It's a Joke, Son!

This is the story of how popular "(Fred) Allen's Alley" radio-show regular Kenny Delmar (as Beauregard Claghorn) won his political title. He is describes as, "a large body of a man entirely surrounded by mint juleps, magnolia blossoms and Southern tradition. So strong is his faith in the old, old South that he is perhaps the only man in all the world who is still buying Confederate Army Victory Bonds. He knows the South did NOT lose the Civil War - it was called on account of darkness." In this film, the character is placed in a sit-com format, where he delivers blustery pro-Southern statements...

While Mr. Delmar regrets a grocer's selling of Northern apples (calling them "foreign"), his wife Una Merkel (as Magnolia) prepares for a meeting of her "Daughters of Dixie" women's group. Helping decorate their living room (with a sign) is pretty daughter June Lockhart (as Mary Lou), who dates frozen foods salesman Kenneth Farrell (well-named, as Jefferson "Jeff" Davis"). Ms. Merkel is nominated to run for state Senator. Her opponent maneuvers Delmar to enter the race as a third-party candidate, to split the opposition and win. Merkel must do the right thing, but there is another obstacle...

**** It's a Joke, Son! (1/15/47) Benjamin Stoloff ~ Kenny Delmar, Una Merkel, June Lockhart, Kenneth Farrell

Beauregard Claghorn is a man proud of his Southern roots. He hates anything that might be deemed Northern. His loyalties are deeply rooted South of the Mason-Dixon line, as he'll tell anyone that asks his opinion. He is married to Magnolia, a strong willed woman and has a lovely young daughter, Mary Lou, who is seeing an ambitious young man, Jeff Davis. The young people would like to get married and settle down to a new kind of business beginning to sweep America: frozen food!

Claghorn comes into some money from the sale of mint to a big firm. When Mary Lou tells about Jeff's plan to invest in a frozen food truck, he decides to give them the money for a down payment. Little prepares him to know that Magnolia has decided to offer the same amount to a patriotic Southern ladies' organization and plans to run for a seat in the state senate. Beauregard decides to enter the contest himself as a way to get some serious money.

"It's a Joke, Son" is a funny film directed by Benjamin Stoloff, featuring Kenny Delmar, a successful comedian, popular in radio during that time. Una Merkel is seen as Magnolia. Lovely June Lockhart appears as Mary Lou.

The film, a running time of only 63 minutes, is a delightful comedy with a few laughs that takes the viewer to a less complicated time in America.

Every time I see this film I want to yell out loud, "Save you're Confederate money, Boys! The South's gonna rise again!". This was a laugh a minute all the way through. Of course, you can see that Claghorn was the inspiration for Foghorn Leghorn from the Saturday Morning cartoons. It may not be politically correct, but it is funny.

Kenny Delmar who was both announcer on the Fred Allen Radio Show and a character on his Allen's Alley segment takes said character Senator Beauregard Claghorn and stars in this initial film for Eagle-Lion Pictures. The title It's A Joke Son came from the catchphrase that identified him with so many radio listeners.

The sad thing today is that unless one is a student of our popular culture or in a generation before mine, the name of Senator Claghorn would not be recognized by too many contemporary viewers. Eagle-Lion in making this first admittedly B picture had a built in audience of Fred Allen's radio listeners. That is entirely lost on today's movie audience who watched this on YouTube as I did.

Senator Claghorn was a caricature of the flannel mouth politicians who got themselves elected to office in the former Confederate states by proudly proclaiming their Dixie heritage and little else. Done ever so gently for the radio listeners lest the ones in the south stop listening.

Those in the radio audiences still might have asked how did someone like Beauregard Claghorn ever get elected. The answer is provided by this film and it's that he beat a bigger boob. This boob is Jimmy Conlin and he's backed by some carpetbagging Yankee political boss in the person of Douglass Dumbrille.

When we meet Claghorn he's not a Senator yet, he's a rather henpecked husband of Una Merkel. When at a meeting of her Daughters Of Dixie club where the punch has been liberally spiked, Merkel is urged to run as a reform candidate.

For reasons I won't go into Delmar then throws his hat in the ring and the fun begins.

It's a B film with productions values of same so don't expect much. But also it's terribly dated with jokes that no audience of young people could possibly get. It's a film for folks like me.

Kenny Delmar brought his popular character Beauregard Claghorn and all his Southern bluster from the Fred Allen radio show to the big screen in IT'S A JOKE, SON!, released by Eagle-Lion in 1947.

Okay, listen carefully and follow the plot: an addle-brained Southern state senator running for re-election on the coattails of a carpetbagging political boss (Douglass Dumbrille) is being challenged by Magnolia Claghorn (Una Merkel), leader of a group called the Daughters of Dixie. Dumbrille forces Magnolia's husband Beauregard to run as a third party candidate so split the opposition, I say split the opposition, but soon Beauregard Claghorn's dander is up and he's running, I say he's running, like a Yankee at Bull Run. Meanwhile, just to keep things interesting because after all we DO have 63 minutes to kill, the Claghorns' lovely daughter (June Lockhart with an adorable Southern accent) is involved with some guy who runs an ice cream truck. Also worth mentioning is that Daisy, the second cutest dog in the movies after Laughing Gravy, is on loan from the Blondie pictures and proves why no actor wants to share the screen with a four-legged scene stealer.

The movie is generally pleasant, and occasionally funny when Claghorn starts boasting about the South (we're told that he still purchases Confederate Victory Bonds, and Claghorn is trying to convince North Carolina to change its name to Upper South Carolina). Unlike the Ma & Pa Kettle films of a few years later, though, Claghorn's film debut didn't catch on, and there were no sequels. On the other hand, I say on the other hand, a knock-off character was more successful over at Warner Bros: Foghorn Leghorn had already made his film debut, in 1946's WALKY TALKY HAWKY, when IT'S A JOKE, SON! was released, and the blustering rooster went on to a long and successful career.