role in Red Hot Rhythm, directed by Leo McCarey. During his 20-year career, Bowen appeared in over 150 films, most of them film shorts. Other notable films include: the 1933 classic King Kong and Flying Down to Rio (1933). Previous to Dummy Ache, he was seen with Lucille Ball in Three Little Pigskins (1934) and The Whole Town’s Talking (1935).  Bowen died in 1951 at age 53. 

Billy Franey (Mr. Samuels aka Pitchfork Man) was born in Chicago in 1889. Hey appeared in more than 400 films between 1914 and 1941, mostly playing comedic roles. His late career included numerous uncredited appearances in classics like Bringing Up Baby. Starting in 1937, he played Pop, the father-in-law of Edgar Kennedy in several of his series of short comedies. In 1938 he did two films with Lucille Ball:  Next Time I Marry and Go Chase Yourself, followed by Panama Lady in 1939. He contracted influenza and died from complications involving the illness in 1940.

The two policemen (speaking roles) are not credited. The film also includes background performers playing the frightened citizens. 

An insert shot of the printed program for the play that Florence is secretly performing in. 

Dummy Ache was nominated for an Academy Award as the Best Short Subject of 1936. It lost to The Public Pays, an installment of MGM’s Crime Does Not Pay series. 

The “Average Man” short comedies starred Edgar Kennedy as a blustery, stubborn everyman determined to accomplish a household project or get ahead professionally, despite the meddling of his featherbrained wife (usually Florence Lake), her freeloading brother (originally William Eugene, then Jack Rice) and his dubious mother-in-law (Dot Farley). Kennedy pioneered the kind of domestic situation comedy that later became familiar on television. Each installment would end with Edgar embarrassed, humbled or defeated, looking at the camera and doing his patented slow burn. The Edgar Kennedy Series, with its theme song “Chopsticks”, became a standard part of the movie-going experience: Kennedy made six “Average Man” shorts a year for 17 years.

From 1931 to 1948, Edgar Kennedy and Florence played husband and wife in more than 60 domestic comedy short films like Dummy Ache. Dot Farley and Jack Rice was in an equal number as Mother and Brother. 

Dummy Ache is heavily reworked from a silent comedy short, Dumb Daddies (1928), starring Max Davidson. Edgar Kennedy himself had a part in Dumb Daddies as a policeman.

It was remade into When Wifie’s Away, also an RKO short, starring Leon Erroll (above) in 1941. 

The premise of misunderstandings based on overheard rehearsals by actors was used by Desilu in 1952′s “New Neighbors” (ILL S1;E21), in which Lucy and Ethel spy on the O’Brien’s (Hayden Rorke and K.T. Stevens) mistaking their rehearsal for a spy drama for their intent to blow up the US capital!  Just as in Dummy Ache, the plot ends with police intervention! 

Most of the Edgar Kennedy Shorts are available on low-cost DVD.