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Introduction
Edgar Kennedy's perpetually perturbed, round Irish face filled the screen. Except for the slightest wisp of hair that stubbornly protruded from his frontal lobe, his follicles had retreated to form a horseshoe ring surrounding his cranium. This large, burly man's movie character usually had good intentions, but was beaten down by the wrath of his meddling mother-in-law, his conniving brother-in-law and his ceaselessly talking wife. He was America's beloved "Average Man," who justifiably could go into comic fits of rage. The angrier he became, the harder audiences would laugh.
Ed-Grrrr Kennedy became known as the movie's maddest man, with a TNT temper. He usually harnessed it at the conclusion of the comedy by bringing his meaty left hand to his head, then deliberately dragged it s-l-o-w-l-y downward over his face like a window shade. The "Slow-Burn" gesture became a symbolic white flag of defeat. He was a master at it.
Edgar's prolific film output and his signature trademark "Slow-Burn" mannerism made him one of America's most familiar faces. Indeed, B.R. Crisler of the New York Times wrote in 1936: "People who never heard of Clark Gable and wouldn't care about him if they had, know Kennedy and love him, for, in his 'Mr. Average Man' series for Pathe and RKO, he has created a character as universally comprehensible as Chaplin's little clown, and twice as real."
He had already been in movies for 26 years, when, on February 3, 1938, an official "biography" was released by the publicity department of Paramount Pictures. The main purpose was to promote the studio's most recent movie releases and create word pictures of the trials and tribulations of Edgar Kennedy's life. It is unknown if Edgar was even consulted on the finished contents; most of the information was wrong, or at best, greatly exaggerated.
Edgar Kennedy was sitting in a dark corner of a movie sound stage, speaking of life, the movies and himself, he was very unhappy indeed.
As Edgar reviewed his past, he saw himself as a kind of Pagliacci; frustrated, bedeviled and ridiculous. He spoke of his valuable "slow-burn," and recalled how this gesture that made him famous was born of a moment of despair that has pursued him ever since.
He would like to play heavies. But they keep him in rowdy farce, keep him smiting himself in the brow and wiping his face distractedly with one hand in the "slow-burn." "You know," he confides, "when I do that burn I am REALLY burning. I get so dam' sick of having to do it!"
Kennedy relates how the celebrated burn originated long ago when he dropped around to a casting office looking for something to do. "Nothing today," they told him for about the twentieth straight time. Up went his hand and smote his brow. Down came the palm, along his pan, quivering with impotent rage and leaving an expression of premeditated murder.
The boys in the casting office roared. "You do that in a picture and we'll get you something sure!" they told him enthusiastically. The next day Edgar was escorted out to a movie set to perform his burn for a director. It landed him a job as a Keystone Kop.
But that's getting a little ahead of his story. Edgar had come to Hollywood some time before, had made the rounds of the studios day after day, and nobody had invited him into any of them. Finally one flip young man to whom he had applied many times before asked what he thought he could do anyway. "Do!" roared Edgar. "I can lick anybody in this studio including you!"
There was a gleam in the young man's eye when he told our Edgar to report back at 10 in the morning. Edgar reported back and found three hulking Piltdown men awaiting him. The young man in the casting office suggested that since he thought he could lick anybody in the studio Edgar might start with the reception committee. Edgar did—and knocked out all three of them.
"When I was through," he grins; "I told them about me having been heavyweight champ of the Pacific Coast." Which is what he once was.
Edgar was born in Monterey County, California. He attended San Rafael High School, which is in Marin County, and made the boxing team. After graduation he kept on boxing, turned professional, and held the Coast heavyweight title for the better part of 1911-12.
When the United States entered the World War, Edgar tried to enlist but was turned down for 'physical disability.' He couldn't understand this rejection because it came just two weeks after he had kept his feet till the final bell in the battle with Jack Dempsey. When the fourth draft came along Edgar took another crack at the army, and this time was accepted.
They put him into a uniform and sent him to Vancouver barracks, where Edgar became a Corporal and an instructor of boxing. He strove hard for promotion and made Sergeant, they put him to work driving a gurney wagon. He stayed there till after the Armistice, but yearned to get over to France and show what he could do!
After the war Edgar went back to boxing for awhile, then into Ferris Hartman's light opera company in San Francisco. Later he went into vaudeville and musical comedy. Then he went to Hollywood and walked into the picture business over the insensate bodies of the reception committee.
"Sometimes," he says, "I wonder what I saw in the movies anyhow. Sometimes I think I should have stayed with the boxing racket. Maybe I could have been a manager or something. But I keep on staying, hoping someday they'll let me ACT!" "Oh Ed," came a voice from another corner of the sound stage. "Me?" inquired Edgar. "Yeah. We're ready for you, Ed. This is the scene where you get in there and burn up. Ready?"
The Kennedy hand smote the Kennedy brow. Down came the palm along the Kennedy pan, leaving an expression of premeditated murder. And what Edgar Kennedy said cannot be repeated here.
The above document was carefully crafted to reinforce the public's perception of Edgar as the loveable but befuddled victim of others, complete with the inevitable "Slow-Burn." To his fans, Edgar Kennedy the film star and the private person were one and the same. That perception was not discouraged by the studios.
There were many such mini-biographies of Edgar, from virtually every studio in Hollywood. They each contained varied succinct "facts" to entertain, not necessarily inform. Such blithering, though written with a germ of truth, was built on contradictions. The basics of the above biography were reprinted as needed for the rest of his life and beyond. Even his obituary writers would reuse the information, not minding if it was correct or not.
Was Edgar Kennedy a Keystone Kop for Mack Sennett? Yes. There were many variations that told of the colorful way Edgar fought his way into the movie business. According to the unnamed publicity writer, Edgar started in the movies after serving in the World War. Well, the Armistice was in 1918 and Edgar was already a seven-year veteran of the movies by then. Did Edgar fight Jack Dempsey? Sort of. Did Edgar really invent the "slow-burn" out of exasperation when he was turned down by the "boys at the casting department?" Poppycock.
Edgar's hard knocks of life, combined with his intimate knowledge of the workings of the camera, helped pave his way to fame. And now, here is the true story of Edgar Kennedy: the man, the myth and the mirth.
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This web page contains the text from the Introduction of Copyright © 2006-2008 Bill Cassara. Order the book from Bear Manor Media. Home | Prologue | Introduction | Notes |
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