MovieChat Forums > Beginner's Luck (1935) Discussion > Kitty Kelly

Kitty Kelly

posted 4 years ago by doug78595 (107)
28 replies | jump to latest

One question that was asked so many times over and over was how did this lady (Kitty Kelly) ever agree to act in this short knowing the extreme humiliation she was portraying on screen? Did she need the money for her family in these dark depression days? In deed did she have a husband and children how would they be after seeing her in this situation in screen? Did she think that this would help her land that big part and really put her career on the right track? Because she was really up there having her dress ripped off her, she was up there in her slip and then with her head up on top of the prop.

[–] rocklyn80 (659) 4 years ago

I think of it as she was an actor, and actors take roles, the rent needs to be paid
and it was the character that was being humiliated, not the actress

[–] doug78595 (107) 4 years ago

Nice answer rocklyn80 but if she had a family, maybe her parents were alive and maybe she had children. Her children would have to take a huge razzing from their friends over seeing the mother go thru this. If this was filmed today it certainly wouldn't have the same clout as it had in 1935

[–] Robbie (249) 4 years ago

I think she needed the money. If I were her husband I would have been embarrassed that everyone saw my wife Half naked with men ogling at her and an entire audience roaring in laughter at my wife. I would think her children would feel the same embarrassed that their mother was made a fool of. I think the entire family would be embarassed

[–] doug78595 (107) 4 years ago

Yes Robbie I agree with you. I don't know if she was married but I do know she was earlier a Ziegfeld follies girl so she was used to be running around in front of people scantily clad.

[–] Robbie (249) 4 years ago

That is true I forgot about her in the follies so maybe it wasn’t too much of a big deal for her to be stripped. The way she was.

[–] spankyfan2 (124) 4 years ago

Do you think there are any pictures of Kitty in her Ziegfeld outfit?

[–] Robbie (249) 4 years ago

There are images but I do not see any in her Ziegfeld outfit, her real name was sue o Neil...Wikipedia says she was best know for her appearance in beginners luck! I bet!

[–] doug78595 (107) 4 years ago

One of the interesting things about her is she was only 4' 11 " she looks like she's 5' 7"
on BL. Another thing about her most of her career was working as an actress on the radio only occaisionly appearing in movies and later on TV .

[–] Robbie (249) 4 years ago

Hmm, I didn’t know that about her height! Well she sure made a hit with the occasional TV role with BL! She probably wishes bl was a radio show!lol

[–] spankyfan2 (124) 4 years ago

I've seen Kitty on Perry Mason, Bonanza and Dennis the Menace. You could see how short she was, but her voice was still the same very recognizable. Unfortunately she didn't age well---maybe from doing BL?
I guess that means the MC was short and everyone else standing around her

[–] Robbie (249) 4 years ago

Lol I know women back ether looked older than they were for some reason. I know one thing though after BL she had a very red face!lol

[–] doug78595 (107) 4 years ago

Yes I saw her in Bonanza, Perry Mason , Dennis the menace too
. I also saw her her last film which was Firecreek made the year she passed away she looks very old in it, but again the same voice. In the film So proudly we hail, which she plays an army nurse, You can tell it's her even thou it was 8 yrs. after BL you can clearly see how small she was in comparison to the other nurses around her. It's also clear the amount of weight she put on especially on her rump. Also there was a western which I remember seeing
she has a small part playing a western woman. It was made very soon after BL but I can't seem to find the name of it on her filmography page. she looks exactly the same as she did in BL
.

[–] Robbie (249) 4 years ago

She had a rather large rump in Bl, my god I still love it when she is down on her knees sticking that ass out whilst she maneuver that pole In Desperation to drag spank off!

[–] spankyfan2 (124) 4 years ago

When Kitty gets off the couch and walks over to Gma at the tea party and when she hops off the stool after the MC said Spanky is next, her ass doesn't look that big--looks nice but not big. But when she is backstage on all fours her rear looks much bigger--more to grab on or bite. LOL Boy to be there and see it live!! Just thinking I'm surprised Playboy did't pickup on the magic of BL--what he might have done with it

[–] Robbie (249) 4 years ago

Lol, I so wish somebody picked up on BL and did a modern version with no slip, more interaction from the women she had at the house confronting her backstage, have some of the mothers backstage talking and showing them laughing, I would replace grandma pulling the curtains with one of her girlfriends and replace spanky with the mothers beautiful buxom blonde 21 yr old bombshell daughter Samantha. Have Samantha have a wardrobe malfunction and is frozen wth embarassment as she is reluctantly showing off her assets! And her mother is trying to save her daughter only to have her dress ripped off, both mother and daughter half naked and mortified.

