form y separately published work icon Dad Rudd, M.P. single work   film/TV  
Adaptation of On Our Selection! 'Steele Rudd' , 1899 selected work short story
Issue Details: First known date: 1940... 1940 Dad Rudd, M.P.
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

The fourth in the 'Dad and Dave' (On Our Selection) series, Dad Rudd, M.P. sees Dad clash with his neighbour Henry Webster over the need for a higher wall for a dam being constructed in the district. When the local member of the state parliament dies, Dad and Webster stand against each other for the seat. Webster's camp uses every dirty trick to stop Dad Rudd's campaign, but with the help of an old friend Mr Entwhistle, Dad responds with some tricks of his own. On polling day, a major flood threatens the dam wall, while a party of workman on the other side are trapped and certain to die if it collapses. Henry Webster's son Jim (who is in love with Ann Rudd) helps rescue the stranded workers. The emergency sees Dad Rudd vindicated, and he is elected. In his maiden speech to parliament, Dad gives a rousing speech that foreshadows the coming war.

Andrew Pike and Ross Cooper (1980) note that Dad Rudd, M.P. has almost nothing in common with the original Steele Rudd stories, and 'resembles instead the sort of small-town family comedy emphasised by Hollywood's Andy Hardy series. Dad Rudd [becomes] less a naive comic figure than a bastion of middle-class morality, and the story [turns] from the frivolity of the earlier films to an inherently more sober, if rudimentary, allegory on the war in Europe' (p. 249).

The narrative also sees the Rudds attempting to modernise their farm, with unpredictable (and comic) results. Dad Rudd, for example, sets off to buy a new car and returns with an ancient horse-drawn fire-engine. Dave installs a new gas-powered stove for Mum but almost blows the kitchen apart. Among the other comedy interludes scattered through what is essentially a serious plot is a scene in which a team of country fire fighters operate with all the efficiency of the Keystone Kops (Pike and Cooper, p. 249).

Exhibitions

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Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

Works about this Work

Unsung Aussie Filmmakers – Grant Taylor : A Top Ten Stephen Vagg , 2019 single work essay
— Appears in: FilmInk , 29 July 2019;
A West End Celebrity Proselytises the Bonds of Empire : Seymour Hicks and Bruce Bairnsfather's 'Old Bill' in 1920s Australia Veronica Kelly , 2019 single work criticism
— Appears in: Australasian Drama Studies , May no. 74 2019; (p. 64-97)
'In 1924 the prominent and influential British West End actor-writer-producer Seymour Hicks and his wife Ellaline Terriss toured in Australia in their hits The Man in Dress Clothes and Broadway Jones. More significantly, Hicks undertook the dual roles of actor and imperial advocate for class reconciliation in the context of Australia's post-war industrial unrest. As such, he is neither the first nor last British actor to combine theatrical popularity with cultural diplomacy. His most significant Australian production is the comedy-drama 'Old Bill, MP' (premiered London 1922), based on the graphic artist Bruce Bairnsfather's popular wartime figure of the stoic infantry-man. I compare 'Old Bill, MP' with the stage and screen hits featuring similar Australian military figures of working-class resilience and leadership: C.J. Dennis's Ginger Mick and Ken Hall's 1940 film of Steele Rudd's Dad Rudd, MP.'

 (Publication abstract)

Unfounded Attack on 'Dad and Dave' Comedies : Dad Rudd, M.P. Julieanne Lamond , 2013 single work criticism
— Appears in: Inside Story , October 2013; Telling Stories : Australian Life and Literature 1935–2012 2013; (p. 57-63)

'By the time Ken G. Hall filmed Dad Rudd M.P., his film-making had come to reflect international popular culture as well as Australian traditions, writes Julieanne Lamond'

Rudd's Stories Gave Face to the Bush Battlers Richard Fotheringham , 2010 single work column
— Appears in: The Australian Literary Review , October vol. 5 no. 9 2010; (p. 13)
Dad Rudd, M. P. and the Making of a National Audience Julieanne Lamond , 2007 single work criticism
— Appears in: Studies in Australasian Cinema , vol. 1 no. 1 2007; (p. 91-105)
This article contextualizes Ken G. Hall's 1940 film Dad Rudd, M.P. with the history of Dad Rudd, a fictional character who pervaded Australian popular culture throughout the first half of the twentieth century. It argues that the fiction, theatre, film, cartoon and radio narratives in which he appeared have been instrumental in the creation of the idea of a popular Australian audience that can be defined in relation to a particular set of national symbols. Addressing Hall's film as well as the promotional material and public debate surrounding it, the article demonstrates that conceptualizations of an Australian national audience have been influenced by the genres and narratives of popular culture, historical circumstance and American cultural production. Source: Studies in Australasian Cinema 1.1 (2007): 91. (Sighted 01/09/2009).
Unfounded Attack on 'Dad and Dave' Comedies : Dad Rudd, M.P. Julieanne Lamond , 2013 single work criticism
— Appears in: Inside Story , October 2013; Telling Stories : Australian Life and Literature 1935–2012 2013; (p. 57-63)

'By the time Ken G. Hall filmed Dad Rudd M.P., his film-making had come to reflect international popular culture as well as Australian traditions, writes Julieanne Lamond'

Rudd's Stories Gave Face to the Bush Battlers Richard Fotheringham , 2010 single work column
— Appears in: The Australian Literary Review , October vol. 5 no. 9 2010; (p. 13)
Dad Rudd, M. P. and the Making of a National Audience Julieanne Lamond , 2007 single work criticism
— Appears in: Studies in Australasian Cinema , vol. 1 no. 1 2007; (p. 91-105)
This article contextualizes Ken G. Hall's 1940 film Dad Rudd, M.P. with the history of Dad Rudd, a fictional character who pervaded Australian popular culture throughout the first half of the twentieth century. It argues that the fiction, theatre, film, cartoon and radio narratives in which he appeared have been instrumental in the creation of the idea of a popular Australian audience that can be defined in relation to a particular set of national symbols. Addressing Hall's film as well as the promotional material and public debate surrounding it, the article demonstrates that conceptualizations of an Australian national audience have been influenced by the genres and narratives of popular culture, historical circumstance and American cultural production. Source: Studies in Australasian Cinema 1.1 (2007): 91. (Sighted 01/09/2009).
A West End Celebrity Proselytises the Bonds of Empire : Seymour Hicks and Bruce Bairnsfather's 'Old Bill' in 1920s Australia Veronica Kelly , 2019 single work criticism
— Appears in: Australasian Drama Studies , May no. 74 2019; (p. 64-97)
'In 1924 the prominent and influential British West End actor-writer-producer Seymour Hicks and his wife Ellaline Terriss toured in Australia in their hits The Man in Dress Clothes and Broadway Jones. More significantly, Hicks undertook the dual roles of actor and imperial advocate for class reconciliation in the context of Australia's post-war industrial unrest. As such, he is neither the first nor last British actor to combine theatrical popularity with cultural diplomacy. His most significant Australian production is the comedy-drama 'Old Bill, MP' (premiered London 1922), based on the graphic artist Bruce Bairnsfather's popular wartime figure of the stoic infantry-man. I compare 'Old Bill, MP' with the stage and screen hits featuring similar Australian military figures of working-class resilience and leadership: C.J. Dennis's Ginger Mick and Ken Hall's 1940 film of Steele Rudd's Dad Rudd, MP.'

 (Publication abstract)

Unsung Aussie Filmmakers – Grant Taylor : A Top Ten Stephen Vagg , 2019 single work essay
— Appears in: FilmInk , 29 July 2019;
Last amended 25 Nov 2014 12:06:52
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