While I love Edgar Kennedy as a foil in Laurel & Hardy films, I have never taken to his shorts he made for RKO for many years. Much of it is that every short is essentially the same...Edgar's mother-in-law and brother-in-law live with him and his wife and the in-laws treat Edgar like garbage. It's not only repetitive but cruel and I guess some folks thought it was funny....but I never did.
In "Art in the Raw", the story is a tad different. Edgar's in-laws aren't as nasty and hateful as usual...though his wife is amazingly selfish and a jerk. Again, I don't find this sort of stuff funny...as treating family like dirt isn't funny on its own.
When the story begins, Edgar wins a small art contest...as evidenced by his $3 prize. Well, Edgar has a vacation coming up and he wants to spend his time painting. His wife, on the other hand, doesn't care and takes the family to Greenwich Village instead of going to the country where Edgar wants to paint. Further, she then throws a party, not caring that Edgar is trying to paint. What follows simply isn't funny. No laughs at all, in fact.