[–] spankyfan2 (124) 4 years ago

Too many good ideas, we have to change BL from a 18 minute short to at least a hour special!!

[–] Robbie (249) 4 years ago

Lol!

[–] doug78595 (107) 4 years ago

So if this short was the most financially successful of all the Our Gang shorts and was the most critically acclaimed of all. Why didn't they do others like it including stripped humiliation of other pretty mothers or teachers? If not the Roach Studio in all the years that have come and gone that no one else has something like it. To the best of my knowledge maybe a TV commercial from 50 yrs ago and that's it.

[–] Robbie (249) 4 years ago

Yes, I agree, there must be something preventing a similar scene to be done. I mean the scene was a bit over the top but it wasn’t a violent rape scene or attack, it was over the top humiliation of another individual which had an erotic twist. But I guess my answer doesn’t really answer as to why nothing similar has been ever reproduced.

[–] doug78595 (107) 4 years ago

but a good answer anyway

[–] Robbie (249) 4 years ago

Lol thx

[–] spankyfan2 (124) 4 years ago

I agree why wasn't something else produced! Sex sells! Granted it would't have to be over the top like BL maybe something like when Sally Cairns loses her skirt in the Stooges 3 Smart Saps--it is sexy, funny and she is embarrassed with everyone laughing at her but not near the level of BL.. Roach Studios had the experience of women losing their dresses with Laurel & Hardy and other comedies in their bullpen.

[–] Robbie (249) 4 years ago

I know I find bl was more about humiliation and embarassment that was done in a way to be erotic. Again it wasn’t like we really saw anything pornographic with regards to the mother, but we saw in really just a few minutes , a son being made a fool of, a mother who desperately wanted him to make a hit, than realizing it was not happening because of the gang and audience and her not wanting him laughed at, trying to than desperately save him and in a way her from this unexpected embarassment and humiliation. Again , for some reason that and the laughter add to the eroticism of this short..

[–] L1 (1316) 4 years ago

ALl the people involved in this are sexually little children.

[–] AnubisRaydeen (7897) 4 years ago

Well ... that's when it starts. My childhood television habits have an obvious direct connection to my tastes/fetishes.
Kelly's incidental posturing and circumstances are fantastic examples of the subtle ribaldry of the era. Those nyloned ankles! That slip! That ass up in the air! The intense humiliation!
It sure makes me feel like a little kid again. So what?

[–] Mykle66 (5) 4 years ago

If you've seen any of kitty's films up until the 40's you will see that she generally played sassy flirtatious women. I don't think a film like beginner's Luck would have phased her. I've noticed that she appeared in a lot of films with Stan Laurel before he joined Oliver Hardy, also appeared in films with Bing Crosby. She must have been friends with them, or maybe more than friends.
On a sadder note, my wife and I visited her sister in southern California last year. She lives just north of Hollywood. We spent one day visiting graves of famous people. Ya gotta know I looked up our Kitty's grave online. Long story short, at the end of the excursion we ended up in the cemetery where kitty is. My wife and her sister stayed in the car to hang out while I said I was looking for Scotty Beckett, who is buried near Kitty. My heart was beating out of my chest as I approached the spot of her plot. Sadly it appears that our kitty is buried in an unmarked grave.

[–] doug78595 (107) 4 years ago

I read your post early this morning and after I read it I reread it several times. To be honest with you so much went thru my mind I went for a three hour walk along the beach. I thought of actually going to Kitty's grave,and yes my heart would be pounding too, I thought to myself maybe her headstone was the stage prop with a stone head likeness of Kitty's on top. Then I said if she was in an unmarked grave what happened was she divorced or maybe she never married and never had children. Then I thought of Mickey Daniels who also was inn a unmarked grave until the fans of the rascals took up a collection and finally put a headstone up for him. I'd love to hear any more if you would or could tell us about Kitty.

[–] Mykle66 (5) 4 years ago

I too have wondered about Kitty's personal life and sadly visiting her grave provided no answers. Oddly we had no intention of going to that cemetery. Our last stop was going to see Groucho, but when we got to that cemetery, it was closed for renovations. Turns out that the cemetery with kitty is right across the street. I don't know who looked up the location of the grave for Findagrave.com. Maybe it's not accurate but I have a feeling it is.