Getting an Eyeful

Charles Kemper stars in this short as a man who had become an "Eyetestometrist," and who hopes to marry his girl. Kemper isn't very funny at all. Danny Kaye plays a man with a heavy accent and really bad eyesight who has the misfortune to be Kemper's first patient. Kaye is fairly funny.

Danny Kaye plays an unfortunate patient who goes to an eye doctor who proceeds to blind him. Really funny idea! The humor is supposed to be in Kaye's dialect as he is being tortured by the doctor. I was appalled by the entire film. This was the first Educational two-reeler I ever saw and it put a bad taste in my mouth concerning the studio. Not only was the film cheap looking, but it was unfunny. No wonder Kaye never wanted to discuss his early short subjects. Since that time, I have seen a good amount of Educationals. Educational said that their shorts were "The Spice of the Program". This film marked the end of the road for Educational. The films had been distributed by Fox and Fox finally dropped them. The Educational silents of the 1920s look good, but by the 1930s, they really started to look cheap. Kaye's other Educationals, while not great, are better. Bob Hope made his film debut in an Educational short which is just a tad better than this one. Some of the Buster Keaton and Harry Langdon Educationals are pleasant. The Ritz Brothers' "Hotel Anchovy" is a scream. It proves that while Educational was cheap, they were not inept at making funny comedies.

In this Charles Kemper vehicle about a love struck youth who has to make it as an Eye doctor to prove to his father-in-law to be, that he is worthy of his daughter's hand. Danny Kay enters this 2 reeler half way through and steels the show with his double talking Russian Count routine as Doctor Charles Kemper first patient. Kemper's healing attempt on Danny Kaye proves to be hilarious, more importantly we see the comedic possibilities of a young Danny Kaye

"Getting an Eyeful" is just the second film that Danny Kaye made. It was one of four shorts he did for the Educational Film Corp. in 1937-1938. But it would be another six years before he would star in a feature film ("Up in Arms" of 1944) that launched his film career.

In this film, Kaye plays Nicolai Nikolaevich, a Russian emigre, accent and all, who is so near-sighted that he can't see people or things a foot in front of him. His character is a scream and was so well liked that he kept it in the next two shorts for the Education Corp.

Kaye didn't have top billing in this film. That went to Charles Kemper. Kemper didn't make it as a comedian - his whimpering, clumsy, nervous comic character just didn't take with audiences. But, he did do well as a serious actor in other films. He had significant supporting roles in several dramas, and in crime and Western films. Movie buffs would have seen much more of Kemper in the mid-20th century if he hadn't been killed in a 1950 car accident. He was just 49 at the time.

This is a funny short film. Kemper's Henry Groper has just graduated and is a licensed "eyetestomorist." The title of the reference book he checks for things is, "The Eyes Have It." This film has some good scenes with funny dialog. Kaye has a few exchanges in which he uses the tongue-twisting and nonsensical type of dialog for which he was the master. Here are some sample lines.

Henry and his girlfriend, Eleanor (played by Sally Starr) tell her father they are married. Her dad (Buddy, in the credits) says, "It's preposterous. It's unheard of. Married! Married to a rubber-brained ninny with the intelligence of a sausage and the personality of a herring - a dead herring."

Eleanor, "I don't believe you know an eye from an oyster."

Henry Groper, "Oh, there's something wrong with your eyes? Oh well, that's why you thought I wasn't who I was." Nicolai Nikolaevich, "Oh, you are who you are, aren't you?" Henry, "Certainly!" Nicolai, "Uh huh. I thought she was not who she was. Was she who she was not and you was who you are? Are you?" Henry, "What's the matter with you anyway?" Nicolai, "My near sight is getting too close to my far sight."

Henry Groper, "When did you first see that you couldn't see?" Nicolai Nikolaevich, "When did I first see I couldn't see?" Henry, "Yes." Nicolai, "When I tried to see what I saw and I saw I couldn't see it -- see?"