Art in the Raw

When Edgar Kennedy wins $3 in a drawing competition, he wants to spend time in the country, painting trees and birds and such. Wife Florence Lake, mother-in-law Dot Farley, and brother-in-law William Eugene, decide that Greenwich Village is the place for him to paint masterpieces. It soon turns out that a horde of freeloaders show up, so Edgar is locked in a room to paint a picture of an apple by himself, with only a dog to howl, freeloaders to steal his milk and provide him with lit dynamite, and of course, a party going on outside to shake the floorboards.

It's a typical Kennedy short in his long-running 'The Common Man' series from RKO. It ran from 1933 through his death in 1948. Although there were other combination, Miss Lake was his most frequent spouse in the movie, supported by Miss Farley and his mother-in-law and Jack Rice as his layabout brother-in-law

While I love Edgar Kennedy as a foil in Laurel & Hardy films, I have never taken to his shorts he made for RKO for many years. Much of it is that every short is essentially the same...Edgar's mother-in-law and brother-in-law live with him and his wife and the in-laws treat Edgar like garbage. It's not only repetitive but cruel and I guess some folks thought it was funny....but I never did.

In "Art in the Raw", the story is a tad different. Edgar's in-laws aren't as nasty and hateful as usual...though his wife is amazingly selfish and a jerk. Again, I don't find this sort of stuff funny...as treating family like dirt isn't funny on its own.

When the story begins, Edgar wins a small art contest...as evidenced by his $3 prize. Well, Edgar has a vacation coming up and he wants to spend his time painting. His wife, on the other hand, doesn't care and takes the family to Greenwich Village instead of going to the country where Edgar wants to paint. Further, she then throws a party, not caring that Edgar is trying to paint. What follows simply isn't funny. No laughs at all, in fact.