| Ma and Pa Kettle at Waikiki | |
| Director: | Lee Sholem |
| Producer: | Leonard Goldstein |
| Screenplay: | Jack Henley Harry Clork Elwood Ullman |
| Story: | Connie Lee Bennett |
| Starring: | Marjorie Main Percy Kilbride |
| Music: | Henry Mancini |
| Cinematography: | Clifford Stine |
| Editing: | Virgil Vogel |
| Studio: | Universal Studios |
| Distributor: | Universal-International |
| Runtime: | 79 minutes |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
| Gross: | $1,500,000 (U.S.)[1] |
Ma and Pa Kettle at Waikiki is a 1955 American comedy film directed by Lee Sholem. It is the seventh installment of Universal-International's Ma and Pa Kettle series starring Marjorie Main and Percy Kilbride in his final starring role.
In July 1952, the Kettles help out cousin Rodney Kettle in Hawaii with his pineapple business. Ma and Pa get acquainted with blue-blooded Mrs. Andrews who thinks the Kettles are the "lowliest" people she has met. This is Percy Kilbride's last appearance as Pa Kettle, and his final movie as well.
Cousin Rodney (Loring Smith) has paid Ma and Pa Kettle's way to Hawaii, under the false assumption that Kilbride is a business geniuswho can help increase stalled business at the family pineapple factory.
Pa DOES come up with a solution, although purely by accident.
The Kettles also meet a Hawaiian family who are their "mirror image"---hard working Mother (Hilo Hattie), lazy Father (Lung),and twelve children named after the months of the year. Pa Kettle is naturally curious as to what will happen when the next child comes along.
Unscrupulous business rivals kidnap Pa, who remains innocently oblivious of his danger. Both large families converge on thehideout for a slapstick rescue mission, with Hawaiian food as the chief ammunition.
Although made in 1952, the film was not released for another 3 years, by which time the producer, Leonard Goldstein, had died.[2]