Chester Lauck Movies
- 1956
After successfully starring in several mid-1940s films, radio favorites Lum and Abner -- aka Chester Lauck and Norris Goff--thought they'd give television a try. In 1955, the popular team filmed three half-hour pilot episodes for a proposed "Lum and Abner" TV series; unfortunately, the networks weren't interested. Undaunted, Lauck and Goff bundled the three 30-minute programs together into an ersatz theatrical feature, and the result was Lum & Abner Abroad. This time around, our heroes, the proprietors of the Jot 'Em Down Store in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, try to help a Hungarian ballerina (Jill Alis) locate her sweetheart. To this end, they travel to Belgrade, Paris and Monte Carlo (all recreated on the Hal Roach backlot). Somehow or other, Lum and Abner become international heroes, simply by not being typical Americans! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Chester Lauck, Norris Goff, (more)
- 1946
Based on the popular "Lum 'n' Abner" radio show, this comedy tells the funny tale of how the two teamed up to save Pine Ridge, Arkansas from a pair of shysters. They also tell how they met, became friends, found love, and saved the town from burning down. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Chester Lauck, Norris Goff, (more)
- 1944
Originally released under the more informal cognomen Goin' to Town, this was the fifth RKO B-picture based on the popular radio series Lum 'N' Abner. This time Lum (Chester Lauck) and Abner (Norris Goff), proprietors of the Jot 'Em Down Store in Pine Ridge, Arkansas, talk their neighbors into mortgaging their land so that everyone can dig for oil. When the gushers fail to gush, L&A hightail it to Chicago, where they fall prey to a group of confidence artists. By conning the con-ners, our heroes manage to earn back all the money that their neighbors had lost in the failed oil scheme. The supporting cast of Goin' to Town includes such dependables as Grady Sutton, Herbert Rawlinson and Sam Flint, as well as a pretty new ingenue by the name of Barbara Hale. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Chester Lauck, Norris Goff, (more)
So This is Washington is one of the better entries in the "Lum 'N' Abner" film series. Chester Lauck and Norris Goff recreate their popular radio characters of Lum and Abner, folksy general-store proprietors in the village of Pine Bluff, Arkansas. This time, the boys become convinced that they've developed a synthetic-rubber formula, so they head to the nation's capital to offer their invention to the government. Thanks to the wartime housing shortage, Lum & Abner are obliged to set up residence at a park bench. Before long they've transformed into a pair of backwoods Bernard Baruchs, dispensing sage wisdom to pedestrians and pundits alike. Very much a product of its times, So This is Washington seems more quaint than funny when seen today. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Chester Lauck, Norris Goff, (more)
The title of this "Lum 'N' Abner" comedy isn't explained until the film is half over. Chester Lauck and Norris Goff repeat their radio characterizations of Lum and Abner, proprietors of the Jot-Em-Down Store in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. This time, the boys journey to Chicago, where Abner hopes to collect his share of an inheritance, only to find out that they're responsible for their "benefactor's" debts. Required to take a medical exam, Abner is incorrectly informed that he has only two weeks to live (from the motion picture of the same name). In their efforts to raise enough money to square their debts, Our Heroes get mixed up with a Nazi spy ring. When this plot point is abruptly dropped (indeed, it looks as though the script was being made up as it went along), Abner agrees to take an experimental rocket trip to Mars for a huge cash sum. The climactic special effects are as ridiculous as the rest of the film; even so, Two Weeks to Live did well at the box-office thanks to the popularity of the Lum 'N' Abner radio show. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Chester Lauck, Norris Goff, (more)
The Bashful Bachelor was the second of six 1940s B films inspired by the popular radio series Lum 'N' Abner. The two principal characters are the proprietors of the Jot 'Em Down Store in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. Lum (Chester Lauck) endeavors to impress a marriageable middle-aged lady (ZaSu Pitts) by becoming a hero. Lum's partner Abner (Norris Goff) reluctantly agrees to pretend to be the victim of several staged accidents, so that Lum can come to the rescue and prove his courage. Somehow this ends with a slapstick horse race. Director Mal St. Clair reaps better results from Lum 'N' Abner than he would in his subsequent Laurel & Hardy comedies at 20th Century-Fox. The Bashful Bachelor was put together by independent Voco Productions, and released by RKO Radio. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Chester Lauck, Norris Goff, (more)
Dreaming Out Loud represented the film debut of radio favorites Lum 'N' Abner, aka Chester Lauck and Norris Goff. Proprietors of the Jot-Em-Down Store in Pine Ridge, AR, our heroes are currently preoccupied by their efforts to construct a mobile hospital unit in their community. In time-honored movie-comedy tradition, Lum 'N' Abner also set aside a moment or two to help out young lovers Dr. Kenneth Barnes (Robert Wilcox) and Alice (Frances Langford). More serious in nature than subsequent Lum 'N' Abner movie vehicles, the storyline is partially devoted to the search for the hit-and-run driver who struck down and killed lovable little Emmy Lou (Bobs Watson). Bandleader Phil Harris is allotted a surprisingly tiny amount of screen time, and isn't even afforded the chance to sing. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Chester Lauck, Frances Langford, (more)
