It's A Joke, Son! (1947)

Kenny Delmar was the announcer on the Fred Allen radio show, and was a regular member of the "Allen's Alley" feature on that show, where he played Senator Beauregard Claghorn. He plays Claghorn in this movie. Cartoon fans will notice immediately that Foghorn Leghorn was a direct copy of the Claghorn character.

The movie starts out by saying that Delmar knows that the South did not lose the war: it was just called because of darkness. Delmar's wife, Una Merkel, interrupts his incessant talking on Main Street about the South. She is much dissatisfied by his lack of ambition. He was offered a job making speeches by Senator Jimmy Conlin, but turned it down because he did not like him. Their daughter, June Lockhart, is in love with Kenneth Farrell, but Merkel does not like him. Merkel puts Delmar in charge of making the punch for a ladies' gathering at their home, and he enlists a little boy to help him. He loads up the punch with liquor, unknown to Delmar. The meeting dissolves into giggles under the influence of the punch.

Farrell needs some money to buy a van to start up his frozen food business. Delmar decides to help them in defiance of Merkel. In the meantime she is pledging to help the ladies' group fund with the same money Delmar gave the couple. The group decides to run Merkel for State Senator. This upsets the establishment political machine, run by Douglas Dumbrille. Farrell goes to the machine and tells them how to defeat Merkel. He suggests starting a third party and splitting the vote - with Delmar as the candidate. However, Dumbrille's men threaten him with murder if he actually wins. Immediately, of course, Delmar's popularity skyrockets. Dumbrille calls him in and threatens him again, and when Delmar learns he is from the North, he walks out defiantly. At the rally that evening, Delmar makes a speech with lots of jokes thrown in, but openly defiant of Dumbrille's organization.

After the rally, Dumbrille's men kidnap Delmar. Delmar's dog, Daisy, trails them to the hideout. Lockhart and Farrell set out to look for him, with a musical group to play Dixie. Merkel goes on the radio to withdraw her candidacy in favor of Delmar. The thugs take Delmar's pants so he won't escape, because he has to make it to the election headquarters by 9 p.m. They tie him up, but when Delmar hears the band playing the Southern National Anthem, he breaks loose, overpowers the guards, and runs down the road after the truck holding his pants because he has no suspenders. Daisy catches up with the truck and makes them stop. They make it to headquarters just in time.

Here is a LINK to an exchange between Delmar and Fred Allen on Allen's Alley.




Delmar


Lockhart