Ma and Pa Kettle are comic film characters of the successful film series of the same name, produced by Universal Studios, in the late 1940s and 1950s. “The hillbilly duo have their hands full with a ramshackle farm and a brood of rambunctious children. When the future comes a-callin' in the form of modern houses, exotic locales, and newfangled ideas, Ma and Pa must learn how to make the best of it with luck, pluck, and a little country charm.”

The Egg and I, first published in 1945, is a humorous memoir by American author Betty MacDonald about her adventures and travels as a young wife on a chicken farm on the Olympic Peninsula in the US state of Washington. The book is based on the author's experiences as a newlywed trying to acclimate to and operate a small chicken farm near Chimacum, Washington, with her first husband, Robert Heskett, from 1927 to 1931. On visits with her family in Seattle, she told stories of their tribulations, which greatly amused them. In the 1940s, MacDonald's older sister, Mary, strongly encouraged her to write a book about these experiences. The Egg and I was MacDonald's first attempt at writing a book.