Paramount really reached back in time going to the Theodore Roosevelt years for
material in Mrs. Wiggs Of The Cabbage Patch. A film I doubt we'll see a fourth
version of. Where would you find a W.C. Fields of today.
This story first came to Broadway in 1905 and it had a silent film version and
another talkie after this one. Though W.C. Fields is in this film it is only maybe
for about 15 minutes toward the end and he's part of a side story involving
the Wiggs neighbor Zasu Pitts's quest for a husband. W.C. Fields has come a
callin' in that regard. Can you imagine Fields as the answer to a woman's prayer?
The main story involves Mrs. Wiggs and her five children who live in a ramshackle house that they still owe $25.00 on. But Donald Meek the husband
has left to seek fame and fortune in the Klondike and the mother and the kids
fend for themselves or depend on the kindness of neighbors like Pitts, Evelyn
Brent and Kent Taylor.
First billed above Fields is Pauline Lord who was a premier stage actress of the
day whose credits on Broadway include Eugene O'Neill works like Anna Christie
and Strange Interlude. She's got the firmest upper lip on this side of the Atlantic and is firmly convinced that husband Donald Meek will make it back to
home and hearth.
One of the kids is George Breakston who is best known for playing Andy Hardy's best friend Beezy in that series. He's seriously ill and his scenes with
Lord are the high point of the film.
In a very sad story Bill Fields truly is the comic relief. It's a pity he and Zasu
Pitts never did a film of their own. I suspect Fields did not want to work with
a scene stealer like her again. As for Fields there's a great example of his comic genius with body language and all and no dialog him trying to cut over
a barbed wire fence leading to Pitts's home. Physical comedy at its finest.
Mrs. Wigss Of The Cabbage Patch is a quaint curiosity of a film that is interesting mainly for fans of W.C. Fields. For the historically minded it is a
chance to see Pauline Lord in a rare film appearance.