Sunk by the Census

The Plot.

Edgar is a census taker, but is primarily interested in finding a rich widow for his father-in-law (Billy Franey), so he won't have to continue to support him.

All Pop wants to make him happy is a cow.

When Edgar comes home with both a cow and a phony rich widow, the results are not what Edgar planned for.

Another winner from the Kennedy RKO series.

The most bizarre thing is the guy who plays the father is actually nearly 10 years YOUNGER than Edgar Kennedy!

Anita Garvin,familiar to Lurel & Hardy fans, is in this film as well!

Great.

While Edgar is working on the 1940 census, he discovers father-in-law Billy Franey's old sweetheart, living in a mansion. She says she would marry him -- and take him off of Edgar's hands -- if he had a cow -- so Edgar buys a cow. Little does Edgar know know she is a maid in the house.

It's a typically amusing episode in Kennedy's COMMON MAN series that ran at RKO from 1932 until his death in 1948, amidst his frequent work as a supporting comic in many a well-remembered feature, from Marx Brothers movies to Preston Sturges gems. Earlier, he had begun his movie with Keystone in 1914 and had appeared in -- and directed -- Laurel & Hardy movies. His best-remembered comic shtick was the "slow burn", in which he would gradually lose his temper, as the situation grew more and more unbearable; there's a prime example of it here.