Image from emovieposter.com.
I never saw any of those BRINGING UP FATHER B-pictures. Low budget studio Monogram Pictures churned out five of them in four years, from 1946 to 1950. Joe Yule, a character actor, played Jiggs, and Renie Riano was Maggie.
Joe Yule (1894-1950) was a vaudeville hoofer, originally from Scotland. After serving in the US Army in France during WW1, he started an act with his wife, Nell Carter, and his one year old son: Joe Yule, Jr. The act and the marriage broke up by the time the baby was three. Joe Yule, Jr. would continue a show business career. Junior would later change his name to Mickey McGuire, after the little bully in the popular TOONERVILLE TROLLEY newspaper panel. A lawsuit was threatened by the syndicate, and the kid changed his name to Mickey Rooney.
Renie Riano (1899-1971) started in vaudeville as part of her mother's act. She sang and danced, and was known as "Baby Irene." The actress later worked in Broadway shows, and started a long carees in movies beginning in the 1930s. In addition to the Maggie and Jiggs series, she was also known was the maid "Effie" in the Nancy Drew pictures. In later years, Ms. Riano was a frequent guest on TV series like "The Partridge Family" and "Green Acres" until the year of her death.
This preview pretty much satisfies my desire to see any more. It's definitely silly, and I bet little kids might like it. There's pie throwing in it. And, at the end of this trailer, we get to see the cartoonists himself, George McManus, at his board. I would watch it just for him.
Oh -- The plot is that Maggie is suing real-life cartoonist George McManus because his "Maggie" in the comic strip he draws resembles the "real life" Maggie way too much. McManus gets third billing, too.
Via Captain Bijou:
And, just for fun, here's a bit of a Toonerville Trolley/Mickey "Himself" Maguire silent short from the 1920s. Mickey is the one in the big hat and jaunty see-gar:
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