Raymond McKee x Mary Ann Jackson in The Rodeo (1929) / Smith's Pony (1927) / Smith's Baby (1926)
"As Sennett would state in a 1926 press release, 'It has been one of my pet ideas for years to make a series of comedies depicting the average American family in all its humorous aspects.' This statement was made in conjunction with Sennett's announcement heralding a new comedy series that represented something of a departure for him. The "Jimmy Smith" series, or "Smith Family" as it came to be known, would present the activities of a typical American family — a father, a mother, a baby daughter and their dog — who just naturally manage to get themselves into one predicament after another. Rather than go for broad laughs, these films would seek humor through the audience's identification with the family's all-too-familiar foibles. 'These little domestic farces are intended to let us see ourselves as others see us,' Sennett continued. 'I know the fans will like them because we Americans are gifted with the ability to laugh at ourselves wholeheartedly. Our comedy family is like thousands of other families in this country. Not much money, no social prominence to speak of, the most wonderful baby in the world and a pretty good dog. Their experiences are drawn from life and will be easily recognized.'"
-Walker, B.E., 2010, Mack Sennett's Fun Factory, McFarland&Company, Inc., Publishers, p.160
Ruth Hiatt x Raymond McKee in Smith's Pony (1927) / The Bargain Hunt (1928) / Smith's Uncle (1926) / Smith's Fishing Trip (1927) / Smith's Candy Shop (1927) / Smith's Landlord (1926) / Smith's Baby (1926) / The Rodeo (1929) / Smith's Picnic (1926)
Hiatt joined Sennett in late 1925, and was put to good use as a leading lady for Harry Langdon and Billy Bevan. However, her longest-lasting role was as Mrs. Smith in the "Smith Family" comedies, with Raymond McKee and Mary Ann Jackson as her husband and daughter. When the series was ended in early 1928, Hiatt left Sennett (returning for an Andy Clyde comedy in 1931), having appeared in more than 35 of his films.
Hiatt was 5'2", 115 pounds, with blue eyes and blonde hair. She was born in Cripple Creek, Colorado, but by 1910 was living with her mother Donna and brother Don in Salt Lake City, Utah. The family then moved to San Diego, where she met her film debut as a child in 1915 with the Lubin Company in Coronado, California. Hiatt was signed by Lloyd Hamilton for leads in his Hamilton Comedies (1922-25), and was also seen extensively in Mermaid and Cameo Comedies for Educational during this period. She was also named a 1924 Wampas Baby Star. Hiatt played Syd Chaplin's leading lady in The Missing Link (WB 1927), also appearing in features such as Shanghai Rose (Rayart 1929), Her Man (Pathé 1930), Sunset Trail (Tiffany 1932) and Double Trouble (Mon 1941). She was Joe Bonomo's leading lady in the 1928 Syndicate Pictures serial, The Chinatown Mystery. In the 1930s, Hiatt appeared in several of Lloyd Hamilton's Educational talkies, and supported Charley Chase at Roach in 1930. She appeared in many Columbia shorts (such as the Three Stooges' Oscar-nominated 1934 two-reeler Men in Black, as the whispering nurse), and played mother roles in Our Gang comedies for Hal Roach such as Beginner's Luck and Little Papa (both 1935).
Ruth left the screen for marriage to a rancher; they divorced in 1945. Hiatt, who was married three times, later ran a professional makeup business in California, and in later years was known as Ruth French. She was widowed in 1972, and died at 88 of congestive heart failure in Montrose, California, leaving her brother Donald A. Redfern (1904-1998) (a property man at the Sennett studio in the late 1920s). She is interred at Evergreen Cemetery in Los Angeles.
-Walker, B.E., 2010, Mack Sennett's Fun Factory, McFarland&Company, Inc., Publishers, p.514
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