Ma and Pa Kettle were characters created by Betty MacDonald in her best-selling novel, The Egg and I. Most of us, though, remember them as the cornpone couple from the movies of the late 1940's and early 1950's.

Marjorie Main portrayed Ma, a boisterous, good-natured mother of fifteen screaming children. Percy Kilbride played Pa, the slow-moving, slow-talking father of the brood, whose main goal in life seemed to avoid work at any cost. Besides The Egg and I, there were nine (9) Ma & Pa Kettle movies made. All the movies are available on VHS and DVD.