Rudd Family in Dad and Dave Come to Town

Dad and Dave Come to Town (1938) directed by Ken G. Hall

(Back to front, left to right) Valerie Scanlan as Sarah, Fred MacDonald as Dave and Shirley Ann Richards as Jill, Bert Bailey as Dad Rudd, Connie Martyn as Mum, Ossie Wenban as Joe

Cinesound made the Rudd family a film franchise. Following on the success of On Our Selection (1932) and Grandad Rudd (1935), director Ken G. Hall proposed this comedy 'on the fish-out-of-water formula' featuring the rural Rudd family in the Big Smoke. Bert Bailey, who had been playing the role of 'Dad' on stage and screen almost continuously for twenty-six years, again co-wrote the script. Dad 'rules the family, and always thinks he's right,' Bailey told the Mail of Adelaide: 'As I've grown older, Dad has grown older with me … Instead of having to put false whiskers on, as I did once, I now grow them for myself.'