Make 'Em Laugh (The Funny Business of America)
This website is made possible, in part, by displaying a few online advertisements to our visitors.
Please consider supporting us by disabling your ad blocker for this site.
Please consider supporting us by disabling your ad blocker for this site.
Released February 11, 1938
Featuring Ted Healy (Solo)
Featuring Ted Healy (Solo)
MGM
103.2 min. (Feature Film)
103.2 min. (Feature Film)
Ted Healy is listed in the production records for this film, but he does not appear in it. The production pre-dated his death, so it appears likely that he did film scenes, but they were eventually edited out.
Reverend Wilkins (Walter Huston) moves his family from a well-to-do life in Maryland, to a parish in the impoverished 1840s community of Pine Hill OH. His devoted wife (Beulah Bondi) accepts their new lot in life, in spite of a community of elders who frequently take advantage of their pastor. Young son Jason (Gene Reynolds) is resentful and ungrateful, frequently clashing with his father.
Ten years later, Jason (James Stewart) leaves home for Baltimore to study medicine. He always presumes that his parents will provide his needs, in spite of the additional hardships it places on them. Personal tragedy and the Civil War do nothing to change his ways, as he continues his own life, oblivious of the heartbreak he's left behind in Pine Hill.
As late as January 26, 1938, in that day's issue of Variety, Ted Healy's name was still appearing in cast news released by MGM.
Beulah Bondi received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress as 'Mrs. Wilkins.' Ms. Bondi seemingly made a career playing Jimmy Stewart's mother, in this film as well as MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON (1939), VIVACIOUS LADY (1938), THE JIMMY STEWART SHOW (NBC 1971), and most notably as 'Ma Bailey' in IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE (1946).
Avg. Rating: 
[7.00/10]
[7.00/10]
James Stewart
Jason Wilkins
Walter Huston
Rev. Ethan Wilkins
Beulah Bondi
Mary Wilkins
Gene Reynolds
Jason Wilkins, as a boy
Guy Kibbee
George Ames
Charles Coburn
Dr. Charles Shingle
Ann Rutherford
Annie Hawks
Leatrice Joy Gilbert
Annie Hawks, as a child
Gene Lockhart
Quid
Sterling Holloway
Chauncey Ames
Charles Peck
Chauncey Ames, as a child
Robert McWade
Dr. Lupus Crumm
John Carradine
President Abraham Lincoln
Clem Bevans
Elder Massey
Charley Grapewin
Jim Meeker
Rosina Galli
Mrs. Ardsley
Anne O'Neal
Mrs. Hawks
Leona Roberts
Sister Clark
Brenda Fowler
Mrs. Ames
Arthur Aylesworth
Rufus Inchpin
Esther Dale
Mrs. Cantwell
Morgan Wallace
Dr. Crandall
Minor Watson
Captain Griggs
Frank McGlynn Jr.
Laughing man in church
Ward Bond
Laughing man in church
Jules Cowles
Churchgoer
Ralph Bushman
Churchgoer
Stanley Fields
Horse owner
Guy Bates Post
Horse buyer
William Stack
Haberdasher
Frank Reicher
Union officer
Willard Robertson
Recruiting officer
Jack Mulhall
Soldier
Joseph Young
Attendant
Charles Trowbridge
Doctor attending Capt. Griggs
Joseph Forte
Intern
Phillip Terry
Intern
Ted Healy
scene deleted
Clarence Brown
Director
John W. Considine
Producer
Conrad Richter
Screenplay
Bradbury Foote
Screenplay
Honore Morrow
Original Story
Clyde De Vinna
Photography
Frank E. Hull
Film Editor
Cedric Gibbons
Art Director
Edwin B. Willis
Associate Art Director
Harry Oliver
Associate Art Director
Douglas Shearer
Recording Director
Herbert Stothart
Musical Score
Jack Dawn
Makeup
Joe Norin
Makeup
Dolly Tree
Wardrobe
Edward Woehler
Assistant Director
Al Shenberg
Assistant Director
E. Mason Hopper
Assistant Director
Slavko Vorkapich
Montage Effects
Charles Whittaker
Technical Advisor
FAIR USE NOTICE: This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We make such material available in an effort to advance awareness and understanding of the issues involved. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information please visit: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission directly from the copyright owner.
